Site Management

Chasewater Country Park is near to Burntwood on the western side of Lichfield District, abutting in part the boundary with Walsall Metropolitan Borough. It is largely owned and managed by Lichfield District Council, although Staffordshire County Council and British Waterways also maintain land interests. The park covers a total of 300 hectares, including some 90 hectares of water, in a picturesque countryside setting

Chasewater was created in the late 18th Century as a reservoir feed for the Wyrley and Essington Canal system. The remaining land was further moulded through the years of coal mining that followed the construction of the reservoir.

When coal mining ceased in the 1960's, the site became wasteland, with pitheads and workings from local coalmines.

The spoil mounds were re-shaped through extensive reclamation schemes. The grassland and heath areas surrounding the reservoir are now home to a variety of rare flora and fauna.

For this reason, Chasewater Heaths was designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1988, consisting of four main blocks, and the remaining land was declared a County SBI . 

Chasewater has been managed as a leisure resource, and the recent increase in importance of its countryside and environmental role led to its naming as a Country Park in 1998.

The countrysides teams actively manage the heathland areas of Chasewater with the aid of a Higher Level Stewardship agreement similar to Gentleshaw Common.

Chasewater heathland has now entered into a long term planed rotation of Scrub and Bracken removal, heather cutting (giving the heathland a more diverse age structure) and conservational grazing which should insure the sites continued improvement in the site conservational value and biodiversity.

In 2009 alone the Countryside Team:

• Cleared over 13 hectares of scrub infestation, which if left unaltered would have eventually led to the destruction of the heathland in that area.
• The bracken infestations on Beachy Heath (the area adjacent to the outdoor education centre) and the Anglsey Basin were treated.
• Installed a 220m 'Wetland Walk' boardwalk to allow members of the public to access this incredibly beautiful habitat without damaging any of the rare plants that grow there or getting their feet wet.
• A countryside information panel was installed to inform visitors about the rare and spectacular wildlife that calls Chasewater Heaths their home.
• Prepared Chasewater Heath to enter into grazing in 2010 (current estimate by late May) by repairing gates and cattle fences. This will allow an additional 32ha of heathland at Chasewater to enter into conservation grazing.
• Repaired the paths around two access gates to make visiting the heathland easier for all.
• Beachy Heath was grazed using 4 head of cattle for the first time. Conservation grazing is the most natural way to manage heathland as the cows selectively eat the damaging, high nutrient plants and grasses leaving the low nutrient heathland plant (i.e. heathers) to expand and the heathland to recover.
• The Anglsey Basin was successfully grazed using 4 head of cattle

Conservation grazing is the most natural and sustainable way of managing heathlands as with relatively low numbers of cattle you can prevent scrub re-growth and keep the grass sward low.

The cattle also selectively graze out high nutrient grasses, preventing these unwanted species from invading the site.

Despite the initial cost in infrastructure (stock-fencing, gate instillation etc), grazing is also the most cost effective method of ensuring low term heathland regeneration as it reduces the need labour intensive scrub cutting and bracken treatment and comes with the added bonus that the cattle help keep our heathland sites more open and accessible to visitors.

The cows used to graze Chaswater are Dexter cattle, on loan from a local farmer and were specially selected for the job. Used to human contact and untroubled by dogs this small hardy cattle breed is renowned for its gentle nature.