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I’ve been involved in creating habitats for a long time - including habitat creation, habitat restoration and habitat translocation.

Some of the slides are detailed and are really too much to take in at one quick viewing. The notes for the slides contain relevant details and references. The whole presentation will be available on the CIEEM website

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The Sutherland review is a very interesting paper that sets out the integrated views of a wide range of people. John Lawton’s report is required reading for anyone involved in ecology and environmental management.

The delivery of the land use policies identified in these reviews is seen in terms of habitat creation, habitat restoration and habitat enhancement – but interestingly not habitat translocation.

Habitat creation requires time - decades or longer - to develop the flora and fauna associated with such habitats.

The loss of existing habitats to development projects and their replacement by young and species poor habitats as part of habitat creation or landscaping is contributing to the ongoing loss of biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services.

Or, to put this key point another way, new habitats of the same maturity and quality cannot be developed fast enough to replace the loss of mature habitats to development and infrastructure projects.

Translocation of habitats with quality and maturity will be

required to deliver the land use policies set out in the Sutherland review and the Lawton report.

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No net loss of biodiversity will become a powerful driver once it

becomes part of a EU Directive and is incorporated into

legislation and policies across the UK. Currently it is Action 7 of

Target 2 of the Biodiversity Strategy.

Given that there is no such regulatory pressure at the moment, it

is really encouraging to see that Network Rail has such a

challenging objective in their 5 year Business Plan.

Network Rail – Quote from NR brochure for Business &

Biodiversity Offsetting Programme conference, June 2014 “

‘Make a net positive contribution to biodiversity in the UK’ is an

objective in the Network Rail Infrastructure Projects’ five year

Business Plan and has been cascaded to our supply chain as part

of our Sustainability Procurement Targets. These targets were

issued as a charter that all of Network Rail’s main contractors

signed up to in March 2014”

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This table attempts to give a framework for the three key tools that we use

to create habitats and to separate the natural processes (such as natural

regeneration, colonisation and succession) from the more artificial processes

such as sowing and planting.

I accept that there will be overlaps between the terms as they are applied by

different people in different projects. There are full definitions of habitat

restoration, creation and translocation in the notes of this presentation.

These definitions are based on whether the structure, drainage and/or

nutrient status of the soils of the project site have been significantly altered

by human intervention, and whether there are remnants of the original semi-

natural vegetation present either as degenerate vegetation or as seeds,

rhizomes or roots.

Management & monitoring are crucial for the outcomes of creating habitats.

The ongoing management of habitats is hard work year after year.

Natural regeneration, colonisation and succession are powerful processes

that we must use more in habitat restoration and habitat creation.

Creating habitats from scratch has greater risks of failure that we will often

admit. The soil and/or hydrology may not be appropriate for the planted or

sown species. Or the collection of species specified in the design do not really

function as a habitat with all the other species you might expect to be associated

with the proposed habitat. Colonisation by species may be slow. Some created

habitats seem to go well e.g. woodlands in a general sense (although creating the

ground flora is a real art), scrub, hedges, simple wetlands and watercourses, coastal

habitats. We struggle with creating hay meadows although we are fascinated by

them. Heathlands are a challenge to create - and are a challenge to restore as soil

pH and nutrient levels may have altered to such a degree that heathlands are not

necessarily the appropriate habitat for the soils.

Habitats with maturity and quality should be translocated. Established hedges, species-rich vegetation and ponds are valuable wildlife habitats and it can take years for newly created, planted and sown habitats to attain the same degree of maturity and complexity.

Ecological restoration

The process of increasing the semi-natural vegetation at any site where the

structure, drainage and/or nutrient status of the soils have not been significantly

altered by human intervention and where there are remnants of the previous semi-

natural vegetation, either as degenerate vegetation or as seeds, rhizomes or roots.

Good reference book: Oliver Gilbert & Penny Anderson (1998) Habitat creation

and repair, OUP.

Habitat creation

The process of establishing a semi-natural vegetation community at any site where

there has been a land-use which has significantly altered the structure, drainage

and/or nutrient-status of the soil and where there are no remnants of the previous

semi-natural vegetation.

Good reference book: Oliver Gilbert & Penny Anderson (1998) Habitat creation

and repair, OUP.

Habitat translocation

The process of moving soils or substrates with their vegetation and any animals

that remain associated with them in order to rescue or salvage habitats that would

be lost due to changes in land use, or to restore biodiversity to sites that have been

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damaged or degraded, or to newly created sites.

Good references:

• Penny Anderson & Peter Groutage (2003) Habitat translocation - a best

practice guide. C600, CIRIA, London

• John Box (2003) Critical factors and evaluation criteria for habitat

translocation. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 46: 839-

856.

• John Box & Kat Stanhope (2010) Translocating wildlife habitats: a guide for

civil engineers. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil

Engineering 163: 123-130.

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The following slides illustrate small sites with simple habitat

restoration, creation and translocation projects on them and all

are from Telford where I live. We must focus on small sites in

urban areas as well as larger sites in the countryside. So many

people live and work in towns and need access to natural

greenspace for their daily dose of nature to ensure their health

and well-being agenda.

Habitat Restoration - Lodge Field, Telford.

Was grazed by cattle in the past. Then let for horse grazing from

1974. Horse grazing was stopped in 2003 when dog walkers

complained and there was no grassland management. The

grassland was recognisably a remnant MG5a haymeadow.

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Brambles present in open grassland well away from the scrub

edges of the fields

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Hay meadow regime of cut & collect in mid-August was imposed

from 2005 and has continued every year thereafter. Harrowing

every 3 years. No grazing as site has full public access.

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Large increase in area with yellow rattle. Appearance and spread

of crimson vetchling (grass-leaved vetchling) – present on a site

about 1 km away. NVC gives MG5a community.

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Increase in spotted orchids from 19 in 2005 to 744 in 2014. Bee

orchid appeared in 2014.

All because of the imposition of a rigorous hay meadow

management regime.

Habitat restoration requires a good understanding how NVC

communities can be moved from one community type to another

by habitat management, such as grassland management, or by

control of water regime.

This diagram was constructed by Mike Webb and myself for the

MG5 grassland community. In particular, species-rich MG1 and

MG6 can be restored to MG5. This diagram looked over and

revised in light of comments from John Rodwell.

Similar diagrams can be constructed for other NVC communities.

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Habitat Creation - Stirchley Grange, Telford

Surface water balancing pond constructed by Telford

Development Corporation in the 1970s on boulder clay. Little

emergent vegetation by 1983.

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1984 - Rhizomes of common reed were excavated from a local

reedbed as part of a project to create more open water and stop

the incursion of wet woodland and willows to the drier edge of

the reedbed.

People enjoy getting involved and muddy!

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2005 - A superb and extensive reedbed

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Habitat Translocation - Lightmoor Village community, Telford.

There was a length of species-rich hedge which was of some age

and had evidence of being laid many years ago. Its retention was

proposed by the Project Manager because it was a notable feature

on the site. Preparation of receptor trench for hedgerow

translocation in 2007

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The contractors took great care with the newly translocated hedge

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One year later in 2008 – all the tree and shrub species had

survived the translocation, even holly which is a difficult plant to

move.

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By 2014 – it is clear that the hedge has not been managed as a

hedge, but has turned into a linear woodland.

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Have a process to follow and ensure all the steps are taken.

Be realistic and keep it simple.

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Precision in defining the outcomes will drive the quality required for

the inputs.

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Environmental factors are critical – soil type, soil chemistry and

soil hydrology.

For example, the creation, restoration and translocation of

grasslands and heathlands should consider these guide levels for

soil pHs and soil nutrients taken from the literature and from

experience.

Woodlands do not need nutrient-rich soils and creation on

agriculturally rich soils should be avoided.

pH measurements taken in the field can give a good idea of

whether it is worth doing soil chemistry – particularly valuable

for heathland restoration and habitat creation on soils with little

vegetation to act as a guide.

'Available' K & Ca for plants and 'Exchangeable' K & Ca as

analysed are closely related [Phil Putwain & Ian Trueman].

This is not necessarily the case for P where the soil and the

extractant may correlate to P that is taken up by plant roots, but acid

soils behave differently to neutral and alkaline soils depending on the

extractant that is used [Phil Putwain, July 2014]. Olsen bicarbonate

extractable P is the standard method for agricultural soils in England

and Wales, and was compared with resin extractable P (Critchley et al

2002a).

Critchley et al. (2002b): Low concentrations of soil extractable P may

be a prerequisite for maintenance and restoration of the most highly

valued grasslands. Reducing soil P is difficult in practice, so grassland

restoration in the presence of elevated soil extractable P levels merits

re-assessment.

Critchley et al. (2002a) “The coincidence of low levels of soil P and K

together in many communities suggests that a combination of both may

have a greater influence on the vegetation than low levels of one or

other nutrient. Low levels of soil P and K were also a feature of the

most botanically valuable unimproved mesotrophic grasslands.”

Critchley et al. (2002a): It is not feasible to measure available N (i.e.

soil mineral N levels) accurately. Soil total N indicates the pool of

potentially mineralisable N; much of this would not be readily

available to plants as availability would only result from organic matter

breakdown and N mineralisation.

Extractable nitrogen fractions are useful guides in relation to heathland

soils but only if there is a suitable analytical laboratory available.

Key lowland grassland references

Critchley, CNR et al. (2002a) Association between lowland grassland

plant communities and soil properties. Biological Conservation 105:

199-215.

Critchley, CNR et al. (2002b) Plant species richness, functional type

and soil properties of grasslands and allied vegetation in English

Environmentally Sensitive Areas. Grass and Forage Science 57: 82-92.

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JNCC (no date) Chapter 3 Lowland grasslands. Guidelines for

Selection of Biological SSSIs, Part 2 Detailed guidelines for habitats

and species groups. http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/SSSIs_Chapter03.pdf.

Oliver Gilbert & Penny Anderson (1998) Habitat Creation and Repair,

OUP.

Walker, KJ et al. (2004) The restoration and re-creation of species-rich

lowland grassland on land formerly managed for intensive agriculture

in the UK. Biological Conservation 119: 1-18.

Key lowland heathland references

Clarke, CT (1997) Role of soils in determining sites for lowland

heathland reconstruction in England. Restoration Ecology 5:256-264

Mitchell, RJ et al. (1997) A study of succession on lowland heaths in

Dorset, southern England: changes in vegetation and soil chemical

properties. Journal of Applied Ecology 34:1426-1444

Mitchell, RJ et al. (1999) A study of the restoration of heathland on

successional sites: changes in vegetation and soil chemical properties.

Journal of Applied Ecology 36: 770-783

Oliver Gilbert & Penny Anderson (1998) Habitat Creation and Repair,

OUP

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Natural regeneration, colonization and succession are powerful tools

that we should seek to use as much as possible in creating habitats.

Use the power of nature to reduce costs and reduce the risk of failure

associated with sowing/planting schemes.

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Key Questions for the future that need to be considered in

research and policy agendas.

1st & 2nd BP. These questions are particularly relevant to

biodiversity offsetting and to on-site or off-site compensation

after application of the mitigation hierarchy of avoidance,

reduction and mitigation.

Soil chemistry and hydrology are fundamental to creating

habitats. We must base our proposals for creating habitats on real

evidence and not best guesses.

Created habitats cannot become islands in a sea of agricultural

land.

3rd BP. ‘No net loss’ of biodiversity will be a real challenge for us

all to address over the next decade. Habitats will need to be

translocated as habitat creation alone cannot replace the maturity

and diversity of habitats being lost to development.

4th BP. A real issue as the management of created habitats is so often a

reason for failure. Habitats should be created that do not need habitat

management unless this can be guaranteed through the commitment of

the landowner. So, create habitats where management is not necessarily

critical – for example woodlands, hedges that can become linear

woodlands, wetlands and rivers, coastal habitats. We should be very

careful in trying to create defined grassland communities (e.g.

haymeadows) or heathlands unless the habitat management is assured

with appropriate resources into the future.

New proposals from the Law Commission involving Conservation

Covenants offer interesting ways forward. These were published in July

and the response from the Government is awaited.

http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/areas/conservation-covenants.htm

Conclusion

More and bigger and better habitats are required – to paraphrase John

Lawton’s report ‘Making Space for Nature’ which must be our

touchstone for the future.

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