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Moorland Habitat Monitoring: A Resurvey of Selected Moorland Agri-environment Agreement Sites 2014 (RP01639)

Natural England holds a body of data from past surveys of moorland grazing units under Land Management Scheme agreement. This gave an opportunity to evaluate the effects medium to long term management change on moorland habitats. The original surveys were associated with changes in grazing levels as part of Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) monitoring, overgrazing cross-compliance monitoring, or an ad-hoc baseline survey on entry to an agreement. Twenty sites were selected for resurvey through a contract let under the Environmental Stewardship Monitoring and Evaluation (ESME) Programme. Each site included at least one of upland dry or wet heath, blanket bog or upland calcareous grassland habitats. The period of management change under one or more agreement ranged from 6 to 22 years.

The main aims were to:
• describe condition, and change since previous surveys, for each site and across the sample as a whole;
• expand and improve the baseline against which future change can be assessed;
• add to the evidence base on the influence of land management factors, including grazing, burning and drainage modification.

A standard method was developed based on an amalgamation of Integrated Site Assessment (ISA) and Overgrazing Cross-Compliance Surveillance methods. It is recommended that this is followed in future surveys, as variation in baseline methods meant robust statistical analysis could only be carried out a sub-set of sites.

Project details

Start date2013-11-29
End date2016-01-14

Project outputs

This project produced the following outputs:

OutputType
Final reportDefra publication
Individual site reports: 19 case studiesNatural England Evidence Publication

Closing statement

Few consistent trends were found among the sites, although most showed some long-term reduction in grazing intensity or improvement in condition. Dry heath was closest to being in good condition in six sites that had been under agri-environment scheme agreements for the longest periods (19 – 22 years). In contrast, blanket bog was in less favourable condition, even in sites with the longest periods of grazing restrictions (17 – 22 years). Individual site reports will be used by local advisers to inform management decisions, and the published overview report will add to our evidence on the effect of interventions and timescales of change.

Website

Downloads available for this record

File Uploaded
RP01639 Number 1 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Arnfield Moor 2014, PDF, 935.1 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 2 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Birkbeck Commons 2014, PDF, 833.7 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 3 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Broomhead Moor 2014, PDF, 932.2 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 4 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Burnmoor 2014, PDF, 1.0 MB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 5 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Caldbeck 2014, PDF, 839.1 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 6 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Crosby Ravensworth Fell 2014, PDF, 1.4 MB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 7 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Dozmary Downs 2014, PDF, 793.2 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 8 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Ennerdale 2014, PDF, 769.9 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 9 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Ingleborough 2014, PDF, 804.3 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 10 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Kearton Pasture 2014, PDF, 932.8 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 11 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Long Mynd 2014, PDF, 879.2 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 12 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Manor Trehudreth Common 2014, PDF, 931.1 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 13 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Molland Moor 2014, PDF, 903.5 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 14 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Okehampton Common 2014, PDF, 1.0 MB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 15 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Ousby Moor 2014, PDF, 882.9 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 16 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Reeth Low Moor 2014, PDF, 988.4 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 17 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Thornton Moor 2014, PDF, 838.6 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 18 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Ugborough Harford Commons 2014, PDF, 936.6 kB 2017/02/08
RP01639 Number 19 Moorland habitat monitoring a resurvey Winsford Allotment 2014, PDF, 857.2 kB 2017/02/08