Regency Landscape Restoration Project ECOLOGICAL SURVEYS and ASSESSMENT VOLUME 1: REPORT Revision of 18th April 2016 Rob Colley Jacqueline Hartley Bruce Langridge Alan Orange Barry Stewart Kathleen Pryce Richard Pryce Pryce Consultant Ecologists Trevethin, School Road, Pwll, LLANELLI, Carmarthenshire, SA15 4AL, UK. Voicemail: 01554 775847 Mobile: 07900 241371 Email: [email protected] National Botanic Garden of Wales REVISION of 18th April 2016 Regency Landscape Restoration Project: Ecological Assessment REVISION RECORD DATE Phase 1 field survey completed 11/10/15 RDP Phase 1 TNs completed & checked 30/10/15 RDP First Working Draft issued to client 9/11/15 RDP Second Working Draft issued to client (interim bat section added) 19/11/15 RDP Third Working Draft issued to client (draft texts for dormouse, badger 19/1/16 RDP and updated bat sections added) Revised and augmented badger section added. 11/2/16 JLH & RDP Revised section only, issued to client. Fungi section added from Bruce Langridge 31/3/16 RDP Otter & bat updates added 11/4/16 RDP Bryophyte, winter birds & invertebrate updates added 15/4/16 RDP All figures finalized 15/4/16 SR Text of report proof read 16-17/4/16 KAP & RDP Add revised bird section & invertebrate appendices 17/4/16 RDP Final Report, appendices and figures issued to client 18/4/16 RDP ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pryce Consultant Ecologists Trevethin, School Road, Pwll, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, SA15 4AL. Voicemail: 01554 775847 Mobile: 07900 241371 Email: [email protected] PAGE 2 National Botanic Garden of Wales REVISION of 18th April 2016 Regency Landscape Restoration Project: Ecological Assessment SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ECOLOGICAL ISSUES 1. This document reports on the ecological surveys and assessment work carried out between April 2015 and April 2016, commissioned to inform the proposal to restore the early 19th century Regency Landscape parkland at Middleton Hall, Carmarthenshire, now the site of the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW). For the purposes of the ecological assessment, the Garden estate was divided into Survey Zones, the boundaries of which, are shown on the figures. 2. Protected and Designated Sites 2.1 The site includes the Waun-Las National Nature Reserve (NNR), parts of which are included within the landscape restoration project area and it is inevitable that some areas of the NNR will be disturbed. However, the project offers a significant opportunity to bring parts of the NNR that have suffered due to under-resourced estate-management in the past, towards a more favourable conservation status. The management of other parts of the NNR has achieved enhanced conservation status in recent years and this enhancement-management will continue. 2.2. The Afon Tywi Special Area of Conservation is located some 2km north of the Garden estate and surface water from the estate drains into the Tywi. Otter is a reason for the selection of this SAC and animals which visit the estate form part of the Tywi Otter population. However, the impact of the proposed landscape restoration project on the SAC is considered to be minimal. 2.3. No other Special Areas of Conservation, Sites of Special Scientific Interest or other protected sites will be affected by the project. 2.4. Designated areas of Ancient Woodland: The restoration of Llyn Felin-gât, together with proposed woodland management will affect the designated Ancient Woodland at Pont Felin- gât but no other Ancient Woodlands will be impacted by the scheme. 2.5. No other sites designated for their ecological significance will be affected by the proposals. 3. Habitats of European Significance listed at Annex I of the EC Habitats Directive that are present within the Garden estate are as follows. Old Oak woods with Ilex and Blechnum in the British Isles. This habitat is extensively modified at NBGW and there are more extensive and typical examples located in the vicinity. It is therefore judged that no woodland of this type which is sufficiently pristine or undisturbed to be of European significance will be affected by the proposed work. Molinia meadows on chalk and clay (Eu-Molinion). Only very small areas of Purple Moor-grass dominated vegetation are present within the Garden estate and none will be affected by the landscape proposals except that the project offers the opportunity for them to be effectively managed to bring them into favourable conservation status in the future. No other habitats of European significance will be affected by the proposals. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pryce Consultant Ecologists Trevethin, School Road, Pwll, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, SA15 4AL. Voicemail: 01554 775847 Mobile: 07900 241371 Email: [email protected] PAGE 3 National Botanic Garden of Wales REVISION of 18th April 2016 Regency Landscape Restoration Project: Ecological Assessment 4. Section 42 Habitats of Principal Importance1 and UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Habitats that are present within the Garden estate are as follows. Wood pasture and parkland (included in Broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland) Wet woodland (included in Broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland) Lowland mixed deciduous woodland (included in Broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland) Hedgerows and boundary tree-lines (included in Boundary and linear features) Arable field margins (included in Arable and horticultural) Lowland meadows (included in Neutral grassland) Lowland dry acid grassland (included in Acid grassland) Purple moorgrass and rush pastures (included in Fen, marsh and swamp) Reedbeds (included in Fen, marsh and swamp) Rivers and streams Eutrophic standing waters All of these habitats will be impacted to a greater or lesser extent by the project but there is potential for many to substantially benefit, particularly by the introduction of positive habitat management after completion of the works. 5. Local Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Habitats that are present within the Garden estate and additional to the habitats listed at paragraph 4 are: Veteran Trees Ffridd and bracken slopes Both of these habitats will benefit substantially from the project by the introduction of positive habitat management. 6. Important Hedgerows. Only ten hedgerows within Survey Zones 1 and 2 satisfy the definition of ‘hedgerow’ as stated in the Hedgerow Regulations, eight of which qualify as Important Hedgerows as defined in the Regulations. Some of these, principally around the boundaries of the estate, stand to benefit from the project proposals by the implementation of better conservation management but it may be necessary to remove some others to restore the open parkland landscape as depicted in the Horner paintings. 7. Non-designated Habitats. Other habitats which could be affected include semi-improved neutral grassland, amenity grassland, improved grassland, tall-herb vegetation, walls, buildings, tracks, hardstandings, etc. Some disturbance to these features may occur but none are of particular ecological interest. 1 Habitats of Principal Importance for Conservation of Biological Diversity in Wales were identified at Section 74 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and reviewed under section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 and listed under section 42 of that Act. These habitats, by their listing under section 42, whilst not protected, are a material consideration through the planning process. There is generally a requirement to ensure their retention and future management or, if they cannot be retained, acceptable mitigation will need to be agreed and implemented. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pryce Consultant Ecologists Trevethin, School Road, Pwll, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, SA15 4AL. Voicemail: 01554 775847 Mobile: 07900 241371 Email: [email protected] PAGE 4 National Botanic Garden of Wales REVISION of 18th April 2016 Regency Landscape Restoration Project: Ecological Assessment 8. Plants and Vegetation of significance include Bluebell which is partially protected under schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended). Whorled Caraway and Primrose are both Globally Threatened species defined by the Countryside Council for Wales. The lichen Sticta sylvatica is present in the area where Llyn Felin-gât is to be reinstated and is a component of the Lobarian Lichen Community, a Section 42 Species Group of Principal Importance. Some individuals of these species will be disturbed as a result of the project but the effect on local populations of all but the Sticta lichen will be insignificant. Efforts will be made to translocate any Sticta plants which it may be necessary to disturb to suitable safe areas. Twelve additional plant species of county or local significance were identified during the surveys, most of which will not be significantly effected by the project. Those that will be disturbed will be mainly as a result of reflooding the Llyn Mawr lake-bed but the design of the new lake will ensure that populations of these species will be maintained around the new lake margins. 9. Fungi. The Botanic Garden has become a hub of mycological study in recent years, initially built upon the exceptional ‘waxcap grasslands’ that are present within the NNR. As research continues, more fungal interest is emerging and numerous areas of significance have been identified within the estate. The great majority of these areas will