Download Priority species - The National Forest

Priority species
Priority species
Adder
Priority species were originally chosen as iconic
species which capture the public imagination.
Each species is associated with at least one
priority habitat and can be used as a flagship
to help generate support and interest in wider
habitat creation and management projects.
As discussed above, national guidance
recognises that the majority of benefits for
priority species are derived from the creation and
management of the habitats on which they rely.
Therefore, priority species are no longer given
separate action plans, but are considered within
habitat action planning.
In this 3rd edition of the BAP, priority species
are listed against the relevant habitats in
Tables 2, 3 and 4. However, rather than repeat
objectives multiple times under each relevant
habitat, targets for each species are listed
below, together with a brief description of their
distribution and the reasons for their inclusion in
the BAP.
Objectives are also included in the Landscape
Action Plans for those areas of the Forest in
which the species are a priority.
Table 6: Achievements for priority species
Species target
Result
Sites enhanced for adders
1
Barn owl boxes erected
44
Bat boxes erected
311
Sites with black poplar planted
30
Number of black poplar planted
222
Sites where bluebells planted
47
Otter holts created
8
Length of riverside managed for otters
150m
Bird boxes erected
88
Sites enhanced for ruddy darter
42
Sites enhanced for water vole
4
Note: Results are for the period 2005-10
© Gordon Hudson
A new approach
Nationally the adder is widely distributed.
However, it is less common and sometimes rare
in the central, eastern and north western parts of
England. Its preferred habitats include heathland
and woodland with suitable rides and clearings.
Adder populations are declining over most of
its range and it is included on the UK’s “Long
List” of globally threatened/declining species.
Within The National Forest, adder populations
are limited to areas with significant blocks of acid
grassland and heath, such as in Charnwood.
Legal status
The adder is protected from deliberate killing,
injury and sale under the Wildlife and Countryside
Act, 1981 under Schedule 5. It is also protected
under the Bern Convention (1991).
Threats
• Increases in agricultural intensification,
development have led to the decline in this
species through habitat loss and indirect
mortality.
• Deliberate killing is a threat to individual
animals as a result of poor public
awareness and misunderstanding.
• Scrubbing up and poor management of
suitable habitat (e.g. heathland).
Objectives
• Increase the number of sites and
populations of adders in The National
Forest through habitat management and
the creation of hibernacula.
Useful links
• Amphibian & Reptile Conservation:
http://www.arc-trust.org/
The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011
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Bats
© RSPB
Priority species
Barn owl
Barn owls can be found across the whole of The
National Forest area but numbers are low. Since
rapid decline in the 1950s as a result of pesticide
use and agricultural intensification, there is some
evidence that numbers are increasing as organochlorine use has ceased. In Derbyshire, the
species is listed as a scarce resident but proven
breeding is recorded at one or two sites in South
Derbyshire each year.
Legal status
Protected under the EU Birds Directive and listed
on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside
Act 1981 (amended by the Countryside & Rights
of Way Act 2000).
Threats
• Loss of habitat such as rough grassland,
field margins and verges as the result of
agricultural intensification.
• Loss of nest and roost sites due to
conversion of old barns to houses and loss
of old hedgerow trees.
• Increased mortality on roads as they hunt
for food along roadside verges.
Objectives
• Increase the breeding population of barn
owls.
• Continue to expand the network of barn
owl nest boxes across the Forest area.
Useful links
• Information on barn owl boxes:
http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.
html?Id=42
• Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological
Society:
http://www.lros.org.uk/
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Little is known about the current status of most
bat species in The National Forest, although the
available evidence suggests an overall decline
in populations. Ten of the 14 UK species have
been recorded across the Forest area. Only the
Pipistrelle is considered to be common.
Legal status
Protected by: The Bern Convention, 1979;
The EU Habitats Directive, 1992; The Bonn
Convention, 1980; Schedule 2 and 5 of the
Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations
1994; and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
(as amended by the CRoW Act 2000).
Threats
• Intensification of agriculture and
inappropriate riparian management leading
to a decline in the amount of insect prey.
• Widespread misunderstanding of legislation
protecting bats, leading to loss or damage
of roosts.
• Loss, destruction and disturbance of roosts
through the use of toxic timber treatments,
intolerance by roost owners, inappropriate
building practices and tree felling.
• Loss of winter roosting sites.
Objectives
• Maintain existing bat populations and
increase the distribution of bats to all
suitable habitats within the National Forest.
• Erect bat boxes at suitable locations.
Useful links
• Bat Conservation Trust:
http://www.bats.org.uk/
• Information on bat boxes:
http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_
download.php/235/Howtomakeabatbox.
pdf
The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011
Priority species
Black poplar
Bluebell
The black poplar is endangered and is restricted
to parts of central and southern Britain and also
occurs in central Europe and Asia. It is mainly
found along watercourses and in river valleys.
Extensive surveys have enabled existing and
newly planted trees to be mapped across the
whole of the Forest.
Threats
• The populations of trees are very scattered
throughout its distribution with few
female trees, affecting the rates of natural
reproduction.
• Individual trees have been lost through
development and damaged through
insensitive agricultural operations.
• There is no longer a thriving market for the
timber so trees are no longer pollarded.
• The species hybridises with other poplars
reducing the genetic integrity.
• There has been a reduction in the areas
subject to flooding due to flood alleviation
schemes which have reduced the suitable
habitat available for seed germination.
Objectives
• Increase the number of black poplars in
appropriate locations within the National
Forest.
Useful links
• Forestry Commission guidance:
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCIN057.
pdf/$FILE/FCIN057.pdf
The bluebell is common and widespread in
the UK, being found primarily in broadleaved
woodland. However, it is rare in a European
context and is therefore of international
importance. The UK supports 30% of the world’s
population. The bluebell is both widespread and
abundant in the National Forest area.
Legal status
The bluebell was added to the Wildlife and
Countryside Act in 1998 and is now protected as
an individual species.
Threats
• Wholesale uprooting of plants for sale.
• Climate change.
• Inappropriate management of woodlands,
e.g. lack of thinning resulting in dense
canopy shading out bluebells.
• Destruction of broad-leaved woodland
for development has affected bluebell
populations, although they are often found
in open ground such as former wood
pasture.
• There is evidence that deer inhibit plant
growth (e.g. muntjac graze bulbs and
flowers) and smaller plants develop in deergrazed areas.
• Trampling by walkers, which can destroy
the leaves. The plants can survive without
their flowers, but without their leaves they
cannot photosynthesise and will die.
• Hybridisation with Spanish bluebell.
Objectives
• Include bluebells in new woodlands.
• Bring woodlands with existing bluebell
populations into management.
The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011
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Otter
The smallest of the woodpecker family, the
lesser spotted woodpecker breeds in broadleaf
woodlands, orchards, wood pasture and riverside
woodlands. They rely on dead or decaying trees
for nesting holes. They feed by foraging for
insects on the trunks and in the crowns of mature
trees.
Although found in The National Forest, the
national population of lesser spotted woodpecker
has fallen by at least 50% in the last 25 years.
As a result it is listed on the Red List of Birds of
Conservation Concern.
Legal status
Lesser spotted woodpecker is protected
under the general provisions of the Wildlife and
Countryside Act 1981 as amended by the CRoW
Act 2000.
Threats
• The reasons for the decline of the
lesser spotted woodpecker are not fully
understood. They include:
• Loss and fragmentation of suitable
woodland.
• Reduction in the availability of deadwood
within woodland areas.
• Tree crowding leading to a reduction in
crown development.
Objectives
• Increase the provision of lesser spotted
woodpecker habitat in the National Forest
area.
Useful links
• RSPB information page:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/
name/l/lesserspottedwoodpecker/index.
aspx
• Leicestershire & Rutland Ornithological
Society:
http://www.lros.org.uk/
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© GlisGlis @ Flikr
© Sergey Yeliseev
Priority species
Lesser spotted woodpecker
The otter was once widely distributed in the UK
but suffered a dramatic decline in the 1950s.
By 1993 it was reported as virtually absent from
central England. The otter is currently uncommon
but spreading in to the National Forest area from
both the north and west.
Legal status
The otter is fully protected by the Wildlife and
Countryside Act, 1981 as amended by the
CRoW Act 2000. It is also included on Schedule
2 of The Conservation Regulations, 1994.
Threats
• Past use of organochlorines, which pass
through the food chain.
• Poor water quality, which reduces the
productivity of rivers and other waterbodies.
• A decline in suitable riparian habitat with
little cover on rivers and lack of holt sites.
• Otters are susceptible to human
disturbance and are very rarely seen.
Recreational pursuits such as dog walking
and motor boats will disturb otters and can
prevent them from successfully breeding.
• Otters are also killed on roads while moving
through catchment areas. Poor design of
bridges result in otters having to use roads
to cross during times of flood.
Objectives
• Expand the provision of suitable otter
habitat along watercourses in the National
Forest area.
• Encourage measures to prevent road
deaths.
Useful links
• Natural England guidance:
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/
ourwork/regulation/wildlife/species/otters.
aspx#advice
The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011
Priority species
Water vole
© Max Westby
Ruddy darter dragonfly
The ruddy darter is a nationally scarce species of
dragonfly, grade B (i.e. it is present in less than
100 10km grid squares). It breeds in the marshy
margins of ponds, lakes, gravel pits, canals and
ditches where there are tall emergent plants
present but which are not excessively vegetated.
In some areas of the country the species has
been increasing in numbers and distribution in
recent years but in other areas there has been a
clear decline.
It is rare and local within the National Forest
area and is dependent on wetlands and open
water bodies. It particularly favours mesotrophic
waters and likes to forage over scrub and rough
grassland habitat around pools.
Threats
• The decline in the area of wetlands and
open water bodies.
• The species is very susceptible to
permanent changes in water level due to
improved drainage, and to natural seral
changes in habitat.
• Decline in water quality in otherwise suitable
water bodies.
Objectives
• Increase the number of ruddy darter
breeding sites in the Forest area.
Useful links
• Pond Conservation pond management
advice:
http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/
advice/seasons
• Leicestershire & Rutland Dragonfly Group:
www.lrdg.org.uk/species/ruddy-darter.php
The water vole is found throughout Britain but
is confined mainly to lowland areas near water.
Once common and widespread, this species
has suffered a significant decline in numbers and
distribution.
In The National Forest, Staffordshire county as
a whole shows a decline in the population. In
the Leicestershire part of the Forest, the most
important remaining sites are in urban areas. In
Derbyshire, a population has been found on the
Hooborough Brook and another in Hartshorne,
with most populations remaining very low.
Legal status
Listed on Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and
Countryside Act 1981, as amended by the
CRoW Act 2000.
Threats
• Pollution of watercourses and poisoning by
rodenticides.
• Habitat change through neglect, causing
scrub encroachment and overshading.
• Overgrazing, causing poaching of
watercourse, banks and denuding of
vegetation.
• Insensitive watercourse dredging and
canalising leading to habitat loss and
fragmentation.
• Increased disturbance and bank erosion.
• The spread of American mink in
combination with previous factors leading
to predation and local extinction.
Objectives
• Expand the provision of suitable water vole
habitat along watercourses in the National
Forest area.
Useful links
• Natural England guidance:
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/
regulation/wildlife/species/watervoles.aspx
The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011
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Landscape character areas
The National Forest is made up of six landscape character areas, which are individually distinctive and
influenced by their underlying geology, landform, ecological and historic character. They relate to the
national Joint Character Areas identified by Natural England and form part of the wider landscape that
extend beyond the Forest boundary. As biodiversity is a key component of landscape character, it is
logical to base a spatial approach to BAP targeting on these landscape areas.
Map showing landscape character areas
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Melbourne
Parklands
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all
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W
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Needwood &
South Derbyshire
Claylands
Tre
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Landscape action plans
Landscape action plans
Le
ice
Mease &
Sence Lowlands
ste
rsh
ire
&S
ou
th
De
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sh
ire
Charnwood
Co
alfi
eld
Format
Each landscape character area is presented on a separate sheet, the intention being for them to act as
quick reference notes for anyone wishing to contribute to biodiversity within that area.
Each sheet begins with some basic information on its size in terms of both its area (in hectares) and
the proportion of The National Forest that it represents. A map of the character area then shows the
distribution of priority habitats within it. This map, due to its scale, should only be treated as indicative.
For each area, a short description of its landscape character is provided to give a ‘feel’ for the area. This
is followed by a table listing the habitats and species that are priorities for the character area. It should
be noted that these are priorities for action, not an exclusive list. Other habitats will be present in the
area, but may not be priorities for action.
The back of the sheet contains the targets for the landscape character area, divided into the same
groups as the HAPs. These are derived from the Forest-wide targets for each habitat and are indicative
of the scale of action that is appropriate for each area. The intention is to focus effort where it is most
appropriate. But, that said, our priority is to achieve ongoing gains for biodiversity. If a local target has
been met, that does not mean that no more of that habitat is needed. Our priority is to meet and (ideally)
exceed the Forest-wide targets. Finally, the targets for the priority species for the area are listed.
After the Landscape Area Plans are two tables. The first summarises the actions that are priorities in
each area. The second provides information on some of the mechanisms that could be appropriate in
each area to support the delivery of biodiversity gains. Many of these will be Forest-wide, but some are
more locally available. Once again, it is not an exclusive list but one meant to highlight opportunities.
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The National Forest BAP - 3rd edition 2011