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Biodiversity Plans That Engages Populations

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Biodiversity Plans That Engages Populations BiodiversitBiodiversityy planplan thatthat engagesengages populationspopulations Involving the public in preserving habitats was the first step Hastings took with its biodiversity action plan. UK farmland biodiversity ARC went there to find Council ough case study, summer 2012 Why it matters out more about it. www.arc2020.eu For just five kilometres of the i s t h e f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e Biodiversity is like a living Sussex coastline at Hastings, borough’s biodiversity plan. The glue that keeps life on the sandstone cliffs spill out over sides of some valleys in the planet together. Bor e: Hastings the Weald clay to form a series borough are too steep for It is the combined effect of Pictur of unique habitats. Some of building, so ancient woodland i n t e r a c t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e m h a v e e x i s t e d habitats can be found alongside lifeforms and habitats: it is continuously in their present a dense patchwork of nineteenth an indivisible entity which state for thousands of years. and twentieth century housing. encompasses the planet. It is Many of these habitats are as With a human population of most readily understood at a fragile as they are rare. more than 80,000, Hastings neighbourhood level. This is Fortunately, Hastings Borough residents can only be part of the the level at which people Council takes biodiversity very solution, not forgetting the can be involved in their seriously and has implemented million year-round visitors to living space, the level at all but one item in its local the popular south coast resort. which they can make a biodiversity plan, which is a The borough is completing a difference. customised version of national 10-year regeneration programme, and county strategies. More than w h i c h h a s s e e n m a j o r This is the aim of the one third of the borough’s 3,000 investments in further education Hastings Local Biodiversity hectares are protected habitats: campuses. Action Plan: since the 10% of the borough is woodland, As well as regenerating the borough is a geologically much of it ancient. local economy, the past decades rare location, there is a high L o c a l i n v o l v e m e n t w i t h have seen extensive investments density of rare habitats. wildlife and preserving habitats in preserving the fabric of the Biodiversity matters to every living organism on the planet, because it helps us to understand where the next breath of air, the next drink of water, the next meal will ough Council come from. And, with either luck or good judgement, the one after that. Or not, as the case may be. e: Hastings Bor e: For instance, half the o x y g e n w e b r e a t h e i s Pictur produced by green plankton in the world’s oceans. We do not need to know that for it to keep us alive, but it certainly changes how we need to think about the ocean, let alone the living spaces which are readily Understanding biodiversity cannot begin too young. accessible to terrestrial life. Page 1 of 6: UK farmland biodiversity case study published by the Agricultural and Rural Convention (www.arc2020.eu) local landscape for the borough’s smaller populations. The result is that Hastings Borough Council has designated seven Local Nature Reserves (LNR), four of which are directly managed by the Council, two by Sussex Wildlife Trust and one is privately owned and managed. The borough is also host to three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a European Special Area of Conservation (SAC) at Hastings Cliffs. T h i s 1 8 3 - h e c t a r e S A C i s designated as one of the finest examples of soft sandstone cliffs in northern Europe. Its const– antly crumbling clay outcrops are home to a very diverse flora and fauna, some of which are rare. The combination of a south-facing aspect and soft, Murray Davidson: diversity and wildlife returning to meadows. raked back faces make the site years ago, this lowland acid rye grass field would be really high an ideal home for creatures that grassland was saturated with by now, but it would only feed need burrows or the brackish high levels of plant nutrients. livestock, with its high volume water pools that form in the G r a s s m o n o c u l t u r e s h a d yield. Our regime of low density long foreshore. This zone also displaced naturally-occuring stocking levels for cattle and sheep protects the foot of the cliffs plants, such as heath bedstraw, a and rotating fields so that in some from direct erosion by the sea, variety of vetches, clovers and years none are grazed is resulting in which is slowed but not halted. sheep’s sorrel, as well as the a return to more traditional Within the Hastings LNR is 150 delicate grasses that support lowland pastures, rich in wildlife. acres of farmland at Place Farm, small farmland bird species. We have seen farmland bird Fairlight, which sits on high During a sunny break in a wet numbers such as linnet, yellow– ground overlooking the sea. The summer, Environment and hammer and tree sparrow numbers fragile sandy topsoil is recov– Natural Resources Manager increase. The fields now also have a ering from over-intensive dairy Murray Davidson took ARC web rich small mammal population farming practices. correspondent Peter Crosskey to which has attracted barn owls back Today, the borough manages it see the profusion of wildflowers to breed on site.” for agriculture (cereals plus and wildlife that are returning Here, the pasture is a mosaic of livestock) and biodiversity. Ten to these pastures. “A commercial different plants, thriving in thin soil that would not support commercial fodder crops. Once the wild flowers have set seed in this field, it will be lightly grazed by a small herd of Sussex cattle, which are being finished for beef. The national target is to re- establish 500 hectares of this grassland. Geology means that there are a limited number of places where it can occur: Hastings is home to a significant part of the national biodiversity target. Public access to farmland is protected with extensive rights of way. The gates carry noticeboards explaining what is going on in the fields beyond. The aim is to accommodate all stakeholders: Hastings residents, wildlife and the Local residents and visitors to Hastings constantly use this space. Continued on back page Page 2 of 6: UK farmland biodiversity case study published by the Agricultural and Rural Convention (www.arc2020.eu) Single Farm Payments help Hastings The Agricultural and Rural to win battle for biodiversity Convention The way Single Farm Payments will be allocated in coming years is crucial to the future ough Council of projects like the Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve. Here, 150 hectares of farmland is still recovering from the effects of intensive dairy Bor Map: Hastings farming that stopped 10 years ago. Overlooking the sea, Fairlight Place Farm is owned by Hastings Borough Council a n d h a s b e e n m a n a g e d directly for the past decade. It is a special place because, along whom arrived from London in is essential to our economic just five kilometres of coastline, the the 1960s. It is densely prosperity, health and well-being. Weald sandstones outcrop at the sea, populated area for such an Managing a high quality nature generating habitats in places that environmentally sensitive reserve next to such a large urban have survived unchanged for as long a re a . H a s t i n g s B o ro u g h population has its challenges, but as 5,000 years. More than one third Council has risen to the we are firmly committed to of the 3,000 hectares that make up challenge of meeting the ensuring access to nature is one of the Hastings borough are protected needs of local residents, local t h e c o r n e r s t o n e s o f o u r habitats of one sort or another: 10% wildlife and the thousands of management.' visitors that come to this of the borough is woodland, of which In-house expertise a lot is ancient woodland. biodiverse haven. Councillor Birch, Leader of Hastings As the only borough in East Sussex Living alongside this natural treasure Borough Council explained, with its own in-house ecology chest is an urban population of 'The Council recognises a expertise, Hastings has worked around 80,000 or more, many of healthy natural environment very hard to ensure that this natural wealth is both protected and yet still remains accessible for both residents and the half million visitors every year who stay in or around the borough during the tourist season. “There is probably another half million visitors a year coming from the (Old Town of Hastings) opposite end of the reserve,” observes Environment and Natural Resources Manager Murray Davidson, who looks after the borough’s green spaces. 'Indeed, Hastings Country Park and Farm probably attracts more visitors than any other green space in the Borough'. The Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve is criss-crossed with rights of way and covers 267 hectares, which includes the 150-hectare Fairlight Glen: thousands of years as a wet woodland habitat.
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