Appendix III. Wildlife Heritage Sites and criteria for their designation, including habitat. 

 

A Sites

 

1 Beeching Grove Wood SU88R05 1999 Cookham CP – woodland.
2 Cannon Court Wood SU88R01 2000 Cookham CP – woodland.
3 Pigeonhouse Wood SU88S02 1992 Cookham CP – woodland.
4 Greenway Corridor SU88X06 1996 Cookham CP - wetland, wildlife corridor.
5 Widbrook Common SU88W02 1999 Cookham CP – wetland.
6 Cockmarsh SSSI SU88Y01 1999 Cookham CP - grassland, wetland.
7 The Islands, Cookham Dean SU88T04 1999 Cookham CP - grassland, wetland.
8 Widbrook Common SU88W02 1999 Cookham CP – grassland.

 

B Criteria (as agreed by the Berkshire Nature Conservation Forum on 23 May 2001 and amended on the 21^st August 2003).

 

The criteria set out below define those areas which are considered to be of critical importance for biodiversity within Berkshire. Sites selected against these criteria are effectively irreplaceable and deserve the strongest nature conservation measures. These criteria have been adopted by local authorities in Berkshire, English Nature and BBOWT, the local Wildlife Trust.

 

Sites qualifying under the criteria, which are not already statutory designated, are referred to as Wildlife Heritage Sites (WHSs). Potential sites are considered for selection by a Selection Panel appointed by the Berkshire Nature Conservation Forum. The ‘precautionary principle’ is followed in WHS selection. Any survey is limited due to factors such as date of survey, time taken to survey and the skills of the surveyor.

 

These criteria have been produced after consideration of criteria for Wildlife Sites selection in other counties in the South East to ensure a consistency of approach.

 

Please note that these criteria serve to identify whether sites are of county importance for biodiversity. From April 2001, owners are given the opportunity to comment on new survey reports and whether sites meet the criteria. These comments are considered by the Site Selection Panel in deciding whether a site meets WHS criteria.

 

Sites which meet WHS criteria can attract grant aid for environmentally sensitive management (e.g. the Countryside Stewardship Scheme). WHSs are also a material consideration in the planning system. In this case, owners, occupiers and other parties have a right to object or appeal against WHS status through the normal planning process.

 

1.            Woodland

 

(a)        Ancient[1] semi-natural[2] woodlands.

(b)        Other ancient woodland where there is a significant element of the original semi-natural woodland surviving.

(c)        Other semi-natural woodland/scrub if:

 

(i) they support a rich assemblage of species such as elements of an ancient woodland flora,

(ii) they comprise important community types of restricted distribution in the County  such as alder/willow woods in the river valleys.

(iii) they support at least five ‘Veteran Trees’.

 

(d)      Pasture woodland, parkland and wooded commons, not included in any of the above, but which are of considerable biological and historical interest.

 

2.            Neutral/Acid/Calcareous Grassland

 

(a)        Agriculturally unimproved grasslands[3] which support a characteristic flora and fauna.

(b)        Semi-improved grasslands which retain a significant element of unimproved grassland.

(c)        Grasslands which have become impoverished through lack of management but which retain sufficient elements of relict unimproved grassland to enable recovery.

 

3.            Heathland

 

(a)       

(a)        Areas of heathland vegetation; including matrices of dwarf shrub, grassland, valley mires and scrub.

(b)        Areas of heathland which are heavily afforested or have succeeded to mature woodland if:

           

(i) they retain significant remnants of heathland vegetation,

(ii) they are contiguous with, or form an integral part of an open area of heathland

4.            Wetland Habitats

 

(a)        Areas of open freshwater (e.g. lakes, ponds, canals, rivers, streams and ditches) which  support a rich assemblage of floating/submerged/emergent plant species, invertebrates,  mammals, birds or amphibians.

(b)        Fens, reedbeds, flushes, seepages, springs, wet grasslands etc. that support a flora and fauna characteristic of unimproved and waterlogged (seasonal or permanent) conditions.

 

5.            Species

 

(a)        Sites which support a significant population or populations of one or more notable species[4].

(b)        Sites which regularly support a significant population of a species of restricted distribution in the County.  This includes sites that may only be used seasonally or for one part of a species life-cycle.

(c)                Sites which support a particularly rich assemblage of species (not necessarily notable).

(d)               Sites supporting support at least five Veteran Trees (and potential deadwood invertebrates)

(e)                Sites which may be important for invertebrates (e.g. sites supporting deadwood, ephemeral ponds, marshy ground etc.).

 

6.       Corridors, habitat mosaics and habitat adjacent to statutory sites or Wildlife Heritage

          Sites

 

(a)      Corridors of habitat (e.g. green lanes, species-rich hedgerows, rivers, streams, ditches, floodplain) which are important to link existing areas of important wildlife habitat.

(b)      Habitat mosaics which can be of high value to wildlife.

(c)               Habitat adjacent to existing statutory sites or WHSs which is important to the nature conservation interest of the site as well as acting as a buffer area to the surrounding area.

 

7.         Urban

 

            In urban areas, sites of lesser nature conservation interest can be important to maintain  biodiversity.

 

8.            Geology and Geomorphology

 

            Sites which have been identified as Regionally Important Geological/ Geomorphological Sites  

            (RIGS) using the following nationally agreed criteria:

 

(a)                The value of a site for educational purposes in life-long learning

(b)               The value of a site for study by both professional and amateur Earth scientists

(c)                The historical value of the site in terms of important advances in Earth science knowledge, events or human exploitation

(d)               The aesthetic value of a site in the landscape, particularly in relation to promoting public awareness and appreciation of Earth sciences.

 

Regionally Important Geological/Geomorphological Sites (RIGs) are sites of regional importance excluding SSSIs. RIGS are analogous to biological non-statutory sites. English Nature is promoting the identification of these sites through the establishment of local groups comprising representatives from geographical societies, local authority planning departments, museums services etc.