Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission
Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission
Securing Biodiversity in Breckland - European Commission
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If the sub-species was designated but the parent species was not (e.g. Helianthemum oelandicumsubsp. <strong>in</strong>canum - Status: Nationally Scarce; Bromus hordeaceus subsp. thom<strong>in</strong>ei - Status: NationallyScarce), the parent and the sub-species were considered separately <strong>in</strong> all analysis and presentation.Where both the ma<strong>in</strong> and the sub-species were designated, records for the two were comb<strong>in</strong>edand the higher designation was assigned (e.g. Monotropa hypopitys – RDB: Endangered, BAP;subsp. hypophegea – RDB: Endangered, Status: NS, BAP; Eurhynchium pulchellum - Status:Nationally Scarce, BAP; var. diversifolium – RDB: Endangered).Viola tricolor subsp. curtisii is a coastal sub-species occurr<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>land <strong>in</strong> <strong>Breckland</strong> but is notdesignated, whilst the subsp. tricolor and the parent species are both designated as RDB. In thiscase the sub-species Viola tricolor subsp. curtisii was considered separately from the parent speciesor other sub-species.<strong>Breckland</strong> Specialist Species: CriteriaSelection of <strong>Breckland</strong> SpecialistsThe importance of <strong>Breckland</strong> for regional endemics and specialists was established by identify<strong>in</strong>gspecies whose distribution range or population size: Is entirely restricted to the <strong>Breckland</strong> region. Is largely restricted to the <strong>Breckland</strong> region. Have a primary stronghold <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Breckland</strong> region. Have a secondary stronghold <strong>in</strong> <strong>Breckland</strong>. Species with a ma<strong>in</strong>ly coastal distribution and not found <strong>in</strong>land apart from with<strong>in</strong> <strong>Breckland</strong>,were also considered as a separate class of regional specialist as these also contribute to thedist<strong>in</strong>ctive biological character of the region.Def<strong>in</strong>itions of restricted status and strongholds are given <strong>in</strong> Table 10. Note: As described earlier, the<strong>Breckland</strong> region was def<strong>in</strong>ed as the 23 10 km squares that make up the National Character Area.Initial identification of <strong>Breckland</strong> specialists was conducted by a prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study of all statements<strong>in</strong> Recorder 6 database. These statements <strong>in</strong>clude <strong>in</strong>formation from the Invertebrate Site Registerand a number of Red Data Books and species atlases (Table 11). Species for which “<strong>Breckland</strong>” orthe “East Anglian Brecks” was stated as important were selected and formed the draft list of<strong>Breckland</strong> specialists.This list was ref<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> consultation with specialists and experts at the Species and HabitatWorkshop and subsequently by contact<strong>in</strong>g approximately a further 60 species experts. In total, thepopulation or distribution status of 744 species was evaluated <strong>in</strong> relation to their uniqueness to<strong>Breckland</strong>.For some taxonomic groups accurate <strong>in</strong>formation regard<strong>in</strong>g UK distributions and populations sizesare available and were used to classify <strong>Breckland</strong> specialist status. Sizes of breed<strong>in</strong>g birdpopulations were used to select <strong>Breckland</strong> specialist birds accord<strong>in</strong>g to the criteria <strong>in</strong> Table 10.Atlases of UK population distributions for flower<strong>in</strong>g plants and spiders were available and these<strong>in</strong>cluded the number of UK 10 km grid squares <strong>in</strong> which a species has been recorded (Hill et al.2004, British Arachnological Society records (P. Harvey pers. comm.). For other groups, such as61