| Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
 | |
| Location | Surrey |
|---|---|
| Grid reference | SU 973 647[1] |
| Interest | Biological |
| Area | 655.7 hectares (1,620 acres)[1] |
| Notification | 1993[1] |
| Location map | Magic Map |
Chobham Common is a 655.7-hectare (1,620-acre) biologicalSite of Special Scientific Interest north ofChobham inSurrey.[1][2] It is aNature Conservation Review site, Grade I[3] and anational nature reserve.[4] It is part of the Thames Basin HeathsSpecial Protection Area[5] and the Thursley, Ash, Pirbright and ChobhamSpecial Area of Conservation.[6] It contains threescheduled monuments.[7][8][9] Most of the site is managed by theSurrey Wildlife Trust as the Chobham Common nature reserve,[10] but the SSSI also includes a small private reserve managed by the Trust,Gracious Pond.[11]
Peat andtumuli at the site suggest that, like other non-mountainous heaths, Chobham Common was transformed from to mostly shrubs, grass and bog when latePaleolithicfarmers and wood-gatherers cleared much of the primarywoodland that before their arrival cloaked the country.[12] This exposed and degraded the fragile topsoils of the site, creating the conditions favoured byheathland. After the initial clearance the area would have been kept free of trees by grazing and fuel gathering. The specific earliest periods of occupation were theNeolithic period and theBronze Age; analysis of peat cores from areas with similargeology and patterns of settlement elsewhere in southernBritain would suggest theheathland on Chobham Common emerged at some time during these periods.
Aninclosure award was made by Parliament in 1855 of part to theEarl of Onslow outright, the rest, for example, in 1911 comprising "several thousand acres ofcommon land" was uninclosed but associated with his land, at which timeChobham remained a large parish (i.e. village or town) in southern England, covering 9,057 acres (3,665 ha).[13]
In addition to the Great Camp of 1853, the common also hosted the Battle of Chobham Common in September 1871, as part of the Autumn Manoeuvres of that year.[14] During the First World War, trenching exercises were held in August 1915 in advance of Kitchener's Third Army's mobilisation in France.[14]
Chobham Common was used by the military during the 1920s and 1930s, and throughout theSecond World War. Captured enemy tanks were also tested in the common as was equipment to detonate land mines using flails and probably caused the significant damage that lead to reseeding.[14]
Immediately after theSecond World War, the southern part wasploughed and seeded with an annualgrass to allow the natural vegetation to re-establish, while the area north of Staple Hill, which was not as heavily damaged, was allowed to recover naturally. By the 1950s, plants and associated small animals were recovering well. At this time the common was heavily grazed byrabbits with littlescrub and large areas of close-croppedheather andgorse.Myxomatosis reached the area in 1955 and consequently the heather andgorse on Chobham Common grew and scrub began to develop. By the 1960s scrub includingbrambles was starting to become a problem.Surrey County Council purchased the slightly reduced area comprising the common fromWilliam Onslow, 6th Earl of Onslow for £1 per acre by in 1966.[15]
The survival of Chobham Common as an extensive area of lowlandheath is largely due to the historic isolation of theChobham area where traditionalheathland management continued until the early twentieth century. Whileturbary (turf cutting) was still practised on a small scale at the beginning of the twentieth century it had ceased to be an important factor in the management of the Common by that time. Roughgrazing and the cutting ofheather,gorse and smalltrees began to decline after 1914 and had almost completely ended by the time of theSecond World War. Photographic evidence and verbal reports indicate that during the early part of the twentieth century large tracts ofCalluna vulgaris (heather) with extensive areas of wetheath and openbog dominated the Common. There was little scrub and the onlytrees of any great size were at the Clump on Staple Hill and the Lone Pine to the south of the Beegarden.
In 1984,Surrey County Council produced the first management plan for Chobham Common which acknowledged invading scrub,fire anderosion as the main threats to the site. The Surrey Trust for Nature Conservation (now renamed theSurrey Wildlife Trust) had carried out small-scale scrub clearance work from 1974 onwards andSurrey County Council began clearing scrub on the Common from the 1970s onwards; however despite their best efforts the scrub continued to advance. While describingbirch andpine invasion on the Common as“Possibly the most serious problem for nature conservation” the 1984 Management Plan states,“Widespread invasion control is difficult to justify financially. Intervention management will therefore be limited to the more significant open habitats and places where an acceptable level of tree cover can be maintained at low cost”.
From the late 1980s, a more aggressive approach to scrub management was adopted together with more active conservation management starting with the large scale annual events for schools and volunteers such as“Purge the Pine” and“Free Christmas Tree” events. While these events, which involved over 1,500 volunteers in some years, dramatically reduced the threat to the Common frompine invasion,birch remained a major threat to the site.
The 1992 Management Plan took a much more positive approach toconservation management of Chobham Common. In the same year the site was proposed as anational nature reserve (NNR) and a substantial grant covering a ten-year period was awarded toSurrey County Council under theCountryside Stewardship Scheme for the management of 280 hectares of the Common. The scheme was extended to cover the wholeNNR for a further ten years in October 2002. At the time of writing at least seventeen hectares of scrub management takes place each year together with at least twenty hectares ofconservation mowing, andbracken control. Bare ground creation andheather cutting, andpond, scrape and pool creation are also carried out to enhancebio-diversity. The restoration ofconservation grazing on Chobham Common is seen as a priority by site managers.
Fires occurred fairly regularly during the 1950s and 1960s and the whole of Chobham Common was seriously damaged by major fires in the early and mid-1970s which caused the loss of the smoothsnake (Coronella austriaca) andsand lizard from the site and allowed extensive areas ofpurple moor grass andbracken to establish. Since 1976, a network of fire tracks andfirebreaks has been created and progressively upgraded. Since 1990rangers and volunteers havefire watched during periods of high risk and in 2006 therangers were equipped with a fire fighting system. These measures together with close liaison with the Surrey Fire Service have served to reduce both the frequency and scale of fires on the site.
The major utilities that cross Chobham Common were constructed during the 1950s and early 1960s. TheM3 motorway was completed in 1974 cutting the site in half. Some attempts were made at mitigation work at the time, but with hindsight they were both inappropriate and inadequate and large blocks ofgorse (Ulex europeaus) developed in the zone of disturbance on either side of themotorway creating further fragmentation of the site and causing serious fire risks. Following serious fires in 2001 and 2002 the Department for Transport provided funding for clearance of thegorse in the zone of disturbance and this area is mown annually to suppress anygorse regrowth.
Strong summer heat can occur to dry out the long grass, shrubs and trees of acidicheath soil. When a fire breaks out,Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (in the case of the major May 2010 fire attracting rubbernecking,Surrey Police and Hampshire Fire and Rescue assisted) extinguish it in a range of vehicles and teams.
In August 2020, a fire on the common spread to thegolf course at theWentworth Club causing the abandonment of the final event of theRose Ladies Series.[16][17]
The firstcar parks on Chobham Common were created in 1936 at Staple Hill and south of the Monument. After theSecond World War, the recreational use of the Common grew dramatically. This recreational use developed in an ad-hoc manner with walkers and horse riders creating tracks then abandoning them for new routes as they gullied and became impassable, causing wide scaleerosion of the site.
It is also reported that during the 1950s and 1960s visitors regularly took vehicles onto Chobham Common further adding to the problem. An aerial photograph dated 1964 clearly shows severeerosion problems on Tank Hill and Staple Hill. By the timeSurrey County Council acquired Chobham Common in 1968 there were nine car parks on the area covered by this plan. Initially the Council wished to develop a country park but these plans were soon dropped in favour of informal recreation and nature conservation.
Erosion and disturbance continued to be serious problems through the 1970s and 1980s. While attempts to restricthorse riding proved unsuccessful, by the late 1980s both walkers and riders were showing a marked preference for the growing network of high quality fire tracks.
In 1992, a consultative process began to resolve long running conflicts of interest between horse riders and other users, and to rationalise therights of way networks in order to meet the needs of visitors while protecting sensitive habitats andspecies. Following apublic enquiry in 1996 the present network ofrights of way and agreed horse rides which incorporates the fire track network was installed. Since then there have been few seriouserosion problems and disturbance has been greatly reduced.
Half hourly service at this station, hourly on a Sunday. Alternatives are Virginia Water and Sunningdale.
Chobham Common is open to the public, has sixcar parks, an extensive network offootpaths,bridleways, other tracks and three self-guided trails.
51°22′23″N0°36′14″W / 51.373°N 0.604°W /51.373; -0.604
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