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Action for Scotland's Biodiversity

5 FARMLANDS AND LOWLAND GRASSLANDS

Introduction

Two-thirds, or nearly 5,200,000 ha, of Scotland's land area is classified as agricultural land. Much of this is upland grassland, heath and bog (considered in Chapter 7), but over 1,700,000 ha consist of the managed and cultivated fields which surround farm steadings and contribute to the characteristic patchwork landscape of lowland Scotland.

Conserving and enhancing biodiversity on farm and croft land should be seen as an essential component of good farming

Over the last 25 years, the arable and grass fields have undergone broadly similar changes to those seen on farmland south of the border. There has been a move towards concentrating on growing crops in the east and growing grass in the west of Scotland. In parts of west coast Scotland there have been significant decreases in the area of arable land from both farms and crofts. Despite this relatively high degree of specialisation, many lowland farmers still retain a mixture of arable and grass on their holdings. On average, even those farmers concentrating mainly on arable cropping have over 25 per cent of their farm under grass, while a typical Scottish dairy farmer will grow at least one or two fields of cereals.

Where there is a mixture and close proximity of arable and grass fields, it means that at any time of the year a farm will generally provide a number of different and varied habitats with the potential to support a wide range of plant, invertebrate and vertebrate species. Some of these species are intimately linked with the annual farming cycle and dependent on the management of each field as a whole, while others are associated with the maintenance and management of the surrounding boundary features. Managed and cultivated farmland therefore forms an important and distinct habitat complex in its own right. Conserving and enhancing biodiversity on farm and croft land should be seen as an essential component of good farming management. The action plans for farmland habitats and species attempt to enable farming and biodiversity conservation to go hand-in-hand.

A list of the priority habitats and species of farmlands and grasslands, that have published plans, is included in Box 5.1. This chapter highlights a few of these habitats and their characteristic species and the aims of their Species Action Plans.

Lowland meadows and unimproved neutral pastures

Lowland hay meadows and other species-rich grasslands occur typically on well drained, unproductive soils. As a consequence, the sward is generally characterised by a colourful variety of relatively low-growing plant species such as bird's-foot trefoil, red clover, autumn hawkbit, lady's bedstraw and meadow vetchling. The main form of unimproved neutral grassland to occur in Scotland is classified as the crested dogstail and black knapweed type.

Such floristically-rich grasslands were once common on farms throughout the UK lowlands. However, a decline in the perceived agricultural value of these meadows and pastures within the context of modern farming systems has led to a marked decline in both their quantity and quality over the past 50 years. It is estimated that, out of a UK total of no more than 13,000 ha, there are only between 2,000 and 3,000 ha in Scotland. These meadows are scattered throughout the country but with a particular concentration in the crofting areas of Lochaber, Skye and the Western Isles.

These declines have largely been a result of agricultural improvement involving drainage, reseeding, increased fertiliser application and a shift away from hay making to silage production. In a few instances the abandonment of cutting and grazing has led to these grasslands becoming rank and overgrown, with subsequent encroachment by bracken and scrub.

In addition to their importance for plants, these relatively unimproved grasslands support a number of declining or rare birds such as corncrake and skylark. Fields that are shut up for hay or silage making provide attractive cover for nesting birds. However, the timing of mowing is an important factor since nests may be destroyed and chicks exposed to predators after an early cut.

Flower-rich meadows have declined with the increase in more intensive grassland management	The skylark action plan suggest better incentives for permanent pasture and reduced pesticide use

The objectives and targets under the Lowland Meadows Habitat Action Plan cover habitat conservation, restoration and expansion. Conservation of existing sites is essential not only to arrest their decline but also to provide a resource on which to develop carefully researched guidelines on the most appropriate management to practise at these sites. However, it is estimated that surveys to establish the extent and location of such species-rich grasslands in Scotland have only achieved a 30 per cent coverage of the country to-date. Hence, a priority within Scotland is to organise and complete a full survey as soon as possible. Once this is completed attempts can be made to initiate restoration and management to achieve favourable conservation status for such grassland both within and outside SSSIs by 2010 and 2015, respectively.

Lowland Dry Acid Grasslands

Lowland acid grassland typically occurs on nutrient-poor, free-draining soils overlying acid rocks or sand and gravel. This type of grassland contains a range of plant species such as heath bedstraw, sheep's fescue, fiorin and tormentil. Dwarf shrubs such as heather and blaeberry are often present but at low abundance.

Grassland of this type in Scotland occurs mainly in management enclosures associated with the upland fringe and in the coastal regions of the north and west. The extent of these grasslands, and the variety of vegetation structures in close proximity to one another, provide important breeding areas for waders such as lapwing and curlew. The abundant populations of small mammals and birds such as meadow pipits and skylarks also mean that these grasslands form important feeding and hunting areas for birds of prey such as hen harrier and merlin. Many of the invertebrates that occur in this type of grassland are specialist species; an example is the great yellow bumblebee (see Box 5.3). The open swards on sandy soils in particular can support a considerable number of ground-dwelling and burrowing insects such as solitary bees and wasps.

Surveys of lowland acid grassland have been limited, but it is estimated that Scotland contains less than 5,000 ha in total. Rum National Nature Reserve includes a considerable area of this priority habitat, as do the Argyll Islands and Stewarty ESAs. No figures are available on the rate of loss, but lowland acid grassland is known to have undergone a substantial decline across the UK in the last 25-50 years. Both agricultural intensification and management neglect have resulted in a general depletion of the resource, with overgrazing and the associated sward damage sometimes being a more localised problem.

The objectives and targets under the Lowland Dry Acid Grassland Habitat Action Plan are similar to those for Lowland Meadows in that they also cover habitat conservation, restoration and expansion. As with all lowland grassland types, fragmentation of the resource is a major concern and the Habitat Action Plan highlights the need to consider mechanisms whereby lowland acid grassland within common land can be brought under sympathetic management. Research is also required to establish the most appropriate grazing management regimes to implement on such sites.

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