Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

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The relative pros and cons of grazing the meres, pertinent for both the principal meres and the manysmaller meres, are largely unknown. The BBA does not distinguish between the wetland assemblagesof the pingos and the meres, but key species known to be associated with the meres generallyrequire re-flooding of exposed sediment following periods of draw down and vegetation removal(e.g. by grazing).Management of River ValleysMany fewer species were found to be associated with running water habitats, though these didinclude conservation priority species.The value of within-channel habitats depends on water quality, maintaining flows and on thecomplexity of macro and micro habitats, such as weed-beds, riffles, meanders and coarse woodydebris. It was beyond the scope of this Audit to collate information on river channel management orhabitat quality.The Brecks Workshop Report (Perkin and Norden 2007) identified a number of strategic challengesand priorities for work in the river valleys and wetlands of Breckland, including the need to: Complete the Review of Consents process. Implement the Cam and Ely/Ouse Catchment Area Management Schemes (CAMS). Ensure that the water requirements of the Thetford Growth Point are sustainable. Implement the Water Framework Directive and produce River Basin Management Plansseeking “good ecological status”. Ensure the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative delivers environmental benefits byreducing nutrient, pesticide and sediment run-off.Recommendation: Progress towards the strategic priorities for river valleys and wetlands of Breckland, identifiedby the Brecks Workshop Report (Perkin and Norden 2007) should be reviewed.184
Strategic Challenges to Biodiversity Implementation in BrecklandIn this section strategic challenges facing conservation management in Breckland are identified.Congruence of SSSI designation with priority sitesThe Biodiversity Audit is not able to examine whether the designated sites are concurrent with thedistribution of priority species, as monitoring and survey has been biased strongly towardsdesignated sites. However, it is likely that important localities exist on farmland and waysides.SSSIs and Common Standards MonitoringThere are cases where the requirements for measurable targets have produced institutionalmechanisms that could potentially damage, rather than assist, the original nature conservationvalues for which a site may have been designated. Natural England has developed a system of settingconservation objectives and condition monitoring to maintain a focus on appropriate managementfor the SSSI notified features.However, it is clear that:a) The notified features need to properly represent the conservation interest of a site.b) The conservation objectives need to properly represent the requirements of priority speciesknown or assumed to be present, or capable of being present with changes in management.c) The system of condition monitoring needs to be adequately tailored to detect change againstthose revised conservation objectives.It is likely that early approaches to the notification of SSSIs was carried out with regard to a holisticand integrative sense of the nature value of species assemblages present at sites, with the presenceand subjective quality of the habitats present being taken as a proxy for the likely biodiversity theywould support. This is apparent in the site descriptions presented in the Nature Conservation Review(Ratcliffe 1977), that underpinned much of the initial prioritisation of sites for notification. Biologicalcriteria for selection of SSSIs were made clearer and explicit with the introduction of the 1981Wildlife and Countryside Act, with existing sites subsequently re-notified. However, it is likely thatnotifiable features listed in the criteria sheet that formed part of the notification package oftenserved as a justification for the wider nature value recognised at a site and may have been usedimplicitly as proxies for a wider suite of important biodiversity that was otherwise difficult toquantify, or where data was lacking at the time of notification.Of the priority species for Breckland conservation identified by this Audit: 208 are flowering plants, of which 140 are RDB. 1,636 are invertebrates, of which 287 are RDB.Of the 55 SSSIs that lie within the Breckland NCA, and excluding two woodland sites, one river andtwo sites designated primarily for their aggregations of breeding or non-breeding birds, we haveanalysed the notified features of the remaining 50 SSSI (see Table 4): 49 (98%) have been designated for a vascular plant attribute.Of these:o 44 have plant community as a notified feature.o 20 have a plant species assemblage as a notified feature.o 9 have named RDB or Schedule 8 plant species as a notified feature.185
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Securing Biodiversityin BrecklandGu
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Commissioning GroupNeil Featherston
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Wind-blown sand guild .............
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milder winters and increased winter
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Creating broad ruderal and disturbe
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Introduction“Few of the lowland d
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Inland DunesThe 1km wide dune and b
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Following the Black Death of the mi
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The area of grass-heath declined by
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PingosPingos are ground water fed p
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Breckland Conservation and the Need
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SSSI. The Breckland Forest SSSI cit
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The Breckland Biodiversity Audit ha
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The Breckland bio-geographic region
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polygons of alternating calcareous
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quality calcareous fen communities
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Figure 2. The extent of Breckland,
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Table 3. Grass-heath vegetation in
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The Conservation Resource: Designat
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All other SSSIs are less than 600 h
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GrasslandHeathWoodlandWetlandFlowin
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Calcicolous grasslandsShingle, stra
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Figure 4. Location of designated si
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Figure 6. Location of Plantlife’s
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Figure 7. Locations of stations in
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Scheme for Stilt & Stalk Flies, Dra
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Table 6. Rare vascular plant specie
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Recommendation BTO be commissioned
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Table 7. Species for which records
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Table 8. Descriptions of Red Data B
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If the sub-species was designated b
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Collating and Synthesising Species
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Table 11. Published, documentary an
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Baron de Worms, C.G.M. (1953) Colle
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Guild AnalysisA number of habitat a
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The specific questions for the work
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Findings of the Breckland Biodivers
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Recording Effort and CoverageThere
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Butterfly Conservation (Suffolk) 17
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Norfolk Biodiversity InformationSer
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Figure 11. Number of taxonomic grou
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difference is partly attributable t
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There were Breckland specialist spe
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Figure 13. Proportion of Breckland
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Distribution of Breckland Conservat
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Figure 15. Number of Breckland cons
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Evidence of Climatic Change: Long-T
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Figure 17. Total seasonal precipita
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Biodiversity Implications of the Ch
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Ariel depositions to agricultural s
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the status of Deschampsia flexuosa.
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The relative effects of ploughing,
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Trends in Species Status: Extinctio
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HymenopteraHymenopteraHymenopteraCo
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In addition to the loss of rare lic
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edstraw Galium parisiense (Tansley
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The relative extent of lichen rich
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The Feasibility and Usefulness of t
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Across patch arrangementLandscape c
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Across patcharrangementJuxtapositio
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Delivery of Multiple Species by Int
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Mechanical disturbance to create br
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estricted to road verges, with the
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Page 133 and 134: Records of species from this guild
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Page 159 and 160: Complex Sward MosaicsComplex sward
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Page 167 and 168: Shallow cultivation is preferable t
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Page 179 and 180: Restored pingo complexAt Great Hock
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Page 189 and 190: Recommendation: Natural England and
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Page 193 and 194: Creating networks for resilienceTo
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Page 199 and 200: Connectivity networks© Neal Armour
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Page 205 and 206: ReferencesADAS. (1997) Biological M
Page 207 and 208: Haes, E. C. M. & Harding, P. T. (19
Page 209 and 210: Sastre, B.(2003). Ground spider com
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Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

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