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Ten practical learning activities to increase understanding of Sidmouth's brownfield sites

The Sidmouth brownfield sites offer rich opportunities for ecological exploration, ranging from highly managed parkland to minimally maintained lanes. Given the data demonstrating the critical importance of these 15 sites to the town's overall biodiversity, here are ten practical learning activities based on the characteristics and features detailed in the sources:

1. Site Management Comparison Study: 

Visit one site from each of the three identified categories: Managed Sites (e.g., Town Parks and Gardens), Maintained Sites (e.g., Sidmouth Cemetery), and Minimal Sites (e.g., Upper Byes or Bickwell). Compare and contrast the visible level of human intervention, maintenance, and how different management styles create specific niches for nature.

2. Early-Successional Species Survey: 

Explore areas identified as having short, patchy plant associations, typical of disturbed urban sites. Look for and identify initial colonising vegetation, such as low-growing plants like greater plantain, creeping buttercup, clover, black medick, colt’s-foot, oxeye daisy, and ragwort species, or taller ruderal herbs like rosebay willowherb and common nettle.

3. Invertebrate Basking Area Search: 

Investigate areas featuring exposed concrete, rubble, and bare ground, which absorb heat. Search these warm surfaces in sites like Jacob’s Ladder or the general Town Parks area for basking, foraging, and burrowing invertebrates, noting how these microclimates support species that might otherwise be scarce.

4. Cemetery Structure and Flora Analysis: 

Visit Sidmouth Cemetery to study the diversity of lichens, mosses, and ferns thriving on the gravestones and walls. Observe the difference in vegetation colonising the old churchyard wall that uses lime mortar (which plants can root into) versus more modern structures, looking specifically for plants like Pellitory of the Wall on the gate pillar.

5. Aquatic Indicator Species Check: 

Inspect Knapp Nature Pond or Deepway Meadow to identify aquatic life. Look for amphibians such as palmate newts and Common Frog, and identify invertebrates like dragonfly and damselfly larvae, or caddis fly larvae, the presence of which is considered a good indicator of a healthy pond.

6. Habitat Restoration Observation: 

Visit the Lockyer Observatory grounds on Salcombe Hill. Observe the areas where habitat restoration is underway, specifically where gorse scrub has been cleared and heather has been encouraged to return, illustrating the process of returning land gradually to heath habitat.

7. Linear Corridor Mapping: 

Walk along one of the extensive linear sites, such as The Byes footpath, from the Tollgate to Sidford, or the Harpford Trailway. Map the transition of vegetation, noting dominant plants like docks, nettles, and brambles typical of enriched soils on the trailway, and recording sightings of birds (76.4% of all bird species were found on brownfield sites) that use these corridors.

8. Amenity Grassland Fungi Hunt: 

In autumn, visit the grass beside the bowling greens located within the Town Parks and Gardens site. Attempt to locate the significant colony of mixed waxcap fungi that thrives in this managed turf.

9. Coastal Adaptation Study: 

Visit the banks and walkways near Jacob’s Ladder. Observe the wild flowers and plant species adapted to challenging conditions, such as nutrient-poor soil, lack of retained rainwater, and high salt concentrations (halophytes).

10. Cultivated and Disturbed Plant Inventory: 

Walk the Upper Byes, noting areas influenced by housing. Take an inventory of plants, particularly focusing on garden ‘escapes’ and introduced daffodils, which illustrate how plants associated with cultivated land have spread, comprising 61.4% of such species recorded in the survey.

These brownfield sites, whether they are playing fields, cemeteries, or old trackways, are fundamentally important to the local ecology. Exploring them provides a concrete understanding of how human-altered landscapes can become vital refuges for a vast range of wildlife, supporting over 64% of all species recorded in the Sidmouth survey. Thinking of these sites as biological 'reservoirs' rather than mere 'waste places' helps appreciate their critical role in local biodiversity.