Threats

• Agricultural improvement
• Silage cutting
• Changes in mowing regime
• Conversion to arable or ploughing and reseeding
• Urban development
• Scrub encroachment and afforestation
• Eutophication from surface and ground water
• Land drainage
  

Action Plan Objectives

OBJECTIVE 1

Encourage the sensitive management of all semi-natural neutral grassland sites

TARGET: ongoing

OBJECTIVE 2

Bring the neutral grassland resource into sustainable management, through ESA, SSSI, Nature Reserve or Countryside Stewardship Agreements, or other voluntary agreements within an agreed management plan.

TARGET 80% of the area by 2003, 95% by 2008

OBJECTIVE 2

Promote restorative management on semi-improved neutral grasslands, targeting Prime Biodiversity Areas, sites adjacent to Lowland Neutral Hay Meadows and Pasture and sites of old wood-pasture and parkland.

TARGET expand the area of the semi-natural neutral grassland resource by 20% by 2008

OBJECTIVE 3

Protect from damaging activities all unimproved neutral sites that are within the influence of statutory authorities, including protection from development pressure and tree planting.

TARGET: ongoing, no loss from 1999.

Action Plan Targets

[see above]

Current Action

Lowland hay meadow is listed in Annex 1 of the EC Habitats Directive and the Somerset Levels and Moors is proposed Special Protection Area.

Statutory protection of unimproved grassland sites is restricted to Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). An estimated 165 hectares falls within SSSIs or approximately one fifth of the total resource.

Important SSSIs for neutral grassland are Grove Farm. Whitevone meadows and Barrington Hill Meadows.

The Somerset Wildlife Trust's wild flower meadows appeal seeks to bring into conservation ownership and management important grassland sites throughout the county.

Countryside Stewardship is run by the Countryside Commission in partnership with English Nature and English Heritage. It aims to enhance and conserve important landscape features and their associated wildlife habitats. Whilst this offers reasonable financial support to the maintenance of unimproved grasslands, incentives are unlikely to be sufficient at present to encourage the reversion of improved grasslands.

The Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme was introduced in 1987 in order to encourage farmers to safeguard areas where the landscape, wildlife or historic interest is of national importance. It is administered by MAFF. Both the Blackdowns and the Levels and Moors have received ESA status. The scheme is entirely voluntary, providing payments for agreed management practices beneficial to the character of the ESA. Each ESA has one or more tier of entry. Tier 1 payments are made for the maintenance of nature conservation interest by sustaining or re-instating traditional farming practices. Tier 2 payments seek to enhance the nature conservation value of an area. Tier 3 payments involve the re-creation of habitats, such as the active policy of encouraging reversion from arable to pasture within the Levels and Moors ESA. Payments in this tier are higher to meet the additional financial costs.

Unfortunately, data on the amount of natural grassland under sustainable management agreements are not wholly available at present on a district by district basis. Estimates suggest that at least 50 hectares of lowland neutral hay meadows and pasture have been secured within Countryside Stewardship agreements within South Somerset. A similar figure is likely within Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) management agreements. 165 hectares fall within SSSIs. Consequently, it is estimated that some forty to fifty percent of the total known resource of 644 hectares has been secured within sustainable management agreements within South Somerset.

SERC with the backing of EN, SWT and the Ernest Cook Trust, has recently started a three year countywide comparative study into the relationship between grassland fungi species composition and nutrient status, which hopes to provide insights into the restoration potential of improved sites. This study is raising the profile of a group of rare and declining organisms which have suffered greatly through agricultural improvement.

Proposed Action

Policy and legislation

Support initiatives to conserve lowland neutral hay meadows and pasture within development plans and the planning process, including resisting any detrimental developments in the same water management block as SSSIs or County Wildlife Sites which require high water tables or periodic flooding. ACTION: SSDC, SCC, SWT, EA

Monitor the effectiveness of the process of consultation and vetting of forestry grant applications and seek improvements : ACTION: FA, SWT, SSDC.

Ensure the appropriate levels of funding to reduce the economic cost of the restoration of semi-improved grassland and encourage such restoration through Countryside Stewardship, ESA management agreements. ACTION: MAFF, FRCA, FWAG, WSLO, EN, SCC

Develop at least one Local Nature Reserve on a neutral grassland site. ACTION: SSDC

Identify important sites outside farmland areas, such as churchyards and road verges and seek to ensure appropriate future management. ACTION: CC, SSDC, SCC, HA, SERC, SWT, NT

Ensure that all neutral grassland sites under public and conservation ownership are sensitively managed. ACTION: EN, SWT, SSDC, SCC, NT

Create areas of species-rich grassland on publicly owned land.
Promote site expansion through restorative work, particularly on areas of unimproved neutral grassland and within wood pasture should be prioritised. ACTION: EN, MAFF, FWAG, WSLO, SWT

Encourage within Countryside Stewardship whole farm plans. SSSI Wildlife Enhancement Schemes and ESA management agreements, the restoration of semi-improved grassland to act as buffers for unimproved areas. ACTION: FWAG, MAFF, FRCA, EN, WSLO

Advisory

Develop links between conservationists, farmers and landowners through a forum which should seek to develop demonstration sites exhibiting good management of unimproved grassland and restoration projects on degraded sites. ACTION: SSDC, SWT, FWAG, MAFF, ADAS, NFU, CLA, RSPB.

Update and disseminate more widely The Lowland Grassland Management Handbook and other sources of information. ACTION: EN, WT, SWT.

Develop mechanisms for pooling and accessing data on the size of the neutral grassland resource and the areas under sustainable management agreements, ensuring this data can not be extracted on a district by district basis. ACTION: SERC, FRCA, MAFF, EN

Maintain and improve the information base through further aerial photo interpretation and field survey. ACTION: SERC, SWT, EN, EA

Collate, distribute and apply the results of national research into restoration techniques. ACTION: SERC, SWT, EN, FWAG, SSDC, MAFF

Ensure that SSSIs, Wildlife Trust Reserves and all other important sites receive regular, comparative botanical surveys and that action is taken following any indications of a deterioration in that biological interest. ACTION: SWT, EN, FRCA, MAFF.

Establish the location of important grassland fungi sites and link the monitoring and conservation of vascular plants and bryophytes with the conservation of rare fungi. ACTION: SERC, SWT, EN, EA.

Encourage the survey of poorly-recorded invertebrate groups at important sites and seek to incorporate the knowledge gained into management plans. ACTION: EN, EA, SWT, SIG, MAFF, RSPB

Progress