Important Stonewort Areas

An assessment of the best areas for stoneworts in the (summary) IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

Report written by Nick Stewart This project was commissioned as part Edited by Gail Vines of Plantlife International’s recovery programme Back from the Brink, This report is a summarised version of with generous financial support from Important Stonewort Areas of the United English Nature. Kingdom (see back cover for details). Report citation: Stewart, N.F. (2004). Acknowledgements: There have been Important Stonewort Areas. An assessment a large number of contributors to this of the best areas for stoneworts in the report, in the form of site and survey United Kingdom (summary). Plantlife information, provision of specimens for International, , UK. determination, assistance in field surveys and loan of herbarium specimens. In Plantlife International is a charity particular, we would like to thank Jenny dedicated exclusively to conserving all forms of life in their natural Bryant, Ruth Davis, Lynne Farrell, Alan habitats, in the UK, Europe and across Hale, Jane Harris, Richard Lansdown, the world. We act directly to stop Tim Pankhurst, Chris Preston, Stephen common wild becoming rare in Ward Penny Williams and Andy Byfield, the wild, to rescue wild plants on the Nicola Hutchinson and Amanda Miller of brink of extinction and to protect sites the Back from the Brink team at Plantlife of exceptional botanical importance. International. The charity carries out practical In addition, this report draws together conservation work, influences relevant and makes use of data collected through policy and legislation, involves its regional stonewort surveys, funded by members in many aspects of its work, the Countryside Council for Wales, and collaborates widely to promote the Anglian Water Services Ltd, English cause of wild plant conservation. Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and Plantlife International – The Wild Plant Thames Region Environment Agency. Conservation Charity Their support is gratefully acknowledged. 14 Rollestone Street, Salisbury, , SP1 1DX, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1722 342730 Fax: +44 (0)1722 329035 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.plantlife.org.uk

Front cover: Uath Lochan is one of 44 key nationally or internationally important ISAs in Scotland, notable for one of the few UK populations of least stonewort confervacea

2 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGE

The extensive network of ditches on the Somerset Levels support the largest UK populations of great tassel stonewort.

Summary Contents Summary 3

Where are the best places in the UK for stoneworts? This report provides the Why stoneworts? 4 answer. It offers a comprehensive list of important sites for these fascinating Ideal homes for stoneworts 6 , and prioritises those most in need of in-situ conservation action. How sites were chosen 8 By collating records from a wide group of organisations and individuals over many years, we have collated an inventory of 118 Important Stonewort Areas (ISA), of Overview: results, protection both national and European importance, as a prelude to targeted conservation and threats 10 effort. Key stonewort sites have been identified and assessed on the presence of Map and list of sites 12 threatened or rare species; of overall species richness; and/or of excellent examples of habitats of particular importance to stonewort conservation. This Next steps 14 knowledge will be fed into existing conservation programmes as well as the References 15 project to identify and protect a network of the best sites for plant conservation throughout Europe - the Important Plant Areas (IPA).

3 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

Why stoneworts?

Stoneworts are a unique group of with flowering aquatic plants, so a great Box 1: Revised threat status of UK complex algae that typically grow in fresh deal is now known about their red list stoneworts or brackish water that is clear and distribution and ecology. Stoneworts are (Stewart – in preparation; and can be unpolluted. Thirty species are found in the amongst the first plants to arrive in a seen on http://www.jncc.gov.uk/species/ United Kingdom. They take their name new pond or ditch, where there is plenty plants/threatened/charo.htm) from their encrusted appearance, as most of bare substrate for them to attach stoneworts build an external skeleton of their rootlike rhizoids. They are often Britain calcium carbonate instead of using pioneers on the open beds of newly Baltic stonewort baltica VU cellulose for structural support as seen in cleaned or created water bodies, often Bearded stonewort Chara canescens EN the flowering plants. Evolutionists suspect quickly forming dense underwater ‘meadows’. As long as nutrient levels Bird's nest stonewort Tolypella nidifica EN these remarkable plants may have played a part in the evolution of the earliest land remain low, they can persist quite well, Convergent stonewort Chara connivens EN plants (Graham, 1993). If another group but in more nutrient-rich sites they are Dwarf stonewort EN of algae - the seaweeds - are the botanical often swamped by the vigorous growth Foxtail stonewort Lamprothamnium papulosum nt masters of the sea, sometimes reaching of flowering plants. In these Great tassel stonewort Tolypella prolifera EN hundreds of metres in length, stoneworts circumstances, they can survive only if Intermediate stonewort Chara intermedia EN are the principal algae of freshwater. the habitat is kept open by some sort of Least stonewort Nitella confervacea nt disturbance – for example, by dredging, At first glance, stoneworts don't look Many-branched stonewort Nitella hyalina EX livestock poaching, or even wave like algae at all. In fact, they look rather turbulence near a lake edge. These Mossy stonewort Chara muscosa DD like vascular plants with what appear to exacting requirements restrict them to Rugged stonewort Chara rudis nt be roots, stems and whorls of slender certain habitats such as coastal lagoons, Slender stonewort VU leaves. This appearance led, for a time, to ditches, seasonal pools or meres, marl Slimy-fruited stonewort Nitella capillaris EX their mistaken classification, with the lakes and calcareous fen pools. Luckily, Starry stonewort VU horsetails Equisetum, even though they their durable spores, which can remain Strawberry stonewort Chara fragifera VU grow completely under water. Only an dormant yet viable for decades, allow Tassel stonewort Tolypella intricata EN anatomical examination reveals their true them to persist through periods when affinities: these are algae with enormous conditions are unsuitable. cells, up to 20 centimetres long, the Nationally Scarce species without largest known to science. Most stoneworts are unable to tolerate an IUCN designation significant levels of phosphates and Clustered stonewort Tolypella glomerata Over the years, pond-dipping botanists nitrates from nutrient pollution and, as a Hedgehog stonewort Chara aculeolata have often scooped up stoneworts along result, they are exceptional indicators of Lesser bearded stonewort Chara curta Pointed stonewort

Smooth stonewort SUE SCOTT

Northern Ireland Least stonewort Nitella confervacea nt Pointed stonewort Nitella mucronata EN

IUCN threat statuses, according to IUCN (2001): EX – Extinct; EN – Endangered; VU – Vulnerable; DD – Data Deficient; nt – Near Threatened Under suitable conditions stoneworts can form dense underwater meadows, such as Chara hispida shown here.

4 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGE

Formerly the single richest aquatic system in Britain for macrophytes, the has suffered the effects of excess boating, heavy stocking of fish and shading by overhanging trees.

water quality. This pollution is Conservation priority detrimental to stoneworts primarily In recent years, stoneworts have because it encourages competitors, undergone a catastrophic decline that particularly epiphytic algae, which coat has resulted from both the nutrient the surface of the stonewort plants, or enrichment, eutrophication, of water makes the water too turbid for sunlight bodies, and from the loss of traditional to penetrate. Epiphytic algae inhibit management practices that kept fenland nutrient exchange: stoneworts have no ditches and small ponds and the like vascular system and largely rely on open rather than overgrown. movement of ions through their cell Over 10 years ago, the status of the 30 walls. At the same time, stoneworts UK species of stonewort was recorded in themselves help to promote clear water. the Red Data Books of Britain and Ireland: They capture nutrients and help to clarify Stoneworts (Stewart & Church 1992). This the water by stabilising sediments, and was the first Red Data book in the UK for perhaps even by production of inhibitory any group of non-vascular plants. Today, chemicals. 17 species in Britain are deemed Stoneworts are well worth conserving in nationally rare or extinct, together with a their own right, and their sensitivity to further two species in Northern Ireland pollutants makes them the ‘canaries’ of (see Box 1) that remain relatively the freshwater world. As clean water widespread in Britain, using the 2001 bodies become contaminated with IUCN threat category criteria (IUCN sewage, farming effluent and agricultural 2001). Accordingly, stoneworts are among run-off, stoneworts are often the first the most severely threatened group of plants to disappear. plants or animals in the United Kingdom.

5 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

Ideal homes for stoneworts

Stoneworts thrive in aquatic habitats that flora, which includes species such as New () and the Lizard are relatively free from pollution and bearded stonewort and foxtail () are particularly important and offer an abundance of bare substrate in stonewort. Both are nationally rare include populations of rare and local the early stages of succession. Thirteen species listed on Schedule 8 of the species such as strawberry stonewort stonewort habitats are priority or Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. and clustered stonewort. While not threatened habitats on Annex I of the EU Once, brackish lagoons were scattered greatly susceptible to pollution, such Habitats Directive (see Box 2). around the coast, but today significant small habitats are highly vulnerable to examples only survive in , the natural succession if traditional land Important stonewort habitats south-central English coast, the Norfolk practices cease. However, restoration of Ephemeral pools and seasonally-flooded Broads, and western Scotland. The slacks in calcareous sand dunes often such features can lead to remarkable southern sites are highly vulnerable to reappearances of many of these species, contain a variety of stonewort species the impacts of diffuse pollution. that can tolerate periodic drying out in as recently witnessed following summer, including bristly stonewort and Areas of lowland calcareous fens – conservation management work on the clustered stonewort. Unfortunately, notably the fens of Anglesey, Lizard and Kynance Downs. Cambridgeshire, the Norfolk and Suffolk continued holiday development, dune A number of man-made habitats are of Broads, and the Somerset Levels – and erosion from recreational pressure, particular importance to stoneworts. combined with stabilisation of the dune marshes support a very rich The bare substrates of newly created vegetation, as a result of coastal flora. Stoneworts thrive in traditional clay, sand and gravel pits, combined protection work, all remain significant peat cuttings and unpolluted drainage with their typically unpolluted nature, threats. Moderate grazing levels by ditch systems that are particularly means that such habitats are often rich in livestock can help slow the natural important where the original fenland stoneworts. Pits such as the succession, and therefore slow dune habitat has been drained and destroyed. Peterborough Brick Pits and the stabilisation. Important species of the fenland areas include hedgehog stonewort and dwarf Water Park are of particular Along the western seaboards of Ireland stonewort. The process of natural importance for rarer species such as and Scotland, substantial wind-blown selection results in the gradual infilling of bearded stonewort and lesser bearded accumulations of calcareous shell sand ditches and peat cuttings if left stonewort, while Frampton Pits have fostered the development of a rich undisturbed, with the resultant loss of (Gloucestershire) remains the only and unique vegetation type - machair - their aquatic plants, and so depend on extant locality for starry stonewort when managed under a traditional the periodic dredging and raking out to outside the Norfolk Broads. However, crofting regime. Irish loughs and Scottish re-establish the open water habitat. The quarries and pits often undergo rapid lochs are a feature of this coastal Norfolk and Suffolk Broads remain vegetational succession, as willow and vegetation, and are of particular interest. particularly important for their other coarse vegetation colonise their These loughs or lochs are often stonewort populations, and support the banks and shallows: many sites therefore influenced by both the calcareous nature richest stonewort flora of any area in become largely unsuitable for stoneworts of the dune sand itself, and the acid Britain: within the UK, intermediate within a matter of a few years, without waters from the adjacent rocky and stonewort and starry stonewort are intervention. Poorly-used canals are peaty areas. Stoneworts tend to be best largely or wholly confined to . also of importance for stoneworts: two developed on the machair sand, where However, these habitats have been canal systems have been identified as there are often extensive open damaged severely over the past decades being of particular importance (namely communities of rough stonewort. by pollution, natural succession and the the Basingstoke Canal and the Human population pressure is usually impacts of boating and other recreation. Montgomery Canal) but the future of low in these areas although pollution both sites is in doubt as they are from fish farming and holiday With their inability to survive in dense increasingly used for recreational boating. developments is a problem at a few sites. vegetation, and their demand for clear, unpolluted waters, the seasonal pools Heavy stocking of coarse fish, the spread A number of stonewort species are (often created for watering stock) and of the alien signal crayfish, and the over- tolerant of brackish conditions, and as a flooded trackways of Britain’s shading by trees are all thought to be result coastal lagoons on sand and clay southern heathland districts are major threats to the survival of the are of considerable importance for their particularly important for a range of local aquatic interests of the Basingstoke specialist, though limited, stonewort and rare ephemeral species. The Canal.

6 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGE

The fens of Anglesey (Cors Erddreiniog NNR shown) are the richest complex of sites for stoneworts in Wales, and of particular importance for their populations of endangered dwarf stonewort.

Box 2: Priority stonewort habitats

HABITATS DIRECTIVE HABITATS DIRECTIVE CODE DESCRIPTION

1150* Coastal lagoons* 2190 Humid dune slacks 21A0 Machair 3110 Oligotrophic waters containing very few minerals of sandy plains: Littorelletalia uniflorae 3130 Oligotrophic to mesotrophic waters with vegetation of the Littorelletea uniflorae and/or Isoeto-Nanojuncetea. 3140 Hard oligo-mesotrophic water with benthic vegetation of Chara spp. 3150 Natural eutrophic lakes with Magnopotamion or Hydrocharition-type vegetation 3170* Mediterranean temporary ponds* 3180* Turloughs* 3260 Water courses of plain to montane levels with the Ranunculion fluiantis and Callitricho-Batrachion vegetation 7210* Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallinae* 7220* Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)* 7230 Alkaline fens

* Priority threatened habitats on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive

7 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

How sites were chosen

Interest in stonewort distribution in the The criteria for the selection of Box 3: Definition of an United Kingdom began in the mid - Important Stonewort Areas presented Important Plant Area: nineteenth century, but since then here are based on those developed by An Important Plant Area (IPA) is a natural interest in this group has surged and Plantlife International to aid the process or semi-natural site exhibiting exceptional waned. Perhaps the first attempt to of identifying key botanical sites across botanical richness and/or supporting an systematically identify key stonewort Europe: the Important Plant Areas outstanding assemblage of rare, sites for conservation was made by Nick programme (see Box 3). While the threatened and/or endemic plant species Stewart (1996), who identified around 45 European IPA process seeks to identify and/or vegetation of high botanic value. hotspots for this group around the plant areas of international importance, United Kingdom. Considerable additional two classes of important stonewort Three basic principles for IPA information has become available since areas have been identified here: sites of identification: 1996 - much collated by the author - and national importance and sites of this report represents a provisional European importance. Criteria were Criterion A reassessment of the Important adapted and developed from the The site holds significant populations of Stonewort Areas in the UK. This new European Important Plant Area one or more species that are of global or stonewort inventory is based on an initial programme site selection manual European conservation concern. shortlist of candidate sites compiled by (Anderson, 2002). The application of noting hotspots of species diversity when criteria was critical to the qualification of Criterion B distributions were mapped at the 10-km sites and are briefly summarised in Box 4. The site has an exceptionally rich flora in square level; and also a wealth of historic a European context in relation to its biogeographic zone. and extant records of uncommon stonewort species was used, collated Criterion C from a range of data sources, including The site is an outstanding example of a the Biological Records Centre (BRC), habitat type of global or European plant stonewort county floras, and museum conservation and botanical importance. herbaria, as well as the author’s private records.

Box: 4 Criterion A: Criterion B: Criterion C:

THREATENED SPECIES SPECIES RICHNESS THREATENED PLANT HABITATS

Sites of European importance Sites of European importance Sites of European importance All sites thought, or inferred to contain Up to five richest sites (or 10 under All sites thought or inferred to 5% or more, OR the five ‘best’ sites, exceptional circumstances) for stoneworts contain 5% or more of the national of the UK population of species listed as within each appropriate level 2 European resource (by area), or the five ‘best’ sites, of threatened on internationally-recognised Nature Information System (EUNIS) priority threatened habitats of major red lists. habitat type. significance to stoneworts listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive; OR up to five ‘best’ sites of other threatened (but non- priority) habitats listed on Annex I.

Sites of UK importance Sites of UK importance Sites of UK importance All significant sites of species listed on All sites with five or more stonewort Not applicable. Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside species present; OR all sites with one red Act 1981 (plus amendments); AND up to list/near near-threatened species and at least five best sites for additional red data two additional species. list species.

8 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS PETER WILSON/NATURAL IMAGE

Newly created water bodies such as gravel and clay pits often provide ideal conditions for stonewort colonisation. Peterborough Brick Pits now support the largest populations of bearded stonewort in the UK.

9 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

Overview: results, protection and threats

Overview of results national and international statutorily- Special Areas of Conservation (cSACs) in A total of 118 sites have been identified protected sites. The most important are: whole or part - 79 per cent of the total. as Important Stonewort Areas of either Important Stonewort Areas that remain • Sites of Special Scientific Interest/ national or European importance. Of unprotected as cSACs are Peterborough Area of Special Scientific Interest these, 38 are regarded as of European Brick Pits, Somerset Levels (both A total of 96 Important Stonewort Areas (as well as national) importance for their ); Clones-Roslea area (Northern lie in part or in whole within a notified stonewort interest, while 81 are Ireland); and Loch Stack area, Sanday Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in considered to be of national importance. Lochs, Ardmore Pool and Loch Bee, and Britain or Area of Special Scientific There are 123 sub-sites within 47 site Isle of Berneray (all Scotland). All eleven Interest (ASSI) in Northern Ireland, complexes that qualify in their own right Welsh ISAs have been identified as representing 81 per cent of the total. as Important Stonewort Areas of at least cSACs. A further 19 nationally While the representation of ISAs in the national importance. important ISAs also receive protection United Kingdom is well covered by the through recognition as (candidate) SACs: Additional sites - more than 150 in all - statutory SSSI and ASSI network, the therefore, 41 per cent of the total listing were identified as part of this study formal site citations rarely mention this of 118 ISAs are protected, at least in which did not qualify, on current interest specifically, indicating that such part, through identification as cSACs. knowledge, as being of national or sites have been selected for scientific European importance and so have not interests other than their stonewort • Ramsar Sites ISAs of European been identified as Important Stonewort floras. In England the stonewort interest Importance were compared against Areas. However, they are either of is mentioned for just 7 per cent of the coverage by the Ramsar Convention on interest at the local level or are known notified sites, whilst the situation is Wetlands, the intergovernmental treaty to have been of interest in the past, and marginally better in Wales and Scotland, that promotes the conservation and wise further study may permit a reassessment with stonewort interests mentioned in use of wetlands and their resources. In of their interests. 27 per cent and 14 per cent of the England, 80 per cent of these sites have formal citations respectively. been recognised as wetlands of Level of protection for international importance under Ramsar. stonewort sites • Special Areas of Conservation In Northern Ireland one of two of the This inventory of Important Stonewort Of the 38 ISAs identified as being of ISAs of European Importance has been Areas has made it possible to assess the European importance by this report, 30 recognised as a Ramsar site – the protection afforded to stoneworts by have been designated as (candidate) undesignated Clones-Roslea area may warrant assessment for possible future designation. But coverage in Scotland (7 of 16 sites / 44 per cent) and Wales (1 out of 4 / 25 per cent) is less complete, Eutrophication due to agricultural run-off results in habitats unsuitable for stoneworts and this report strongly urges that the relevant statutory agencies review their listing of Ramsar sites taking account of the internationally important sites listed here.

Threats to stoneworts sites This study identified a total of 15 factors that pose a threat to the 118 ISAs across the UK. This analysis is provisional and may underestimate the level or frequency of some threats.

Most stoneworts are sensitive to eutrophication, caused by nutrient pollution, and this was identified as the single most significant threat to ISAs (in terms of number of sites affected to

10 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

100 Key Low Medium 80 High

60

40 Number of Sites

20

0 EutrophicationLand managementWater management Climatereduction Agriculturechange Agriculture (general)Recreation/tourism (arable)Invasive speciesHabitat fragmentationAquaculture IntensifiedUrbanisation forestryTransport managementIndustry infrustructureAfforestation

Chart 1: Provisional assessment of the threats to ISAs in the UK

some degree), including many sites medium level, and this particularly affects significant threat to ISAs, reflecting the already receiving formal protection. The smaller water bodies such as seasonal lowland, coastal nature of many ISAs in main pollutants that cause damage are pools and peat cuttings in fen, heathland the UK. phosphates and nitrates, principally from and sand dune habitats, as well as some Other highly significant threats include sewage, farming effluent and agricultural man-made habitats such as quarry pools. the direct impacts of agriculture; the run-off. Several sites are in an unstable Many stonewort species flourish best in continued spread of non-native invasive state with periodic algal blooms utilising recently disturbed or newly created species (such as Australian swampweed the high nutrient loading of enriched water bodies, and are highly vulnerable Crassula helmsii, and parrot’s-feather waterbodies, and overwhelming the to swamp and flooded-woodland Myriophyllum aquaticum); and the harmful rooted macrophyte vegetation (e.g. communities that develop when sites are effects of habitat fragmentation. Widdicombe Ley, Slapton Ley, left unmanaged. Westwood Great Pool and Hickling and The third greatest threat to sites results adjacent Broads). More than a third of all from water management issues, populations of the UK’s priority reflecting the continued reliance of water stonewort species are threatened by engineering programmes to manipulate eutrophication. water levels and flows, including water abstraction, canalisation and the A second significant threat arises from introduction of water management abandonment and reduction of land systems. management, many to a high or Interestingly the impacts of sea level rise as a result of climate change has been identified as the fourth most

11 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS MAP: NIGEL HAWTIN

UK map showing site locations

12 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGE

Eutrophication, caused by nutrient pollution, poses the single greatest threat to stonewort sites in the UK, such as Slapton Ley (Devon) often in spite of formal protection measures.

Important Stonewort Areas list (Bold = European Importance)

1 Marston Vale Clay Pits 29 Malham Tarn 61 Ynyslas 91 Loch Stack lochans 2 Chippenham Fen 30 Hawes Water 62 Llynnau Mymbyr 92 Sandwood Loch 3 Peterborough Brick Pits 31 Sefton Coast dunes 63 Llyn Dwythwch 93 Sanday lochs, Orkney 4 Coldham's Common 32 Gordano Valley 64 Gwent Levels 94 West Mainland Orkney lochs 5 Great Ouse floodplain, 33 Lizard heaths and quarries 65 Bosherston Lakes / Stackpole 95 Egilsay lochs St.Neots to St.Ives Warren 34 Braunton Burrows 96 Rousay lochs 6 Wicken Fen 66 Lough Beg 35 Newton Abbot/Bovey Tracey 97 Central Fetlar 7 Ramsey area clay pits and heaths 67 Loughkeelan 98 Loch of Kirkigarth and Loch 8 Ouse Washes and Block 36 Slapton Ley 68 Ely Lodge Forest of Bardister Fen 37 Tinhay Quarry 69 Lough Navar Forest 99 Loch of Tingwall and Loch of 9 Quy Fen Asta 38 Widdicombe Ley 70 Lower Lough Erne 10 Newborough / Borough / 100 Scousburgh-Quendale area 39 The Fleet 71 Upper Lough Erne complex Deeping Fens 101 Southern Unst 40 Inglestone Common area 72 Clones-Roslea area 11 Shingay-cum-Wendy 102 Ardmore Pool & Loch Bee, 41 Somerset Levels 73 Dungannon-Auchnacloy area 12 Norfolk Broads: Ant South Uist system 42 Eight Acre Pond, 74 Lough Neagh 103 Isle of Baleshare lochs 13 Norfolk Broads: Bure 43 Fort Gilkicker Moat 75 Isle of Coll 104 Isle of Berneray system, Hoveton to Upton 76 Isle of Lismore 44 105 Loch Eport inlets, North 14 Norfolk Broads: Thurne 45 Harbour Farm Lagoons, 77 Isle of Tiree Uist system Bembridge 78 Ballygrant area, Islay 106 Loch Ollay area, South Uist 15 Norfolk Broads: Muck Fleet and 46 Little Stour valley Bure (middle part) systems 79 Killinallan Dunes, Islay 107 Loch Stilligary and Loch 47 Naccolt Clay Pit Druidibeg, South Uist 16 Norfolk Broads: Yare 80 Tayvallich Peninsula 108 Lochmaddy area, North system (middle part) 48 Lower Arun grazing marshes 81 The Machrins, Colonsay Uist 17 Holt to Melton Constable 49 Thorney Island 82 Black Loch and Long Loch 109 Balranald area, North Uist 18 Narborough area 50 Epping Forest 83 Uath Lochan 110 Carloway area, Lewis 19 North Breckland 51 84 Loch Watten to Sinclair's 111 Glen Stuladail, Harris 20 Grendon Gravel Pits 52 Basingstoke Canal Bay area 112 Loch Greivat area, Lewis 21 Yardley Chase 53 Otmoor 85 Loch a'Bhada Dhariach and Lochan a'Chuirn Dubh, North 113 West Benbecula 22 Upper Waveney/Little Ouse 54 Stanton Harcourt area Morar fens 114 Dunkeld-Blairgowrie Lochs 55 Anglesey Fens 86 Western Ardnamurchan 23 Frampton Pools 115 Fincastle/Tulach Hill lochs 56 Newborough Warren 87 Loch Loy 24 Richard's Wood, Over 116 Loch Leven 57 Kenfig Burrows 88 Morrich More and 25 North Idle Drain 117 Loch Moraig 58 Pembrey Coast Loch Eye 26 Lound area gravel pits 118 Hawick-Selkirk area 59 Laugharne/Pendine Burrows 89 Loch Cill Chriosd, Skye 27 Grafton Flyford 60 Llyn Gynon 90 Durness lochs 28 Fringes of Thorne Moors

13 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

Next steps

This provisional list of Important • Reviewing the designation of statutory Stonewort Areas draws attention to the protected sites, particularly under the UK’s most significant aquatic habitats for Ramsar Convention these important algae. Plantlife • Addressing the problems of International hopes that this exercise will eutrophication in the wider countryside, encourage botanists to study and which continue to impact on the document stoneworts in the wild, and will protection of key sites catalyse and inform future conservation action for this poorly understood group • Tackling management threats, notably of plants by both the statutory the cessation of traditional management, conservation agencies and the non- conversion of areas to arable, the governmental conservation community. impacts of water management issues, and the effects of global warming (particularly This report highlights a variety of actions on lowland, coastal sites) that can promote the conservation of stoneworts in the UK. These include: • Producing dossiers on the rarer stonewort species, and the revision of • Informing the Important Plant Areas the existing Red Data Book with up-to- selection process in the UK and date stonewort information. elsewhere in Europe

• To draw attention to the stonewort interests and management requirements in statutorily protected sites such as SSSIs, SACs and Ramsar Sites

The sand dune and machair systems of the western coast of Scotland are of exceptional importance to stoneworts, but may be at threat from sea-level rise. LORNE GILL

14 IMPORTANT STONEWORT AREAS

References

References and further reading

Anderson, S. (2002). Identifying Important Plant Areas. Plantlife, London.

Duckworth, J., Davis, R. & Costley, J. (2002). Junk food for plants: how nutrient pollution is threatening the UK’s wild flora. Plantlife, London.

Graham, L.E. (1993). Origin of Land Plants. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York.

IUCN – the World Conservation Union (2001). IUCN red list categories and criteria: version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland / Cambridge, UK.

Nature Conservancy Council (1989). Guidelines for selection of biological SSSIs. NCC, Peterborough.

RIZA (1999). Stoneworts: valuable for water management. RIZA Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water Transport.

Stewart, N.F. & Church, J.M. (1992). Red Data Books of Britain and Ireland: Stoneworts. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

Stewart, N. (1996). Stoneworts - connoisseurs of clean water. British Wildlife, 8: 92-99.

Stewart, N.F. (2001). Review of the status of Biodiversity Action Plan stonewort species. Plantlife report No. 170, London. BOB GIBBONS/NATURAL IMAGE

Heavy poaching by domestic livestock create the open conditions favoured by stoneworts. The marl pits of the Crockford Bridge area of the New Forest (Hampshire) support no fewer than eight species.

15 Further copies of this report are available from Summerfield Books priced at £5 (incl. p+p) Plantlife Bookstore, Summerfield Books Main Street, Brough, Cumbria CA17 4AX

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