SUSTAINABILITY

MOD is experienced with managing
Habitats Regulations Assessments
(HRAs) for a wide variety of projects.
The original sandbag revetment of the communication trench wall still in-situ after 100 years © Crown
White-tailed eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, often described as ‘the flying barn door’ © David Kjaer
Wildlife around the airfield is largely
habituated to conventional day to day
activity, but when novel proposals have
potential to affect areas with statutory
designations a robust process exists to
screen for potential impacts and, where
needed, identify options to mitigate
those impacts. One such proposal
occurred in 2016, when a study of
available options around the UK found
that the logistical and training assets in
and around Leuchars Station made it
the most suitable site available as a
base for a multi-service exercise
required to provide specialist training in
a variety of testing environments using
air, land, and sea. An exercise of this
scale had not been carried out from
Leuchars before, and the proximity to
designated areas with sensitive
environmental features was identified
as a possible constraint, particularly the
high level designations of the SAC, SPA
and Ramsar sites which are part of the
European Natura 2000 network. Initial
screening of impacts in these
circumstances involves military exercise
planners and DIO environmental
specialists looking at broad details of
the proposal to assess whether there
are any suitable alternatives or obvious
‘showstoppers’, and if this stage is
passed consultation moves on to the
relevant Statutory Nature Conservation
Organisation, in this case Scottish
Natural Heritage (SNH).
MOD, like other public bodies, acts as
a ‘Competent Authority’ under the
Habitats Regulations and has a
responsibility to avoid damage and
significant disturbance to habitats and
species at Natura 2000 sites as well as a
legal obligation to make judgements
regarding the likelihood of plans or
projects to have a significant effect on
the designated features that are
present. As a major landowner
managing nearly 80,000ha of Natura
2000 designated habitat within the UK
estate, plus responsibilities for training
on private land with designations,
A crucial part of the process is early
involvement with a project as HRA can
be a long process, and a key factor in
whether it is feasible or not is timing
and duration. In this case the exercise
planner had already chosen five days in
late summer for the core training
activities which fortunately coincided
with the end of both the bird nesting
season and the harbour seal breeding
season, and would be before the main
build-up of migratory wintering birds
and the onset of grey seal pupping,
therefore a window of opportunity for
this site where negative impacts were
likely to be less significant. Discussion
with SNH and other local stakeholders
helped screen out likely effects on
many protected features, and the HRA
identified three remaining receptors
that, without mitigation, could be
adversely impacted by the exercise,
namely rafts of seabirds off-shore that
could be affected by parachute drops
and fast boat transits, harbour seals
completing their post breeding moult
at haul out sites that could be affected
by boat recovery or low flying aircraft,
and damage to the sand dunes by
vehicle movements.
The military exercise planner was fully
engaged with devising suitable
mitigation for the exercise, and agreed
to incorporate restrictions on where
boats could be recovered from, what
speed they could travel inshore, and
what routes vehicles could use, as well
as including instructions to personnel
to observe and avoid seals or seabirds
that might be present in open water.
Another consideration, although not
included as part of local site
designations, was the presence of
white-tailed eagles nearby which have
the highest level of legal protection in
the UK, and airfield records confirmed
that they were observed once or twice
per month so could potentially be at
risk from aircraft movements as well as
posing a risk to aircraft themselves.
Awareness would be raised for visiting
aircrew but no special considerations
required, as avoidance of birdstrike is
SANCTUARY 45 2016
59