The restoration of heathland and mire from secondary woodland: How realistic are target vegetation communities?

• Published in: Journal for nature conservation 2021-08, Vol.62, p.125943, Article 125943
• Main Authors: Read, Helen J., Bealey, Clive E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acid grassland; Grazing; Heath; Mire; Restoration; Target vegetation communities; Tree removal
• ISSN: 1617-1381; 1618-1093
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125943

The area of heathland has declined substantially in southern England since the eighteenth century but recent incentives and financial encouragement through lottery grants and agri-environment schemes have promoted restoration projects. A restoration programme on three contrasting habitats was carried out within Burnham Beeches NNR in southern England, using managed vs control areas to aid evaluation of the effectiveness of the management. Annual surveys of the botanical composition within restored and control areas up to 15 years post-management was used to evaluate the responses of (i) overall species richness, (ii) number and cover of target/indicator species, and (iii) movement of community floristic composition towards target communities defined using a simple method based on the National Vegetation Classification. Both wet heath/mire sites showed similar outcomes with both showing increases in species richness and positive indicators but with different species or groups in the latter case. The open acid grassland/heath site showed a delayed response to restoration management until grazing was introduced when both species richness and positive indicators increased. The grass-heath-scrub sites showed different responses with one showing relatively little change compared with the control but the other showing a rapid increase in both species richness and positive indicators, particularly following the introduction of grazing. Communities approaching the targets have been reached in two areas but for the other three, after initial movement towards the targets, the communities subsequently drifted away. Most reached the target ‘score’ along axis 1 of the ordination, indicating that the most important target core species had been approximated but that subtle differences in community composition persisted. Restoration techniques such as grazing and bracken and scrub control are discussed along with the impact of visitor pressure. Grazing is beneficial in diversifying communities, but over-grazing coupled with high visitor pressure may be the reason why one plot has moved away from the target. Ongoing management is required to control woody species. Setting targets helped to critically evaluate the results of the restoration work which was achieved by removal of trees without any ground preparation such as seeding.