A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe a report for Natural England by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant 8 Coach Road Warton, Carnforth Lancashire LA5 9PP 01524 720243 [email protected] http://graemeskelcher.sharepoint.com December 2013 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODS 3 Key to Maps 1 - 4 4 Map 1: West Pennines moorland fringe NVC communities - Haslingden zone NW 5 Map 2: West Pennines moorland fringe NVC communities - Haslingden zone SE 6 Map 3: West Pennines moorland fringe NVC communities - Anglezarke zone NW 7 Map 4: West Pennines moorland fringe NVC communities - Anglezarke zone SE 8 Map 5: West Pennines moorland fringe Phase 1 habitats - Anglezarke zone NW 9 Map 6: West Pennines moorland fringe Phase 1 habitats - Anglezarke zone SE 10 Map 7: West Pennines moorland fringe BAP habitats - Haslingden zone NW 11 Map 8: West Pennines moorland fringe BAP habitats - Haslingden zone SE 12 Map 9: West Pennines moorland fringe BAP habitats - Anglezarke zone NW 13 Map 10: West Pennines moorland fringe BAP habitats - Anglezarke zone SE 14 2 SUMMARY DESCRIPTION 15 Table 1: Extent of NVC communities within the surveyed WPM moorland fringe 17 Table 2: Extent of Biodiversity habitats within the surveyed WPM moorland fringe 18 Table 3: Peat-depth measurements recorded within the WPM moorland fringe 19 3 NVC COMMUNITY DESCRIPTIONS 20 3.1 Bog, flush and fen communities 20 3.2 Heath and acid grassland communities 24 3.2 Unimproved and semi-improved mesotrophic grassland communities 26 3.3 Agriculturally improved grassland communities 28 3.4 Woodland and scrub communities 29 3.5 Other minor communities 32 4 EVALUATION OF UPLAND PRIORITY BAP HABITATS 34 4.1 Upland blanket bog 34 4.2 Short-sedge acid fen 34 4.3 Sub-alpine dry dwarf shrub heath 36 4.4 Upland acid grassland 36 4.5 Upland oakwood 37 Table 4: Summary of Common Standards of Monitoring (CSM) assessments for upland priority habitats 38 5 ASSESSMENT OF KEY UPLAND HABITATS AGAINST SSSI SELECTION GUIDELINES 42 Table 5: Preliminary assessment of surveyed areas of priority upland BAP habitats for inclusion within the West Pennine Moors pSSSI 43 Map 11: West Pennines moorland fringe - land considered for inclusion within the pSSSI - Haslingden zone NW 44 Map 12: West Pennines moorland fringe - land considered for inclusion within the pSSSI - Haslingden zone SE 45 Map 13: West Pennines moorland fringe - land considered for inclusion within the pSSSI - Anglezarke zone NW 46 Map 14: West Pennines moorland fringe - land considered for inclusion within the pSSSI - Anglezarke zone SE 47 6 REFERENCES 48 APPENDIX 1: QUADRAT DATA APPENDIX 2: BAP HABITAT EVALUATION FORMS 2 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODS This survey was commissioned by Natural England in order to evaluate habitats in the moorland fringes of the West Pennine Moors and determine whether any areas are worthy of inclusion within a proposed West Pennine Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This follows on from previous vegetation mapping of the main moorland areas (Penny Anderson Associates in prep.) which had initially been identified for potential SSSI status (Jepson et al 2007). Vegetation within areas of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe identified by Natural England were surveyed in September and October 2013 and mapped according to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC, Rodwell 1991 et seq.). Two main areas of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe were identified for survey. One area - subsequently referred to in this report as the 'Anglezarke zone' - lies at the western edge of the pSSSI and includes land immediately to the east of Anglezarke Reservoir. The other area - subsequently referred to as the 'Haslingden zone' - lies at the eastern edge of the pSSSI, just to the west of Haslingden town, and includes land at Jackson Height, Haslingden Grane and the Musbury Valley between Musbury Heights and Tor Hill. As far as possible, vegetation was sampled from a number of appropriately sized quadrats (see Rodwell 1991et seq.) throughout the identified regions. The data collected from these quadrats was used to assist in the assignment of NVC communities, to illustrate the floristic composition of each community and to demonstrate deviations from the ‘typical’ floristics of the published British Plant Communities tables Rodwell (1991 et seq.). In addition to NVC mapping, vegetation within the Anglezarke zone was also mapped according to its Phase 1 Habitat types (JNCC 2003), including boundary features. Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitats for both zones were also identified and assessed against Common Standards Monitoring (CSM) criteria (JNCC 2009). Boundaries between communities were mapped with the aid of a hand-held 12-channel Global Positioning System (GPS) and aerial photographs supplied by the Natural England. The resultant maps were digitised onto MapInfo GIS software. NVC communities found are shown in Maps 1 to 4; Phase 1 habitats for the Anglezarke zone only are shown in Maps 5 and 6; and Biodiversity Action Plan habitats are shown in Maps 7 to 10 - all at a scale of 1:10,000. The total extent of communities in hectares has been calculated using MapInfo software and is shown in Table 1. The scientific names of plants used in this survey generally follow those used by Rodwell (1991 et seq.) in order to maintain consistency between this report and the published NVC tables; even though a few species are now more commonly recognised by alternative names (e.g. Stace 1991). 3 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 Key to NVC Vegetation Maps 1 - 4 conifer plantation H9 Calluna-Deschampsia heath M20 Eriophorum blanket bog M23b Juncus rush-pasture M25 Molinia-Potentilla mire M6 Carex-Sphagnum mire MG1 Arrhenatherum grassland MG10 Holcus-Juncus grassland MG6 Lolium-Cynosusus grassland MG7a Lolium-Trifolium ley MG9 Holcus-Deschampsia grassland open w ater OV 24 Urtic a-Galium c ommunity OV25 Urtica-Cirsium community S22 Glyceria w ater-margin vegetation S28 Phalaris tall-herb fen U4 Agrostis-Festuca-Galium grassland U5 Nardus-Galium grassland U6 Juncus-Festuca grassland W1 Salix-Galium scrub W10 Quercus-Pteridium-Rubus w oodland W11 Quercus-Betula-Oxalis w oodland W16 Quercus-Betula-Deschampsia w oodland W23 Ulex-Rubus scrub W24 Rubus-Holcus underscrub W25 Pteridium-Rubus underscrub W7 Alnus-Fraxinus-Lysimachia w oodland Note that the palette used for coding NVC communities in the recent survey of the main upland areas of the West Pennine Moors (Penny Anderson Associates in prep.) was not available for use here. Colours for communities used in the following maps have been selected to be at least similar to those used previously in order to aid reading of the two sets of maps in comparison. 4 Map 1: West Pennine Moors Moorland Fringe NVC Communities - Haslingden zone - North-West Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013. ^ North Ordnance Survey Licence number 100022021 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 Map 2: West Pennine Moors Moorland Fringe NVC Communities - Haslingden zone - South- East Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013. ^ North Ordnance Survey Licence number 100022021 6 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 Map 3: West Pennine Moors Moorland Fringe NVC Communities - Anglezarke zone - North- West Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013. ^ North Ordnance Survey Licence number 100022021 7 Map4: West Pennine Moors Moorland Fringe NVC Communities - Anglezarke zone - South- East Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013. ^ North Ordnance Survey Licence number 100022021 A vegetation surveyMap of 5:the West Pennine Pennine Moors Moors moorland Moorland fringe, 2013 Fringe Phase 1 Habitats - Anglezarke zone - North- West Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100022021 ^ North A111 semi-natural broadleaved w oodland A112 broad-leaved w oodland plantation A122 coniferous plantation A2 scrub B11 unimproved acid grassland B12 semi-improved acid grassland B22 semi-improved neutral grassland B4 improved grassland B5 marsh/ marshy grassland C1 continuous bracken C31 tall ruderal herb D11 acid dry dw arf-shrub heath E17 w et modified bog E21 acid flush F1 sw amp G1/G2 open w ater J21 intact hedge J22 defunct hedge J24fence J25 broken w all J25 w all 9 A vegetation survey of the West Pennine Moors moorland fringe, 2013 A111 semi-natural broadleaved w oodland A112 broad-leaved w oodland plantation A122 coniferous plantation A2 scrub B11 unimproved acid grassland B12 semi-improved acid grassland B22 semi-improved neutral grassland B4 improved grassland B5 marsh/ marshy grassland C1 continuous bracken C31 tall ruderal herb D11 acid dry dw arf-shrub heath E17 w et modified bog E21 acid flush F1 sw amp G1/G2 open w ater J21 intact hedge J22 defunct hedge J24fence J25 broken w all J25 w all Map 6: West Pennine Moors Moorland Fringe Phase 1 Habitats - Anglezarke zone - South-East Map drawn by Graeme Skelcher Ecological Consultant, November 2013, based on survey work carried out in autumn 2013 Scale: 1:10,000 © Crown copyright and database right 2013.