Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

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RecommendationsHistorical land use Further investigation of the long term patterns of land-use between heath and arable, linkingland-use archaeology and ecology, will benefit understanding of habitat and speciesrequirements. Relating the current and recent past distribution of speciality Breckland vascular plants tohistorical land-use will provide insights to past ecology.Coverage of species records BTO be commissioned to analyse Atlas data, BBS data and other survey coverage fromBreckland, in relation to East Anglia and lowland England, to identify which species haveregionally or nationally important populations. Encourage further survey and recording effort of under-represented groups, particularly truebugs (hemiptera), flies (diptera) and non-carabid coleopteran (beetles), and regionallyimportant under-recorded groups such as freshwater aquatic invertebrates and spiders. Consider ways to aid digitisation of historic records. Encourage recording of multiple taxa in under-recorded areas, particularly within theBreckland Forest and Farmland SSSIs. Further investigation is needed to understand the distributions of coastal Brecklandspecialists and to fully quantify the number of species that have their only inland populationin Breckland. Work is needed to understand the importance of inland populations and the potential asrefuges of primarily coastal species. This may be increasingly important in context of sea levelrise and threats to coastal habitats. Further investigate the UK distribution of Breckland specialists without conservation statuses.Encourage further recording of these species. Survey work should be encouraged or commissioned to improve understanding of the statusabundance and distribution of those species considered to be Extinct in the UK according tothe Natural England Lost Life report, but for which the Audit has collated recent records. Surveillance and monitoring of created chalk exposures should be repeated intermittently toexamine whether rare terricolous lichen species re-colonise by long-distance spore transport.Threats: Climate change and nutrient deposition Ground water scenarios should be explored by models that combine temperature andprecipitation in equations for potential evapo-transpiration. Attempt to mitigate increased vegetation productivity from milder and wetter winters bygreater use of soil disturbance transpiration and adjustments in grazing regimes to removeexcess biomass. Nitrogen deposition is a significant pressure for Breckland grass-heath eco-systems.Management tools to mitigate nitrogen accumulation impacts are imperfectly understood,but the use of soil disturbance, turf stripping and encouraging high density rabbit populationsare possible approaches. Soil nutrient properties of annually rotovated plots should be assessed, in comparison withadjacent untreated control areas of similar basic soil type. Managers should examine results200
and consider whether these repeatedly rotovated plots should be continued further, or left tofallow and develop oligotrophic grass-heath while beginning soil disturbance management onnew plots.The relative effects of ploughing, rotovating and turf stripping on soil nutrient propertiesshould be investigated, across a range of soil types differing in pH and organic content. Thiscould first be explored by systematic review of available studies, but if insufficientinformation is available, it will be necessary to undertake experimental research and monitorsoil and leachate in replicated experimental trials.Current research commissioned by Natural England aimed at examining whether intensivelivestock and poultry units have had or are having localised impacts on nearby grass-heathsites is not sufficient in design or sensitivity to show whether there is an effect. Furtherresearch is required, but this should include direct measurements of nitrogen deposition ratesas well as vegetation dynamics in both existing and experimentally manipulated swards (i.e.with manipulated Festuca-Deschampsia composition on mineral and organic soils).Concerns and uncertainties regarding the condition of remaining grass-heaths Available quantitative data for vegetation species composition at known sites could becollated and analysed to examine trends in species composition. A field based survey and audit of the acidic grass-heath could be conducted to examine theextent and successional status of the remaining resource, in order to guide priorities formanagement. The relative extent of lichen rich and ephemeral / therophyte rich NVC sub-communitiescompared to grass and herb-rich NVC sub-communities (including mesic vegetation withHolcus, Anthoxanthum and Trisetum), compared to Deschampsia dominated subcommunitiesbe assessed across a suite of Breckland grass-heaths, considering both theacidiphilous and calcareous resource. This may be possible using data held by NaturalEngland, or may require commissioning of field based survey. Spatial analysis should be conducted to examine whether, within species-rich assemblages,sites known to support one or more of the BAP representatives for the guild are also the sitesthat are overall richest in the guild. If so, targeting management resource at sites known tohold BAP species will be an effective strategy for conserving the overall guild. If not, then itmay be better to target guild-based prescriptions at sites known to support guild members.Conservation value of cultivated arable There is an urgent need to conduct extensive survey work, examining a wider range ofinvertebrate taxonomic groups, in order to improve understanding of the conservation valueof cultivated arable margins and other elements of the (poorly known) farmland landscape. Work should seek to improve understanding of how species and assemblage responses differin relation to: soil type, aspect, exposure, crop rotation, boundary features (e.g. grass banks,hedges, shelter belts) and geographical location within Breckland, and what are theirmanagement needs (e.g. cultivation frequency, timing and type. Research should be conducted to evaluate and compare the relative value of cultivatedmargins within the arable landscape with the potential to recreate intermittently cultivatedruderal fallows (brecks) from unmodified (unfertilised) soils and intact seedbanks in theThetford Forest landscape. Research should focus on scarce arable and ruderal plantassemblages and their associated invertebrate assemblages (e.g. beetles particularly carabids,201
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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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Records of species from this guild
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© Jeremy Earlywww.natureconservati
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Open with sward mosaics guildChryso
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Grazing without physical disturbanc
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Deadwood in an open-woodland ecoton
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Specific Requirement in a Variety o
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Management to Sustain Dry Terrestri
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Page 151 and 152: GrazingrequirementsLightly sheep-gr
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Page 155 and 156: Wind-blown sandThere is great uncer
Page 157 and 158: IntensityProcess Technique Immediat
Page 159 and 160: Complex Sward MosaicsComplex sward
Page 161 and 162: Management for Assemblages of Light
Page 163 and 164: Management for Species of Physicall
Page 165 and 166: Key Recommendations for Cultivated
Page 167 and 168: Shallow cultivation is preferable t
Page 169 and 170: Maidscross Hill is largely overgrow
Page 171 and 172: Ecological Requirements of Wetland
Page 173 and 174: numbers of conservation priority sp
Page 175 and 176: Recommendation Requirements of wetl
Page 177 and 178: Figure 31. Number of Breckland cons
Page 179 and 180: Restored pingo complexAt Great Hock
Page 181 and 182: Figure 32. Number of Breckland cons
Page 183 and 184: the difficulties of achieving this
Page 185 and 186: Strategic Challenges to Biodiversit
Page 187 and 188: Table 22. Problems arising from poo
Page 189 and 190: Recommendation: Natural England and
Page 191 and 192: It is therefore vital to carefully
Page 193 and 194: Creating networks for resilienceTo
Page 195 and 196: More ambitious possibilities that c
Page 197 and 198: Figure 34. Example of a potential c
Page 199: Connectivity networks© Neal Armour
Page 203 and 204: Ensure that scrub removal, ploughin
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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