Landowners
Activities
This project aims to identify a minimum of 3 threatened hay meadow species; propagate & bolster species numbers in their historic locations through plug planting.
Working with LERN and Lancashire Botany Group on historic records of floral species, and previously identified declining species; 5 suitable species were identified: Globe flower, melancholy thistle, bird's eye primrose, saw wort and dyers' greenweed. These are species with a sustainable source for seed collection within the Forest of Bowland.
The seed has been propagated by volunteers with a view to planting plug plants out by September 2019.
The 2018 Festival Bowland programme has now come to an end. Almost 70 events took place between February and the middle of October covering everything from moorland bird walks, bat nights and wildflower days to clog dancing, star gazing and stone carving.
Many thanks to all those who organised or led events as part of the programme and who are, even now, planning events for next year's Festival calendar!
Plans have been produced for Greater Butterfly orchid, Globeflower and Juniper.
All three plans are underway.
Worked jointly with the Friends group to carry out a habitat management task on Worsaw Hill SSSI near Downham. This involved pulling out hawthorn saplings to prevent their spread on this species-rich grassland.
The new Countryside Stewardship scheme (NELMS as was) encourages catchment based action through the funding of Facilitation Groups through a competitive process. In 2015, RRT were successful in getting funding for a group on the Loud catchment and the National Landscape team have contributed in the targeting of this group - in particular - areas within the catchment where boundary restoration is a priority; farms with potential for meadow restoration.
In Jan 2015, it was decided that a woodland survey was the top habitat survey priority. As the staff resource was limited, the number of BHS sites alone within the National Landscape is 197 and because the Pendle LPS area has recently been deliniated, it was decided that it made good sense to start off with the survey of the BHS woodlands within the Pendle area. This was done using the LWT rapid assessment method. 40% of sites were surveyed in the spring of 2015, the rest will be done in the spring of 2016. The rapid assessment method was very effective in showing management needed, and the results from the sample were used in drawing up the Pendle LPS application. trainees from the Biodiverse Society project helped in the 2015 survey, as did colleagues from the National Landscape & LCC team.
Bowland Revealed is an exciting arts offer designed to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Forest of Bowland National Landscape. A partnership project between LCC Arts Development Service, the National Landscape and Ribble Valley Borough Council, the programme has received funding from Arts Council England, via their Grants for the Arts strand, and from the partner organisations.
Landmarks (managed by Mid Pennine Arts) were a series of four ambitious, temporary outdoor visual arts commissions inspired by the Bowland landscape and sited in popular locations around the National Landscape. On show from September to late December 2014 (Sun Catcher until October 2015) the project attracted attention from BBC's Countryfile programme.
50 Years in the Making (Managed by Green Close) ran from June to December 2014 and engaged local residents, visitors, schools and artists through a series of workshops and exhibitions.
Bowland Explorers' Club (Managed by Mid Pennine Arts) began in May 2015 offering a programme of creative participation which particularly targets communities living around the National Landscape. The Explorers' Club has visited Cloudspotting (Gisburn Forest Hub), Blackburn Heritage Festival, Burnley Canal Festival; Hopeful & Glorious Art Fair (Lytham), Garstang Victorian Christmas Fair and Brockholes Visitor Centre (x2) In partnership with Wild Rumpus, the club organised a final celebration event in March 2016, again at Gisburn Forest, which attracted over 250 participants. Branches of the club also worked with In Situ in Brierfield, with Ground Up, linked to the Burnley Mechanics At Home group, and with a group in Bolton.
A Bowland Revealed discussion/evaluation workshop is planned for late April 2016.
An assessment of the peatland restoration work still to be completed within the National Landscape area was undertaken as the Priority peat 2013 project, which was produced as a report in April 2014. The matrix approach allows priorities for action to be determined based on a large number of datasets and consultation with key partners. It has since been used to prioritise sites to be put into EU LIFE+ bids (2014 & 2015) and to direct EA funds to 'shovel ready' projects (eg work on Brown Syke, Abbeystead).
The N4N project aimed to help create a living network of nectar hubs for bees and other pollinating invertebrates across the National Landscape by creating small patches of species rich grassland and corn field annual patches, mainly on non-farmed land such as in school grounds, businesses and community spaces.
The project created 25 nectar patches, 7 mini-meadows and worked at a field scale to restore 35 ha of meadows as well. The project worked with 10 community groups, 6 private landowners, 10 businesses and 5 schools. We organised 12 public events, attracting 170 people.
The Bowland Hay Time project has restored 35 ha of meadows during 2014 & 2015. This has been possible through partnership working with the N4N project, LEF, the Coronation Meadows project, NE and YDMT. We used green hay and brush harvested seed, as well as plug planting on several sites.
In 2016 we restored 20 ha with a further 11ha in 2017, all using green hay, brush harvested and vacuumed seed. Sites included SSSIs (New Ings and Tarnbrook) in need of seed addition.
In 2018 a further 3 meadows of feild scale restoration were completed through Bowland Haytime
Separate Festival Bowland events brochure produced for 2014.
Festival Bowland programme for 2015 included as part of Discover Bowland guide.
2016 programme currently under development and will be included as part of discovery guide again.
A survey of the BHS (and other) meadows and pastures was begun in 2012 and continued in 2013. There are some sites still to complete, as this survey prioritised meadows over pastures and did not look at wet grasslands. Need an assessment of which sites are still to be surveyed.
Actions
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2D | Explore opportunities for biodiversity offsetting with local planning authorities (recognising the mechanism as a last resort after options for avoidance and on-site mitigation have been exhausted) |
Hold 'planning and development' seminar to discuss opportunities for biodiversity offsetting within the National Landscape 2014 |
View |
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.3A | Ensure National Landscape's SSSIs are in favourable or recovering condition and take appropriate action to bring those SSSIs that are currently in recovering condition into favourable condition |
Ensure 100% of the National Landscape's SSSIs are in favourable or recovering condition 2019 Ensure at least 50% of SSSIs are in favourable condition 2019 |
View |
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.4C | Continue to support research and monitoring and encourage implementation of habitat projects for characteristic bird species such as hen harrier, merlin, peregrine, ring ouzel, lapwing, snipe, redshank and curlew; including support for relevant species recovery plans |
Identify and agree appropriate habitat intervention opportunities for at least 2 species 2016 |
View | |
| 1.4D | Support local actions to provide suitable conditions to re-establish hen harrier as a breeding species in the National Landscape, in line with the government's emerging national species recovery plan |
Develop local actions to support the re-establishment of breeding hen harrier in the National Landscape 2014-15 Active participation in the new 'Northern England Protected Landscapes Hen Harrier Group' Annually |
View | |
| 1.4E | Investigate feasibility of establishing pilot predator control areas to reduce the impact of predators on ground-nesting bird populations (waders in particular) within the National Landscape |
Feasibility study complete 2015 If appropriate, seek funding to establish at least one pilot predator control area 2015 |
View |
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.6B | Develop bid to Heritage Lottery Fund 'Landscape Partnership Scheme' for a landscape restoration programme for Pendle Hill area |
Complete Stage 1 Bid planning 2015 Submit Stage 1 bid 2015 If successful: 2016 Commence development phase 2017 Submit Stage 2 bid 2017-18 Commence LPS delivery |
View |
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.7H | Continue to work with Electricity North West Ltd. on the delivery of the ENWL-funded 'Undergrounding for Visual Amenity' programme to underground visually intrusive overhead power lines in and around the National Landscape |
Ensure full expenditure of funding allocation for UVA for Ofgem DPCR-05 period (2010 – 2015) 2015 Deliver at least 2 UVA projects per year under Ofgem RIIO-ED1 (2015 -2023) Annually |
View |
| Action | Targets and Timescales | Partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.3A | Continue to facilitate meetings between relevant partners regarding access and visitor management for popular visitor sites (e.g. Upper Hodder Management Group, Pendle Hill Advisory Group) |
At least 1 meeting per year of Management Groups Annually |
View |