Magazine - Minimising the ecological impact of The Open

By Bob Taylor in Golf on 5th Aug 2011 12:00

Based in St Andrews, the R&A is, golf's governing body, and the organiser of The Open Championship. The R&A is committed to working for golf and operates with the consent of 143 organisations, from the amateur and professional game, and on behalf of over 30 million golfers in 128 countries.

The Open is played on one of nine British golf courses selected on an annual basis. These are Royal Troon, Turnberry, Muirfield, St Andrews and Carnoustie in Scotland and Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham & St Annes, Royal Liverpool and Royal St George's in England. Not only are these venues top golfing destinations but they also conserve some of our most rare and vulnerable wildlife. What I find particularly encouraging is that before every Open, The R&A take considerable steps to safeguard the more sensitive habitats and wildlife to be found on the host course.

Take this year for example, at Royal St George's the main impacts on the coastal habitats and species are likely to be:

- Disturbance and damage to ground-nesting birds such as skylark and meadow pipit
- Disturbance to other birds such as swallow nesting within the open thatched shelters
- Damage to sensitive habitats and flora - of particular concern at Royal St George's are the rare lizard orchids and other plants like the clove-scented broomrape.

Because the site is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), it is important to ensure that the wider dune grasslands are not unduly damaged. These after all, are the important features cited as the reason for notification and why the golf course has been designated in the first place.

So, what does The R&A do to prevent ecological impacts arising?

STRI's official ecologist to The R&A Championship Committee is employed to undertake a visit every year to Royal St George's and this allows for a comprehensive picture to be developed of where the more sensitive habitats are and what uses them. In this, the year of The Open, a pre-Open inspection was undertaken during the early spring well before any birds start nesting. Armed with detailed knowledge of where skylark prefer to nest, the proposed spectator routes, the placement of grandstands and other infrastructure are checked and discussed well in advance of its construction. The spectator routes are mown out early in the season well before birds start settling to nest and mowing continues fairly frequently thereafter (on a two weekly basis) to provide sufficient disturbance to dissuade skylark and meadow pipit from nesting on or near these areas.

In order to ensure the protection of the orchids, a cordon of posts and ropes is installed (but only where required), to channel spectators around rather than through these important areas. Many greenkeepers will appreciate that grassland conditions can change over time and become more rank. This could be direct as a result of grass deposition or other construction operations, or it could be indirect through natural atmospheric deposition and following the natural accumulation of nutrients. Routing spectators through these areas of rank grassland will help to weaken the sward and possibly even create bare patches that will over time, be colonised by more important plants species. Given this, any spectator trampling could be highly beneficial and thus the areas would not receive any cordoning.

The swallows return from Africa each year, finding their first resting point along the Deal coastline. Eager to nest, these birds tend to rapidly colonise the eaves of the thatched shelters and the barns used by the greenstaff to house and maintain their equipment. This year the birds will be allowed to nest and cordons will be used to prevent unwanted spectator access during the week of the event.

The R&A is even considering installing decoy birds (birds of prey) at strategic locations on the grandstands in an attempt to prevent swallows nesting prior to bringing the stands into use. The greenstaff are advised to keep a regular check on these areas throughout the lead-up period to determine any developing activity and report back to STRI or The R&A.

At the last Open hosted on the Old Course at St Andrews, a pair of swallows nested within the large scoreboard erected left of the 17th green. This is without doubt one of the most important scoreboards, particularly for showing the position of the players before the last hole. Given this and all of the complexities of delivering a successful Open, The R&A showed real commitment towards conserving this nest:

- Screens were constructed and brought gradually into place to limit disturbance to the birds and to enable partial use of the main scoreboard
- Signs were erected to inform spectators in the opposite grandstands why part of the scoreboard was out of use
- Additional cordons were installed to prevent media activity
- The scoreboard operators worked to a strict set of guidelines to minimise intrusion and disturbance.

The Guardian newspaper featured an article on the birds and the BBC installed cameras normally reserved for Springwatch and set up an Internet blog site.

If, during one of the top sporting events, the world's largest golfing organisation can give time to wildlife protection and, more importantly, recognise the value and significance of such work, then this surely must send a strong message out to our nation's golf clubs to consider the habitats and species that are to be found on their golf course and to manage in a structured and directed manner that will not unduly impact upon the wildlife - something we all depend on to enhance our playing of the game.

Bob Taylor, Ecology & Environment Manager

Read more articles in Golf, by Bob Taylor or from August 2011.