The Experiment

The experiment was set up in 2002 at Glen Finglas, Perthshire. This is a 4000 ha, mainly upland grassland, estate that is owned and managed by the Woodland Trust. The Trust’s long-term aim is to re-establish wood pasture; a dynamic mosaic of woodland and areas kept clear by grazing mammals. We have established 3 ha livestock enclosures within a randomized block design. There are four grazing treatments, each replicated six times. The treatments are:

1. commercial grazing level of 3 sheep/ha
2. reduced grazing at 1 sheep/ha (a continuance of the previous management)
3. reduced mixed grazing with 0.66 sheep/ha and, for four weeks per year, 2 cows with suckling calves (total livestock units being the same as treatment II)
4. ungrazed

The aim is to investigate cascading interactions through the ecosystem of any of these potential grazing scenarios. In other words how will different grazing regimes affect vegetation composition and structure, how will this knock on to impacting on invertebrate populations and will any change to these have consequences for upland insectivorous birds?

Contact: Dr. Nick Littlewood