Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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Utilities Transport Type of Works Guidance for UK Countries Mineral Site Restoration Check site for the presence of gas and water mains, sewerage pipes and electricity cables. If works are adjacent to a road, the Highways Authority should be contacted and if adjacent to a railway, contact Network Rail If there is an airport in the vicinity, then the issue of bird strike needs to be considered –contact the relevant aviation authority. Wetlands and Bird strike guidance England Guidance is available in the form of Mineral Planning Guidance (MPGs) and Planning Policy Guidance (PPGs) Wales Mineral Planning Policy Guidelines (MPPG) provide guidance (National Assembly of Wales) Scotland National Planning Policy Guidelines (NPPGs) supported by Planning Advice Notes and Circulars Northern Ireland Guidance is provided by Planning Policy Statements (PPS) and Development Control Advice Notes (DCANs) but there are none that refer specifically to minerals Protected Species Protected wetland species Some species are protected under European legislation only whilst others are protected under UK legislation. http://www.ccw.gov.uk/landscape--wildlife/habitats-species/species-protection/licensing.aspx http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/ wildlife/default.aspx http://www.snh.org.uk/licences/lic-intro.asp Useful websites: Environment Agency www.environment-agency.gov.uk Natural England www.naturalengland.org.uk Countryside Council for Wales www.ccw.gov.uk Scottish Environment Protection Agency www.sepa.org.uk Scottish Natural Heritage www.snh.org.uk Northern Ireland Environment Agency www.ni-environment.gov.uk Organisation to contact Contact appropriate utilities and companies in your area. Network Rail Highways Authority (England) Civil Aviation Authority Mineral Planning Authority (County Council or Unitary Authority) Mineral Planning Authority (Unitary Authority) Development Control Authority –Regional or Island Council (one tier areas) NIEA NE CCW SNH NIEA Key to Abbreviations in Table: CCW Countryside Council for Wales EA Environment Agency IDB Internal Drainage Board SEPA Scottish Environment Protection Agency NE Natural England NIEA Northern Ireland Environment Agency SNH Scottish Natural Heritage 299
Appendix VI – Fen management for bryophytes In general, favourable management of fens should deliver favourable conditions for fen bryophytes, although there are obvious exceptions when succession has modified the bryophyte flora of a fen and management then impacts on the resulting flora. Ecological change and loss of management appear to be the main causes of the loss of populations of Red Data Book (Church et al, 2001) and UKBAP species from lowland mires in recent years, especially in East Anglia, although wholescale habitat destruction through drainage is thought to have caused the extinction of three rich-fen mosses including Paludella squarrosa in northern England in the late 19th century, and Meesia triquetra in Ireland as recently as the 1960s. Key environmental and management factors for mosses and liverworts Water chemistry Bryophytes are highly sensitive to changes in water chemistry. The majority of fen bryophytes require low macro-nutrient (i.e. N, P & K) levels and are intolerant of nutrient enrichment. They vary more in terms of base tolerance, from low base status (poor-fen) species, through neutral water specialists to obligate rich-fen species. It is critical that site managers understand the natural water chemistry of a site and ensure irrigation with nutrient-poor water of suitable base-status. Kooijman & Bakker (1995) carried out cultivation experiments that showed Sphagnum squarrosum responding to nutrient enrichment more than S. subnitens, and Scorpidium scorpioides being more tolerant of mineral-rich groundwater than the two sphagna. The common generalist Calliergonella cuspidata replaced the fen specialist S. scorpioides as nutrient levels rose, and the base-intolerant Sphagnum squarrosum replaced Calliergonella when inputs of groundwater declined. Such transitions can be observed in situ and may be rapid; sometimes resulting in substantial change in the character of fen features. For example, blocking ditches feeding mineral-rich water into a wetland can lead to the formation of poor-fen (van Wirdum, 1995). Complete competitive exclusions are probably rare (Malson & Rydin, 2009), at least among rich-fen bryophytes, but declines in abundance and vigour can lead to the loss of species to other environmental changes. Even traditionally managed fens can lose specialist bryophytes because of changes in surrounding land use or atmospheric N deposition (Bergamini et al., 2009): surveys in 1995 and 2006 of 36 traditionally managed fens in Switzerland showed significant losses in fen specialist bryophytes and Red-list plants, and a significant increase in vascular plant biomass. N deposition is implicated in an increase in Sphagnum fallax on bogs (Limpens et al., 2003) and clearly has an impact on fens as well. Most of lowland Britain is above the critical threshold for N enrichment of fens (www.apis. ac.uk), making management even more challenging and emphasising the need for restriction of nutrient inputs within the entire catchment of a fen. Grazing or mowing may be needed to remove the competitive vascular plants that develop in response to enrichment. The effects of atmospheric enrichment are often exacerbated by water abstraction (see Case Study 10) and enrichment, as demonstrated by the loss of the UKBAP liverwort Leiocolea rutheana from four of its five sites in Norfolk and its decline at the fifth (Church et al., 2001; Swann, 1982). Hydrology Changes in hydrological regime can produce unsuitable conditions for key rich-fen mosses. Many experience fluctuating water levels and periodic inundation in the winter, but a rapid or sustained increase in water levels can lead to the loss of species such as Calliergon giganteum, which is replaced in deeper, more nutrient-rich water by C. cordifolium. Buoyant fen rafts may be more resilient than non-buoyant surfaces, but any rapid change in water levels should be avoided in favour of a gradual rise. Ditch blocking to raise water levels in one part of a fen may divert enriched or chemically unsuitable water on to another part and can have unforeseen consequences on the bryophyte flora. 300
Page 1 and 2:
The Fen Management Handbook Edited
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Acknowledgements Production of the
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1. Introduction and Basic Principle
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Estimates of the original coverage
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Guiding principles for fen manageme
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Section 12: Fens from an Economic P
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2.1 Diversity and conservation sign
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Part of Cropple How Mire in Cumbria
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The moss flora of base-rich springs
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Bog bean growing in a transitional
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Mesotrophic openwater transition fe
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Water shrews (Neomys fodiens), also
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2.4.1 Vegetated margins of open wat
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2.4.3 Grazed or cut fen in floodpla
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2.6 Amphibians Amphibians are depen
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The mud snail Omphiscola glabra (12
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Old trees and dead wood Continuous
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Vascular plants Flat-sedge Blysmus
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3. Understanding Fen Hydrology Quan
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Groundwater discharge to fens is us
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Water Table 3.4.1.4 Spring fed fen
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3.5 Factors determining fen type 3.
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- Flooding - frequency and magnitud
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3.7 Further information and advice
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Groundwater inflow. Groundwater lev
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It is likely that groundwater disch
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Case Study 3.3 Hydro(geo)logical im
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4. Understanding Fen Nutrients Nutr
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nutrients. For example, at high con
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4.2.1 Groundwater and surface water
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4.2.3 Point and diffuse sources of
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Area of acute nutrient enrichment o
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4.4 Classifying water chemistry usi
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4.6 Identifying nutrient enrichment
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Negative indicator species for diff
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Many of the floristic changes which
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Case Study 4.1 Understanding Fen Nu
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5.1 Why do fens need management? In
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5.2 Checklist of key stages in deci
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5.3.3 Scale Although fens are linke
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5.4 Site survey to establish what i
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variability and how these relate to
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- The fauna which inhabit the fen c
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- Prioritise objectives to achieve
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inundation are less likely to be sp
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5.13 References Barsoum, N., Anders
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Case Study 5.2 Fen Management and R
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- 14km of livestock fencing install
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Case Study 5.3 Fen Management and R
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6. Fen Management and Restoration -
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Both the benefits and potentially l
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Cattle forced by flooding to the ed
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At low/medium stocking density, cat
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Goats have narrow muzzles and a fle
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Fens usually feature a range of dif
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Excessive poaching where cattle hav
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extensive areas of wetlands which w
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‘Soft track’ machines, such as
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The design of the pipeline allows f
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Protocol for burning standing reedb
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Long rotation scrub clearance may b
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‘Bird-eye’ and incineration A t
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6.7 Restoring fen meadow Many forme
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Current Management The current mana
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Case Study 6.2 Fen Vegetation Manag
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species diversity of wetland passer
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The temptation to burn large areas
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Outcomes In the eight years that th
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Anglesey sites is now underway supp
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Close grazed short sward of sedges
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Turf cutting Turf cutting has been
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7.1 A framework to assist decision
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Surface water level change e.g. - a
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and the surface to acidify, resulti
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Smaller excavations are preferable
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Morton Lochs, which extend to appro
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Although shallow excavations are pr
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At Leighton Moss in Lancashire, are
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Excavating spoil within the area to
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uilt dams can only be formed in dit
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Case Study 7.1 Fen Water Management
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8. Managing Fen Nutrient Enrichment
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Summary table of key techniques for
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8.2 Managing the source of nutrient
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Marginal interceptor ditch at Cors
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8.3.4 Bund creation In some cases i
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emoval or soil stripping, both of w
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8.5 Monitoring nutrient reduction D
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Recent photo of stripped surface sh
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9.1 Scope for fen creation The Grea
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9.3 What type of fen? New fens can
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9.5 Restraints on fen creation Plan
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9.6 Check list of issues to conside
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9.7 Site assessment Planning and de
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LIDAR maps can provide a general un
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generally more acidic than silts an
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Site visits and careful assessment
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9.8.4 Plastic membranes On sites wi
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Use of seed bombs ‘Seed bombs’
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Experience has shown that the most
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9.10.2 Creation of niches for plant
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Meade, R. & Wheeler, B.D. 2007. Rai
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- On-going measurement of the effec
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with appropriate training. Providin
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10.3 Biological monitoring techniqu
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Undesirable species for key NVC com
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10.3.3 Vegetation Mapping An initia
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It is good practise to record with
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10.4 Biological monitoring techniqu
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for Ornithology, the Bat Conservati
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Box 2: Construction, installation a
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10.8 Monitoring surface water flows
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- Phytometric tests measure how wel
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Storage of data and information on
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period, simply because it is design
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Another consideration is the likely
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11.1 An historical perspective Poll
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Inviting volunteer involvement in f
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11.3.3 Stakeholders ‘Stakeholders
Page 245 and 246: have been designated under access a
Page 247 and 248: 11.6.4 Boardwalks Boardwalks are no
Page 249 and 250: 11.6.5 Water borne access Waterways
Page 251 and 252: - Explore opportunities to stimulat
Page 253 and 254: Case Study 11.1 Fens and people - S
Page 255 and 256: Case Study 11.2 Fens and People - H
Page 257 and 258: 12. Fens from an Economic Perspecti
Page 259 and 260: 12.1.3 Biomass energy and Biofuels
Page 261 and 262: 12.2 Environmental regulation 12.2.
Page 263 and 264: the peat carbon store is depleted t
Page 265 and 266: Another mechanism for funding wetla
Page 267 and 268: Whitlaw Mosses in Scotland (see det
Page 269 and 270: 12.8 References Dickie, I., Hughes,
Page 271 and 272: Nitrogen fixation conversion of gas
Page 273 and 274: Appendix III - List of species refe
Page 275 and 276: Table 1 - Mammal species associated
Page 277 and 278: 280 Bittern Botaurus stellaris All
Page 279 and 280: Grasshopper Warbler 282 Locustella
Page 281 and 282: Table 4 - Fish species associated w
Page 283 and 284: Table 5 - Legally protected inverte
Page 285 and 286: 288 Community Topogenous fens S24 P
Page 287 and 288: 290 Community S8 Scirpus lacustris
Page 289 and 290: 292 Community M11 Carex demissa - S
Page 291 and 292: 294 Community M23 Juncus effusus /
Page 293 and 294: Appendix V - Legal and regulatory c
Page 295: 298 Type of Works Guidance for UK C
Page 299 and 300: However, three of the four species
Page 301 and 302: Sensitive periods Harvest mice bree
Page 303 and 304: species like bittern, and then drop
Page 305 and 306: Sensitive periods Species breed wit
Page 307 and 308: Great Crested Newt Great crested ne
Page 309 and 310: Appendix VIII - Fen management for
Page 311 and 312: Mollusca (snails, slugs and mussels
Page 313 and 314: Other than for rare or exceptional
Page 315 and 316: There is usually some degree of sub
Page 317 and 318: Management requirements for protect
Page 319 and 320: Appendix IX - Further reading Secti
Page 321 and 322: Koerselman, W., Bakker, S.A. & Blom
Page 323 and 324: Section 5: Fen Management and Resto
Page 325 and 326: Patzelt, A, Wild, U. and Jörg Pfad
Page 327 and 328: Index A access 103, 110, 190, 226,
Page 329: cutting 114 disposal 117 management
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Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

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