Habitat Management

1. Habitat Management Environmental Studies

2. Objectives • To look at the range of options available to protect or encourage species in the wild.

3. Habitat Management National and Local Nature Reserves and protected areas are used to prevent disturbance or damage to an existing habitat. • StudlandHeath NNR, • WintertonDunes NNR, • MinsmereRSPB reserve, • SlimbridgeWWT reserve Gloucestershire, • Loch Garten RSPB reserve Scotland • National Parks in many countries outside UK • MasaiMara, Kenya; • Serengeti, Tanzania; • Great Barrier reef, Australia

4. Habitat Management • We can maintain a habitat by counteracting undesirable change • ecological succession will occur when a new species is introduced. • Culling or removal of dominant or introduced predators and competitors allows the original wildlife back. • removal of rhododendron and bracken from heathland and moorland • removal of willow carr woodland on Catfield fen, Norfolk, to encourage swallowtail butterflies • removal of invasive scrub from Magdalen Hill Down, Hampshire, for butterfly conservation: • Brown argus, • Green hairstreak, • Chalk-hill blue

5. Magdalen Hill Down • Years ago, the hillside was a paradise of wild flowers and butterflies. But by 1989 there was a heavy growth of wild privet, dogwood, bramble and hawthorn, which threatened the delicate flowers and the butterflies that depend on them. • The scrub has now been cleared and is kept under control: only selected thickets are retained to give shelter and provide a habitat for birds and other creatures. Many shrubs and trees are the larval food plants for moths.

6. Habitat Management • We can increase an areas wildlife value by making the conditions more suitable for the desired species • providing bird/bat boxes, • raising the water table in a wetland habitat, • Increasing habitat diversity, • biological corridors such as hedgerows

7. Habitat Management To restore valuable damaged habitats • Biodiversity Action Plans provide multi-agency, coordinated approach to species conservation. -www.ukbap.org.uk -www.bucksinfo.net/wildlife/biodiversity-action-plan/

8. Habitat Management Habitat creation • Altering an unsuitable habitat so that the desired species can survive there • woodland planting, • pond creation • Wetlands • www.afterminerals.com • Case study • Manor farm

9. Key Terms

10. UK Designations Environmental Studies

11. Conservation in the UK The government has organisations such as Natural England and the Countryside Council for Wales which are in charge of protecting sites of ecological importance and which contain endangered species.

12. Site Designations • SSSI, Site Specific Scientific Interest • NNR, National Nature Reserve • LNR Local Nature Reserve • MNR, Marine Nature Reserves • ESA Environmentally Sensitive Areas • SPA, Special Protection Area • SAC, Special Areas of Conservation • Ramsar Site, marine

13. UK Designations Designation of a protected area restricts the damaging activities which may take place. Many areas have multiple designations to give additional or different types of protection.) 1. Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) Areas of particular interest because of their plants, animals, geographical or geological features. • e.g. Bure Marshes, Norfolk

14. Bure Marshes, Norfolk

15. 2. National Nature Reserves (NNR) Usually SSSIs which are good examples of important habitats with complete communities of species. • e.g. Studland Heath, Dorset

16. 3. Local Nature Reserves (LNR) • Owned or controlled by local authorities for the benefit of wildlife and the public

17. 4. Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) • e.g. Lundy Island, Skomer

18. 5. Environmentally Sensitive Areas • The Environmentally Sensitive Areas Scheme was introduced in 1987 to offer incentives to encourage farmers to adopt agricultural practices which would safeguard and enhance parts of the country of particularly high landscape, wildlife or historic value. • It has since been replaced with the Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS).

19. International Designations 6. Special Protection Areas (SPAs) • as a result of the EU Birds Directive. • The Solent, • Exe Estuary, • Parts of the Bristol Channel, • Humber Estuary

20. 7. Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) As a result of the EU Habitats Directive. -Forest Mires in the New Forest

21. 8. Ramsar sites • Wetlands of international importance. • egMinsmere RSPB reserve, • Exe Estuary • Ramsar Sites -The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitats (The Ramsar Convention) is an intergovernmental treaty that aims to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future.

23. D B C E

24. Conservation in the UK Environmental Studies

25. Mouse Eared Bat

26. Burbot

27. Essex Emerald Moth

28. Summer lady's tresses

29. Species Extinct in UK Mouse-eared bat, (1990) Essex emerald moth, (1991 - extinct in the wild) Ivell's sea anemone,(1983) Norfolk damselfly, (1957) Burbot, (1972) Horned dung beetle, (1955) Summer lady's tresses, (1959)

30. Species Recovery Programme A programme run by Natural England to conserve particular endangered species, examples include: • dormouse, • greater horseshoe bat, • red squirrel, • skylark, • red kite, • lady’s slipper orchid

31. Species Recovery Programme • Traditionally, species conservation centred on maintaining plants and animals by legal protection and general habitat management. • The Species Recovery Programme extends the 'traditional' approach by identifying and actively targeting the needs of individual plants and animals, and encouraging practical action that ensures a rapid progression from planning to management trials of both species and habitat.

32. Species Recovery Programme • New ways have been found to boost species populations by moving some animals and plants from large established populations to restored habitats elsewhere, or through re-introductions using captive bred animals and propagated plants.

33. Species Recovery Programme The Species Recovery Programme follows five action steps, each supported by research and monitoring. The final step is reached when the populations of the targeted animal or plant are judged sufficiently recovered to be maintained by good habitat management practice.

34. Agri-environmental schemes Environmental Studies

35. Agri-environmental schemes Agri environmental systems provide financial support to farmers to reward and encourage environmentally beneficial development. The Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS) is an example of an agri-environmental scheme. The scheme is run by Natural England

36. Environmental Stewardship Scheme Aims: • Conserve wildlife (biodiversity) • Maintain and enhance landscape quality and character • Protect the historic environment • Promote public access and understanding • Protect natural resources

37. Three options within the ESS: 1. Entry Level Stewardship A fixed payment is made for environmentally beneficial management • over-wintering stubbles, • beetle banks, • hedgerow stone wall and ditch management, • field buffer strips, • wild bird seeds, • low input grasslands, • protected archaeological sites, • reduced soil erosion, • protection of in-field trees

38. Beetle bank - winterThis is a raised bank that runs across an arable field. The bank is made by ploughing and is planted with perennial tussock-forming grasses. It improves the natural biological control of cereal aphids. Aphids can build up in such numbers that spraying with an insecticide is necessary to prevent yield loss. Beetle banks are home to ground beetles which feed in the cereal crop and control the invading aphids. Farmers who have beetle banks rarely need to use summer insecticides.

39. Summer Time

40. Pollen Nectar Mix

41. Field Margin

42. Entry Level Stewardship • Anyone who owns, farms or manages agricultural land can apply to take out an Entry Level Stewardship agreement. • Each option carries a points score, • per hectare (e.g. grassland management), • per metre (e.g. hedgerow management) • per feature (e.g. in-field trees). • If the farm receives enough points then it can be included in the scheme. All agreements are paid at a flat rate of £30 per hectare per year, and last 5 years.

43. Organic Entry Level Stewardship Similar to Entry Level Stewardship but with a higher payment level. Farms can receive money for both OELS and ELS.

44. Higher Level Stewardship Extra payments for more complex management or projects • flower-rich grass margins, • unharvested conservation field headlands for winter bird food, • restoration of wet grassland for waders and wildfowl, • water meadow restoration, • maintenance or restoration of • sand dunes, • hedgerows, • moorland, • traditional orchards, • ponds, • woodlands,

45. Conservation Headland

46. DEFRA Environmental Studies

47. DEFRA – Department for Environment, food and rural affairs Defra's overarching aim is sustainable development. • There are 5 priorities • Climate change and energy. • Sustainable consumption and production • Protecting the countryside and natural resource protection. • Sustainable rural communities. • A sustainable farming and food sector including animal health and welfare.

48. Voluntary Organisations Environmental Studies

49. Voluntary organisations World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) • Public awareness raising, lobbying industry and governments, education, funding for environmental projects • http://wwf.org.uk/what_we_do/changing_the_way_we_live/index.cfm

50. RSPB Royal Society for the Protection of Birds • Public awareness raising, lobbying industry and governments, education, reserve purchase management. • Research grants to fund other conservation organisations, joint activities with other conservation organisations. • Bird conservation is the focus of activities but broader issues are covered.