Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre

Annual Report for 2020-21

Working from home and field, the new normal!

Sharing information about Hampshire’s wildlife

The Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Partnership includes local authorities, government agencies, wildlife charities and biological recording groups.

Page 1 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Contents

1. Summary of Key Activities for 2020-21 ...... 3 2. Staffing & Contact Details ...... 4 3 Habitat Survey Programme...... 5 4. SINC Programme ...... 11 5 Provision of Data ...... 16 6 Screening of Planning Applications and Road Works ...... 19 7 Data Holdings ...... 20 8 Additional Community Recording inc. Living Record ...... 23 9 Updating the GIS habitat layer ...... 25 10 Special Projects ...... 26 11 IT Development & Improvements ...... 26 12. Financial Statements ...... 28 13. Annual Recorders Forum ...... 31

Tables

Table 1 : Summary of HBIC staff roles and contact details ...... 4 Table 2 : Request for Surveys Allocated to each Partner ...... 5 Table 3 : Additional Requests and funding received ...... 9 Table 4 : Summary of SINCs submitted to Panel ...... 11 Table 5 : Details of Objections from Nov 2018 SINC Panel ...... 12 Table 6 : Time spent on evaluation of SINCs ...... 14 Table 7 : GIS data to Partners ...... 16 Table 8 : Data requests summary ...... 17 Table 9 : Data requests allocated to each partner ...... 17 Table 10 :Data requests by type of enquirer ...... 18 Table 11 : Planning applications screened by partner ...... 18 Table 12 : Data requests by Reason ...... 19 Table 13 : Screening Road Works ...... 19 Table 14 : Total Species data holdings by database ...... 20 Table 15 : MapMate & Recorer Holdings ...... 20 Table 16 : Living Record Verification ...... 23 Table 17 : Survey updates outstanding on the GIS Habitat layer ...... 25 Table 18 : Income from Partners ...... 28 Table 19 : Expenditure and income ...... 29 Table 20 : Local Recorders Fund ...... 30

Page 2 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

1. Summary of Key Activities for 2020-21 Despite delays, constraints, homeworking (& initial IT issues) brought about by the Covid pandemic HBIC was able to deliver a near full programme of work for its funding partners and other clients as summarised below: a) Delivered services to 24 funding partners set through Service Level Agreements & Data Supply Agreements. This included field survey & provision of GIS datasets b) Reported to the HBIC Steering Group 2 months later than planned due to Covid, the Group met on-line on the 29th of September 2020 rather than July 2020. The HBIC Users Advisory Group which usually takes place in May was cancelled due to Covid-19 although papers and progress reports were circulated for consultation and comment. UAG next met on the 24th of November on-line and the Steering Group on the 10th February 2021. c) The 18th Annual HBIC Recorders Forum was held on the 6th March 2021 as an on-line event (due to Covid restrictions). Attended by 130 local recorders from 65 organisations (see page 31), this represented a 40% increase in attendance compared to using the traditional village hall although the conference was for a half day only. d) Carried out a Habitat Survey Programme (Phase 2/NVC) of 310 sites (up from 307 last year) which included a review of 95 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation, down from 141 last year due to delays getting permissions caused by Covid. e) Started the initial evaluation of the 2019 survey data but then delayed to early 2021-22 due to knock-on effect of delays caused by Covid. f) Imported 980,874 new species records from the species recording groups and HBIC’s own survey programme. The Recorder and MapMate databases now hold 8,367,257 species records, up just over 13% on the previous year. g) Continued to support Living Record as an efficient user-friendly on-line data capture tool for many recording groups/local community groups with 63,493 new records entered for 2020-21, down 28% from 88,620 records in 2019-20 h) Responded to 724 requests for biodiversity information, up slightly from 715 last year with chargeable time decreasing slightly from 79% to 78%, but with an increase in income of 10%. 98% of requests were dealt with within 10 working days, same as for last year. i) Screened 13,122 planning applications, up 6% on last year. 18% were flagged as having a potential impact on designated sites, priority habitats and notable species, up slightly from 17% last year. j) No volunteers were taken on during 2020-21 due to Covid and working from home k) All Bioblitzs were cancelled for 2020 due to Covid

Acknowledgements

The Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre is grateful to the HBIC Steering Group, for support and guidance and to the many species recording groups who provide regular updated copies of their data: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, Butterfly Conservation, Hampshire Amphibian & Reptile Network, Hampshire Bat Group, Hampshire Ornithological Society, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, the Hampshire Mammal Group, and several other national schemes & societies including the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society, the British Dragonfly Society, the British Bryology Society, and PTES.

The following organisations provide funding and other in-kind support to HBIC in return for a Biodiversity Information Service; Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, East Hampshire District Council, Eastleigh Borough Council, Forestry Commission, Environment Agency, Fareham Borough Council, Gosport Borough Council, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Hampshire County Council Economy, Transport & Environment Department and the Countryside Service, Hart District Council, Havant Borough Council, District Council, New Forest National Park Authority, Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth Water, Rushmoor Borough Council, South Downs National Park Authority, Southampton City Council, Southern Water, Test Valley Borough Council, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Winchester City Council.

Page 3 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

2. Staffing & Contact Details

Table 1 : Summary of HBIC staff roles and contact details

Role Staff Email

Specialist Environmental

Nicky Court [email protected] Services/HBIC Manager

IT databases/GIS/Species Wolfgang Ritter Senior

[email protected] data/Special Projects Ecologist (Data Manager)

SLA Lead inc. Survey Programme Sarah Callegari

organisation and validation, and Senior Ecologist [email protected] SINCs Programme (part-time Mon –Thurs)

Habitat Surveys & SINC Ian Ralphs

evaluation – mainly West & South [email protected] Field Ecologist Hampshire Habitat Surveys & SINC Joel Miller

evaluation – mainly North and East [email protected] Field Ecologist Hampshire Lizzy Peat Data requests, planning Ecologist (Maternity leave July [email protected] screening and collation/ 2020 to August 2021) validation of species data Nicole Hawkings [email protected] Ecologist (Maternity cover) Data requests, planning Amy Robjohns screening, survey validation and [email protected] Assistant Ecologist habitat mapping.

Data management tasks No volunteers due to Covid19 and staff homeworking (volunteer)

Address: 1st Floor, Elizabeth II Court West, The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UD General email: [email protected]

HBIC Steering Group for 2020-21

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland – Martin Rand, VC11 Butterfly Conservation – Andy Barker Environment Agency - no representative attending Hampshire County Council - Economy, Transport & Environment Department – Gary King Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust – Debbie Whitfield Hampshire Ornithological Society – Keith Betton *Hart District Council – Nicky Williamson (replaced Dr Paul Howe who has moved to Eastleigh BC) *Havant Borough Council – Gill Glover (Natural England – a representative attends the HBIC Users Advisory Group instead) New Forest National Park Authority – Ian Barker *Rushmoor Borough Council – Debbie Salmon South Downs National Park Authority – Adam Brown *Winchester City Council – Rick Smith

*3-4 District/Unitary Councils rotate once every four years.

Page 4 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

3. Habitat Survey Programme Update

3.1 Overview

The survey season began on the 12th of May 2020, a month later than normal due to Covid-19. 164 requests were fulfilled, resulting in the survey of 310 sites, including 59 sites (units) surveyed for the (5 yr) repeat ‘survey and condition assessment’ of the .

A summary of the survey days used by each partner is presented in Table 1; these figures include the time allocated for both field surveys and write-up.

Due to Covid-19, this has been a slightly strange survey season; as we were unsure initially what we would be able to survey and how responsive landowners would be to requests to survey, so we scheduled sites as and when we received requests and permissions. As a result, a number of partners are either significantly over or significantly under their allocations. This imbalance will be addressed during the 2021/22 survey season. In total, the surveyors completed an additional 28 days of survey and write up, which had consequences on how early they could finish write ups and start the 2021/22 survey season.

Table 2: Request for Surveys Allocated to each Partner Days Days Days Days Partner Requests Sites 1 Spent Left Total Allocated Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council 11 26 27.80 0.00 27.80 24 ↑

East Hampshire District Council 20 24 30.63 0.00 30.63 28  Eastleigh Borough Council 0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 182  Fareham Borough Council 11 11 11.76 0.00 11.76 14  Gosport Borough Council 4 4 4.63 0.00 4.63 8  HCC - Countryside Services 2 29 16.26 0.00 16.26 15  HCC - Environment 27 27 32.68 0.00 32.68 20 ↑ Hampshire & IoW Wildlife Trust 6 6 17.16 0.00 17.16 15 ↑ Hart District Council 10 14 21.05 0.00 21.05 20  Havant Borough Council 1 1 12.50 0.00 12.50 12.5  New Forest District Council 5 5 6.74 0.00 6.74 14  New Forest National Park Authority 16 17 20.27 0.00 20.27 14 ↑ Portsmouth City Council 3 3 5.75 0.00 5.75 6  Rushmoor Borough Council 1 20 13.11 0.00 13.11 10 ↑ South Downs National Park Authority 9 10 18.75 0.00 18.75 28  Southampton City Council 4 5 10.25 0.00 10.25 10  Test Valley Borough Council 10 11 16.00 0.00 16.00 243 ↑ Winchester City Council 17 18 24.68 0.00 24.68 284  Sub-total (survey programme) 157 231 290 0 290 309 Spare capacity 7 79 65.45 3.00 68.45 21.5 Total 164 310 353.48 5.00 358.48 330.5

Notes: 1. Arrows indicate whether an allocation has been filled (), exceeded (↑) or not been filled(). Thresholds are set at ±10% of the total allocation. 2. EBC’s allocation informally reduced to 11 days (from 18) due to an over-allocation in 2019/20. 3. TVBC’s allocation informally reduced to 16 days (from 24) due to an over-allocation in 2019/20 and then further reduced by 5 days due to reducing the SLA allocation for the year. 4. WCC’s allocation reduced to 25 days as 3 days converted to data request hours to produce maps and data for WCC’s BAP review.

Page 5 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

The HBIC partners requested 56.1% of the survey requests, with a further 0.6% coming directly from land managers/owners to inform their management plans. The remaining 43.3% of requests were organised by HBIC on behalf of the partners; either to contribute to SINC monitoring or to identify sites of potential SINC quality. This represents a decrease in the number of requests received from partners compared to last year (69%) and possibly reflects the situation that early in the survey season we could only schedule ‘essential’ surveys relating to proposed/planned developments

3.2 SINC Monitoring

HBIC sent letters to 88 landowners requesting permission to re-survey 133 SINCs where data is old. Of these, 53 landowners gave permission to survey 67 SINCS. This is a positive return rate of 60% of landowners (70% last year) and 50% of sites targeted, lower than last year, but favourable considering the expectation that landowners would not want people on their land during the Covid-19 lockdown. Five landowners denied access to 10 sites and responses are still outstanding from 36 landowners, which would have given access to another 56 sites. Out of the positive responses, 10 sites have been postponed to next year as the respective district allocations are full or at the landowner’s request. In contrast to previous years, the majority of SINCs targeted so far this year have been grasslands or other non-wooded SINCs (60%), compared to woodlands (40%), which reflects the uncertainty as to when SINC monitoring would be able to resume and the late start to the survey season during Covid-19.

In total, 95 SINCs were surveyed, which includes specific SINC monitoring requests, follow-on requests from the previous years and where SINCs fall within other sites requested by partners.

3.3 Road Verges of Ecological Importance (RVEIs) Monitoring

This year, 27 road verges were surveyed, all but two of which are currently RVEIs. Two of the verges are RVEIs that are under special management, these are reviewed annually to ensure the special management is taking place and is successful. Most of the rest are RVEIs along the A326 in Marchwood and Totton, which were requested to inform upgrades to the A326 to facilitate development along the Waterside and Fawley.

3.4 Purpose of Surveys

Figure 1a presents data on the purpose of surveys as a percentage of the number of requests; Figure 1b represents the data as a percentage of survey allocation time.

This year, 43% of survey programme requests were for SINC monitoring, which is slightly down on the same figure from last year, and possibly reflects that the majority of sites surveyed early in the season were those that were considered essential for Local Plan or management purposes, with SINC monitoring being considered non-essential, during the Covid-19 lockdown period. The figure decreases to 33% when considered as a percentage of the survey programme days.

A further 17% of surveys have been requested for Local Plan purposes, which is slightly higher than in previous years and confirms why the number of SINC monitoring requests is slightly lower. These requests are so far scheduled to take 19% of the survey allocation time, which reflects that the sites are large and often complicated.

The next largest category includes requests for Road Verges of Ecological Importance; this figure is considerably higher than last year due to a large number of verges along the A326 in Marchwood/Totton, which were considered essential for survey and were scheduled early. These requests are so far scheduled to only take 8% of the survey allocation time, reflecting that RVEI sites tend to be small and typically uncomplicated sites.

Page 6 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

New surveys to establish if there is any interest stood at 8% of requests but took slightly less of the survey allocation time (6%).

Similarly, requests for surveys to inform management took 7% of the number of requests although slightly higher at 8% as a percentage of the survey time allocation.

The number of sites surveyed to monitor SSSIs make up the next largest category and stand at 3% of requests but took 14% of the time allocation; this is primarily due to the complicated and time-consuming survey methodology and condition assessment of the Basingstoke Canal.

Requests for survey to assess the impact of development comprised 2% of requests and a similar 2% of survey time. Most of these requests were to inform a Nationally Important Infrastructure Project (NSIP)

Surveys to assess whether hedgerows are important under the Hedgerow Regulations comprised 2% of requests but only 1% of survey time, reflecting that they are usually relatively quick and simple to survey and report on.

There was 1 request for species monitoring to survey winter bird movements, taking 1% of the number of overall requests but 8% of survey time, reflecting that this request is comprised of monthly surveys over the course of the winter, taking a significant amount of time in total.

DC/planning application requests come in at 1% of requests and the same amount of survey allocation time. These were 2 requests to investigate possible planning breaches.

The ‘other’ category (1% of requests and 0.1% of survey time) is comprised of 1 site, which had previously been surveyed and not designated as SINC but the landowner suggested it would be worth a resurvey.

Figure 1a. Purpose of Survey Requests – by number of requests

Habitat/species Impact monitoring DC/planning Assessment Hedgerow 1% 2% applications Regulations 1% 2% Monitoring of Other SSSIs 1% 3%

To inform management 7%

Initial survey to establish interest 8% SINC monitoring Road 43% Verge Register…

Local Plan 17%

Page 7 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Figure 1b. Purpose of Survey Requests – by time spent

Initial survey to DC/planning establish Hedgerow Impact applications interest Regulations Assessment 1% 6% 2.1% 1% Other Road Verge 0.1% Register 8%

Habitat/species SINC monitoring monitoring 8% 33%

To inform management 8%

Monitoring of Local Plan SSSIs 19% 14%

Figure 2 presents data on how the requests are divided by designation. This year, 41% of the survey allocation was allocated to surveying sites designated as SINC, which is considerably lower than last year as a result of concentrating on essential surveys early in the season. 39% has been spent surveying undesignated land and 20% of requests have been for SSSI sites, which are both higher than last year; undesignated sites due to the larger proportion of local plan sites surveyed this year and SSSI’s due to the large Basingstoke Canal survey.

Figure 2. Percentage of Survey Requests (allocation of time) by Designation

SSSI 20% SINC 41%

Undesignate d 39%

Page 8 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

3.5 Additional surveys from spare capacity

This year, the official ‘spare’ survey capacity was 21.5 days, but this was increased to 39 days because of informal reductions in allocations for a couple of partners following substantial over-allocations last year. Also, a further 8 days became available through the allocations as a result of survey days being exchanged for data hours or a formal reduction in the SLA fee as the allocation was unlikely to be met, taking the total to 47 available days

This year, 6 projects have been completed, totalling 82.55 days and £21,487.86 in additional income (Table 3)

This is obviously more than the 47 days available, but due to the uncertainty with the survey programme earlier in the season and not being sure how many sites we would get to fill partner allocations, it was decided to try and absorb this within the survey capacity. It should be noted that at least 20 of the days were accommodated by non-field staff on data analysis and bird surveys (in italics).

Table 3: Additional Requests for survey and funding

Amount Project Partner Days Mileage (excl VAT)

1a Basingstoke Canal survey and condition assessment – IR survey, data entry, analysis and 42.0 £ 10,318.56 £745.20 report writing 1b Basingstoke Canal survey and condition assessment – SC data analysis, report checking 10.0 £ 3,196.80 - and project management 2a BDBC Local plan SHELAA sites – IR survey & BDBC 15.3 £ 4,536.00 £126.00 write up 2b BDBC Local plan SHELAA sites – SC report BDBC 1.8 £ 688.50 - checking 3a Warblington Farm winter bird survey – JM/AR HvBC 20.5 £ 6,068.002 £891.00 survey, analysis and write up 3b Warblington Farm winter bird survey – SC HvBC 0.4 £ 153.00 - report checking & verification 3c Recharge to HCC Ecology for Ecologist HCC -8.9 -£ 4,086.00 survey days at Warblington 4 Victoria Park, Portsmouth Phase 1 PCC 0.7 £ 391.00 £27.00 5 Aldershot Military Town Playing Fields (Upper) RBC 0.25 £ 74.00 £16.20 6 Southwood Golf Course East and West RBC 0.5 £ 148.00 £16.20

Total 82.551 £ 21,487.86 £1,821.60

1 This figure deviates from that given in Table 1 due to figures in this table including data and project management time. 2 Part of the survey work (8.9 days) was completed by a member of the Ecology team, so £4,086 was recharged to HCC Ecology to cover hours and mileage.

Sarah Callegari, HBIC Senior Ecologist

Page 9 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

3.6 Highlights of the 2020 Survey Year

Joel Miller: The highlight of the year was being in the very fortunate position of being allowed outside! The delayed survey season started in May and was relentless thereafter as we tried to catch up. A few of the early grassland surveys were depressing where unfavourable management had impacted on the habitat interest. One site abundant in green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio) had just been herbicided! Not a pleasant sight.

Contrary to that experience, many of the landowners are wonderfully informed and involved in the wildlife value of their SINCs. Deeps Copse in the South Downs National Park was a great example of how a small ancient woodland can be positively managed by an enthusiastic landowner. The coppice-with-standards woodland supported an impressive 39 ancient woodland indicators.

The complicated survey of Farnborough Airfield was completed this year with the issue of surveying active runways lessened by the lack of flights. Still, a massive 54 subsites were recorded making the completion (and reading!) of the report a substantial task. The fact that there are plans for positive management changes directly in response to the report, make it more than worthwhile.

The habitat survey year ended with starting the survey of the extensive HCC Nature Reserve. This is a fascinating river flood-plain site known more

for its birdlife, but also supporting grassland, marsh, swamp and aquatic habitats of good quality. The

ditches within the site are of particular interest. The survey so far has found sizable populations of divided sedge (Carex divisa), brookweed (Samolus valerandi) and the original marsh-mallow (Althaea officinalis) - opposite

Ian Ralphs: Obviously, the late start hindered field work progress significantly at the beginning of the season, however, 104 surveys were successfully completed including a re-survey of the Basingstoke Canal, of some 32 miles, which took a month of field time.

Other significant blocks of work included a re- examination of the A329 Totton/Marchwood by- pass SINC and RVEI sites for forthcoming road improvements, and undertaking condition assessment work and producing baseline surveys for the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust reserves

Highlights included the S41 Hornet Robberfly on the downs at Grans Barrow SINC near Martin (with a distant Quail calling at the same time), and finally locating the notable Clinopodium ascendens (not-so-Common calamint) population on Browns Lane RVEI, Damerham after many years of searching and failing to find it.

Page 10 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

4. SINC Evaluation and Notification Programme

4.1 Work for the Nov 2019 SINCs Panel List carried into the 2020-21 year

 The following proposals were sent to the SINC Panel on the 13th January 2020: 22 New SINCs, 44 amendments, 3 deletions and 2 reviews have been proposed (Table 4 and section 4.1.1 for details).  The Panel met on the 16th of March 2020 to consider HBIC’s proposals. The Panel unanimously approved 66 of the proposals, 3 proposals were deferred pending further information and 2 of the proposals were rejected; a proposal to delete a road verge SINC was rejected as it was felt that the verge would qualify under the new hedgerow criteria, to be introduced as part of the SINC Criteria review. A further proposal to designate a new site was rejected as the Panel agreed the site was not SINC quality.  2 candidate SINCs were proposed to the Panel for review; one has been approved by the Panel (but is likely to be rejected by the LPA) and the other was considered to be borderline and is to be assessed against the new SINC criteria to determine whether it would continue to qualify going forward.  Landowner notification letters were sent out at the end of May and given until the 19th June for objections.  Two objections were received (see Table 5 for details)  The SINCs Panel consists of Debbie Whitfield (HWT), Megan Owen (HCC) and Becky Aziz from NE.

Table 4: Number of Proposed new/amended/deleted SINCs evaluated from 2018 survey data and submitted to the SINCs Panel for deliberation during Jan/Feb 2020

New Amended Deleted SINCs for Partner Total SINCs SINCs SINCs Review Basingstoke & Deane BC 10 6 16 Eastleigh BC 2 1 3 East Hampshire DC 1 1 2 Fareham BC Gosport BC HCC-Countryside Service 2 2 4 HCC –ETE Dept. 1 2 1 4 Hart DC 1 2 3 Havant BC 1 1 Hampshire& IOW Wildlife Trust 1 1 2 New Forest DC 2 1 1 4 New Forest NPA 1 4 5 Portsmouth CC 1 1 Rushmoor BC Southampton CC 4 4 South Downs NPA 1 5 6 Test Valley TVBC 3 5 1 9 Winchester CC 1 6 7 Total 22 44 3 2 71

4.1.1 Details of the proposed ‘New/Deleted/Amended SINCs are as follows

Deleted SINCs: The three sites deleted included; one road verge for a lack of management which has led to the loss of SINC quality habitat; one site which has been agriculturally

Page 11 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021 improved and has lost its SINC quality habitat and the final SINC (another road verge) as the notable species is no longer notable in the vice county and the site is not SINC quality habitat.

New SINCs: The twenty-two new SINCs comprised:  1 aquatic habitat, also supporting notable species  4 areas of previously unsurveyed species rich wet grassland or fen meadow  8 area of species rich neutral or calcareous grassland  8 areas of previously unsurveyed ancient and/or wet woodland  1 site that has been proposed solely for a significant population of a notable species, (Cynoglossum germanicum s41, NR, CR); 3 further sites also have notable species interest, but they also support qualifying habitats.

Amended SINCs: The forty-four amended SINCs comprised;  9 SINCs whereby the habitat had reflected a positive change, usually because of good management, restoration or re-creation, enabling a criteria change or boundary extension  18 SINCs where the habitat had shown a decline in quality or actual loss due to inappropriate management, forcing a boundary or criteria change  5 SINCs which had lost some habitat, because of development, amenity, or extended gardens  12 SINCs where better or more detailed survey has necessitated a criteria change or a boundary change, including where additional Priority habitat had been discovered adjacent

In total new SINCs accounted for an additional 62.2 ha (up from 35 ha last year), deleted SINCs a loss of 2.75 ha (down considerably from the 267 ha last year, which was due to the deletion of one very large SINC last year), and amended SINCs a net gain of 138.30 ha (up from 14 ha last year due to large increases in area in 2 SINCs), resulting in a total gain of 197.77 ha in SINC coverage (against a total loss of 218 ha last year).

Table 5 Details of Objections from Nov 2019 SINC Panel

SINC SINC Name Grid Ref District Objection Status Ref Objection raised to Evidence Basing Fen & amendment to existing BD0623 SU65905280 BDBC submitted Wood SINC to cover river and 27/10/20 old cressbeds. Objection raised to Proposal proposal of new SINC withdrawn – site Land West of on basis that outline was borderline BD0835 Pesthouse SU46054880 BDBC planning permission and unlikely to Lane has already been given qualify as SINC on the site and criticism under the new of SINC criteria criteria

4.2 Work carried out for Nov 2020 SINC Panel

 The initial evaluation of 2019 survey data was completed in spring 2020.  Final checks and paperwork for submission to the Panel have been started but have been delayed significantly because of Covid. The following flow diagram details how this delay will be addressed over the coming year and subsequent panels.

Page 12 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

By the end of December, the amount of time spent on evaluating SINCs to go to the Panel is usually known and Table 6 is included to show how much time is spent annually on the two elements of the SINC Programme (preparation for that years SINC Panel and evaluation of the current years surveys by the surveyors following write up). As the Panel has been postponed, the figures presented under the Preparation of SINCs for the Nov 2020 Panel column are based on an average of 38% of non-SSSI sites over the past 3 years that have resulted in a proposal to go to the Panel. As this is an average across all partners, and each partner will vary in what types of site were surveyed, these figures are likely to change but give an indication of the time that will be spent on maintaining the SINC system in 2020-21.

Page 13 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Table 6: Time spent on SINC evaluation & reporting to the Hampshire SINCs Panel

Preparation of Evaluation of 2020 survey data for SINCs list for Nov Nov 2021 SINCs Panel Total time spent Partner 2020 SINCs Panel1 No. of surveys HBIC Field (hrs) (hrs) evaluated2 ecologists (hrs) 3 BDBC 39.33 14 3.5 42.8 EBC 25.65 0 0.0 25.7 EHDC 18.81 20 5.0 23.8 FBC 17.10 11 2.8 19.9 GBC 8.55 4 1.0 9.6 HCC C’side 5.13 1 0.3 5.4 HCC - ETE 32.49 27 6.8 39.2 HDC 27.36 10 2.5 29.9 HvBC 15.39 0 0.0 15.4 HWT 6.84 5 1.3 8.1 NFDC 22.23 5 1.3 23.5 NFNPA 10.26 16 4.0 14.3 PCC 10.26 4 1.0 11.3 RBC 1.71 30 7.5 9.2 SCC 6.84 4 1.0 7.8 SDNPA 22.23 10 2.5 24.7 TVBC 22.23 10 2.5 24.7 WCC 42.75 15 3.8 46.5 Total 335.2 (45.3 days) 186 46.5 (6.3 days) 381.7 (51.6 days)

From this table HBIC will have spent in total 51.6 days (~0.25 FTE)) maintaining the SINCs system, based on the calculations in the footnotes below. We have not added time spent dealing with landowner objections to notifications which can be very time-consuming. Separate time spent dealing with landowners and other interested parties who have queries on SINCs are logged in the data request database and allocated to Districts/Unitaries under ‘non- chargeable data requests’.

4.3 Road Verges of Ecological Importance (RVEI) Evaluation and Review Programme

The deadline for the evaluation of road verges/RVEIs and updating the RVEI GIS layer is now early January following the year of survey. This is a new deadline to allow County Highways time to update their GIS systems and get the information in the correct format to the contractors and districts way before the start of the new contract year in April. Prior to this, RVEIs were generally evaluated much later in the following year, and changes to mowing regimes might not have been implemented until 2 years after the survey.

30 road verges were surveyed and evaluated this year. 10 RVEIs have been amended, 4 RVEIs deleted, 2 created and the remaining were either unchanged or did not meet RVEI quality. The details of which are below.

Amendments  4 have reduced in size either as a result of loss of RVEI quality habitat or to improve accuracy.  4 have increased in size to include adjacent RVEI quality habitat or historic distribution of the species of interest.

1 Time spent producing statements and maps for reporting to the SINCs Panel, updating the database, GIS editing and notifying landowners - a total of 4.5 hrs per site, although landowners will be notified and the GIS layer/database updated and circulated in October 2021 – as the SINC Panel has been postponed, these figures are based on an average of 38% of non-SSSI sites surveyed resulting in a proposal for approval by the Panel, to give an idea of where the districts might be following the Panel evaluations. 2 Excludes any SSSIs and hedgerows surveyed in 2020. 3 Time spent evaluating 2020 survey data by field ecologists – undertaken in February 2021 (0.25 hr/site) Page 14 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

 10 have had a change in the timing of the management cut; 5 of these are included in the above, having had changes to their area.

Deleted  1 deleted as the road verge falls within the New Forest SSSI and is grazed.  3 deleted due to lack of management and encroaching scrub with resultant loss of habitat quality, too little remains to justify continued special management.

Proposed  1 proposed for chalk flora.  1 proposed for woodland flora.

Time spent on evaluating road verges for RVEI status NC – 23 hours, SC – 30.5 hours. In additional, time spent dealing with road verge enquiries and advising Highways is estimated at least 0.1 FTE

Sarah Callegari, HBIC Senior Ecologist

4.4 SD160 Local Sites Reporting – “Local Sites in positive conservation management”

The National Indicator, NI197 has been replaced by the Single Dataset indicator, SD160-00 called “Local Sites in positive conservation management” and is defined as for NI197. The invitation to submit data for this year not yet been received from Defra for 2019- 20 but Hampshire County Council will almost certainly again decline to respond. Only 55% of local authorities reported on this indicator last year. The 2018-19 Defra report for England is available here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data /file/772976/Local_Sites_in_positive_conservation_management_England_2008-09-2017- 18_Final.pdf

Previous time spent on this Indicator has never been included within the partnership SLAs.

Update: the reporting of SD160 has been cancelled for this year due to Covid-19:

“With regard to the Single Data List - local sites in positive conservation management, due to various restrictions relating to the Covid 19 pandemic, Defra will not be contacting local authorities this year to request 2019/2020 data. There will therefore be a break in the series for the stats release “Nature conservation: Local Sites in positive conservation management in England” for 2019/20, and England biodiversity indicator 16 (“Integrating biodiversity considerations into local decision making”).”

Nicky Court, HBIC Manager

Page 15 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

5. Provision of data

5.1 GIS Data to partners  Protected/Notable species records and Invasive species layers – update provided in March 2021. Next update is planned for July 2021.  SINCs: update provided September 2020. Next update September 2021  RVEI layer: an update sent out in January 2021. Next update January 2022.  Broad & Priority Habitats - update sent out June 2019. Next update July 2021. Delayed due to update with OS Master Map data by an external contractor.  Biosites layer – update sent out in February 2021. Next update in February 2022.  SDNPA layers with combined Sussex data sent out on 26th March 2021 for 2021/22.  Swift layer of breeding hotspots: update sent August 2020. Next update May 2021.  Ecological Network Mapping provided in March 2020. Next update in summer 2021

Table 7: GIS data to Partners

Partner Protected Non- Broad & Biosites SINCs RVEIs Swifts Eco. & Notable Native Priority Network Species Invasive Habitats Mapping Species B’stoke/Deane 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 East Hants DC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Eastleigh BC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Fareham BC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Gosport BC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Hart DC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Havant BC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 New Forest DC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 NFNPA 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Portsmouth CC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 Rushmoor BC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 27/03/20 S'hampton CC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 Test Valley 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 Winchester CC 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 Forest England 26/03/21 26/03/21 04/09/20 HCC C'side 22/03/21 22/03/21 21/06/19 ** ** ** 20/04/20 HCC ETE 28/09/20 28/09/20 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 HIWWT 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 Nat. England (1) 11/03/16 11/03/16 27/08/15 Env. Agency (2) 26/05/20 26/05/20 26/05/20 26/05/20 P’mouth Water 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 SDNPA 26/03/21 26/03/21 01/04/20 01/04/20 01/04/20 S'thern Water 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20 30/03/20 Thames Water 19/02/14 16/12/13 06/12/18 04/09/20 17/0519 Wessex Water 26/03/21 26/03/21 21/06/19 10/02/21 04/09/20 22/01/21 25/08/20

** HCC Countryside Service can load these datasets directly from the HCC GIS catalogue. (1) Natural England no longer fund HBIC for county-wide datasets. (2) EA do not receive Broad habitats

Wolfgang Ritter

Page 16 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

5.2 Data requests

98% of data requests were responded to within the target of 10 working days, the same as last year.

Table 8: Data requests summary

Summary 2020/21 2019/2020 2018/19 2017/18 Total no. of requests 724 715 711 649 Total no. of chargeable requests 546 534 508 492 Total time logged (hrs) 803.81 750.25 734.41 728.95 Total time logged to chargeable 629.95 590.25 560.55 549.1 requests (hrs) Proportion of time chargeable 78% 79% 76% 75% Total income £141,680 £128,267 £116,161 £107,131

To contribute towards direct costs and overheads, HBIC’s target income for 2020-21 is £130,000 as set out in the business plan. Although the first Covid-19 lockdown resulted in slightly fewer data requests than usual for April and May 2020, the demand picked up again quickly and total yearly requests continues to increase.

This year HBIC were involved in the development of a replacement e-payment system. It is hoped this new system will be more flexible and be able to provide VAT receipts, the lack of which is currently preventing many of our data requesters from using up-front online payment.

Table 9: Data requests allocated to each partner Total Chargeable Non-Chargeable Partner Total Time Enquiries Time Time Basingstoke & Deane BC 120 118.08 100.08 18 Environment Agency 6 9 1 8 Eastleigh BC 34 32.01 28.41 3.6 East Hampshire DC 50 50.9 42.35 8.55 Fareham BC 33 34.56 31.36 3.2 Gosport BC 10 10.45 7.75 2.7 HBIC (Note 1) 23 16.65 4.75 11.9 HCC - Countryside Service 4 4.5 0 4.5 HCC - Ecology 3 4.25 0 4.25 HCC - ETE 2 1 0 1 Hart DC 44 49.22 42.47 6.75 Hants & IOW Wildlife Trust 4 2.5 0 2.5 Havant BC 29 29.95 24.75 5.2 New Forest DC 57 63.29 58.51 4.78 New Forest NPA 41 45.84 33.51 12.33 Portsmouth CC 25 23.01 21.86 1.15 Portsmouth Water 3 7.5 0 7.5 Rushmoor BC 15 13.92 11.72 2.2 Southampton CC 25 28.01 22.36 5.65 South Downs NPA 45 43.3 32.05 11.25 Southern Water 3 3.75 0 3.75 Test Valley BC 102 94.76 85.16 9.6 Winchester CC (Note 2) 84 117.42 81.91 35.51 Total 762 (Note 3) 803.87 630 173.87

Page 17 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

(Note 1) Requests carried out to support recording groups, developing relationships with new partners and time spent re-directing out of county requests. Previously these types of requests were included within the HCC- Environment allocation. (Note 2) – An additional 3 days (22.2 hours) have been assigned to WCC’s data request allocation from unused survey days, to produce mapping for the WCC BAP refresh (Note 3) The total number of enquiries includes those ‘double-counted’ where they are allocated to more than one partner organisation.

Table 10: Data requests by type of enquirer Contact Type Total Enquiries Total Time Total Consultancy/Developer 571 603.95 £137,450.00 Landowner/Agent/Tenant 13 24 £1,750.00 Non-Governmental Organisation 7 8 £945.00 Public Utility 3 3 £720.00 Member of the public/Local group 34 37.45 £695.00 Researcher/Student/School/College 11 19.25 £120.00 Consultancy/Developer (for Partner) 21 29.41 £0.00 Government Agency 5 4.25 £0.00 Local Authority/Parish Council 45 63 £0.00 Local Record Centre 4 2.5 £0.00 National Park Authority 7 6.25 £0.00 Public Utility (for Partner) 3 2.75 £0.00 Total 724 803.81 £141,680.00

Table 11: Data requests by reason Reason Total Enquiries Proposed development/EIA 559 Community/Planning 50 Conservation/Land management 39 Utilities 25 SINC Query 24 Research/Study 19 Other 5 Agri-Environment Scheme 2 Not given 1

Nicole Hawkings

5.3 Production of Annual Biodiversity Monitoring Report for District AMRs

As in previous years HBIC produced an Annual Biodiversity Monitoring Report in the Autumn of each year covering changes in:

 Area covered by different priority habitats and designated sites.  Extent of priority habitats within designated sites.  Conditions of SSSIs.  Extent and number of SINCs.

All GIS layers are archived at the end of March each year and the figures are broken down by district using GIS models, an Access database and VBA scripts to make the extraction of the statistics quicker and easier. The report was sent out at end of October 2020.

Wolfgang Ritter

Page 18 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

6. Screening Planning Lists

Table 12: Planning applications screened for each partner organisation

District/Partner Checked Flagged Hours spent Pro Rata

East Hampshire DC 1,333 269 (20%) 64 East Hampshire DC - SDNP 781 134 (17%) 32 Eastleigh BC 1,667 172 (10%) 41 Fareham BC 1,311 175 (13%) 42 Gosport BC 445 74 (17%) 18 Hampshire CC 65 22 (34%) 5 Havant BC 773 92 (12%) 22 New Forest DC 1,346 287 (21%) 69 New Forest NP 1,004 401 (40%) 96 Test Valley BC 2,657 489 (18%) 117 Winchester CC 1,210 151 (12%) 36 Winchester CC - SDNP 530 130 (25%) 31 Total 13,122 2,396 (18%) 572

Total last year (2019/20) 12,371 2,095 (17%) 572

The hours spent per week pro rata on the screening has remained at an average of 11 hours staff time per week. The percentage of applications flagged (18%) is very slightly higher than last year’s average of 17%.

Table 13: Highways - Road Verge Screening

Time Spent New Updated Flagged (hours) 220 16 (7.3%) 67 (28.4%) 52

A weekly spreadsheet is sent to the HBIC Inbox from Highways containing all road works which may affect a Road Verge of Ecological Importance (RVEI). This list is then filtered by HBIC to show only ‘new’ and ‘updated’ works each week. Updated works are those which have previously been screened but the entry has been changed in some way, so must be checked again. Each of these works is then checked with the RVEI layer.

Any works which are thought likely to impact on a RVEI are noted and comments submitted directly to the organisation/utility who raised the job. Approximately one hour per week is spent screening road verges.

Highways use a system called Confirm to detect works near RVEIs and generate the list for HBIC to screen. The RVEI information within Confirm is getting outdated, and we have now gained the permissions and knowledge to edit and update the information Highways uses. A small number have been checked and updated where necessary. We will continue this, in addition to adding new RVEIs to Confirm when designated. Work is also underway to get adjacent ‘roadside’ SINCs included in this system.

Amy Robjohns and Nicole Hawkings

Page 19 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

7. Data Holdings (to April 2021)

Table 14: Total Species data holdings by database Total no. Total no. of Total no. of An Database of records to records to increase species 31st March 2020 31st March 2021 of…

MapMate (see below) From the 14,511 5,812,592 6,473,183 660,591 species recording groups

Recorder (Vascular plants from HBIC surveys, plus Stag beetles, 7347 1,573,791 1,894,074 320,283 Hymenoptera, Odonata, recent HOS records and Bryophytes) Totals 7,386,383 8,367,257 980,874

Approximately 19% of all species records held in MapMate and Recorder are protected and/or notable species. This figure has stayed remarkably consistent with previous years.

Table 15: Data holdings MapMate and Recorder Total no of Total no Total no notables Net of records of records or change in in Total no protected over the Taxonomic Group Recorder MapMate of records records year Amoebozoa 3 3 0 Amphibians & Reptiles 2,302 30,981 33,283 25,576 1,928 Bacteria 3 2 5 0 Birds 843,012 831,459 1,674,471 858,205 294,159 Fish 92 2,229 2,321 895 1 Fungi 2,924 926 3,850 146 24 Higher plants - Clubmosses & Quillworts 24 1,101 1,125 1,105 -32 Higher plants - Conifers 8,002 12,994 20,996 1,000 314 Higher plants - Ferns 23,420 31,961 55,381 3,178 632 Higher plants - Flowering Plants 872,940 1,209,708 2,082,648 120,052 50,148 Higher plants - Horsetails 3,170 4,616 7,786 507 290 Invertebrates - Acarina 3 2 5 0 Invertebrates - Annelida 2,008 40 2,048 5 0 Invertebrates - Araneae 714 4,242 4,956 290 1 Invertebrates - Archaeognatha 1 1 0 Invertebrates - Blattaria 3 230 233 229 1 Invertebrates - Bryozoa 1 1 0 Invertebrates - Chilopoda 131 131 0 0 Invertebrates - Cnidaria 4 1 5 1 0 Invertebrates - Coleoptera 11,775 68,262 80,037 18,658 4,292 Invertebrates - Collembola 4 4 0 Invertebrates - Crustacea 88 1,322 1,410 543 -8 Invertebrates - Dermaptera 10 611 621 46 3 Invertebrates - Diplopoda 3 121 124 0 0 Invertebrates - Diptera 521 47,700 48,221 1,945 604

Page 20 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Invertebrates - Echinodermata 2 2 0 0 Invertebrates - Ephemeroptera 4 147 151 1 1 Invertebrates - Hemiptera 173 18,719 18,892 445 191 Invertebrates - Hymenoptera 27,217 35,370 62,587 5,601 1,942 Invertebrates - Lepidoptera 6,419 4,075,487 4,081,906 501,093 623,022 Invertebrates - Mantodea 4 4 0 Invertebrates - Mecoptera 5 151 156 1 Invertebrates - Megaloptera 2 44 46 0 0 Invertebrates - Mollusca 655 2,783 3,438 170 -14 Invertebrates - Neuroptera 308 308 0 5 Invertebrates - Odonata 61,112 6,499 67,611 7,419 51 Invertebrates - Orthoptera 125 4,922 5,047 509 60 Invertebrates - Platyhelminthes 8 8 0 Invertebrates - Plecoptera 6 49 55 2 1 Invertebrates - Porifera 1 1 0 0 Invertebrates - Pseudoscorpionida 1 1 0 Invertebrates - Psocoptera 15 15 0 Invertebrates - Raphidioptera 1 19 20 0 Invertebrates - Thysanoptera 2 2 0 Invertebrates - Thysanura 3 3 2 Invertebrates - Trichoptera 13 662 675 21 24 Invertebrates - Turbellaria 2 2 0 Lichens 647 905 1,552 79 -463 Lower plants - Algae 30 72 102 0 6 Lower plants - Liverworts, Hornworts & Mosses 24,951 4,226 29,177 3,482 11 Lower plants - Stoneworts 29 292 321 303 37 Mammals - Marine 1 967 968 967 29 Mammals - Terrestrial (bats) 6 39,308 39,314 39,279 2,640 Mammals - Terrestrial (non-bats) 1,649 33,578 35,227 17,375 971

Total 1,894,074 6,473,183 8,367,257 1,609,127 980,874

Large increases are due to annual or biannual major updates from key species groups with data exchange agreements, minor changes are due to data corrections and designation changes. There were also corrections of errors from double counting because of synonyms (Lichens, Hymenoptera). Butterfly data were moved from Recorder to MapMate. Weevil records were received from the Weevil and Bark Beetle Recording Scheme.

The Hampshire MapMate records for the Hymenoptera, Caddisflies and Orthoptera have been (and Bryophytes will eventually be) sent to the national schemes for incorporation into their datasets, thus removing any possible duplicates, and returned to us as part of their annual download as non-editable copies.

We are currently in discussion with HOS to re-import all their previous records again, to replace what we have - they have made many corrections to the data they hold, which are not reflected in our current data. This complete re-import will ensure everything is up to date.

There are plans to collate the following additional data sets in future, subject to workloads:

Page 21 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

 Coleoptera - Derek Lott Coleoptera Dataset, sourced from the NBN Atlas  British Arachnological Society/Spider Recording Scheme's Provisional Atlas of British Spiders dataset. This is the dataset used in the Spider Recording Scheme's publication Provisional Atlas of British Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae), Volumes 1 & 2 - Peter R. Harvey, David R. Nellist & Mark G. Telfer' from the NBN Atlas.  Fish from the Environment Agency

Birds - ~20,000 records received from HIWWT as a result of the Brent Goose and Wader Strategy will stay in a separate useable GIS alert layer and not be imported into MapMate or Recorder

And we plan to set up a data exchange agreement with the Hampshire Fungus Study Group.

Currently we organise our data holdings as follows:  Newer HOS records are held in Recorder, Older HOS records are in MapMate at present.  Each year the previous HBIC survey season’s data is imported into Recorder  The British Bryological Society provide an Excel spreadsheet once a year, which is imported into Recorder.  One copy of MapMate (Identification 6dn) holds data from Butterfly Conservation only  Another copy (Identification 5pw) holds all other MapMate data.

Updates provided so far this year are as follows:  Butterfly records were imported September 2020 and March 2021  BSBI (plant) records were imported in June 2020, December 2020 and April 2021.  HMG (Mammals) were imported in December 2020.  Bat records were imported in July 2020 and December 2020.  HOS (Birds) were imported in January 2021  HAARN (Amphibians and Reptiles) were imported in December 2020.  Herptiles from John Poland in July 2020  Moths, although the import sent to HBIC was possibly not complete, so being repeated.  Swifts records were imported in November 2020.  Weevils from the Weevil and Bark Beetle Recording Scheme in January 2021

Wolfgang Ritter

Page 22 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

8. Additional Community Recording 8.1 BioBlitz Events

All BioBlitz events this year were cancelled or postponed due to Covid so there is unfortunately nothing to report. 8.2 Living Record

HBIC are promoting and supporting the use of Living Record in Hampshire, which allows recorders to easily add records to an online mapping system (using it as their own database) but also allowing County Recorders to log on and download relevant records to incorporate into their databases. It is particularly useful for people wanting to record across taxon groups.

Table 16: Living Record Verification (showing records entered between 01/04/2020 and 31/03/2021 for Hampshire)

Record Cleaner Hampshire New Query Reject Accept Locked Total Pass Fail

Subject Mammals (excluding bats) 531 1 530 Bats 873 873 Otters 1 1 Birds 11,209 56 8 4 3,424 7,717 Reptiles 373 366 7 ARC Reptile Survey (Note 1) 9 9 Amphibians 493 493 OLD ARC Natterjack Toad 1,225 1 1,224 Survey (-2017) ARC Natterjack Toad Survey 291 30 2 259 (2018-) Freshwater Fish 9 9 Insects: Bees, Wasps & Ants 562 562 Insects: Sawflies (Symphyta) 9 9 Insects: Moths 25,253 21,181 12 31 4,029 Insects: Butterflies 6,380 755 2 81 5,542 Insects: Caddisflies 6 6 Insects: Flies (Diptera) 80 80 Insects: Beetles 292 292 Insects: Orthoptera - 72 72 Grasshoppers etc. Insects: Bugs 65 65 Insects: Aphids 1 1 Insects: Dragonflies 849 21 1 358 469 Spiders, Harvestmen & 103 103 Pseudoscorpions Isopods: Woodlice & 1 1 Waterlice (+Landhopper) Molluscs: non-marine 2 2 Vascular plants 14,584 3 81 62 204 14,234 Plant Galls 125 125 Bryophytes 0 Fungi 62 62

Page 23 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

Survey: Ivy Bees 1 1 Bats by life stage (Glos) 9 9 Dragons (for training) 8 8 Source to Sea method - for 15 15 invasive plants Totals 63,493 24,328 101 102 8,106 30,856 (Note 1) Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC) Datasets are not currently being verified or accepted into the HAARN dataset. HAARN are working with ARC to decide how data flow and verification should work between them in Hampshire. They are both looking into setting up a data sharing agreement.

 “New” records have been entered by users but the verifiers have not yet looked at them.  “Accepted records” have been checked for errors and accepted but not yet downloaded.  “Locked records” are those which have been verified and downloaded by the County recorders and passed through to HBIC in the usual way.  The number of queried and rejected records can also be seen, feedback is provided by email within the system.

HBIC has the admin rights to allocate users as County Recorders to specific taxon groups and is in the process of approaching and training people to carry out this role in order to complement the existing network.

The year total of 63,493 records is a little down from the last couple of years (88,620 and 73,273 in 2019/20 and 18/19 respectively), which was expected after the end of the recording push for the 2020 BSBI Atlas.

Nicole Hawkings

Page 24 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

9. Updating the HBIC GIS Habitat Layer & Dataset

Both 2015 and 2016 site surveys have been translated into the habitat layers with remaining errors resolved though the OSMM update. Good progress had also been made with the 2017 surveys and this will take approximately 9 days to complete. However, translating survey data was temporarily paused whilst work to update the habitat mapping (HLU) Tool and import everything into the latest OSMM mapping took place.

This was completed in October 2020, and testing the updated HLU Tool was successful, so translating surveys into the habitat layer has restarted, focusing on Rushmoor and Eastleigh boroughs to begin with, in preparation for carbon storage mapping and future ground truthing respectively. Some OSMM updates were automatically applied where there was no existing habitat survey data, or where new housing developments had appeared, however in cases where there is existing habitat survey data, the OSMM mapping updates have to be reviewed against the survey data held for each polygon, and to reduce areas classified as ‘Unidentified habitat’ from whatever sources are available. Work will now be split between reviewing OSMM mapping updates and translating the habitat survey data. It is hoped that at least half a day each week could be allocated to OSMM updates, and one day concentrating on translating the habitat survey data to continue clearing the backlog.

The 2018 surveys have all been verified ready for translating and are expected to take approximately 24 days to complete. It is hoped that all 2017 and 2018 survey will be translated by June 2021. 2019 surveys have also been verified and we have begun verifying the 2020 surveys, so hope to have them translated by mid-2022, followed by the 2021 surveys. The 2022 date factors in time spent reviewing OSMM mapping updates and also updating any gaps in SSSI habitat mapping using Natural England condition assessment data.

Table 17: Survey updates outstanding on the GIS Habitat layer on 22nd January 2021

Year of Total Site Surveys Outstanding work as survey for Year at 26/09/2019 2017 257 77 (30%) 2018 258 240 (93%) 2019 307 271 (88.3%) 2020 168 167 (99.4%) Total 990 755

Outstanding work

Total number of surveys to translate = 755 Number of site surveys that can be translated/day = approx. 10 Number of days to complete all surveys = 76 days (at 1 day/week) ~ 18 months

Further work is also required to verify and incorporate into the GIS Habitat Layer the following:  PTES Traditional Orchards national inventory data  RSPB/EA Reedbeds regional inventory data  Brownfield “Open Mosaic Habitats on Previously Developed Land” data from BugLife

Maps of the above three datasets are being produced to enable the field ecologists to ground truth areas they may come across during the survey programme, subject to access.

Amy Robjohns

Page 25 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

10. Special projects

10.1. Ecological Network Mapping

The ecological network mapping had a major update at the end of 2019 and was provided to the local planning authorities and developers in March 2020 alongside policy guidance on its use. The update took account of further changes in designated sites and habitat mapping. MasterMap polygons labelled as woodland, scrub and rough grassland were added into the ‘opportunity’ layer where no survey data exists.

No update was carried out in 2020-21due to minimum changes to the habitat mapping and lack of funding. Future funding will be through SLAs and a new updated map is expected in summer 2021 to partly reflect changes caused by the translation into the new OSMM. HBIC are also investigating various GIS tools to develop strategically important network areas for protected species such as dormice. For great crested newts this will be done through the district level licencing model.

The Ecological Network Map will form one element of the Nature Recovery Network/Local Nature Recovery Strategy

10.2 Solent Nitrate Mitigation Sites Register

Towards the end of the year HBIC were approached by Natural England and PfSH to develop a GIS layer/database to map all approved and potential nitrate mitigation sites across the Solent catchment areas, including Isle of wight and Chichester. This is to ensure consistency of reporting across the authorities and enable authorities to know what is available. Monitoring of sites will be an important element. The GIS layer will be sent out quarterly and a more interactive online map is being looked into.

11. IT Development & Improvements

The on-going IT plan for HBIC is to enable greater integration between the HBIC databases and GIS to ensure duplication of effort is kept to a minimum and to enable greater flexibility and speed when interrogating and extracting data. Specifically, this includes:

 Further improvements to the data request database to align it with the new epayments system and to make the data more consistent and easier to extract. IT Services has also moved the online form to a new platform which has resulted in no loss of functionality and some minor improvements.  In future there will be no time restriction for species records sent out in response to data requests. They are also being sent out as Excel spreadsheet instead of Word documents.  Further (& ongoing) improvements to the extraction of GIS data using Python code have been undertaken to replace existing VBA code that is no longer supported by ArcGIS. HBIC use tools in ArcGIS to connect it to its Access databases.  JNCC no longer support Recorder 6 so the majority of LERCs have agreed to keep and further develop Recorder and pay a licence fee which funds on-going updates to its dictionaries and software. Andy Foy, on contract to the SE LERCs, has asked all Recorder users which components of Recorder 6 are used/not used, with a view to setting up a priority list for its re-development.  HBIC use MapMate for data exchange with several species recording groups. It is also used by many other LERCs and national species groups. However, it is based on an old version of Access (97) and HCC IT has now upgraded MS Access to Office 365, meaning data extractions from MapMate are no longer possible without a work-around. We are in discussion with HCC IT to try to resolve this problem whilst ALERC have approached the developer to determine his long-term plans for the software but with little success.

Page 26 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

 More importantly, HCC IT have stated that MS Access will not be available after 2025. MS Access is a very important part of HBIC’s data management system and so we are now reviewing other solutions such as ‘R’ or Power Apps in combination with SQL Server and SharePoint Lists. A prototype for testing what is possible has been started.  Andy Foy (IT consultant) has been working on updating the entire County habitat dataset with the most recent version of OS MasterMap, as part of a SE Regional project. HBIC has received the updated data back and a new version of the software and is testing the updated data in combination with the upgraded HLU (data capture) tool, either through accepting or refusing the updates depending on whether survey data exists.  Improving the efficiency of extracting GIS data into a Word template via an intermediate database for producing the annual biodiversity monitoring statistics.

Wolfgang Ritter

Page 27 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

12. Financial Statement for 2020-21

12.1 Service level Agreements and Data Supply Agreements

All LA partners have now completed the final year of their 3-year SLA for 2018-2021. EA’s contribution reduced slightly at the start of the new 4-year agreement last year due to a ‘rebalancing’ of the fees across all LERCs. Otherwise, a 3% increase has been applied across the board and will apply to new SLAs and data supply agreements being sent out in April 2021.

Table 18: Income from Partners

Partner Agreement type Survey days Hours Fee Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council 3rd yr of 3 yr SLA 24 125 rd East Hampshire District Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 28 180 rd Eastleigh Borough Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 18 112.5 rd Fareham Borough Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 14 100 rd Gosport Borough Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 8 55 rd Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 15 60

Hampshire County Council ETE In kind 20 193.5 rd Hampshire County Council C’side. 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 15 70 rd Hart District Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 20 100 rd Havant Borough Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 12.5 85 Not renewed National Trust - - rd New Forest District Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 14 115 rd New Forest National Park Authority 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 14 145 rd Portsmouth City Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 6 35 rd Rushmoor Borough Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 10 45 rd South Downs National Park Authority 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 28 185 rd Southampton City Council 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 10 40 rd Test Valley Borough Council1 3 yr of 3 yr SLA 24 185 Winchester City Council Annual SLA 28 205

2 Natural England - - - nd Environment Agency 2 yr of 4 y MOA - 37 Forestry Commission (New Forest) Annual DSA - 5 Southern Water Annual DSA - 5 st Wessex Water 1 yr of 5yr DSA - 5 th Thames Water (SINCs only) 5 yr of 5 yr DSA - 5 Portsmouth Water Annual DSA - 5

Total (£153,619 in 2019/20) 308.5 2,098 £154,786.67

1 Small deduction due to less survey days delivered as a result of delays caused by Covid 2 Small amounts of funding received for one-off projects as reported in Table 19 Page 28 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

12.2 Main HBIC Revenue Account (J067M)

Table 19: Expenditure and Income for 2020/21

Projected Actual end of year EXPENDITURE £ £ Salaries & on-costs for 5.85 HBIC posts (1.85 x F, 3 x E and £226,000 £241,521.361 1 x D grade) Travel, ALERC fees/Training/Prof fees, Equipment, HBIC £7,500 £6,785.612 Forum (Zoom cost), Epayment charges 10% Income from data requests to species groups £13,000 £13,800.00

Phil Wilson contract: SINC review – part 1 & 2 £3,770 £3,770.00

Phil Wilson contract: SINC review – part 3 (c/f from last year) £2,730 0.003

Total £253,000 £265,877

INCOME £ £

From partner SLAs (see Table 18) £155,000 £154,786.67

Chargeable data requests £130,000 £140,937.844 Chargeable ‘spare’ survey days inc. Basingstoke Canal SSSI £5,800 £23,309.46 5 year survey, data analysis, and mileage (Table 3) Ecology Team recharge –internal HCC clients Highways and £6,000 0.005 Property Services levy on data usage SINC Criteria review – monies carried forward6 £2,730.00

Contribution from Southampton CC £500.00 Late payment from 2019/20 C’side Service SLA £5,821.00

HBIC Forum sponsorship March 2021 – was on-line £0

Income from Bioblitzs – none took place due to Covid £0 Projects Updating the ecological network map – not undertaken £0.00 £10,000 Solent Nitrate Mitigation Sites Register (NE & PfSH) (£4,825.00)7 Rushmoor Carbon Storage Map (RBC) £382.50 Miscellaneous payments from SSE (miscoded?) £1,964

Total £306,800 £330,431

BALANCE +£53,800 +£64,554

Other costs/in-kind: Departmental/Corporate overheads (5.85 HBIC posts @ -£87,750 £15K per post) Salary/on-costs for 0.5 FTE Manager post (not through HBIC -£35,000 cost centre) HCC ETE direct delivery (0.7 FTE mixed grades) c£34,000

Nicky Court, HBIC Centre Manager

1 Has increased due to adding in maternity pay 2 Includes March 2020 Forum meeting as always invoiced one month after 3 Invoiced too late for 2020-21 4 Differs slightly from earlier reporting due to timing of invoices 5 None received due to error 6 Invoiced late so payment will need to come out of 2021/22 budget 7 Carried forward into 2021-22 so not included in balance Page 29 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

12.3 Local Recorders Fund (Holding Account A985H) 2020-21

Total income from data requests for 2019/20 was £128,428. 10% of this (£12,6001) was transferred at year end to the Local Recording Fund holding account with 90% of the £12,600 to be divided amongst those species recording groups with data exchange agreements, and remainder available for projects to increase local recording capacity and available data.

Table 20: Local Recorders Fund expenditure and income

Balance carried forward from 2019-20 £ Includes £12,600 c/f from 10% of data request income from £25,408.29 2019/20 Expenditure £ Data Exchange Agreements HIOWWT (HARG/HMG/HFG) 2019/20 – invoiced HBIC late 40% £4,600.00 Hampshire Bat Group 2019/20 – invoiced HBIC late 10% £1,150.00  Butterfly Conservation 2020/21 20% £2,520.00  Hampshire Ornithological Society 2020/21 20% £2,520.00  Hampshire Bat Group 2020/21- not yet paid 10% [£1,260.00]  HIOWWT (HARG/HMG/HFG) 2020/21 40% £5,040.00 Local Recording Fund  Andover Trees United (2020/21) £166.67  Hampshire Dormouse Group (2020/21) £250.00  Worthys Conservation Volunteers (2020/21) £250.00  Rare Birds of Hampshire – sponsorship (2021/22)* £300.00  Friends of Ballard Water meadow (2021/22) [£300.00]  Selborne Partnership (2021/22) [£300.00] Living Record support costs (£1,400) paid but not appeared

in HBIC Holding Account Total expenditure £16,796.67 Income Living Record (HCC C’side x 2yrs) support costs £525.00 Balance £9,136.62 Carry Forward income from data requests 2020-2021 £13,800.00 Balance at year end £22,936.62

[Italics] – to be paid during the 2021-22 * Paid by year end

Nicky Court, HBIC Centre Manager

1 This figure has to be projected two weeks before year end to enable carry forward into next financial year Page 30 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

13. HBIC Annual Recorders Forum

13.1 Programme

Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Recorders Forum 2021 Saturday 6th March 2021: 10am – 12:30pm

Online

Programme

Chair: Nicky Court, Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre 09:45 10:00 Meeting open to join 10:00 10:05 Welcome & Introduction: Nicky Court, HBIC Manager 10:05 10:25 Nathusius’ Pipistrelle Migration and AudioMoths on the South Coast: Adrian Bicker, Dorset Bat Group/Living Record 10:25 10:45 The Impact of Climate Change on Hampshire's Butterflies: Andy Barker, Butterfly Conservation 10:45 11:05 A series of 5 minute project updates:  Bird Survey Opportunities this Summer: Keith Betton  Mapping the Hazel Dormouse in Hampshire: Victoria Arnold  Hampshire Cultural Trust’s Herbarium Project: Jaane Rowehl

11:05 11:25 Break

11:25 11:45 Jack (Snipe) in the box: Gina Burlinson, University of Portsmouth 11:45 12:05 Renaturing – Getting Nature Back to Impoverished Sites: Robert Chapman, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust 12:05 12:25 A series of 5 minute project updates:  Hampshire Flora Group Remote Workshops: Martin Rand  Friends of Peartree Green Update: Phil Budd  A Swift Update: Tim Norris 12:25 12:30 Summary & Close: Nicky Court, HBIC Manager

Page 31 Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre Annual Report 2020-21 April 2021

13.2 Organisations attending the Recorders Forum

 Andover Trees United  Hampshire Dormouse Group  Aquilina Environmental Quality  Hampshire Ecological Services  Bat Conservation Trust  Hampshire Flora Group  BCP Council  Hampshire Fungus Recording  Countryside Group Partnership  Hampshire Mammal Group  Botanical Society of Britain and  Hampshire Ornithological Society Ireland VC11  Hampshire Swifts  Botanical Society of Britain and  Hart District Council Ireland VC12  Hatch Warren Nature Group  British Bryological Society  Horndean Biodiversity Group  British Entomological and Natural  Isle of Wight Natural History & History Society Archaeological Society  British Pteridological Society  Kempshott Conservation Group  British Trust for Ornithology  Lepe Country Park  Butterfly Conservation (Hants &  Living record IoW Branch)  Milford Conservation Volunteers  Chichester District Council  Moor Green Lakes Nature reserve  Conservancy  Myrtle Farm Wilding  Clausentum Fen Conservation  Natural England Group  Natural History Museum  Conservation Consultancy Services  New Forest Butterfly Transect  Eastleigh Borough Council Group  ECOSA  New Forest National Park Authority  Eelmoor Marsh SSSI project  New Forest Study Group  Fareham Moth Group  Old Down & Beggarwood Wildlife  Forestry England Group  Freshwater Habitats Trust  Hill Countryside Service  Friends of Ballard Water Meadow  Portsmouth Museums Service  Friends of Peartree Green Local  Portsmouth Water Company Nature Reserve  Royal Society for the Protection of  Friends of Wildern Local Nature Birds Reserve  Southampton City Council  Froyle Wildlife  St Giles Hill Cemetery Volunteers  Hall Lands Copse Volunteers  Test Valley Borough Council  Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife  Thames Valley Environmental Trust Records Centre  Hampshire and Isle of Wight  University of Portsmouth Amphibian and Reptile Group  University of Southampton  Hampshire Bat Group  Wild New Forest  Hampshire County Council  Winchester City Council  Hampshire Cultural Trust

Page 32