Natural England Research Report NERR025 Biodiversity studies of six traditional orchards in England www.naturalengland.org.uk Natural England Research Report NERR025 Biodiversity studies of six traditional orchards in England M. Lush1, H. J. Robertson, K. N. A. Alexander, V. Giavarini, E. Hewins1, J. Mellings1, C. R. Stevenson, M. Storey & P.F. Whitehead 1Just Ecology Environmental Consultency Limited Published on 23 April 2009 The views in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Natural England. You may reproduce as many individual copies of this report as you like, provided such copies stipulate that copyright remains with Natural England, 1 East Parade, Sheffield, S1 2ET ISSN 1754-1956 © Copyright Natural England 2009 Project details This report results from research commissioned by English Nature and completed after the successor organisation, Natural England, was set up in October 2006. The work was undertaken under English Nature contract CPAU03/02/189 by the following team: Mike Lush, Eleanor Hewins and Jon Mellings of Just Ecology, Heather Robertson, of Natural England during the project, now retired, and individual consultants Keith Alexander, Vince Giavarini, Robin Stevenson and Malcolm Storey. Results from the report were used from 2005 to 2007 to support the proposal to list traditional orchards as a national priority habitat in the Biodiversity Action Plan. Since 2007, the report has been expanded to incorporate previous work by Paul Whitehead on one study site. The study site results are now being made more widely available, in the form of a permanent record, in this Natural England Research Report. A summary of the findings covered by this report, as well as Natural England's views on this research, can be found within Natural England Research Information Note RIN025 – Biodiversity studies of six traditional orchards in England. This report should be cited as: LUSH M., ROBERTSON H. J., ALEXANDER K. N. A., GIAVARINI V., HEWINS E., MELLINGS J., STEVENSON C. R., STOREY M. & WHITEHEAD P.F. 2009. Biodiversity studies of six traditional orchards in England. Natural England Research Reports, Number 025. Project manager Dr Richard Jefferson (report production), previously Dr Heather Robertson (project work up to September 2008) Natural England Northminster House Peterborough PE1 1UA Tel: 01733 455247 [email protected] Contractor Just Ecology Environmental Consultancy Limited Woodend House Woodend Wotton-under-Edge Gloucestershire GL12 8AA Tel: 01454 269650 Fax: 01454 269651 Acknowledgements We owe a great debt of thanks to the owners and managers of the orchard study sites. Without their willing co-operation, support and enthusiasm this project would not have been possible. We are very Biodiversity studies of six traditional orchards in England i grateful for the assistance from the volunteers who helped collect samples, including Caroline Vulliamy and Jim Swanson of the Gloucestershire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. Paul Whitehead kindly agreed to the incorporation of his information about Broadway Farm Orchards and provided helpful comments and ecological observations for the project. Natural England is pleased to recognise him among the authors of the report. Many people contributed time to locate study sites for us and our thanks go to them all, including Barbara Benfield, Dave Edgecombe (North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), Richard Moyse (Kent Wildlife Trust), Charles Orrell (Natural England, Kent), Rachel Remant (Cambridgeshire County Council), Jane Schofield, Tim Selman (Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), Trudy Turrell (Orchard Link, Devon) and Catherine Weightman (Cambridgeshire Biodiversity Officer). Our project has benefited from the expert knowledge and information provided by a wide range of people including Alick Henrici, Val Perrin (Cambridgeshire Orchard Group), Bob Lever (East of England Orchards and Apples Project), Freddie Benefer (Royal Orchards, Flitcham), and the People‟s Trust for Endangered Species, Chris Wedge (Natural England, Gloucestershire), the Cambridge Bryological Group and members of Bryonet. We are grateful for comments and guidance from Natural England and former English Nature specialists; Carl Borges, Dr Richard Jefferson, Dr Roger Key, Peter Lambley, Ron Porley, Dr David Sheppard and Jon Webb. We are also indebted to Dr Brian Coppins for his help with the identification of critical lichen species, Alan Hills for help with Xerocomus fungi, George Else for assistance with Hymenoptera identification and Peter Chandler for help with Diptera identification. We thank Hannah Ross and Brian Crumley of Natural England‟s Geographic Information Unit for speedily providing us with vital digital data for the sites. We would like especially to remember the late Dr Oliver Gilbert, the renowned lichen expert, who had a long-term interest in orchard lichens. We feel privileged that he gave time to our project by joining Vince Giavarini for the survey of Rummers Lane Orchards. ii Natural England Research Report NERR025 Summary Traditional orchards and their associated habitats, such as grasslands, walls, ponds and hedges, support a wide variety of wildlife. However, there have been relatively few systematic studies of the biodiversity value of traditional orchards. To help to fill this gap, English Nature (now Natural England) set up a project in 2004 to review the extent, distribution, biodiversity and management of traditional orchards in England. The study objectives included surveying a number of representative orchards to assess their biodiversity interest. This Natural England Research Report describes the results of field surveys carried out in 2004, together with some earlier species information which was available for one site. The information collected for the project was used to prepare the case for inclusion of traditional orchards in the national list of priority habitats in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). This proposal was accepted by Government in August 2007. The orchard site survey results are now being made more widely and permanently available in this Natural England Research Report because of their value for informing orchard managers and advisers about orchard biodiversity, for the development of condition assessment methods and for the consideration of research priorities, particularly now that traditional orchards are a UK priority habitat in the Biodiversity Action Plan. An updated version of the overall case can be found in Robertson and Wedge (2008). The aim of the site surveys was primarily to illustrate the kind of wildlife that orchards which are managed in a low intensity way can support, with particular reference to fungi, invertebrates and the lichens and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts) which grow on trees (That is, epiphytes). Habitat survey and collection of management information provided the context for the detailed survey of the chosen taxa. Resource constraints meant that only a small number of sites (six) could be surveyed. Thus the results should be seen as indicative case studies rather than exhaustive comparisons of different types of orchards or rigorous analysis of variation in response to geographical position, which would require more study sites to be surveyed. The report is in two parts. The first part explains the selection of the survey sites and the survey methods. Also included is the description of the evaluation criteria employed to assess the species and habitat information, the summary of the results and analysis. Recommendations for further work and the key conclusions of the study follow this analysis. The second part of the report comprises the detailed results for each of the orchards that was surveyed. The chosen sites were examples from counties in England which have the main concentrations of orchards and the sites covered as wide a geographic spread across the country as possible. The sites were: Slew Orchard, Devon (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SX409741), a cherry orchard (1.3 ha); Luscombe Farm Orchards, Devon (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SX748637), apple orchards (1.6 ha); Colston Farm Orchards, Devon (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SX750648), apple orchards (1.9 ha); Broadway Farm Orchards, Gloucestershire (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference SO755148), mixed apple, pear and plum orchards (21 ha); Rummers Lane Orchards, Cambridgeshire (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference TF415075), mixed apple and plum orchards (8.3 ha); Park Farm Orchard, Kent (Ordnance Survey Grid Reference TQ944604), a cherry orchard (2.5 ha). The habitat surveys of each orchard included recording a sample of orchard trees for girth size and veteran tree features, assessing the species composition of the orchard floor vegetation and the orchard boundaries and noting the presence of associated features such as ponds. Epiphytic lichen and bryophyte species and their abundances were recorded, and, for bryophytes only, all species found on every individual tree in a sample set. Fungus species were recorded in spring and autumn from orchard trees, fallen dead wood, the orchard floor and boundary features. Invertebrate species were recorded mainly from the canopies, epiphytes and wood-decay features of the trees, the ground and field layers of the orchard floor and orchard hedgerows. Five of the 6 orchards received 4 visits during 2004 for invertebrate recording. Broadway Farm Orchards were the exception in that the fruit tree census and an invertebrate survey were