Herefordshire Biodiversity Partnership

The Deer Initiative is a broad partnership of statutory, voluntary and private interests dedicated to "ensuring the delivery of a sustainable, well-managed wild deer population in England and Wales ".
The Partners (of which the The Wildlife Trusts are one) abide by the principles of the Deer Accord and encourage others to share their commitment and priorities as an integral part of their management of deer.
Deer populations can reach unsustainable levels where their impact to the environment is deemed unsustainable which is when one or several instances occur due to resident deer populations:
• A net loss of biodiversity,
• An increase or occurrence of Deer Vehicle Collisions (DVCs)
• Damage to agricultural crops through eating or lying up
• Damage to woodlands, forest and plantations in terms of establishment of new woods or existing woods which are being re-stocked.
The animals themselves can also suffer if left unmanaged due to increased disease as a result of poor condition or simply a lack of sufficient food source.
Deer have had no natural predators apart from man since wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1700s and with all year round cropping, changes to agricultural tenure and a lack of demand for venison, populations have exploded in the last 40 years with huge impacts to our native woodland biodiversity in particular.
The West Midlands Deer Project run by the DI, lead by Greg Jones, Deer Liaison Officer focuses particularly on the threats to ancient woodland by unsustainable levels of deer browsing.
www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk

www.deercollisions.co.uk

www.deeraware.org.uk

 

Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team (HART) is dedicated to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Herefordshire. We aim to encourage people to learn about, protect and conserve these animals and their habitats. Our activities include recording the distribution and population size of amphibians and reptiles throughout Herefordshire, conservation work such as pond restoration, workshops and training days, talks and visits, providing advice on pond and habitat conservation and identifying threats to local habitats.

Their website can be found at http://www.herefordhart.org/

The project has made a detailed study of the history and ecology of Herefordshire’s woodlands contributing to our understanding of their origin, management, economy, uses and natural history. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to analyse digitally scanned historic maps to compare them with modern maps and aerial photography.  More information on this project can be found at the new website www.bosci.net/course.html

Within Herefordshire there are two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Malvern Hills and the Wye Valley.  Both designations serve to conserve and enhance their area’s natural beauty which includes flora, fauna, geological and physiographical features.  Dedicated AONB Partnerships in these areas have either led or supported many projects that conserve biodiversity and have provided funding to other organisations to aid them with their initiatives.  Further details can be found on the AONB websites: http://www.malvernhillsaonb.org.uk  and http://www.wyevalleyaonb.org.uk

Every twenty years or so, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), together with other partners produce an atlas of British breeding & wintering birds. These are very important publications: as well as being of general and scientific interest, they help inform agricultural and conservation policy. The next atlas will cover the period 2007-2012.

Locally, the Herefordshire Ornithological Club has decided to take the opportunity to produce a more detailed Breeding and Winter Atlas that started in the November 2007. This will be the first ever-full tetrad coverage of some 550 - 2km x 2km squares across our own county.

Amazingly, these authoritative atlases are based on the observations of thousands of volunteers walking around a patch of land; observing and in some cases counting the birds they see. To help organise the fieldwork across this County, there are a network of 10km Square Co-ordinators with local knowledge of their area. We need many volunteers to contribute to this fieldwork and huge project within County. So whatever your skills take this great opportunity to do some enjoyable bird watching and contribute to an important County and National Project.

To help please see the BTO website at http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/index.htm

Or contact Nick Smith HOC at nick@asnw.fsnet.co.uk

The Lower Lugg Breeding Otter Project (LLBOP) was conceived in 2007 and launched early in 2008 with the aim of assessing potential Otter Lutra lutra breeding sites on the middle and lower reaches of the River Lugg in Herefordshire between Leominster and Hereford. The River Lugg is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); the otter population resident on the river is an important element of that special interest.

Butterfly Conservation started a new project in the West Midlands Region in 2009 when the ‘Midlands Fritillary Project’ got fully underway. The project aims to direct effort on practical conservation measures to improve habitat for five fritillary species on 168 individual sites in nine areas of the West Midlands region and the Forest of Dean over the next 3 years. In addition to the focus on the High Brown Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, the work will benefit a further 11 UK BAP Priority Species of butterfly and moth, and two other fritillaries, the Dark Green Fritillary and Silver-washed Fritillary.

In Herefordshire, the Midlands Fritillary Project will focus on the Herefordshire Commons (several of these being within the Herefordshire Community Commons Project being run by the Herefordshire Nature Trust), the North Herefordshire Woodlands (where we are currently working closely with the Forestry Commission but hope to expand our work onto other nearby sites) and the Malvern Hills (where we have been working closely with local partners for a number of years).

If you have a site in Herefordshire which you think supports fritillaries and where you think we might be able to help with management or monitoring advice please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Jenny Joy 01952 249325 (jjoy@butterfly-conservation.org) and Nick Williams 0121 550 9853 (nwilliams@butterfly-conservation.org ).

The project is approaching the end of the three year implementation phase delivering practical management on 12 Commons around the county. Phase 1 of the project lasted 18 months and produced costed management plans for each Common after extensive consultation with Commoners and the local communities.

The project has not only organised practical work on the Commons, it has trained volunteers in various survey techniques such as butterfly transect and dormouse tubes; trained volunteers in practical skills particularly chainsaw and scrubcutter use; run volunteer work parties doing everything from hedge planting to step building; set up five Forest Schools attached to the Commons; organised and overseen large and small works contracts, and re-instated grazing. Most importantly two of the larger Commons are now in Higher Level Stewardship, and a further six are in the process of applying, this will ensure that the good work started by the project will continue for at least another ten years.

The project has constantly achieved all its aims under budget and so has been extended for an extra year to run until December 2010. Community Commons is helping deliver a range of BAP targets, with a key habitat being acid grassland. Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund with Herefordshire Nature Trust, Natural England and Herefordshire Council as partners.

The Community Commons Project has enjoyed an extremely successful four years and the project partners (Herefordshire Nature Trust, Heritage Lottery Fund, Herefordshire Council and Natural England) have agreed to extend the project into 2010

In the early part of the Project, 12 Herefordshire commons with significant wildlife interest were identified (Hergest Ridge, Merbach Hill, Cefn Hill, Vagar Hill, Garway Hill, Ewyas Harold, Brimfield, Wyson, Climbing Jack, Herrock Hill, Yatton Hill and Badley Wood commons) and management plans were produced for each. The project also wanted to ensure that local people, particularly the commoners, were involved in the management of their common. Commoners have historic rights to use the land for activities such as grazing animals and they, therefore, have traditional links to their local common. 

By the end of 2009, the project will have completed all the work itemised in the management plans, including:

• The introduction of a programme to manage invading vegetation such as bracken and gorse.

• Development of Commoners’ Associations to bring local communities together to decide how to manage their common.

• Securing common boundaries so that grazing can be introduced and hedgerows can be planted.

• Development of educational opportunities on the commons (including the introduction of Forest School sites. A Forest School site acts as an outdoor classroom for the local school, where children can explore and investigate the local environment).

• Biological surveys of the commons to identify species that are present on the commons (this has included looking for dormouse, glow-worm, adder and fritillary butterfly species)

During 2010, the project will focus on ensuring that each common is well prepared for the future and that local people are able to adopt their common and oversee its future management. This will mean trying to get as many commons as possible into an Environmental Stewardship scheme, giving the common owners or associations funding for continued management. The project has purchased a range of agricultural machinery for the management of the commons, and we will be setting up a Machinery Ring to ensure all commons cooperate and have access to machinery when they need it. The project will also consolidate the existing commons’ volunteer groups, and provide them with guidance on the future management of each common. This will allow the volunteers to continue vital conservation work for many years to come.

Colwall Orchard Group was set up by orchard enthusiasts in the village of Colwall, on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills (within the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).  Our main purpose is to sustain, promote and celebrate traditional orchards in the parish through 5 main strands of activity. 

·         We train our volunteers in traditional orchard management techniques, giving them the skills they need to carry out rescue pruning of neglected trees as well as formative pruning of younger trees, tree planting and other orchard management. 

·         We help the owners of traditional orchards in the Parish by offering advice on orchard management, and the services of our skilled volunteers to carry out practical work in the orchards. 

·         We investigate the value of the orchards through surveys and research including oral history interviews with elderly residents.  Our latest survey shows our orchards to be the richest known in Britain for invertebrates that feed on dead wood.  

·         We are raising the profile of orchards with people across the Parish, by offering a range of seasonal activities including fungus forays, moth and bat nights, Dawn chorus walks, Blossom picnics, Apple Day festivities, a Mistletoe Fair and Wassailling. 

·         We are raising the profile of sustainable local orchard produce by ‘reminding’ people of the diversity of local fruit varieties and uses, inspiring people to use their own fruit and helping them to appreciate the value of local orchard produce.

Our latest venture is to buy and restore an old orchard to create Colwall Village Garden: a community orchard incorporating wildlife features, allotment gardens, a children’s playground, and other community facilities.  We are currently seeking funding to finance this exciting project. More information can be found at www.colwallorchardgroup.org

 

 

The Trust is continuing to add information to a database of geological sites in the county and to survey, designate and monitor geodiversity sites.

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust runs a series of Rock and Fossil Roadshows and other events across Herefordshire for individual groups , schools and the general public to increase public awareness of the county’s precious geological heritage.

The Earth Heritage Community Champions Project has chosen 10 sites in Herefordshire and, working with the landowners, will involve the local community in conserving and monitoring the geodiversity, biodiversity and archaeological features at these sites, which are :-  Bradnor Hill Quarry, Croft Castle, Whitman’s Hill Quarry, Gardiner’s Quarry, Loxter Ashbed Quarry, Rudgend Quarry, Linton Quarry, Coppett Hill, Little Doward, King Arthur’s Cave.

The Trust has received funding from Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund and from Natural England to monitor the condition of some of the Local Geological Sites formerly known as Regionally Important Geological Sites in the county and at selected sites to develop management strategies making recommendations for the conservation of the geology at these sites

The Trust is the lead partner of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark.  The Geopark is a 1250 square kilometres area of internationally important geology spanning 700 million years of Earth’s history.  The Geopark stretches from Bridgnorth to Gloucester crossing the boundaries of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

From Sept 2009 through to March 2011 the Trust will be running a project titled – ‘Exploring Aggregates along the Geopark Way’; the Geopark Way being a 109 walking trail specifically designed to highlight the geology and landscape of the Abberley and Malvern Hills Geopark. There are some 32 aggregate sites directly on or near the Geopark Way trail, several of which lie within Herefordshire. The project will focus of just 9 sites; exploring the geology, the aggregate history, the social history, and the biodiversity of these inactive aggregate sites.

The Geodiversity Action Plan (GAP) for Herefordshire has been published and can be viewed on http://www.earthheritagetrust.org/pub/category/local-gaps/

Local sites (NI 197) This includes Local Geological Sites.

Herefordshire Nature Trust is now in the final stages of developing a countywide project looking at our parkland heritage. It will involve training volunteers in all aspects of parkland survey, ecological and historical; and development of a parkland survey pack. The first stage of the project will be a mapping exercise to identify a suite of parklands representing the range of ages and types within the county for survey.

This will help deliver the Wood Pasture and Parkland HAP as well as a number of SAPs. Current stage of development: preparation of funding applications to Your Heritage and Leader.

The Wye Wood project promotes and delivers health and educational benefits for hard to reach groups and individuals through working in and accessing woodland environments.

The main areas of activity within the project include walks for health, and greenwood craft and woodland management activities. Each week up to 20 vulnerable adults and young people attend voluntary sessions in the woodland to learn traditional woodland crafts. A further 40 individuals participate in graded health walks in woodlands.

The project is currently developing a progression route for participants in the form of a social enterprise.

The aims of the social enterprise are as follows:

• To act as peer support and offer one-on-one training in woodland and coppicing skills to new participants to the project.

• To Volunteer on Woodland family activity days where vulnerable families who have been signposted to the project by school nurses learn woodland cooking.

• To work as a team of volunteers on woodland maintenance and other contract work such as hedge laying and site clearance.

• To develop a range of woodland items for sale such as bird feeders and walking sticks.

Qualifications gained by the volunteers will include: Open College Network (OCN) Level 2 in both Coppicing and Coppice products.

It is now nearing the end of a 3 year project to improve the conservation management of our Local Sites. The term Local Sites covers both wildlife sites and geological sites and they represent some of the best habitats, geological and geomorphological features in the county. Most of them are in private land ownership and unlike nationally important Sites of Special Scientific Interest they are non statutory. The Local Wildlife sites were first identified in the 1990s.

In 2008 Herefordshire adopted a new national Local Sites indicator, known as NI197, as part of the Local Area Agreement. Since then the Council has taken a lead in convening a Local Sites Partnership consisting of over a dozen groups and organisations. A Local Wildlife Sites Panel has also recently been set up to commence reviewing criteria for site selection which is a crucial part of maintaining a good system. We have managed to pull in resources from the Area Based Grant to help with provision of site assessments and management advice.

Some 125 Local Sites will have received brief surveys and management plans since the indicator was set up. Over half of these have been produced by FWAG working with the Council with the remainder produced by Herefordshire & Worcestershire Earth Heritage Trust, Caring for God’s Acre and Border Ecology. A small number of plans have also been produced as planning conditions linked with planning applications near or involving Local Sites. Such a figure is no mean feat given that in the vast majority of cases we started with no records of land ownership and there has been much hard work liaising and convincing owners that to own a local site can be a positive thing and indeed may help them get grant aid for managing their land. Natural England are more aware than ever of the location of these sites when dealing with Stewardship applications and the Forestry Commission have even developed a whole new grant scheme aimed at owners of woodland wildlife sites in our county.

Plans have been produced for 49 grassland sites, 29 wetlands and 25 woods, with some having a mixture of habitats or consisting of artificial habitats such as railway tunnels. Our aim is that this project will help ensure the survival of these habitats into the future. This in turns help us meet requirements for climate change adaptation, maintaining local distinctiveness and quality of life. However we know that many sites, particularly those where we haven’t approached owners remain vulnerable to neglect or inappropriate management. There are 858 Local Sites in total in the county and there is a need to select more worthy sites, so we still have a way to go.

For more information about this project, please contact Joanne Hackman, Principle Ecologist (Herefordshire Council) at jhackman@herefordshire.gov.uk

The Herefordshire and Worcestershire Orchard Biodiversity Project has sought to identify and document those orchards most at threat within the two counties in order to ensure they have a future.  The project has documented orchard biodiversity and the survey was designed to accommodate a range of objectives including:

1. identifying orchards at risk from development or environmental change
2. documenting biodiversity of these sites through habitat and species audit
3. appraising fruit tree population, size and condition
4. noting surrounding land use and boundary status
5. evaluating factors influencing orchard viability
6. assessing management regime and its efficacy

Very few orchards have statutory designations (SSSI) or protection via Tree Preservation Orders (less than 200 ha).  However, traditional orchards have been assigned a degree of nature conservation importance within local structure plans such that development control measures for their protection can now be exercised more substantively by planning authorities.  Local authorities have a greater degree of influence in evaluation of orchard ecology whilst safeguarding them from planned development of the built environment and from the extractive industries.  For such threats the focus of this project has been to pinpoint those orchards most at risk and to identify local authority policies which may be used (or changed) to protect them.

This project aims to develop a biodiversity action plan for the quarry industry. The group is led by the Biodiversity Partnership Co-ordinator and partners all have an interest in quarries, either relict or still in operation. The QAP has a list of agreed objectives and actions of which the partnership will deliver with the overall aim of ensuring that quarries can remain safe havens for biodiversity. Quarries have been proven to offer large benefits for biodiversity conservation and will attempt to achieve target goals as set down in the Herefordshire LBAP.

The plan aims to consider the wider elements in relation to biodiversity conservation including their historical and geological value, as well as the planning potential for site restoration.

The Quarry Biodiversity Action Plan is nearing completion after a comprehensive consultation period with representatives within the sector and will soon be available here.

For more information, contact Nicky Davies ndavies2@herefordshire.gov.uk

 

A ground breaking project whose main aim is to improve peoples attitudes towards, and understanding of, reptiles, particularly adders, across the county. To date the Project Officer has visited around 20 schools, attended 15 events with displays and information, and produced a reptile identification and recording leaflet and a leaflet with habitat management guidelines. He has also trained around 50 volunteers in reptile survey, and they have been busy monitoring known sites and looking for new sites, particularly for adders.

Due to end next summer, the project has more schools to visit, events to attend and will produce a schools education pack with DVD. This project is delivering the majority of the Adder SAP. Funded by Your Heritage and the Wye Valley and Malvern Hills AONBs, this is a partnership project between Herefordshire Nature Trust and Herefordshire Amphibian and Reptile Team.

Building on the success of the Woolhope Dome project this is designed to provide a broad wildlife friendly corridor between the Wye Valley and Malvern Hills ANOBs, allowing wildlife to adapt to climate change and move freely through the countryside to find suitable habitat. Building on the lessons learnt from the Woolhope Dome project, it will provide training and advice for land owners and managers, encouraging uptake of agri-environment schemes and farm diversification.

It will also work with local communities to improve their local environment, designing walks and activities to encourage participation and appreciation, and helping to secure the socio-economic basis of the area through training and advice in eg setting up Farmers Markets, orchard produce groups and promoting tourism and recreation in the area.

This will help deliver a wide range of BAP targets from grasslands, orchard and woodland to barn owl and bats. Current stage of development: exploring funding for a three year project through Heritage Lottery Fund.