POND BIODIVERSITY SURVEY OF WATERBODIES AT ALDEN VALLEY WOODS LOCAL WILDLIFE SITE, ALDEN ROAD, HELMSHORE, ROSSENDALE DISTRICT, LANCASHIRE For Chris Mason 10th April 2014 Dave Bentley BSc (Hons) Dave Bentley Ecology 0161 280 1648 & 07944 122292 [email protected] www.davebentleyecology.co.uk Version 1.1 1 Introduction 1.1 An area of hardstanding in the middle of a former quarry and ex-industrial (cotton mill) site in the southern part of Alden Wood, Alden Road, in Helmshore in the Rossendale District of Lancashire is the subject of a planning application by Chris Mason (who is not the current owner/land manager) to build an Aquaponics Farm. The hardstanding is currently used as a forestry operations yard. An Ecological Scoping Survey has already been completed by the Tyrer Partnership of Formby. This report accompanies that Survey but also updates and corrects it. This report is designed to deal with the value of the two small waterbodies within the quarry area for their potential to support legally protected Great Crested Newts, and also considers the site’s suitability to support other protected aquatic species such as White- clawed Crayfish, Otters and Water Voles. This report also evaluates the waterbodies as wildlife habitats in general. This report updates the Badger survey. The hardstanding is situated at Grid Reference SD774199. A survey was carried out by Ecologist Dave Bentley of Bury on the evening of 10th April 2014 in the company of Chris Mason. 1.2 Dave Bentley has worked in conservation in the Irwell Valley since 1983 and has been an ecological consultant since 1991. In his career he has examined 801 Great Crested Newt ponds (any one pond in any one year) and has, for example, completed 1296 full pond invertebrate surveys, mostly in North West England. He is the most experienced pond ecologist working in North West England. 2 Faults with the Tyrer Partnership Report in relation to Great Crested Newts 2.1 There is no date of survey given in the Tyrer Partnership Report (issued 3rd March 2014). The architect has recorded the date of survey as 20th February 2014, so it is clear that their survey was done before any Great Crested Newt presence/absence survey could have been carried out, and indeed when “Great Crested Newts will be hibernation”. However the stated aims of that report included “to identify/assess…the presence/potential presence of species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act….” It was therefore appropriate at that time to conduct a Habitat Suitability Assessment for Great Crested Newts to consider whether Great Crested Newts might actually be present. However the Tyrer Partnership did not make any assessment of the small waterbodies other than to recommend that a four visit multiple-method survey was conducted. One of the two waterbodies they recommended for survey is in fact a small bare pond just 18 months old, whilst the other is a temporary puddle in the cotton mill foundations, in a landscape, as correctly shown by the Tyrer Partnership, devoid of ponds which might otherwise be a source of colonisation by Great Crested Newts. 2.2 The pond (70m by 11m) identified by the Tyrer partnership which lies uphill at least 285m from the application site, is described on the Cronkshaw Fold farm website as “a large fish pond,” and is therefore unsuitable for Great Crested Newts, despite the Tyrer Partnership stating “suitable GCN terrestrial habitat lies adjacent to the pond.” Map evidence shows it less than 30 years old, and online satellite imagery clearly shows an uniform open pond with a narrow band of marginal vegetation. 2.3 This survey of 10th April 2014 will supply a Habitat Suitability Index Assessment as well as a pond biodiversity survey. 3 Methods 3.1 The site was examined by Dave Bentley in daylight on the dry, warm, still evening of 10th April 2014. The two waterbodies identified by the Tyrer Partnership were examined for newt eggs and were netted for newts and for other pond life (e.g. fish, plants, invertebrates), and measurements were taken. Later after dusk the waterbodies were examined by torchlight. Thus three methods of detecting newts were used at a time when newts are present in ponds in the Irwell Valley. The newt breeding season of 2014 was preceded by a mild winter. Sites which have good potential amphibian land habitat close to potential amphibian breeding sites allow amphibians to breed early in the breeding season, especially after mild winters – amphibians do not have far to travel. In field centre ponds amphibians have to cross maybe dry grassland and thus would wait for rain to migrate, but, in woodlands, travel is not a delaying factor. 3.2 Field walking before dusk revealed another small puddle just beyond the extreme south west of the site ownership and this was examined for newt eggs and by torchlight. Also in the ownership is a large mill reservoir which has a silt trap lodge forming a separate waterbody. 3.3 The owner of the site (who is not the applicant) was interviewed by telephone about the age of the small bare pond in the quarry and his testimony that it is 18 months old is clearly confirmed correct by the findings on the ground. 3.4 Old maps and satellite imagery were consulted. 4 Findings New Pond in Quarry base SD 7747 1995 4.1 This pool is 8m by 6m by 0.6m deep. It has unconsolidated gravel banks which have pieces of quarry stone laid on them. These are not bedded in and slip easily when touched. There are two sections of green plastic pipe which drain from the hardstanding into the pond, or vice versa. The pond is fed by a streamlet which trickles down the quarry slope to the north, and there is a small puddle between trickle and pool. It is assumed that the pool drains under the hardstanding into the Alden Brook. A pH of 7 was recorded. 4.2 The pool has no vegetation whatsoever. 4.3 The clear water showed no newts, but two blobs of frogspawn were noted. There are no fish. There were no newt eggs on fallen leaves. No newts were caught by netting. 4.4 Only a sparse population of aquatic invertebrates were found. These were: Chironomous Non-biting Midge larvae – few Lumbriculus variegatus Common Aquatic Worm – few Velia caprai Water Cricket – lots of this common bug Agabus bipustulatus – few of this ubiquitous water beetle Plectrocnemia conspersa – one of these widespread Caseless Caddis larvae Nemurella picteti – one of these upland widespread Stoneflies Hesperocorixa sahlberghi – lots of these very common Water Boatmen Sigara nigrolineata – several of these common Water Boatmen 4.5 This is a tiny bare pool only 18 months old, and is formed by water collecting against the hardstanding – it is a stream slack habitat. The water is shaded in part by the quarry sides and satellite imagery shows the whole area woodland earlier in the decade before the hardstanding was laid. It is impossible that Great Crested Newts can be present given the securely fenced site, an occupied site, and NO SOURCE OF COLONISATION. Puddle in ruin SD7744 1990 4.6 This puddle site may be many years old given it sits in the foundations of a demolished cotton mill. It measures 3.6m by 1.3m and the depth was measured at 15cm, although the water is shown as deeper on the Tyrer photograph. The pH was recorded at 7.5, maybe elevated by the concrete wall there. The puddle is covered with Creeping Bent grass, and there are some Willowherbs, Tufted Hair-grass and Soft Rush in the surrounding areas with the mosses Calliergonella cuspidatum and Brachythecium rutabulum on the rubble. Creeping Bent does not grow in areas that are permanently wet, rather it grows in areas which wet and then dry out. A population of aquatic invertebrates that included those that live in temporary pools that reduce to mud was recorded: Lumbriculus variegatus Common Aquatic Worm – few Velia caprai Water Cricket – several of this common bug Agabus bipustulatus – few of this ubiquitous water beetle Hydroporus incognitus - one of this common Water Beetle Pisidium personatum- few of these common Pea Mussels Limnephilus lunatus – one of these common Cased Caddis larvae 4.7 A small amount of jelly that appeared to be frogspawn was found. This may well be a single blob that has been eaten by another animal such as a goose. No newt eggs were located on grass and no newts were netted or seen by torchlight. It is inconceivable that Great Crested Newts could breed in this puddle. Certainly in areas with several Great Crested Newt ponds Great Crested Newts will lay eggs in almost any waterbody, but without any means of colonisation Great Crested Newts cannot use this pond, and of course larval survival would be slight if not impossible in such a waterbody in a Great Crested Newt area. Small Marsh SD7733 1978 4.8 This is a small puddle (2m by 1m by 8cm deep) in Soft Rush at the base of the valleyside next to Alden Brook, nestling against the raised banking of the canalised brook. Also present is Creeping Bent. Two blobs of jelly were found with two groups of free-swimming Frog tadpoles. There was no evidence of newts in this temporary puddle, and it is inconceivable that Great Crested Newts could breed here, given shallow temporary habitat and no source of colonisation. Lodge SD7743 1982 4.9 This is a triangular lodge with a length of about 100m and a maximum width of about 50m.