Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

Woodland and open woodland guildsThe results of the audit also reveal more unexpected wealth of biodiversity. Counter-intuitively inlight of the perception that Breckland was an intensively deforested region of open heathland anddune for many centuries of its history, the analysis of assemblages also showed the presence of arange of Breckland conservation priority species that depend on scrub, open woodland, woodland oreven veteran trees and deadwood. This guild includes four Breckland specialists, two Diptera, onereliant on woodland fungi and the other associated with coniferous woodland, and two Coleopteraone of sandy woodlands and the other associated with woodland fungi.A large number of nationally important species open woodland species were recorded, but very fewlocal specialists. Species in woodland habitats are extremely numerous (164 priority species), but theproportion of these that are Breckland specialists are comparatively few (only 2.5%, 4 species). Thewoodland guild contains few RDB (only 25%) and is primarily a guild of notable species (71%). Thespecies in these guilds were dominated by Diptera and Coleoptera (Figure 29).Deadwood and veteran tree guildsThere were also many species (137) requiring deadwood, in both open and woodland conditions.These species are mostly beetles and flies (58% and 30% respectively), which live in the deadwood orassociated fungi. The veteran tree guild contains (containing 53 species) is also dominated by flies(43%) and beetles (39%), which often live within the living or dead wood or require associatedfeature such as rot holes. Many of these species in both guilds are species of ancient woodland,associated with ash and oak, while there are also some species associated with veteran trees in openconditions such as oak and poplar.This guild shows an interesting distribution with a scattering of records primarily associated withSTANTA, but also some key areas of Breckland Forest (Figure 28). The main hotspot, containing 29species is outside of the Breckland NCA, at Ixworth Park where the mix of woodland and openhabitats from the managed parkland is very suitable for these species.Some species within this deadwood community also occur in open habitats, ranging from woodlandrides, frequently with flower rich areas, to open to scrub or woodland ecotones species.Recommendations: There is a need for strategic review of the extent, location and value of the Parkland /Lowland Wood Pasture resource in Breckland (as first recommended by the Brecks WorkshopReport; Perkin and Norden 2007) and of how this relates to mapped biodiversity provided bythe Biodiversity Audit. Groups and sites for further survey should be identified.DeadwoodHololepta plana – Largely restrictedColeoptera – Histeridae (Hister Beetle)A very recent discovery in Breckland, showing that newspecies are still being recorded in Breckland, it isassociated with deadwood particular in riverine andlowland woodland habitats and possibly popular (Populus).© Christoph Benischwww.kerbtier.de142