Friends of Tiptree Heath

Tiptree Heath is a valuable local amenity and a rare site for biodiversity within Essex. It is in danger of losing the protection given by Natural England since existing methods of conservation are costly and not sufficient to stop invasion of scrub. The project aims to set up grazing of cattle on Tiptree Heath in areas which may be restored to good quality heathland. It is necessary to restore at least 11 hectares within the next 10 years. Fencing and other capital items are required since the busy B1022 road runs alongside one edge of the heath. Once the cattle are in place and grazing, it is expected that the amount of machine use needed to keep down scrub regrowth will gradually reduce, and that the continual grazing will allow the heathland habitat to redevelop naturally over a period of upto 10 years.