Breeding Bird Survey Report
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Breeding Bird Survey Report North Court, Brandon, Suffolk September 2019 Registered Office Norwich Office 60 Norwich Road Office 14, Ber Street Central Stoke Holy Cross 125 Ber Street Norwich, NR14 8NX Norwich, NR1 3EY Report For: TUFARRN LLP LUMANERI HOUSE BLYTHE GATE BLYTHE VALLEY PARK SOLIHULL WEST MIDLANDS, B90 8AH Report Author Reviewed By Comments Date Version Danny Thomas CEcol Abby Gretton Issued for 24/09/2019 V2.0 MCIEEM Comment Danny Thomas CEcol Dr Graham Hopkins FRES ISSUED 04/10/2019 FINAL MCIEEM CEnv MCIEEM LIABILITY This report is prepared by Riverdale Ecology Limited for the sole and exclusive use of the commissioning party in response to their particular instructions. No liability is accepted for any costs claims or losses arising from the use of this report or any part thereof for any purpose other than that for which it was specifically prepared or by any party other than the commissioning party named within the report COPYRIGHT © This report is the copyright of Riverdale Ecology Limited. Any unauthorised reproduction or usage by any person is prohibited. Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to Commission ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Scope of Report ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.3 Site Description and Context .................................................................................................................... 1 1.4 Project Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 2 1.5 Relevant Legislation and Planning Policy ................................................................................................. 2 2 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Breeding Bird Surveys (CBC) ..................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Habitat Survey .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Woodlark Surveys ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2.4 Nightjar Surveys ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2.5 Survey and Assessment Limitations ......................................................................................................... 6 3 Results ................................................................................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Breeding Bird Surveys (CBC) ..................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Woodlark Surveys ..................................................................................................................................... 8 3.3 Nightjar Surveys ....................................................................................................................................... 9 3.4 Habitat Assessment .................................................................................................................................. 9 4 Discussion and Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 10 4.1 Breeding Birds ........................................................................................................................................ 10 4.2 Woodlark ................................................................................................................................................ 11 4.3 Nightjar ................................................................................................................................................... 13 4.4 Ecological Enhancement ........................................................................................................................ 13 5 References ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 Appendices Appendix 1 – Site Plans Appendix 2 – Photographs North Court, Brandon, Suffolk 1 Introduction 1.1 Background to Commission Riverdale Ecology Ltd were commissioned by TUFARRN Ltd (Dr Farrukh M Bajwa and Dr Tuba H Bajwa) to carry out breeding bird surveys to determine the potential impacts to breeding birds of a potential development located in woodland adjacent to the A1065 Brandon Road, near Wangford, Suffolk; situated around Ordnance Survey Reference TL 75936 84598. The breeding bird surveys were recommended in a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal (PEA) of the site undertaken in November 2017 (Norfolk Wildlife Services, 2017). Additional surveys were also recommended in consultation responses received from Natural England, specifically requesting: i. Evidence of the breeding populations of the qualifying species of Breckland SPA (Breckland Forest component SSSI) (nightjar and woodlark); ii. A map of the clearfell areas which represent habitat for woodlark and nightjar within 400m of the application site; and iii. A report containing detailed impact assessment of the potential effects to nightjar and woodland and any planned mitigation. The surveys were carried out in order to inform a planning application for a proposed retirement village comprising 30 timber lodges situated within the woodland around a main community building with reception and maintenance facilities. 1.2 Scope of Report The purpose of this report is to present the results of surveys carried out to determine the species and distribution of breeding birds within the site, the distribution of woodlark and nightjar within a radius of 1km from the site boundary and to evaluate the results of the surveys to determine any potential impacts to breeding birds, in particular the qualifying species for the Breckland SPA resulting from the proposed development of the site. This assessment and report have been completed with reference to best practice as published by the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM, 2019) and to British Standard 42020:2013 (BSI, 2013). This report provides recommendations for enhancement of the site for biodiversity in line with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2019) and best practice guidelines. The survey, assessment and report were conducted and written by Danny Thomas CEcol, MCIEEM, Principal Ecologist at Riverdale Ecology Ltd. Danny has over 15 years’ experience within professional ecological consultancy and as such is suitably qualified to undertake habitat surveys and protected species assessments. He is and experienced field ornithologist and also a Chartered Ecologist with a BSc (Hons) in Ecology with Biology and an MSc in Environmental Sciences from the University of East Anglia. He holds current Natural England survey licences for great crested newts, bats, dormice and water vole and has a Schedule 1 licence for several protected bird species including but not limited to woodlark, barn owl and marsh harrier. 1.3 Site Description and Context The site is approximately 1ha in area comprising mixed semi-natural woodland and conifer plantation. The northern part of the site principally comprises deciduous woodland dominated by very large standards of beech Fagus sylvatica 1 | P a g e North Court, Brandon, Suffolk with occasional oak Quercus robur. Other species include sweet chestnut Castanea sativa, common lime Tilia × europaea, black locust Robinia pseudoacacia, silver birch Betula pendula, Scot’s pine Pinus sylvestris, Lawson cypress Chamaecyparis lawsoniana and Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii. The woodland forms a broad strip which runs broadly east to west from North Court to the A1065 parallel with the access track to the site. To the south of this the site comprises conifer plantation comprising Scot’s pine with occasional self-set beech, silver birch, holly Ilex aquifolium, elder Sambucus nigra, box Buxus sempervirens with ground flora comprising dense continuous bracken Pteridium aquilinum with localised dense patches of creeping St John’s wort Hypericum spp. and Oregon grape Mahonia spp. At the southern edge of the site is a felled clearing fringed by bamboo on the southern edge. Plans of the site are included in Appendix 1 and Photographs are included in Appendix 2. 1.4 Project Overview The proposed development is for a retirement village consisting of 30 bespoke timber lodges/cabins (some semi- detached and some detached) in the woodland. The development would also include a community centre with leisure and health facilities (including a swimming pool), a reception and maintenance building and yard. It is proposed that the retirement villas will be timber framed, prefabricated cabins built on pile foundations, sympathetically distributed around the woodland site so as to cause