The 30 January Environment Bill 2020 Policy Paper repeats the mantra of Theresa May’s ’25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’ (2018) about having a metric to determine quite how biodiversity enhancement can be measured.  The new Environment Bill 2020, through Michael Gove’s continuing encouragement ‘introduces a mandatory requirement for biodiversity net gain in the planning system, to ensure that new developments enhance biodiversity and create new green spaces for local communities to enjoy.’  England will benefit from the saving of £1.4 billion of ‘annual natural capital benefits’ representing ‘several thousands of hectare of habitat’ that will not now be lost!  Ecosystems will benefit (e.g. air pollution, water flow control…) but they do not mention conservation of soils which is a significant issue in some protected areas such as AONBs. The bill states that the metric system will not undermine the existing range of protections that exists, not least of all ‘irreplaceable habitats’ and protected sites. That is fine then. ‘Conserve and enhance’ is fundamental to all UK conservation law, and it pops up again in the Environment Bill as ‘enhance and conserve biodiversity’ and helping to ‘deliver thriving natural spaces for communities.’  Communities is an issue that gets greater attention here.  We are reminded that NERC (2006) originally set out a duty on public bodies to ‘have regard’ to conserving biodiversity, and the new bill seeks to strengthen LPAs in effecting ‘meaningful change.’  LPAs need to look out as they will have to return a ‘five-year report on the actions taken to comply with the new duty’ (surely updating the NERC 2006 duty of 14 years ago, if they have not done this already?). So two years in from the suggested biodiversity metric, we await much quantitative data proving that the loss of the natural capital has been halted. The Rt Hon Michael Gove would then be very pleased and offer us his big smile of success.

Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises.  By Mark Carwardine. Published by Bloomsbury, 2020. 528pp.

The author is the world’s expert on whales, dolphins and porpoises, having already written over 50 wildlife and conservation books. He is also a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4’s Nature programme and has been seen working with Stephen Fry on ‘Last Chance to See’ series.  This tome is by far the best, and comprehensive handbook on the group. It is too heavy to go in a field coat, but it will be essential back in the ships’ mess, field laboratory or university library for identification. Mammalogist Carwardine has acknowledged the input of over 70 scientists who have assisted with the field observations to make the book such a colossus of information. Each of the 90 species of cetacean has been meticulously described. Over 1,000 illustrations were commissioned from artists: Martin Camm, Rebecca Robinson and Toni Llobet and the text is also illustrated with colour photographs throughout.  The detail for each species is superlative. I could find nothing omitted –  annotated diagrams describing all the external features of each sex, colour variants, identification from photos, population differences, similar species, distribution, maps, teeth, behaviour, predators, populations, conservation and vocalisations. This is just a fascinating book for all naturalists, even if you are not a whale enthusiast, it is a gazetteer of cetaceans; I only wish I had read up from this book about the pink river dolphins before I met them in the Amazon.  Then I would have been much wiser. John Feltwell.

Climate Change and British Wildlife by Trevor Beebee. 2018. London, Bloomsbury. 368 pp. £35.00

The author is an emeritus professor at the University of Sussex and is best known for his life time’s work on amphibians. The book is number six in ‘The British Wildlife Collection’, the others being Mushrooms, Meadows, Rivers, Mountain Flowers and Saltmarsh. They have the feel of newer volumes in the New Naturalists books by Collins in size, length and colour illustrations.  The book has ten chapters and deals with habitats and groups of flora and fauna. Although the evidence is not always clear cut, the position is held that warmer and wetter winters combined with longer summers have worked for the advantage of plants and a whole range of insects, as a result of climate change. The flyleaf says the book is essential reading for every British naturalist and I would agree.  The captions to all the many excellent colour illustrations impart a little snippet of the effect of climate change. There is a section on the scientists who have assisted in bringing the factual information together, from Tim Sparks – ‘the leading phenologist of recent times’, Chris Thomas on trends and ranges of butterflies, James Pearch-Higgins for BTO work and Rachel McCarthy as a climate scientist and poet.  And now for the caveats: The greater understanding of what groups of animals are doing is limited by the available data; the author says that for freshwater fishes, reptiles and mammals data deficiencies limits our understanding of their phenology….’for fishes and amphibians there has been limited evidence of climate-related changes either way in terms of distribution and abundance’ (p. 161). For fungi, lichens and microbes in the British countryside the author argues that it is ‘habitat damage and deterioration, including atmospheric and freshwater pollution’ that has dominated the recent fates of these groups (p. 179). He states that much of the UK’s farmland is now a wildlife desert since the Second World War (p. 207) and that ‘generalists’ such as carrion crows, and that only annual plants and insects and perhaps highly mobile birds are likely to survive (p.213). Beebee believes that the kittiwake is the most affected British animal of climate change, and that ‘arguably the most negative effect of climate change anywhere in and around the UK, matched only by the plight of arctic-alpine plants, has been the disruption of North Sea food webs. Acidification and increased carbon dioxide is the problem that affects the marine environment (p.243).  As for invertebrates there is a lot of information available that suggests that climate change is beneficial in expanding ranges but considerable doubt it thrown into the discussion…’these complex interactions are disentangled..   ‘all taxonomic groups are declining in the UK as a result of the unrelenting efforts of the agrochemical industry and habitat destruction. Any benefits of climate warming are a minor superimposition on this ongoing disaster.’   This is an excellent book and ideal for all natural history libraries. An Index and References completes the book.

Ancient Woodland Inventory, 2018. SANSUM, P. & BANNISTER, N.R. 2018. A Handbook for updating the Ancient Woodland Inventory for England. Natural England Commissioned Reports NECR248   Edition 1. Dated May 2018. 187pp

The original Ancient Woodland Inventory (AW1) was originally published provisionally in 1992 following research dating back to 1981.  This current handbook is a working document which is collating evidenced-based information as it becomes available. Much of the research for this has come from the High Weald AONB Unit in East Sussex, the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre and Natural England.  It is not surprising that a lot of the evidence has come from the heavily wooded parts of Southern England which plays host to some of the best ancient woodland in England.  Data has also been incorporated from work in Herefordshire and in Dorset and work from the Sheffield Hallam University.

The process of updating the AW1 is in four phases i) capturing boundaries via GIS, ii) cross-referencing with existing data sets of woodland, iii) evidence gathering, and iv) evaluating and recording each polygon. There is much more clarification regarding Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) ‘wood-pasture and parkland’ which they admit had often been left off maps because of ‘their low tree density’. This is a very technical handbook.

Originally wood-pasture was ‘generally omitted’ from the original AWI and ‘understanding of this habitat type is still developing…’(para 3.3.3.3.). However, this update states that ‘Where ancient wood-pastures are identified they should receive the same consideration as other forms of ancient woodland’ (p.9). This document states that it was the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) which declared that ‘wood-pasture and parkland’ was indeed a UK Priority Habitat where it had the characteristics of veteran trees, often as scattered individuals, and a wide range of other tree and shrub species.

Two months before this Handbook was published Natural England published its guidance in March 2018 on Ancient Woodland, ancient trees and veteran trees: protecting them from development ( an update from its 2014 edition) where it specifically states that ‘other distinct forms of ancient woodland are: wood pastures identified as ancient.

Other NE documents describe the other characteristics of wood-pasture as being pollarded trees, a matrix of grassland, many saproxylic invertebrates, and supporting 41% of priority species associated with woodland (as per Natural England’s 2015 (EIN011) Summary of evidence: wood-pasture and parkland).

Overall, this is a useful update on the understanding and interpretation of wood pasture as a continuum habitat with ancient woodland. 

The High Weald AONB Management Plan, 2019-2024

Originally printed in 2004, this is the fourth edition, the others being 2009 and 2014.  What has happened in the meantime is the release of the new NPPF of July 2018 and the concept of Natural Capital, both of which are included. However, the impact on development of Ashdown Forest being both SPA and SAC is not discussed; SPA is not mentioned in the Plan, or Glossary. Otherwise the Plan sets out well the rest of the legal framework (‘conserve and enhance’ seems to have been written into every legal instrument since the year dot), is good on setting the historical scene for the AONB and is good on setting out its own policies for conservation. ‘Natural Beauty’ we are told has not really been expressly defined, but we know that this is a major theme; it’s all in the name, hopefully. The AONB covers 1,461km2 and in the jurisdiction of 15 councils. We are informed that there are 13,401 ponds in the AONB with an estimated 1,600 supporting Great Crested Newts, and 12,500km of hedgerow and field boundaries. About <3% of the AONB land cover is known as wildflower meadows with an estimated <40% field semi-improved grassland that has potential for enhancement.  About 28% of the AONB is ancient woodland representing nearly three times the national average. There are 2,800 parcels of ancient woodland under 2ha and 56km2 of UK BAP ‘wood pasture and parkland’. All these represent a finite resource within the 4^th largest of the 46 AONB’s in the UK. The Plan is well illustrated with maps and colour photographs and is available on line too.