This page provides links to documents and maps that should assist the Shropshire Biodiversity Partnership agree a Biodiversity Opportunity Map for Shropshire.
There has been a lot of effort recently to produce a biodiversity opportunity map for the region as part of the Landscapes for Living project (LfL). The LfL project aimed to produce a regional 50 year biodiversity opportunity map for inclusion in the Regional Spatial Strategy - and potentially for other uses at the landscape scale of planning. This should enable planners to take into consideration biodiversity issues such as location of development growth points, and provision of habitat networks through the countryside.
In Shropshire (and elsewhere) concerns have been raised over the resulting maps due to the poor quality of the underlying habitat data that created the maps. Without a full county habitat survey there's not much we can do in terms of correcting the LfL mapping technique. What we do have is pretty comprehensive species records for plants and birds.
We have already used axiophytes (plant indicators of good quality habitat) to highlight areas where woodland planting might be beneficial and where it might be problematic (the biodiversity theme of the Woodland Opportunity Map).
I have provided a link below to the latest biodiversity map using axiophytes. This map is based (roughly speaking) on the number of axiophytes found in each Landscape Description Unit (LDU) per unit area (to avoid the large LDUs scoring the highest). The result is a map that broadly compares to the LfL map but highlights rather better the importance of the Meres and Mosses, the Oswestry Uplands, and Wenlock Edge for example.
If we are to cover the full range of biodiversity, one failing of this map - and the LfL maps - is that other species groups may be poorly represented. Sites of high invertebrate or ornithological interest, that are of low plant interest, may be under valued. For example Fenn's and Whixall currently scores quite low due to the greater proportion of other interest groups such as bryophytes and invertebrates. This is partly being remedied by the inclusion of bryophytes in the long list (380 species) of axiophytes.
LfL are keen to encourage the development of 'sub-regional maps'. There are many uses of such a map to the Shropshire Biodiversity Partnership including:
- We could include it in the Local Development Framework, including Supplementary Planning Documents, ensuring planners consider land outside formally designated sites, networks between sites and other opportunities for biodiversity enhancement.
- It could help target further survey work - some areas are under-recorded for both species and habitat data
- It could be used by government agencies to inform decisions on land use change and agri-environment funding
- The maps could be used as an evidence base to develop strategies for adaptation to / mitigation of climate change
- We could use the map as a base-line against which some changes in biodiversity can be measured - data could be time-sliced.
A list of relevant documents is provided below:
Landscapes for Living:
Sub-regional maps based on plant indicator species (axiophytes)
Additional mapping
- Topographical variability of LDUs (based on density of contour lines and perhaps partly indicative of climate change resilience)
- Farmland Bird mapping from NE web site - Select 'Targeting and Planning Map' then the 'Farmland Birds' tab from the top of the map. All from www.natureonthemap.org.uk
Landscapes for living maps
The draft information tables which accompany these maps can be found here