County Wildife Site Criteria for Cornwall Appendices

Species of county importanceA site is eligible for selection if it supports a significant population of a species of countyimportance, or if it supports two species of county importance.Data on locally important vascular plants is available within the Red Data Book for Cornwalland the Isles of Scilly (CISFBR, 2009), and the Rare Plant Register for Cornwall (developedby the Botanical Cornwall Group and due for publication). These documents list plants thatare ‘Cornwall Rare’ (in 3 or less sites in Cornwall), ‘Cornwall Scarce’ (in 4-10 sites inCornwall) and ‘Cornwall Local’ (in 11-20 sites in Cornwall). “A ‘site’ is a discrete area withina moveable kilometre square, which seems at first glance to be slightly vague but in general isfairly easy to apply in practice” (Lockton, Whild, Ellis & Pearman, 2005).‘Species of county importance’ is difficult to define for vascular plants. Some plants on theRare Plant Register for Cornwall may be common elsewhere in Britain; for exampleAlopecurus myosuroides is Cornwall Scarce (found in 9 sites) but is a pernicious weedupcountry. Therefore, although a site may be ‘eligible’ based on these criteria, it is essentialthat the selection of sites based on presence of species of county importance is justifiedcase-by-case by reference to expert judgement, and reasoning behind selection is clearlydocumented.Appendix 6 – Species Evaluation in CornwallCounty Wildlife Sites Criteria