CONSERVATION
PLAYER ECOLOGY SUCCESS This summer, greenkeepers and turf managers from BIGGA Southern Section and other local facilities toured the award-winning Operation Pollinator habitat creation at Corhampton Golf Club.
I
nspirational Hampshire greenkeeper and course manager, Iestyn Carpenter, has harnessed player power at Corhampton Golf Club in Hampshire to deliver an award-winning environmental initiative. Instigating a pioneering Ecology Group of players and enthusiasts, they have created an ethos of ecological enhancement across the club that has won the top accolade of Syngenta Operation Pollinator champions for the second time, as part of the national Golf Environment Awards. But, whilst the plaudits of award winning have been pleasing, there is even greater satisfaction in the fact that the club has become recognised as a regional stronghold for the endangered Small Blue butterfly – within three years of focusing on the habitat creation. The vast rolling agricultural arable fields of the South Downs that surround the club were something of a desert for butterfly and moth sightings, yet incredibly the tiny Small Blue – Britain’s smallest butterfly - has found the areas of chalk scrape and natural flora that the club has created. “We were told that if we put the habitat back then wildlife would find it,” recalled Iestyn.
32
PITCHCARE November/December 2023
“What has been amazing, is just how fast that has happened. And the immense diversity of species that has been recorded so quickly.” He believes that has only been possible with the engagement of the club members, which has generated the enthusiasm and commitment within the club to release resources to make it happen. What started as an ecology walk to explain to members some of the things that were being done and potential improvements, quickly grew with the enthusiasm and encouragement of players and club managers. “Those who were keen to get involved were adamant they didn’t want another club ‘committee’,” Iestyn emphasised. “But the Ecology Group is a better description of their interests and way of working collaboratively for something they believe in, and that gives them pleasure and enjoyment too.” Iestyn is keen to point out that the Ecology Group draws on the strengths and interests of the diverse members, including publishing a newsletter for members, providing the materials and labour to build bird and bat boxes, and the initiative and time to apply for grants and support for the projects. “With just five greenkeepers on what is quite