Drovers Agreement: West Fell

West Fell was the second site to be grazed under the Drovers Project, and was grazed for the 2004 season.

Profile:

The site is approximately 20ha in size and is part of Gibshiel farm.  It is part of a Countryside Stewardship agreement which was renewed in 2001. The renewal suggested short-term cattle grazing as a management option for the site. West Fell was extremely molinia dominated, almost to the exclusion of other species. Although historically a dominant species in the sward, a period of over ten years in which the site had been grazed by sheep only led to a near-monoculture of molinia.

Objectives:

The objective for grazing West Fell was to reduce the dominance of purple moor grass molinia caerulea and thereby open up the sward structure and increase species diversity. The vegetation had a very tussocky structure and the objective for introducing cattle grazing was to break down these tussocks.