Tag: Species Plan

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Bats (Pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus/pygmaeus, Brown Longeared
Plecotus auritus, Whiskered/Brandt’s Myotis mystacinus/brandtii,
Natterer’s Myotis nattereri, Daubenton’s Myotis daubentonii, Noctule
Nyctalus noctula)

1 Current status
1.1 National
All seventeen species of bat resident in the UK are in decline. The most common, the Pipistrelle suffered population losses of up to 70% between 1978 and 1993 but it remains widespread with an estimated UK pre-breeding population of 2 million. Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrelle pipistrellus) is no longer a UK BAP Priority Species since its population is thought to be stable in the UK. Brown long-eared, Soprano Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pygmaeus) and Noctule are UK BAP Priority Species due to a decline in numbers.

1.2 Local
Pipistrelles are widely distributed throughout North Merseyside, occurring in all four districts, and are the species most people come into contact with – they are the species most often found roosting in buildings and feeding in urban areas. Brown Long-eared and Noctule Bats are less common but are also found throughout North Merseyside. Daubenton’s Bats feed almost exclusively over water.

Therefore their distribution is localised and has been recorded from Sefton, Liverpool and St Helens. Whiskered/Brandt’s and Natterer’s Bats are rare locally. Whiskered has been located in Sefton and St Helens and Natterer’s only in St. Helens so far.

No information exists about the size of or changes in local populations but it is believed these mirror national trends. A survey and monitoring scheme (Liver Bats)was initiated in north Merseyside in 2007 to try to gauge the size and status of local populations.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta

1 Current status
1.1 National
Britain has 20% of the world’s Bluebell population and, consequently, it is a plant that is often thought of as being characteristically British. The easily recognised and richly scented flowers, which bloom between April and June, also occur in pink and white forms. They are widespread throughout the United Kingdom, but are absent in Orkney and Shetland. They grow in humid habitats and are adapted to shade provided within woodland. They are also found in hedgerows. In the damper west it is also a common
coastal plant in open situations.

Even in comparatively isolated locations, hybridisation with the introduced Spanish form H. hispanica is not uncommon. This form is much stouter, with less nodding and more bell-like flowers.

1.2 Local
Good local examples include Clinkham and Red Brow Wood in St. Helens, and Croxteth Park in Liverpool. Landlife have information on native colonies and, in the past, all forms have been surveyed by the Liverpool Botanical Society. Many local records are of the hybrid form and distinct native colonies of any size are often hard to find, although it is present in 44 tetrads in North Merseyside.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Brown Hare Lepus europaeus

1 Current status
1.1 National
Whilst still a relatively common species, the brown hare has undergone a population decline from the end of the 19th century. A post-war increase in numbers was followed by a severe decline from the1960s to 1980s when the population appeared to stabilise.
The first national hare survey carried out by Bristol University estimated the prebreeding population to be around 800,000, approximately 20% of the Victorian era. The study concluded that the decline was faster and more severe in the western pastoral regions of the country.
Game bag figures indicate a decline in the number of hares shot between 1961 and 2004 across the UK but show a general increase between 1995 and 2004 in England. The decline across Wales appears to continue.

1.2 Local
There is no population estimate for North Merseyside. However, hares are commonly found on farmland throughout the area.
Consistent with national trends, populations are likely to have declined. Agrienvironmental schemes have had a good take up, particularly in the north of St Helens Borough. This should assist with hare conservation.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Common Lizard Zootoca vivipara

1 Current status
1.1 National & international
Common Lizard is widely distributed but local throughout England, Scotland and Wales, and also present in Northern Ireland. The species occurs in a wide variety of habitats, up to at least 1000m, where there is a varied structure to the ground surface and vegetation, providing both shelter from
predators and open ground for basking. Usually found on south-facing slopes and banks or the sunny edges of woods and hedgerows, and often associated with manmade features like boundary banks, tumuli or wood piles. Common Lizard was originally included on the NM BAP in 2001 as a locally important species but was not, at that time, on the UK BAP priority list. However, Common Lizard (as well as Slow-worm and other herpetiles) was added to UK priority list as a result of the 2007 review.

1.2 Local
Some surveying and anecdotal evidence suggests that Common Lizard is well established on the Sefton Coast. Members of the North Merseyside Amphibian & Reptiles Group invariably see them on suitable days and in some places, e.g. Hightown, they can be seen in double figures. They appear to thrive in suitable areas on the coast such as fixed dunes with cover, e.g. that provided by log piles, bramble etc. However, away from the coast nobody is sure of their status and there is a need to gather more information on the distribution and abundance of this species.
The populations on the Sefton Coast are believed to be relatively stable, but those elsewhere are probably declining and extremely vulnerable.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra

1 Current status
1.1 National
The UK population of Corn Bunting declined by 90% between 1970 and 2005. The most recent national survey gave a population estimate of 16-23,000 territorial males in 1993. This is likely to be significantly lower now, as the Breeding Bird Survey recorded a continuing decline of 32% between 1994-2005. Concurrent with the population decline has been a large contraction in the species’ range, with population collapses over much of central and SW England and Scotland. The highest densities in the UK are found on flat, open arable land and chalk downland. The Corn Bunting is a Priority Species in the UK BAP, due to its rapid population decline.

1.2 Local
The magnitude of the local population decline is not known. Certainly, a decline is indicated from the changes in the peak counts of wintering flocks. The North Merseyside population was estimated at 200 pairs in 1997-99.
The species remains widespread on farmland in the area, but in variable densities. Small populations are found on the edge of the conurbation at Speke, Croxteth, Aintree and Netherton. The highest population densities, reaching a maximum of 4-5 pairs per square kilometre, occur on arable farmland in Sefton, Knowsley and St. Helens. This is the southern part of a fairly continuous area of approximately 200 square kilometres of mosslands, most of it outside Merseyside, which holds the largest population of Corn Buntings in North West England, estimated in 1997-99 to total 1200 pairs, 5% to 7.5% of the UK population. The distribution of birds within this area is typically patchy.

The highest densities, around Altcar Withins and Little
Crosby, are similar to the highest densities so far recorded in North West Europe. Most of the UK population makes only local movements of a few kilometres between breeding and wintering areas. Therefore, wintering distributions are likely to be similar to breeding distributions on a coarse scale in North Merseyside. There are local re-distributions, for example of birds onto the dunes at Crosby in winter, where there is no breeding population.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Dark Green Fritillary Argynnis aglaja

1 Current status
1.1 National
Like many other fritillary butterflies the caterpillars of the Dark Green Fritillary feed exclusively upon violets. The adults are in flight between June and August and feed on a variety of flowers.
The species remains widespread but local. It has suffered local declines in recent years but is less severely threatened than several other fritillaries.

1.2 Local
Dark Green Fritillaries used to be common on the Sefton Coast sand dunes but are now much scarcer, being confined to an area between Birkdale and Hightown. Previous inland sites have all seemingly been lost.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Dune Helleborine Epipactis dunensis

1 Current status
1.1 National
The Dune Helleborine has recently been upgraded to a full species from a sub-species of Epipactis leptochila. It is a nationally rare, endemic taxon for which Britain has an international responsibility. Dune Helleborine is largely confined to sand-dunes in Northwest England and North Wales. Similar plants from inland sites in Northumberland and Scotland are now thought to belong to a different taxon. Because of taxonomic uncertainties, The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain (Cheffings & Farrell, 2005) treats Dune Helleborine as “Data Deficient”. It is a Priority Species in the UK BAP on account of its endemic status.

1.2 Local
In North Merseyside the Dune Helleborine is confined to the Sefton Coast sanddunes. Travis’s Flora of South Lancashire (1963) describes it as “Occasional, locally common … in open, moist hollows in the dunes at the edge of pine plantations”. This is still the case. P.S. Gateley recorded 870 spikes in 1988 and 1911 in 1992 during partial surveys of the dune system. The largest numbers of plants in both years were found in Ainsdale Sand Dunes NNR, the northern and southern extremities of the dune system having few plants. Gateley found that 21% of spikes occurred in pine plantations, while 53% were associated with Creeping Willow Salix repens. The plant avoided Marram Ammophila arenaria-dominated dunes and heavily vegetated fixed-dune pastures but seemed well adapted to disturbance, being often found in areas cleared of conifers, along fence
lines and the edges of footpaths. A large population is now known to occur in the frontal woodlands of Ainsdale NNR. Over 200 spikes were counted in 2007 in the Lifeboat Road woodlands. Small additional colonies have been located at Freshfield Dune Heath Nature Reserve and Altcar Rifle Range.
English Nature carried out a survey of Dune and Green-flowered Helleborine in Ainsdale NNR in 2002 at 130 randomly generated points, but statistical problems associated with small sample sizes prevented rigorous analysis of the results.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan
Early Sand-grass Mibora minima

1 Current status
1.1 National
This nationally rare annual plant is native on the loose sand of maritime dunes and similar places near the sea in Anglesey, North Merseyside and the Channel Islands, and possibly native in Glamorgan. The Early Sand-grass has become naturalised in a few places on the south and east coasts of England and north to East Lothian. It is a rare casual elsewhere. The New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora (2002) shows it as a native plant in 15 hectads (Channel Isles, Anglesey, Gower, Sefton Coast) Early Sand-grass is listed as a vascular plant of Conservation Importance in A Biodiversity Audit of North West England (1999).

1.2 Local
Early Sand-grass is confined to the Sefton Coast in north Merseyside. It was first discovered by D.P. Earl and J. Buckley-Earl in April 1996, growing in a small area of dunes on the west side of Southport Marine Lake. The plant’s distribution was mapped by P.H. Smith on 12th April 1999 when it was found to be dominant in many patches over a distance of about 100m, some of the patches being up to 10m in diameter but many much smaller. Most of the population was associated with the south to south-east facing slope of a low (3m-high) dune ridge. Some small patches were also found on a plateau area to the west of the ridge. All patches of Early Sandgrass were in poorly vegetated areas with a high proportion of bare sand, often on the
fringes of sandy, informal footpaths. The most abundant of 16 associated plants were Kidney Vetch, Little Mouse-ear and Common Whitlow-grass. A repeat survey in 2004 showed the plant’s area had increased by 47% to 2158m2. Regular visits from 2005 to 2007 suggest the grass is doing well and continuing to spread.

North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan

Dragonflies

1 Current status
1.1 National
Twenty-one species of dragonflies have been reliably recorded in North Merseyside. Three of these are rare vagrants from the continent or species that are beginning to colonise southern England. The others are relatively common nationally, though six are largely confined to southern and eastern England and have been extending their range north and west in recent years. Eight species, including the three vagrants, have only been recorded here since 1989.

1.2 Local
Eighteen of the 21 species have certainly bred in the region (Table 1). Six species, namely Red-eyed Damselfly Erythromma najas, Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa, Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum Common Hawker Aeshna juncea, Ruddy Darter Sympetrum sanguineum and Black Darter Sympetrum danae, have highly restricted breeding distributions in North Merseyside.

Table 1. Dragonflies and damselflies reliably recorded in North Merseyside.
Anisoptera
Emperor dragonfly Anax imperator B
Lesser Emperor Anax parthenope V
Southern Hawker Aeshna cyanea LB
Common Hawker Aeshna juncea RB
Brown Hawker Aeshna grandis B
Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta LB
Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa LB
Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata LB
Black-tailed Skimmer Orthetrum cancellatum LB
Common Darter Sympetrum striolatum B
Ruddy Darter Sympetrum. sanguineum RB
Black Darter Sympetrum. danae RB
Yellow-winged Darter Sympetrum flaveolum V
Red-veined Darter Sympetrum fonscolombii V

Zygoptera
Blue-tailed damselfly Ischnura elegans B
Emerald damselfly Lestes sponsa LB
Azure damselfly Coenagrion puella B
Common Blue damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum B
Large Red damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula LB
Red-eyed damselfly Erythromma najas RB
Banded Demoiselle Calopteryx splendens LB
B = widespread breeder ; LB = local breeder; RB = rare breeder; V = vagrant

The Sefton Coast sand-dune system is considered to be nationally important for this group of insects with 11 breeding species.
Another regionally important locality is Colliers (Bold) Moss, St Helens with 17 species recorded in recent years, 14 of them regularly breeding.
Red-eyed Damselfly breeds at only one locality, Eccleston Dams in St Helens.