WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY CALCOT CENTRE, 9 th JULY 2012 Saving butterflies, moths and...
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Transcript of WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY CALCOT CENTRE, 9 th JULY 2012 Saving butterflies, moths and...
WOODLAND MANANGEMENT FOR BIODIVERSITY
CALCOT CENTRE, 9th JULY 2012
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Butterfly Conservation
ORGANISERS & PRESENTERS
• Hampshire & Isle of White WLT
• Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Oxfordshire LWT (BBOWT)
• Forestry Commission
• Butterfly Conservation Trust
• Game & Wildlife Conservancy Trust
• Deer Initiative
STRUCTURE OF DAY• Presentations
– Principles of woodland Management and the importance of management to biodiversity – Karen Davies (BBOWT)
– Management of woodland and woodland grants available to support this work – Jonathan Rau (Forestry Commission)
– Key species and survey techniques: A case study on butterflies and moths – Dan Hoare (Butterfly Conservation Trust)
– Game management in woodlands – Peter Thompson (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust
• Lunch
• Visit to Moor Copse– Led by Andy Coulson-Phillips (Reserves Manager BBOWT) &
Ian Stevenson (Reserves Officer BBOWT) with Jamie Cordery (South East Deer Initiative)
PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION
• Distil key elements from the day - where applicable to Groups in an urban or urban-fringe setting
– Will concentrate on the biodiversity issues of woodland management
– Will only cover issues of forestry harvesting, grants & deer management where they effect us
TARGET AUDIENCE
• Land ownerswithin the area of North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Land Agents• Land Managers
• Conservation Groups
BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY
• Woodland provides a dark & cool environment
• Variation can be introduced by:– Coppicing / Pollarding – Opening up rides within the wood– Opening up areas within the wood:
• Clearings• “Sky-lighting”
– Profiling the boundary of the wood
BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY
• Woodland under the canopy provides a dark & cool environment
– A habitat in it’s own right
– A mix of species and ages is better than a monoculture
– Trees are better spaced out rather than planted close together
WOODLAND HABITAT RESOURCES 1
• Leaving fallen timber is GOOD
• Leaving felled timber is OK
• Leaving “standing dead” trees (“monoliths”) is OK
WOODLAND HABITAT RESOURCES 2
• Processing arrisings (“brash”)
– “Habitat Piles” can be OK
– Distributing throughout the wood may be Better
– Chipping can be expensive but useful
– Dead hedging OK but is not “stock-proof”
– Burning is to be Avoided
BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY• Coppicing / Pollarding
– Woods partitioned into sections (“Stoops”)– Rotational felling– Mainly Hazel– Traditionally frequency of rotation determined by:
• Use of wood products • Availability of labour
• Rotation now determined by:– Dormice
• Without Dormice = 7-10 years• With Dormice = 15 years or more
BIODIVERSITY = VARIETY• Opening up the canopy allows in light
and warmth
• All Woodland Edges can be structured in a similar way
• Edge Progression:– Short grass– Long grass + small shrubs– Larger shrubs & coppice – Mature canopy trees
Short grass (mown twice or more a year)
Long grass & small shrubs
(mown/cleared on a 1-3 year
cycle)
Medium height shrubs &
coppice (felled every 5-20
years)
Canopy Trees – mixed species/age
Width of transition should be as wide as the height of the canopy
PROFILE OF A WOODLAND EDGE
Fence line or centre of path/track
ELEMENTS OF A WOODLAND RIDE OR PATH
Mature Canopy
Medium Shrubs/Coppice
Long Grass & Small ShrubsShort Grass
“Scallops”
Pinch Point
N
WOODLAND EDGES• Woodland rides, paths and access
tracks:– At least as wide as the height of the canopy– Wider on rides aligned north/south where
possible
• Woodland/Field boundaries – Edge can be formed on the woodland side of
any (deer-proof) fence
WOODLAND CLEARINGS - 1• Clearings can mix & match edge
elements depending on size of clearing
• Where paths or tracks cross can be used as focus for a clearing.
• Created by:– Felling – “Sky-lighting” = ring barking one or more
trees
WOODLAND CLEARINGS - 2• “Sky-lighting” = ring barking one or more
trees
• Progression to standing Dead Wood:– Small branches will fall in first summer– Larger branches will fall in second summer– Tree will soon (5 years) start shedding bark
COPPICE STRUCTURE
• >5% in temporary open space
• >15% in stands 1-10 years old
• >10% non-intervention (Mature trees):– 3 fallen/laying trees >20cm dia per hectare– 4 dead standing trees per hectare
LINKING THE LANDSCAPE• Linear Features
– Well maintained hedges
• Landscape scale – Using scrub to link areas of woodland – Maintaining grassland habitat
HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 1
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow with planted Scrub
Before After
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow with planted Scrub
Before After
Scrub allows some woodland
species to “jump” the gap
HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 2
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow
Mature Canopy Woodland
Mature Canopy Woodland
Meadow with planted Scrub
Before After
Sufficient Meadow to
allow grassland species to
move
HOW TO LINK ISOLATED WOODS - 3
ANCIENT WOODLAND -CHARCTERISTICS
• Continuously managed since the 1600’s
• Have their own Ancient Woodland Indicator (AWI) Species– Primarily plants – 60 species– “Common” species include:
• Wood Anemone• Sweet Woodruff• Wood Sorrel• Archangel• Mouchel (aka Townhall Clock)
ANCIENT WOODLAND - VULNERABILITIES
• Easily damaged:– Soil disturbance/compaction from wood processing or vehicles
• Very slow to recover– AWI plant species are often very slow to colonise adjacent
areas– Some can be very fussy as to soil conditions, location, aspect
or state of canopy
• Example - Wood Anemone– Most of its seed is sterile– Does not persist in seed bank for long– Rhizomes are very slow to establish– Needs dappled shade
• Need to plan work carefully
BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS - 1
• How can we measure the effectiveness of our management regime?
• Monitor butterflies:– Easy to identify– React very quickly to changes in their habitat
or breeding conditions
• Hoverflies can also be used – Much more difficult to observe/catch/identify
BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS - 2
• Example – Duke of Burgundy Fritillary
• Allegedly very slow to colonise new areas
• Southeast Woodlands Project – 2008 - 2010:– Three sites
• Denge Woods nr Canterbury, Kent• Rother Woods nr Rye, East Sussex• Tytherley Woods on Hampshire/Wiltshire border
• Results (annual transect) from Denge Woods• Before 2008 11• 2008 32• 2009 61• 2010 173• 2011 115