| TAYSIDE BIODIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP
DRAFT GUIDANCE NOTE
(final version will be illustrated)
Priority Species and Habitats for the Rural Stewardship Scheme
in Tayside 2005/6
This Guidance Note is intended to help those preparing applications
for the Rural Stewardship Scheme (RSS) in Tayside to include
suitable management options to benefit the LBAP ‘List of
30’ species and habitats. The information provided on distribution
and requirements for each species should ensure that the management
option being considered is appropriate in each circumstance.
Further information on habitats and species is available from
the organisations listed at the end of this Note.
These species and habitats have been chosen because they have
either shown significant declines or are otherwise under threat
in Tayside. Under the RSS ranking system, applications are given
priority depending on the number of points scored and a significant
proportion of these points are for actions that are likely to
benefit the LBAP ‘List of 30’.
SPECIES
Badger
Description: Distinctive white/grey body and black striped face.
Distribution: Widespread in lowland areas, not in such high numbers
as in some other areas of Scotland
Requirements: Short grass for foraging, woodland edges preferred
for setts.
Suitable RSS options: Arable field margins, extended hedgerows,
water margins.
Common Shrew
Description: Small dark brown mammal with lighter underparts
and pointed snout.
Distribution: Relatively widespread in lowland areas
Requirements: Short grass
Suitable RSS options: Extended and management hedges, water margins,
extensive grazed and mown grassland for birds, species-rich grassland,
arable field margins.
Swallow
Description: Small dark blue bird with red head markings and
white bib. Forked tail.
Distribution: Widespread over most of area but returning from
migration in fewer numbers
Requirements: Good insect source, spend a lot of time feeding
over water or arable crops. Collect nest-building material from
muddy edges of ponds and stream edges.
Suitable RSS options: Water margins, ponds, extensive mown grassland
for birds, spring cropping, conservation headlands, arable field
margins.
Yellowhammer
Description: Chestnut-brown and yellow bunting. Male with very
bright yellow head
Distribution: Widespread where scrub is present
Requirements: Plenty of seeds to eat throughout the year; insects
in summer for chicks to eat; scrub or hedgerows for nesting.
Suitable RSS options: Scrub management; Hedgerow management;
Extended hedgerows; Species-rich grassland; Grass margins; Conservation
headlands; Extensive cropping; Unharvested crops
Short-eared Owl
Description: Motled brown plumage, eyes show as very yellow
rings. Short ears may or may not be visible. Relatively long
wings and often active in daylight.
Distribution: Upland grass and moorland
Requirements: Hunts over heather or short grassland, nests in
mature heather.
Suitable RSS options: Species-rich grassland, upland heath, lowland
heath, upland/lowland raised bog, extensive grazed grassland
for birds
Goldfinch
Description: Strikingly marked large finch. Body predominantly
yellow, with black and red on the head.
Distribution: Moves down to low ground over winter but predominantly
found in semi-uplands areas over summer.
Requirements: Seed source, particularly very small seeds from
thistle, teasel and rosebay willow herb.
Suitable RSS options: Species-rich grassland management, unharvested
crop, hedgerow management.
Brown Trout
Description: Medium sized fish, brown upper half with brightly
coloured sides and lighter belly.
Distribution: Present in most rivers and small streams, as well
as in ponds and lochs.
Requirements: Need unpolluted flowing water and gravel beds for
spawning.
Suitable RSS options: Watercourses
Redshank
Description: Similar in size to the Snipe, but with a shorter
red beak, long red legs and white wing patches visible in flight
Distribution: Scarce breeder, mainly found in upland areas; scattered
pairs in lowlands
Requirements: Wet marshy areas for feeding, with taller vegetation
(e.g. rushes) for
Suitable RSS options: Wet grassland for waders; Wetland creation
and management; Lowland raised bog
Devil’s Bit Scabious
Description: Smaller and darker purple than the field scabious
and with a more spherical flower head.
Distribution: Locally common where conditions are suitable, decline
in suitable habitat is main threat to this species.
Requirements: Found on moorland, wetland and damp grassland throughout
Tayside.
Suitable RSS options: Wetland creation and management.
Barn Owl
Description: White owl with pale buff back and wings. Often
seen flying slowly over fields at dawn and dusk.
Distribution: Widespread but scarce.
Requirements: Vegetation that supports high densities of field
voles and other rodents, especially rough grassland; buildings
or trees for nesting
Suitable RSS options: Grass margins; Species-rich grassland;
Extensive mown grassland; Unharvested crops; Extended hedgerows;
Wetland management and creation.
Common Frog
Description: Light brown, energetic, with a smoother skin and
sharper nose than toads.
Distribution: Widespread
Requirements: Ponds and wetlands for spawning. Plenty of insects,
slugs and worms.
Suitable RSS options: Wetland creation and management; Lowland
raised bogs; Water margins; Extensive cropping; Conservation
headlands; Unharvested crops
Ringlet Butterfly
Description: When wings are folded the distinctive rings on
both wings can be seen easily, When wings are open the white
borders on the wings are clear.
Distribution: Towards the northern edge of the species range
but in damper years can be seen in good numbers.
Requirements: Damp,shady woodland and hedges where there is lush
vegetation.
Suitable RSS options: Arable field margins: Extended hedges;
Extensive management of open grazed grassland for birds and mown
grassland for birds; Water margins.
Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary
Description: Butterfly with clear orange and black markings.
Distribution: Widespread, though scarce in lowland areas, probably
under recorded particularly in Angus.
Requirements: Unimproved grasslands, wetlands and open scrub
and woodlands where the larval food plants (marsh violet and
common dog-violet) grow
Suitable RSS options: Wetland management; Species-rich grassland
management; Lowland raised bogs; Woodland management; Scrub management
Black Knapweed
Description: Dark Purple thistle-like flower with long dark
green spineless leaves, often with white hairs.
Distribution: Widespread throughout the lower areas of Tayside.
Requirements: Grassland plant preferring heavy soils, often seen
along hedge bottoms and watercourses.
Suitable RSS options: Water margins; Extended hedgerows; Hedgerow
management; Species-rich grassland management and creation.
Lapwing
Description: Familiar black and white wader with rounded wings,
crest and tumbling display flight
Distribution: Widespread but declining as a breeding species
in many areas. Numbers build up in the autumn and winter when
continental birds arrive
Requirements: Spring sown crops or short grassland for nesting;
wet areas throughout the spring and short grazed pasture for
feeding. Lapwings avoid trees and generally require at least
3 ha of open ground more than 30 m from tall trees and hedgerows.
Dense rushes are unsuitable
Suitable RSS options: Wet grassland for waders; Open grazed grassland;
Wetland creation and management; Extensive cropping; Extensive
mown grassland
Habitats
Grass Margins in Grass Fields
Where stock are excluded from the edge of a field or where the
mowing/topping regime includes not cutting the outer edge of
the field (usually at least 2m width).
Suitable RSS options: Extended hedge; water margins; extensive
mown grassland for birds; and in some case wet grassland for
waders and extensive management of open grazed grassland for
birds.
Marshy Grassland and Rough Pasture
Rough pasture or grassland with a water table close to the soil
surface for most of the year.
Suitable RSS options: Wet grassland for waders; Wetland management
and creation.
Rushes and Marginal Vegetation
Vegetation dominated by rushes or other tall wetland vegetation
such as meadowsweet.
Suitable RSS options: Water margins; Wetland management and creation.
Watercourses (rivers and streams)
Watercourses with flowing water all year round.
Suitable RSS options: Water margins.
Farm Ponds and Lochans
Man-made or natural waterbodies.
Suitable RSS options: Water margins.
Acid Grassland
Usually on soils of relatively low fertility, often shallow
or very free draining and not usually at low altitude. Tend to
favor less competitive grasses and plant species such as Tormentil,
Milkwort and heath bedstraw and may well be species-rich.
Suitable RSS options: species-rich grassland management and creation;
extensive management of open grazed grassland for birds.
Riparian Woodland
Woodland alongside rivers or around lakes. Often Alder, Ash,
Willow or Birch dominant.
Suitable RSS options: Woodland management; Water margins
Arable Field Margins (including conservation headland)
Part of the cropped area of the field where the outside boom
of the sprayer is shut off and no fertiliser is spread. This
produces a weedier stubble after harvest.
Suitable RSS options: Conservation headland.
Scrub Woodland (upland scrub)
Low woody vegetation typically containing a variety of species
such as Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Gorse, Elder, Juniper or Willows,
also includes tall herb communities.
Suitable RSS options: Scrub management.
Non-Species-rich Hedgerows
Hedges comprising a limited number of native species (e.g. Hawthorn,
Blackthorn, rose spp.)
Suitable RSS options: Hedgerow management; Extended hedgerows
Species-rich Grassland
Unimproved grasslands containing a high diversity of native
wild flowers.
Suitable RSS options: Species-rich grassland management and creation.
Arable Field Margins
The margins of cereals or other arable crops managed to provide
a habitat for wildlife by the sowing of a tussocky grass sward
or management of a permanent grass margin such as a watermargin.
Suitable RSS options: Grass margins; Extended hedges in arable
fields; water margins in arable fields.
Upland Heathland
Areas comprising 25% or more of ericaceous dwarf shrubs (e.g.
Heather, Blaeberry) and generally lying between 200 and 700 m
above sea level
Suitable RSS options: Moorland management; Stock disposal; Muirburn;
Bracken control.
Overwintering Crops
Spring-sown crops or stubbles left over the winter.
Suitable RSS options: Unharvested crops; Extensive cropping;
Spring cropping.
Wetland Margins
Transient wetland areas which dry up in the summer but may be
submerged or saturated with water at wetter times.
Suitable RSS options: Wetland management and creation; Farm Ponds
and Lochans; Wet Grassland For Waders.
This Guidance Note was produced by the Tayside Biodiversity
Partnership’s Farmland Sub-Group which includes representatives
from the following organizations:
FWAG Scotland
NFU Scotland
RSPB
SAC
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