Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission

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CONTENTSExecutive Summary ........................................................................................................................... 6Glossary .......................................................................................................................................... 10Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 11The Breckland Region .................................................................................................................. 11Dynamic Changes in Breckland ................................................................................................ 12Recent Landscape and Land-Use Change ................................................................................. 16Changes in Fen, Wetland and River Valley habitats .............................................................. 17Breckland Conservation and the Need for this Audit ................................................................... 21Aims of the audit ......................................................................................................................... 25The Breckland bio-geographic region: climate, soil, vegetation and regional limits ..................... 27The Conservation Resource: Designated Areas ............................................................................ 37Breckland Biodiversity Audit: Methodology .................................................................................... 48Analysing Long-Term Trends in Weather ..................................................................................... 48Defining the Area of Species Record Capture .............................................................................. 50Collation and Sources of Species Records .................................................................................... 50Sources of Species Records ..................................................................................................... 50Duplicate Records ................................................................................................................... 54Record coverage and completeness ........................................................................................ 54Species historic to Breckland ................................................................................................... 55Data quality and resolution ......................................................................................................... 55Species lists and validation .......................................................................................................... 56Breckland Conservation Priority Species: Criteria ........................................................................ 58Treatment of Sub-species ........................................................................................................ 60Breckland Specialist Species: Criteria ....................................................................................... 61Collating and Synthesising Species Ecological Requirements ....................................................... 63Rationale for the Approach ..................................................................................................... 63Selection of Habitat and Ecological Process Categories ........................................................... 63Sources of Ecological Information ........................................................................................... 64Guild Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 69Current Conservation Management ............................................................................................ 70Data Mapping and Analysis ......................................................................................................... 71Findings of the Breckland Biodiversity Audit ................................................................................... 73Records and coverage ................................................................................................................. 73The Biodiversity Importance of Breckland ................................................................................... 82Differences in the Conservation Status of Rare Species in Breckland ....................................... 88Distribution of Breckland Conservation Priority Species .......................................................... 89Rarest and Most Widespread of the Priority and Specialist Species ......................................... 89Evidence of Climatic Change: Long-Term Trends in Weather ....................................................... 93Biodiversity Implications of the Changing Breckland Climate ................................................... 97Nitrogen Deposition: Potential Impacts and Mitigation ............................................................... 98Trends in Species Status: Extinctions and Declines .................................................................... 105Ecological Requirements of Breckland Biodiversity: Broad Habitat Associations ........................ 113The Feasibility and Usefulness of the Ecological Assemblage Approach ..................................... 115Delivery of Multiple Species by Integrated Species Biodiversity Action Plans......................... 121Breckland Species Assemblages .................................................................................................... 122Requirements of Dry Terrestrial Assemblages ........................................................................... 122Disturbance and Intensive Grazing Guild ............................................................................... 1224
Wind-blown sand guild .......................................................................................................... 126Physically Disturbed, Ungrazed Guild .................................................................................... 128Importance of Areas of Scrub Adjacent to Open Habitats ...................................................... 138Assemblages of priority species requiring sward mosaics ...................................................... 138Grazing and No/Iinfrequent Disturbance Guild ...................................................................... 139Woodland and open woodland guilds ................................................................................... 142Deadwood and veteran tree guilds ........................................................................................ 142Specific Requirement in a Variety of Habitats ........................................................................ 145Management to Sustain Dry Terrestrial Assemblages ................................................................ 147Current approaches to grass-heath management .................................................................. 147Management Recommendations for Prioritiy Assemblages in Grass-Heath Habitats ............. 148Complex Sward Mosaics ........................................................................................................ 159Nested Heterogeneity ........................................................................................................... 160Management for Assemblages of Lightly or Ungrazed, Undisturbed Conditions .................... 161Management for Species of Physically Disturbed, Ungrazed Conditions: ............................... 163Cultivated Margins Compared to Unsprayed Cereal Margins ................................................. 166Delivering ungrazed, disturbed conditions outside the arable landscape ............................... 167Targeting Ungrazed ‘Brownfield’ Sites ................................................................................... 168Lightly or Ungrazed, Disturbed Open Space within the Forest Landscape .............................. 169Grazing Susceptible Perennials .............................................................................................. 169Ecological Requirements of Wetland Assemblages .................................................................... 171StandingWater, Pingos and Fluctuating Meres ...................................................................... 171The Relative Importance of Shaded and Unshaded Wetland Habitats ................................... 172Littoral Habitats..................................................................................................................... 173Grazing of Wetlands and Fluctuating Water Bodies ............................................................... 178River Valley Assemblages ...................................................................................................... 180Management to Sustain Wetland Assemblages ......................................................................... 182Strategic Challenges to Biodiversity Implementation in Breckland ................................................ 185Integrated landscape-scale strategies ........................................................................................... 190Networks for resilience ................................................................................................................. 192Recommendations ........................................................................................................................ 200References .................................................................................................................................... 2055
Page 1 and 2: Securing Biodiversityin BrecklandGu
Page 3: Commissioning GroupNeil Featherston
Page 7 and 8: milder winters and increased winter
Page 9 and 10: Creating broad ruderal and disturbe
Page 11 and 12: Introduction“Few of the lowland d
Page 13 and 14: Inland DunesThe 1km wide dune and b
Page 15 and 16: Following the Black Death of the mi
Page 17 and 18: The area of grass-heath declined by
Page 19 and 20: PingosPingos are ground water fed p
Page 21 and 22: Breckland Conservation and the Need
Page 23 and 24: SSSI. The Breckland Forest SSSI cit
Page 25 and 26: The Breckland Biodiversity Audit ha
Page 27 and 28: The Breckland bio-geographic region
Page 29 and 30: polygons of alternating calcareous
Page 31 and 32: quality calcareous fen communities
Page 33 and 34: Figure 2. The extent of Breckland,
Page 35 and 36: Table 3. Grass-heath vegetation in
Page 37 and 38: The Conservation Resource: Designat
Page 39 and 40: All other SSSIs are less than 600 h
Page 41 and 42: GrasslandHeathWoodlandWetlandFlowin
Page 43 and 44: Calcicolous grasslandsShingle, stra
Page 45 and 46: Figure 4. Location of designated si
Page 47 and 48: Figure 6. Location of Plantlife’s
Page 49 and 50: Figure 7. Locations of stations in
Page 51 and 52: Scheme for Stilt & Stalk Flies, Dra
Page 53 and 54: Table 6. Rare vascular plant specie
Page 55 and 56:
Recommendation BTO be commissioned
Page 57 and 58:
Table 7. Species for which records
Page 59 and 60:
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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131
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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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Heather should rather be considered
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GrazingrequirementsLightly sheep-gr
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a mosaic of overlapping ploughed, a
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Wind-blown sandThere is great uncer
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IntensityProcess Technique Immediat
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Complex Sward MosaicsComplex sward
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Management for Assemblages of Light
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Management for Species of Physicall
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Key Recommendations for Cultivated
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Shallow cultivation is preferable t
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Maidscross Hill is largely overgrow
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Ecological Requirements of Wetland
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numbers of conservation priority sp
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Recommendation Requirements of wetl
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Restored pingo complexAt Great Hock
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the difficulties of achieving this
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Strategic Challenges to Biodiversit
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Table 22. Problems arising from poo
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Recommendation: Natural England and
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It is therefore vital to carefully
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Creating networks for resilienceTo
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More ambitious possibilities that c
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Figure 34. Example of a potential c
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Connectivity networks© Neal Armour
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and consider whether these repeated
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Ensure that scrub removal, ploughin
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ReferencesADAS. (1997) Biological M
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Haes, E. C. M. & Harding, P. T. (19
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Sastre, B.(2003). Ground spider com
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