Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 Sites (IPENS) – Planning for the Future IPENS055 Burning in the English Uplands - A Review, Reconciliation and Comparison of Results of Natural England’s Burn Monitoring: 2005 - 2014 Multiple Natura 2000 sites within the English Uplands First published 09 June 2015 www.gov.uk/government/publications/improvement-programme-for- englands-natura-2000-sites-ipens This project is part of the IPENS programme (LIFE11NAT/UK/000384IPENS) which is financially supported by LIFE, a financial instrument of the European Community’. Foreword The Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 sites (IPENS), supported by European Union LIFE+ funding, is a new strategic approach to managing England’s Natura 2000 sites. It is enabling Natural England, the Environment Agency, and other key partners to plan what, how, where and when they will target their efforts on Natura 2000 sites and areas surrounding them. As part of the IPENS programme, we are identifying gaps in our knowledge and, where possible, addressing these through a range of evidence projects. The project findings are being used to help develop our Theme Plans and Site Improvement Plans. This report is one of the evidence project studies we commissioned. There is a long history of the use of fire as a management tool within the UK uplands and it is supposed that early hunters and farmers used burning to promote fresh growth for the management of prey animals and domesticated livestock. In the last 200 years, fire in the form of rotational burning has mainly been associated with livestock grazing and the management of grouse for shooting. Increasingly, in the English uplands, the emphasis upon burning has been for the management of heather by the grouse shooting industry and in England, this is pronounced in the Pennines, North York Moors and Bowland Fells. Rotational burning is subject to the guidance set out in the Heather and Grass Burning Code which has been through several revisions over time. Many upland areas in England are designated under domestic and international nature conservation legislation designed to protect their nature conservation interest. As a result, rotational burning is an activity that will often require consent from the statutory nature conservation agency for England (Natural England) and payments are also made through agri-environment schemes so that burning is carried out in ways that are intended to ensure environmental benefits. Until recently, we did not have the technical capability for monitoring rotational burning but a method has now been developed that makes this possible. This project has allowed the development of GIS products that can be used to implement a programme of monitoring of rotational burning. This report has two objectives. The first is to provide a summary of the history of rotational burning in the English uplands going back 60 – 70 years. This is to help provide historical context from data on the intensity and scale of rotational burning since World War 2 which can then be compared with rotational burning as is currently practiced. The second objective is to interpret the GIS products from the work and place them in a form that can be readily understood by the non-specialist reader. Natural England Project officer: Alistair Crowle, [email protected] This publication is published by Natural England under the Open Government Licence v3.0 for public sector information. You are encouraged to use, and reuse, information subject to certain conditions. For details of the licence visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3. Please note: Natural England photographs are only available for non-commercial purposes. For information regarding the use of maps or data visit www.gov.uk/how-to-access-natural-englands-maps-and-data. ISBN 978-1-78354-213-0 © Natural England and other parties 2015 IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands A Review, Reconciliation and Comparison of Results of Natural England’s Burn Monitoring : 2005-2014 CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands ii IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands A Review, Reconciliation and Comparison of Results of Natural England’s Burn Monitoring : 2005-2014 Submission to Natural England – December 2014 This project is part of the IPENS programme (LIFE11NAT/UK/000384IPENS) which is financially supported by LIFE, a financial instrument of the European Community’ Dr JI Thacker Dr AR Yallop Dr B Clutterbuck CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands iii CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands iv Acknowledgements: The project was funded under IPENS. The Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 Sites (IPENS), supported by EU LIFE+, is a new strategic approach to managing England’s Natura 2000 sites. It will enable Natural England, the Environment Agency, and other key partners to plan what, how, where and when they will target their efforts on Natura 2000 sites and areas surrounding them. This project is part of the IPENS programme (LIFE11NAT/UK/000384IPENS) which is financially supported by LIFE, a financial instrument of the European Community. This project was managed by Alistair Crowle at Natural England and we are grateful to him for his comments and guidance throughout this study. Comments on an earlier draft were made by David Glaves at Natural England. Author contact details: Dr Adrian R Yallop [email protected] 07798 558372 CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands v CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands vi Contents Acknowledgements v Contents vii Tables ix Figures xi Executive Summary 1 1 Introduction 3 2 Methods 7 2.1 Data 2.2 Calculation of return periods 9 2.3 Statement on the overall accuracy of management burn estimates and return periods 9 3 Results 11 3.1 National Estimates 11 3.2 Regional Summaries 22 Dartmoor NP 22 Exmoor NP 24 North York Moors NP 25 Northumberland NP 28 South Pennine Moors SAC 30 North Pennines SAC 32 East Lakes 40 Forest of Bowland AONB 41 Shropshire Hills AONB 42 The Quantocks AONB 43 4 Discussion 45 5 References 51 6 Appendices 53 CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands vii CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands viii Tables Table 1 Datasets of burn mapping analysed in this report 6 Table 2 Periods and availability of aerial photography for the national 7 sample. Table 3 Burning in English uplands, sum of all recent burn mapping projects 11 Table 4 Recent burning management by National Park and AONB 12 Table 5 Burning management by SAC and SPA 13 Table 6 Burning management in Bowland Fells SPA 14 Distribution of mapped squares in the updated England sample and Table 7 squares with comprehensive decadal coverage 14 Table 8 Sample squares with evidence of burning, by period 16 Table 9 Dartmoor SSSIs with burning 22 Table 10 Burning in Dartmoor (DSH dominated areas) 22 Table 11 Burning in Dartmoor SACs (DSH dominated areas) 23 Table 12 Burning in Dartmoor SSSIs (DSH dominated areas) 23 Table 13 Exmoor SSSIs with burning 24 Table 14 Burning in Exmoor 24 Table 15 Burning in Exmoor SACs 24 Table 16 Burning in Exmoor SSSIs 25 Table 17 North York Moors SSSIs with burning 25 Table 18 Burning in the North York Moors 25 Table 19 Burning in North York Moors SACs 26 Table 20 Burning in North York Moors SSSIs 26 Table 21 Northumberland SACs with burning 28 Table 22 Northumberland SSSIs with burning 28 Table 23 Burning in Northumberland SACs 29 Table 24 Burning in Northumberland SSSIs 29 Table 25 Burning in the South Pennine Moors SAC 30 Table 26 Peak District SSSIs with burning 30 Table 27 Burning in Peak District SSSIs 31 Table 28 South and West Pennines SSSIs with burning 31 Table 29 Burning in South and West Pennines SSSIs 31 Table 30 Burning in the North Pennines 32 Table 31 Yorkshire Dales NP SSSIs with burning 32 Table 32 Burning in the Yorkshire Dales NP 33 Table 33 Burning in Yorkshire Dales NP SSSIs 33 Table 34 Nidderdale AONB SSSIs with burning 34 Table 35 Burning in Nidderdale AONB 34 Table 36 Burning in Nidderdale AONB SSSIs 34 Table 37 North Pennines SSSIs with significant burning 35 Table 38 Burning in North Pennines AONB 35 Table 39 Burning in SSSIs in the North Pennines AONB 36 CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands ix CS CONSERVATION SURVEY TECHNICAL REPORT: IPENS 055 Burning in the English Uplands x Tables cont. Table 40 Comparison of mapping results in the North Pennines AONB for the 2006 and 2014 projects 39 Table 41 Return periods (years) for the common area in the 2006 and 2014 North Pennines mapping projects calculated using 2006 and 2014 methodologies 40 Table 42 East Lakes SSSIs with burning 40 Table 43 Burning in East Lakes SACs 41 Table 44 Burning in East Lakes SSSIs 41 Table 45 Forest of Bowland SSSIs with burning 41 Table 46 Burning in Bowland Fells SPA/SSSI 42 Table 47 Shropshire Hills SSSIs with burning 42 Table 48 Burning in Shropshire Hills SAC 42 Table 49 Burning in Shropshire Hills SSSIs 43 Table 50 Quantocks SSSIs with burning 43 Table 51 Burning in the Quantocks 43 Table 52 Comparison of estimates of burning for a single kilometre square in the English uplands, SD9433 49 Figures Figure 1 Burning in SE0767 between 1955 and 2009 16 Figure 2 Changes in SD6094 between 1945 and 2009. 17 Figure 3 Estimated extent of annual burning on deep peat and other moorland soils, England, 1945-2010 18 Figure 4 Burning in NY9707 between 1948 and 2009 19 Figure 5 Histograms of burning intensity, by period 21 Figure 6 Burning in NZ6102 between 1946 and 2009 27 Figure 7 Burning in NZ0132 between 1957 and 2009 37 Figure 8 Burning in NY9944 between 1951 and 2009 38 Figure A1 Grouse bags and survey data: data from Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust 57 Figure A2 Number of sheep in England and Wales, 1900-2011 57 Figure A3 Area of drainage (km2) installed in an area of western Yorkshire in the 1940s to 1980s 58 Figure A4 Standardised SO2 emissions for western Europe and the UK.