Elite Ecology Passionate about Ecology Ford Mill Farm, Ford Great Crested New t Survey Report July 2020 www.eliteecology.co.uk www.facebook.com/eliteecology www.twitter.com/eliteecology Welle1 sley House, Wellesley Street, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 4NF Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey Document Control Document Properties Organisation Elite Ecology Prepared For Mr. and Mrs. Brough Author Mr. Matthew Cotterill Approved (1st Checker) Mr. Marek Fraczek Approved (2nd Checker) Mr. Richard Millington Title Ford Mill Farm, Ford Great Crested Newt Survey Version History Date Version Status Description/Changes 24/07/2020 V1 Draft First Draft 29/07/2020 V1 Final Report Proof Read 1 Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey 0. Executive Summary This report has been prepared at the request of Mr. Nick and Mrs. Sarah Brooke. It relates to the proposed development works located at Ford Mill Farm, Martinslow Lane, Ford, Staffordshire, ST13 7RW (Central OS Grid Reference: SK 06802 53414). To fulfil this brief, Elite Ecology was provided with a desktop study from a previous report completed by Absolute Ecology and carried out their own field surveys. The current proposals are for the existing buildings to be converted for residential purposes. The HSI water body suitability for the surveyed water features were as follows: ➢ Pond (P1) = 0.62 = Average Suitability. Based on the information gathered during the multiple survey visits and the presence of a great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) breeding pond, a medium population of great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) can be confirmed within P1. P1 and P2 were also found to support a small population of smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris). Therefore, the impact upon the identified specimens will be high, with mitigation and compensation necessary. Pease refer to Section 6 for the compensation and mitigation strategy for this project. 2 Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey Contents 0. Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Report rationale ..................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Site description and works ...................................................................................................... 4 2. Survey Methodology .................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Desktop Survey ....................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Field Survey ............................................................................................................................ 6 3. Desktop Survey Results .............................................................................................. 8 3.1 Ecological Data Results .......................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Map Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 8 4. Field Survey ............................................................................................................... 10 4.1 Constraints on Obtaining the Survey Data: ........................................................................... 10 4.2 Environmental Variables ....................................................................................................... 10 4.3 Walkover Survey ................................................................................................................... 10 4.4 Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) ............................................................................................... 12 4.5 Bottle Trapping ...................................................................................................................... 13 4.6 Torch Survey ......................................................................................................................... 13 4.7 Netting Survey ....................................................................................................................... 13 4.8 Egg Searching Survey .......................................................................................................... 14 4.9 Environmental DNA (eDNA) Survey ..................................................................................... 14 5. Impact Assessment ................................................................................................... 15 6. Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 16 7. References ................................................................................................................. 25 8. Appendices ................................................................................................................ 26 Appendix A: Site Plans ...................................................................................................................... 27 Appendix B: Ecological Data Search Map ........................................................................................ 28 Appendix C: Photographic Records .................................................................................................. 29 Appendix D: Legislation and Policy ................................................................................................... 32 Appendix E: Environmental DNA (eDNA) Results ............................................................................ 33 9. Notice to Readers: Conditions of this Report .......................................................... 36 3 Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey 1. Introduction 1.1 Report rationale This report has been prepared at the request of Mr. Nick and Mrs. Sarah Brooke. It relates to the proposed development works located at Ford Mill Farm, Martinslow Lane, Ford, Staffordshire, ST13 7RW (Central OS Grid Reference: SK 06802 53414). To fulfil this brief, Elite Ecology was provided with a desktop study from a previous report completed by Absolute Ecology and carried out their own field surveys. The main purpose of this assessment was to identify if any great crested newts (Triturus cristatus) or other amphibians are likely to be present or impacted by the proposed works. The remit of the survey was limited to ponds labelled P1 in the Absolute Ecology LLP Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Report – as per their recommendations. As part of the field survey, several site visits were undertaken by the following surveyors: Mr. Richard Millington: BSc [Hons], ACIEEM, Senior Ecologist, Natural England GCN Survey Licence: WML-CL08: 2016-23302-CLS-CLS. Mr. Matthew Cotterill: BSc [Hons], Ecologist, Natural England GCN Survey Licence: WML-CL08: 2016-20073-CLS-CLS. Mr. Matthew Hodgson: Ecologist, Natural England GCN Survey Licence: WML- CL08: 2019-41009-CLS-CLS. Assisted by: Mr. Adam Levesley: BSc [Hons], Assistant Ecologist Mr. Matthew Priddey: BSc [Hons], Assitant Ecologist Mr. Alex Fitzroy: BSc [Hons], Assistant Ecologist Miss. Rebekah Whitaker: BSc [Hons], Assistant Ecologist 1.2 Site description and works The survey area is situated in an extensively rural location, 600m south of the village of Ford. The site is immediately bounded by agricultural land. The application site itself is dominated by a building, hard standing ground, semi improved grassland and tall ruderal. Some of the identified habitats have the potential to be of value to the local amphibian populations. Photographs of the site are found within Appendix C. There are no statutory sites located within 2km of the site boundary, and five non- statutory sites. All sites are well removed and isolated from the proposed development site by areas of residential housing, roads (minor and major) and watercourses, no adverse impacts, direct or indirect are envisaged as a result of the sites development. It has been deemed that the habitats surrounding the site also have the potential to be utilized by a variety of amphibians. 4 Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey Under the current proposals, the old mill building is proposed to be developed into a residential dwelling. Figure 1: An aerial map showing the location of the survey site at the land at Ford Mill Farm, Ford (yellow star) in relation to some of the local landscape. 5 Ford Mill Farm, Ford Elite Ecology Great Crested Newt Survey 2. Survey Methodology 2.1 Desktop Survey A variety of resources were independently consulted to assess the known local records within the nearby area and the importance of the site within the local landscape from an ecological perspective. The resources used were the Local Records Centre, www.naturalengland.org.uk, www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk, Google Maps, Google Earth and Bing Maps. A search of other relevant nature conservation information was made through the use of the Multi-Agency Geographic Information for the Countryside (MAGIC) database. The local records centre was contacted to provide data on all protected species and designated sites within 2km of the proposed development site. Staffordshire Ecological Record (SER) were the relevant local records centre