Report Kent Downs AONB Test and Trials viticulture research project No. 1 - Biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable viticulture Prepared for : Vinescapes By : Dr Mary Retallack Date : 26 August 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW ................................................................................................. 10 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Background ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Scope .................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Brief ....................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Deliverables ........................................................................................................................................................... 14 What was done? .................................................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: SETTING THE SCENE ............................................................................... 15 The future for food, farming and the environment ............................................................................ 15 Farming for the future and environmental land management ............................................................................... 15 The Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) ............................................................................ 15 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 18 Functional biodiversity ...................................................................................................................... 18 Landscape simplification ....................................................................................................................................... 18 The role of ecosystem services ............................................................................................................................. 19 Enhancing biodiversity .......................................................................................................................................... 20 Arthropods ........................................................................................................................................ 21 Functional groups: pests ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Functional groups: predators ................................................................................................................................. 23 Higher order predators ..................................................................................................................... 23 Predatory birds ...................................................................................................................................................... 23 Insect eating mammals ......................................................................................................................................... 23 Reptiles ................................................................................................................................................................. 25 Insectary plants ................................................................................................................................ 26 Native insectary habitat ......................................................................................................................................... 26 SNAP ..................................................................................................................................................................... 26 ‘Random’ versus directed approaches .................................................................................................................. 26 Introduced insectary species ................................................................................................................................. 26 Screening and ranking candidate insectary species ............................................................................................. 27 Location of insectary plantings .............................................................................................................................. 28 Associations between predators and insectary plants .......................................................................................... 28 Multi-species interactions ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Seasonal synchrony and overwintering ................................................................................................................. 30 Assumptions about native insectary ...................................................................................................................... 31 International examples .......................................................................................................................................... 32 Page 2 | Report: Kent Downs AONB Test and trials viticulture research project No. 1, 26 August 2020 CHAPTER 4: POTENTIAL CANDIDATE NATIVE PLANT SPECIES .............................. 35 Background ...................................................................................................................................... 35 Kent Downs AONB Vision ..................................................................................................................................... 35 Overview ............................................................................................................................................................... 35 Context .................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Chalk grassland ..................................................................................................................................................... 36 Meadow grassland ................................................................................................................................................ 36 Hedgerows ............................................................................................................................................................ 37 Habitat for endangered species ............................................................................................................................ 37 International insights on enhancing functional biodiversity ................................................................................... 38 Advantages of native ground cover ....................................................................................................................... 38 Potential candidate native insectary plant species ................................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS LINKED TO PUBLIC GOODS .............................. 44 ELM scheme .................................................................................................................................... 44 Recommendations linked to the public goods ....................................................................................................... 44 Environmental steward programs ..................................................................................................... 53 Sustainable Wines of Great Britain ....................................................................................................................... 53 Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) ............................................................................................................ 55 CHAPTER 6: BEST PRACTICE CASE STUDY FROM AUSTRALIA .............................. 56 Australian native perennial tussock grasses and forbs .................................................................... 56 The Falkenberg Vineyard ...................................................................................................................................... 56 Biodiversity ............................................................................................................................................................ 58 Cost and benefits .................................................................................................................................................. 59 PhD research ........................................................................................................................................................ 61 EcoVineyards ........................................................................................................................................................ 62 Insights 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