OR/14/043 Introduction

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Farr, G, Graham, J, and Stratford, C. 2014. Survey, characterisation and condition assessment of Palustriella dominated springs 'H7220 Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)' in Wales. British Geological Survey Internal Report, OR/14/043.

Aims and scope of project

The aim of this project is to provide a baseline information resource for one of the least well known of the Annex I terrestrial wetland habitats in Wales, namely H7220 Petrifying Springs with Tufa Formation (Cratoneurion), required for Article 17 reporting. H7220 Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion) are 1 of 9 terrestrial wetland habitats listed in Annex 1 of the Habitats & Species Directive which occur in Wales. Sam Bosanquet and Dr Peter Jones of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) provided a list of sites and surveys of vegetation, water chemistry and hydrogeological risk assessments were carried out at each site. Inverterbrate surveys were not included as this report is designed for Article 17 reporting only.

Background

Reporting on the status and condition of habitats listed in Annex 1 of the Habitats & Species Directive is a statutory requirement for the UK under Article 17 of the Directive. Every six years, member states of the European Union report on implementation of the Habitats Directive.

The Habitats Directive (HD) report focuses on a first assessment of conservation status of all habitats and species of community interest. The reporting format set by the European Commission requires a separate analysis for each species and each habitat in each biogeographic region. In the UK the reporting is the responsibility of the devolved administrations and the amalgamated report is coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). In Wales the habitats and species reports were compiled for the Welsh Government by the Habitat and Species specialists of the Countryside Council for Wales and are now the responsibility of Natural Resources Wales.

Review of work to date

The second article 17 reporting round (JNCC, 2007[1]) concluded that the overall assessment for H7220 in the UK was unfavourable — bad but improving. The lack of reliable information caused difficulties estimating the area covered by the habitat. The potential for many sites to exist outside of the statutory sites series was also highlighted as a potential problem.

The third round of article 17 reporting (Jones et al, 2013[2]) draws on an improved, but still limited knowledge base in Wales for H7220. The report includes updates and additional information above what is included in earlier article 17 reports (JNCC, 2007[1]). It is currently estimated that there is 5.5 ha covered by H7220 in Wales, however it is also acknowledged that this is based on best available evidence at the time of writing, and that further survey is likely to identify new areas of H7220 (Jones et al., 2013[2]). The range, long term trends in status and total area can only be estimated and a range of potential pressures and unknown condition of many of the sites resulted in an unfavourable status for the Article 17 assessment (Jones et al., 2013[2]).

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 JOINT NATURE CONSERVATION COMMITTEE 2007. Second Report by the UK under Article 17 on the implementation of the Habitats Directive from January 2001 to December 2006. Conservation status assessment for H7220: Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion). Peterborough: JNCC.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 JONES, P S, STEVENS, J, BOSANQUET, S D S, TURNER, A J, BIRCH, K S, and REED, D K. 2013. Distribution, Extent and Status of Annex 1 Wetland Habitats in Wales: Supporting Material for the 2013 Article 17 Assessment. CCW Staff Science Report No 13/7/1 (unpublished, confidential).