CVLLP Habitat Survey

Through the Churnet Valley Living Landscapes Partnership (CVLLP) a wide range of projects are currently underway. One of these projects involves habitat and botanical survey across parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands and East Staffordshire districts. The aims of this survey are to build up a greater knowledge of the range and distribution of habitats within the project area and to identify sites of botanical interest which could then be added to our Local Wildlife Sites inventory. The key habitats identified in this survey were grasslands and woodlands.

 

Surveying in the Staffordshire Moorlands

 

Semi-natural grassland sites are less influenced by humans than improved grasslands and usually support a wider range of invertebrate species, such as bees and butterflies, as they are host to a relatively diverse range of plant species, which may include Black Knapweed, Common Spotted Orchid, Common Bird's-foot Trefoil, Devil's-bit Scabious and Betony.

Species rich grassland with Betony

Also recorded as part of this survey was semi-natural broadleaved woodland, which is often now found only in relatively small pockets across the landscape, and acts as a nesting, roosting and feeding site for a wide range of species including many birds, bats and invertebrates. Where the woodland has been present for many years it may support a wide range of ground flora indicative of ancient woodlands such as Bluebell, Yellow Archangel, Wild Garlic, Wood Sorrel, Greater Stitchwort and Wood Anenome.

Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort in woodland ground flora

It is important that we have a good understanding of the natural habitats present in our countryside so that we are able to monitor and to help prevent the continuing loss of these biologically diverse sites. More about objectives and projects that have arisen as a result of the CVLLP can be found on the main CVLLP page to the right or visit the Churnet Valley webpage at http://www.churnet-valley.org.uk/