Bracken bashers tackle invader

Battle plans are being drawn up to try to safeguard wildlife on Cannock Chase from one of its biggest threats.

Countryside officers are trying to eradicate bracken from the beauty spot which poses a real risk to the area's future.

The highly invasive fern rapidly smothers out other heathland plants, closing out the opportunities for the wide range of plants and animals that makes Cannock Chase renowned. This autumn, wildlife officers in specialist "bracken bashing" teams will be out again.

But this year they will be on foot and in 4x4s, targeting specific patches of bracken.

Areas of the Chase will closed to the public while the operations are under way

Staffordshire's country park teams have been fighting the bracken for years.

Careful and concerted management has pushed back the bracken invasion in recent years to less than half the area it covered a decade ago. Despite this, it is still a major problem.

Action has to be taken year in, year out, to beat back the tide of infestation. The alternative is a sea of bracken which would suffocate the Chase.

This autumn the teams will use a spray which is harmless to animals, birds, humans and other plants but which kills the bracken.

County councillor John Wakefield, cabinet member for countryside issues, said: "In the old days, grazing and traditional farming practices kept the Chase clear of bracken. Today we are using new ways of achieving the traditional effect."