Task 10

Annex 1 habitats

This task required the selection of an Annex 1 habitat to describe, along with selecting an example site to produce a species list for.

The EU Habitats Directive aims to protect species and characteristic habitat types (European Commission, no date). The list of these habitat types is documented in Annex 1. There is a list of the Annex 1 habitat types that are present in the UK and have at least 1 Special Area of Conservation designated (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-b). From this list I have chosen a habitat type as an example below.

Annex 1 habitats

This habitat occurs on dry, basic soils and was once widespread across north-west Europe. After centuries of domestic livestock grazing which resulted in these species rich areas, the introduction of fertilisers to ‘improve’ grasslands have caused much of this area to disappear, with fragmentation a serious threat to this habitat in the UK (Natural England, no date). This habitat is dry to semi-dry calcareous grassland of the Festuco-Brometea. The description of the habitat allows for differences between steppic or subcontinental grasslands (Festucetalia valesiacae), which does not cover the UK, and grassland in oceanic or sub-Mediterranean regions (Brometalia erecti) (European Commission, 2013). For the grassland in the UK, which falls under this second category (Atlantic i.e. oceanic region), this will be viewed as either primary Xerobromion grassland or, more commonly, secondary (semi-natural) Mesobromion grasslands with Bromus erectus. Annex 1 recognises sites that are important for orchids to be included.

The structure and floristic characteristics are heavily influenced by both climatic and management practices. Grazing is used to maintain a varied sward height, forming different micro-habitats to increase diversity, and ensure that coarse grasses and scrub do not come to dominate the environment. As this is the primary management technique, the intensity of grazing is highly influential in determining the habitat characteristics. It is important that the site is not under or over-grazed, and that when cut, cuttings are removed to prevent a build-up of nutrients which will encourage more competitive species to flourish (Kent Wildlife Trust, no date).

6210: Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia) (* important orchid sites)

National Vegetation Classification

This Annex 1 habitat code contains/corresponds to the following National Vegetation Classification (NVC) categories (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), 2016b, p.62):

• CG1 Festuca ovina–Carlina vulgaris grassland

• CG2 Festuca ovina–Avenula pratensis grassland

• CG3 Bromus erectus grassland

• CG4 Brachypodium pinnatum grassland

• CG5 Bromus erectus–Brachypodium pinnatum grassland

• CG6 Avenula pubescens grassland

• CG7 Festuca ovina–Hieracium pilosella–Thymus praecox/pulegioides grassland

• CG8 Sesleria albicans–Scabiosa columbaria grassland

• CG9 Sesleria albicans–Galium sterneri grassland

(note that CG10+ categories are not included in this as part of the Annex 1 habitat).

In the UK CG2 Festuca ovina – Avenula pratensis is found throughout grazed calcareous pastures in England and Wales. It often contains species such as meadow oat-grass Avenula pratensis, common rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, salad burnet Sanguisorba minor, quaking-grass Briza media and small scabious Scabiosa columbaria (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-c).

Phase 1

This corresponds to the Phase 1 B3 Calcareous grassland category (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), 2016a, p.40).

(Please see here for an example of a Phase 1 habitat survey).

UKHab

These correspond to the UKHab Level5 codes of: g2a5, g2a6 and g2b7, as shown by the corresponding entries below:

(Source: UK Habitat Classification Working Group, 2018)

Designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), this site is managed by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBWOT). This is an ‘orchid rich site’ priority habitat type. The chalk grassland mainly comprises CG2 Festuca ovina – Avenula pratensis and CG3 Bromus erectus grassland. It has the nationally rare monkey orchid Orchis simia (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-c).

Habitat examples

Hartslock Wood

Hartslock Wood SAC, as shown on Defra's MAGIC Map tool (Defra, 2024)

Located in North Wales, this site is designated as a SAC, SSSI and Heritage Coast. It is managed as a Country Park and Local Nature Reserve by Conwy Countryside Service (Conwy County Borough Council, no date). This site has one of the largest stands of CG1 Festuca ovina–Carlina vulgaris grassland in the UK, with a significant area of CG2 Festuca ovina – Avenula pratensis. There are only 3 sites in the UK where this Xerobromion grassland type occurs (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-a)

Great Orme’s Head/Pen y Gogarth

Great Orme’s Head/Pen y Gogarth, as shown on DataMapWales map viewer (Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government, 2024)

This site is located in central southern England, and has possibly the largest surviving semi-natural dry grassland within the EU – so this is a very important site for this habitat in the UK (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-e). It has considerable CG3 Bromus erectus grassland, as well as the rare CG7 Festuca ovina–Hieracium pilosella–Thymus praecox and a large example of CG6 Avenula pubescens grassland. It contains Parsonage Down SSSI, Porton Down SSSI and Salisbury Plain SSSI. Salisbury Plain is managed as a military training area, Porton Down is managed by Defence Science & Technology Laboratory and Parsonage Down is part of a National Nature Reserve managed by Natural England (Natural England, 2017).

Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain SAC, as shown on Defra's MAGIC Map tool (Defra, 2024)

If surveying a site, it can be useful to generate a species list of previous records of the site. NBN atlas allows you to do this by specifying a location and then you can select a search radius from that location. If, for example, I was to survey Hartslock Wood using the latitude/longitude specified for the SAC of Latitude 51.50583333 Longitude -1.1075 (Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), no date-d) I can generate a species list from existing records within 1km of this location:

Generating species lists

Species list from NBN atlas, 1km radius from Hartslock Wood (point) (National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust), 2023)

As you can see, this is from a point. In this case, the list does cover the entire SAC – but for more control, we can use GIS software to generate a shape file of the site (in this case Hartslock Wood SAC, and a 1km buffer) and import that into the NBN atlas spatial analysis tool:

From this, a species list can also be generated and downloaded:

Hartslock Wood SAC, and 1km buffer, shown in NBN atlas spatial analysis tool (National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust), 2024)

Species list for within 1km of Hartlock Wood shown in NBN atlas spatial analysis tool (National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust), 2024)

Reflection

It is interesting to note how the different categorisations of habitat (as listed in Annex 1, by NVC, Phase 1 and UKHab) correspond to one another. I was also interested to see the species list for a Special Area of Conservation for one of the Annex 1 habitat types. In this case, Hartslock Wood, the most recorded plant is the Monkey Orchid. Considering its national rarity, it is unsurprising that more records have been kept for this plant than others in the area.

From this exercise I also learned how to import shape files into the nbn atlas to define areas of a search, which may be useful if I want a species list for a particular area. 

References

Berkshire Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (no date) Aston Clinton Ragpits. Available at: https://www.bbowt.org.uk/nature-reserves/aston-clinton-ragpits (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Conwy County Borough Council (no date) Exploring the Great Orme. Available at: https://www.conwy.gov.uk/en/Resident/Leisure-sport-and-health/Coast-and-Countryside/Nature-Reserves/The-Great-Orme/Exploring-the-Great-Orme.aspx (Accessed: May 2024).

Defra (2024) MAGIC Map. Available at: https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx (Accessed: 20 May 2024).

European Commission (2013) Interpretation manual of European Union habitats. Available at: https://www.mase.gov.it/sites/default/files/archivio/allegati/rete_natura_2000/int_manual_eu28.pdf (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

European Commission (no date) The Habitats Directive. Available at: https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/habitats-directive_en (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (2016a) Handbook for Phase 1 habitat survey: A technique for environmental audit. Available at: https://hub.jncc.gov.uk/assets/9578d07b-e018-4c66-9c1b-47110f14df2a (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (2016b) Naional Vegetation Classification Users' Handbook. Available at: https://hub.jncc.gov.uk/assets/a407ebfc-2859-49cf-9710-1bde9c8e28c7 (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (no date-a) Great Orme's Head/ Pen y Gogarth. Available at: https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/site/UK0014788 (Accessed: 19 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (no date-b) Habitats list. Available at: https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (no date-c) Habitats: 6210 Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies: on calcareous substrates (Festuco-Brometalia), ( note that this includes the priority feature "important orchid rich sites"). Available at: https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/habitat/H6210/ (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (no date-d) Hartslock Wood. Available at: https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/site/UK0030164 (Accessed: 19 May 2024).

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (no date-e) Salisbury Plain. Available at: https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/site/UK0012683 (Accessed: 19 May 2024).

Kent Wildlife Trust (no date) Management of chalk grassland. Available at: https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-06/KWT%20Land%20Mgt%20Advice_Sheet%203%20-%20Mgt%20of%20chalk%20grassland.pdf (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust) (2023) Explore Your Area. Available at: https://records.nbnatlas.org/explore/your-area (Accessed: 29 November 2023).

National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust) (2024) Spatial Analysis. Available at: https://spatial.nbnatlas.org/ (Accessed: 20 May 2024).

Natural England (2017) European Site Conservation Objectives: Supplementary advice on conserving and restoring site features Salisbury Plain Special Area of Conservation (SAC) Site Code: UK0012683. Available at: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteGeneralDetail.aspx?SiteCode=UK0012683 (Accessed: 19 May 2024).

Natural England (no date) Chapter 4 Vegetation types. Available at: https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/71025 (Accessed: 17 May 2024).

Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Government (2024) Map viewer. Available at: https://datamap.gov.wales/maps/new#/ (Accessed: 20 May 2024).

UK Habitat Classification Working Group (2018) The UK Habitat Classification. Available at: https://ecountability.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/UK-Habitat-Classification-V1-0-including-Correspondences_3-Oct-2018.xlsx (Accessed: 17 May 2024).