Crooksbury Common and ARC (Amphibian & Reptile Conservation)

As many of you will appreciate, we are extremely blessed to have such wonderful open spaces in our neighbourhood. Woodland such as Crooksbury Common offer people within our community and the surrounding areas an opportunity for relaxation and exercise, the benefits of which promote our wellbeing. Whether it is a run, dog walk, mountain biking, horse ride or simply soaking up nature our open spaces should be valued as a free and accessible resource.

Seale and Sands Parish Council is endeavouring to ensure that our woodland and common land is protected and available for all to enjoy and thus we are promoting communication with all those involved in the maintenance and overall management of these spaces. We in turn would like to keep you informed of the projects we are aware of, so it can enhance your enjoyment and inform you when making choices of where to visit. Recently we have been liaising with ARC (Amphibian & Reptile Conservation) and they have very kindly shared with us their management programme on Crooksbury Common.

Guildford Borough Council own Crooksbury Common and lease it to The Forestry Commission which has subsequently passed over some pockets of land to ARC to manage for the conservation of species for a period of 10 years.

Crooksbury is home to many rare and wonderful species, that simply would not be there without ARC’s management.  For instance: the Natterjack Toad, Smooth Snake and Sand Lizard for which populations are incredibly scarce and fragmented.

ARC’s management also benefits rare birds such as the Dartford Warbler (Only 2,200 pairs in the UK), Woodlark (2,300 pairs), and Nightjar (4,600 pairs). Crooksbury is also good for Tree Pipit and Crossbill which all benefit from lowland heath and/or dune systems.

Crooksbury is also home to a remnant population of Glow Worms, a species in decline that would have been far more widespread before the afforestation of Surrey’s Heathlands. 

Here is ARC’s annual plan of works:

Spring - Creating bare ground - We put in sand scrapes, primarily for Sand Lizards as they need fresh sand to lay their eggs in. But this benefits large amount of heathland species, especially rare plants and invertebrates.  

Summer - Bracken control - Because heathlands are so fragmented it is important to control the encroachment of bracken, otherwise it will shade out the dwarf shrubs and rare heathland plant communities leading to a monoculture and less biodiversity.

Autumn/Winter - Scrub clearance / heather mowing - As early secessional habitats it is important to control the levels of scrub and trees. This is done rotationally to insure there are appropriate levels to maintain and mosaic of habitats and maximum biodiversity. 

A similar process is done with the dwarf shrubs, mowing them to achieve a varied age structure.

Both of these benefit a wide range of species, but in particular specialized birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates that have evolved to live in these open heathland habitats.

As you may have noticed many trees on the common have been marked with either orange or green spray paint, possibly for felling, we have contacted The Forestry Commission and ARC for clarification on this regard.

They still don’t have any dates planned for the tree harvesting work to take place at Crooksbury, there is still some timber measuring work to be done which they are seeking a contractor to carry out due to continuing pressures on staff/staffing numbers.

It was thought the trees were to be coming out winter 2023, although this now seems unlikely as we are into spring 2024 at the time of writing. ARC now assume they will come out some time winter 2024/5, although they cannot say for sure. 

With recent controlled fires on Crooksbury Common, ARC understand that trees coming down and burning brash can seem destructive and not very environmentally friendly, but they are assuring us it is of massive benefit to wildlife and the environment. 


The long-term plan for Crooksbury Common can be found online here.

ARC is always looking to engage more with local communities. They currently have volunteering opportunities and attend educational events. They also hope to have some information boards up at Crooksbury Common soon.

Upcoming events:

8th June Churt Fete
8/9th June Heathlands reunited - Bordon

I hope you have found this informative and if you have any questions or observations, please feel free to contact me: Councillor Nicola Collett - nicolacollett@yahoo.com clerk@saspc.info