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Survey Details for CRDGNLH110 - 2026-06-05

CRDGNLH110

Landscape Habitats

Rhydlewis mosaic

Ceredigion

2008-10-20

  • Level 1: Dry (Relatively) Terrestrial Habitats
  • Level 2: Grassland & Marsh
  • Level 3: Mosaic

Monitoring

Q1 - Date of monitoring?

  • 2016-01-15

Q1a - Monitoring undertaken by

  • Stages 1, 2 and 3 change detection, field verification and amendment completed by Environment Systems in conjunction with the local planning authority. Quality Assurance completed by TACP.

Q1b - Has this record been updated following monitoring work?

  • This record remains unchanged following monitoring work

Q1c - Change indicated by

  • No Answer

Q1d - What has changed?

  • No Answer

Q1e - Has the information ever been verified in the field?

  • No

Q2 - Does this area have a special or functional link with an adjacent area?

  • Yes
    • The Afon Ceri flows through this area into the Afon teifi at CRDGNLH091, Henllan wood and grassland mosaic.

Q3 - What is the total land area within the boundary (in hectares)?

  • 1,442 ha

Description

Q4 - What are the dominant soil types? (specify up to 3 types)

  • Ground-water gley soils
  • Brown soils

Q5 - What Phase 1 habitat types are present? Only select the five most dominant types and, for each of these, specify below what percentage of the Aspect Area is made up of these.

  • Improved Grassland
    • 62% (note including all grassland categories occurring in this area add up to greater than 70% grassland)
  • Marshy Grassland
    • 4%
  • Semi-improved Neutral Grassland
    • 9%
  • Semi-natural Broadleaved Woodland
    • 8
  • Dense Scrub
    • 3

Q6 - Does the area contain habitats of international importance?

  • Not known

Q7 - If yes, which habitats of international importance?

  • No Answer

Q8 - Does the area contain BAP habitats?

  • Not known

Q9 - If yes, which BAP habitats?

  • No Answer

Q10 - Does the area contain protected sites?

  • Yes
    • SAC(8.04ha) SSSI(8.04ha)

Q11 - If yes, which ones?

  • SAC
  • SSSI

Q12 - Approximately what proportion of the Aspect Area is within the protected site?

  • 1-10%
    • 0.56%

Q13 - Does the area support important species?

  • Yes

Q14 - If yes, which species? (for each of the species, also note the source of information)

  • Records exist for Otter, Lutra lutra, Marsh Fritillary, Eurodryas aurinia and Large Garden Bumble Bee, Hydrelia sylvata. Rare plants records exist for Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis; Hairy Lady''s Mantle Alchemilla filicaulis ssp vestita, Smooth Brome Bromus racemosus, Reed Grass Glyceria maxima, Stream Water-crowfoot Ranunculus penicillatus ssp penicill.

Q15 - Are there any significant threat species present in abundance? (Field visit required)

  • Not known

Q16 - What other features significantly influence the biodiversity in this area?

  • Streams
  • Hedgerows
  • Ponds
  • Veteran Trees

Q17 - Are any of these features in a very good condition? (Field visit required)

  • Some
    • Many of the hedges are stockproof and well maintained.

Q18 - Are any of these features in a poor condition? (Field visit required)

  • No Answer

Q19 - What are the main land management activities taking place in the area? (Field visit required)

  • Stock grazing

Q20 - Do any of the above appear to have an appreciable positive impact on biodiversity? (Field visit required)

  • No Answer

Q21 - Do any of the above appear to have an appreciable negative impact on biodiversity? (Field visit required)

  • No Answer

Q22 - Is the biodiversity in the area in any way threatened?

  • Not known

Q23 - Are there clear opportunities to improve the biodiversity aspect of this area?

  • Yes
    • Where post and wire fences exist planting hedgerows would aid biodiversity.

Q24 - Summarise the key features that define this area's biodiversity character

  • An area of small pastures bounded by thick often stockproof hedges. There are many wetter pastures and occasional blocks of broadleaved woodland. Some interesting species have been recorded from wetter grasslands and river within the area.

Condition

Q25 - Value

  • Moderate
    • This area of mainly improved pasture contains occasional woodlands, some intact hedges and a few wetter grassland areas, it supports some interesting species.

Q26 - Condition

  • Unassessed

Q27 - Trend

  • Constant

Recommendations

Q28 - Existing management

  • Generally Appropriate

Q29 - Existing management remarks:

  • Most of the land is grazed.

Q30 - Principal management recommendations

  • Where post and wire fences exist plant hedgerows. Where native species occur, especially on wetter grassland, reducing agricultural inputs to allow native species to re-colonise would aid biodiversity.

Q31 - Guideline

  • Medium Term
    • Where native species are present reduce inputs to encourage reversion.
  • Medium Term
    • Where post and wire fences exist plant hedgerows.
  • Medium Term
    • Where hedges are gappy replant and lay.

Aspect Area Boundary

Q32 - To what level was this information site-surveyed?

  • Level 3

Q33 - At 1:10,000, how much of the Aspect Area boundary is precise?

  • All

Q34 - What baseline information source was used for Aspect Area boundary mapping?

  • Aerial photographs

Q35 - If OS Data was used, what was the scale?

  • 1:10,000

Q36 - What is the justification for the Aspect Area boundaries?

  • The boundary on all sides is marked by a change to slightly larger fields with a less dense pattern of hedges.

Evaluation

Q37 - Evaluation Criteria: Priority Habitats

  • Moderate
    • Some wet grasslands and woodland habitats occur fragmented within an improved grassland landscape.

Q38 - Evaluation Criteria: Significance

  • Low
    • There are some wetland and woodland habitats in this area, but none are designated.

Q39 - Evaluation Criteria: Opportunity

  • Moderate
    • Reversion of some of the wetter meadows would enhance the area.

Q40 - Evaluation Criteria: Expansion rates

  • Unassessed

Q41 - Evaluation Criteria: Sensitivity

  • Unassessed

Q42 - Evaluation Criteria: Connectivity/Cohesion

  • Moderate
    • The small important habitats are fragmented for each other, however thick hedgerows do provide a good degree of connectivity.

Q43 - Evaluation Criteria: Habitat Evaluation

  • Moderate
    • Some habitats occur within this improved grassland landscape but they are networked together by the tick hedgerows, woodland blocks and the river.

Q44 - Evaluation Criteria: Importance for key species

  • High
    • The hedgerows and wet hollows may support a range of common species and other species such as bats giving a moderate species evaluation.

Q45 - Evaluation Criteria: Overall Evaluation Habitat and Species

  • Moderate
    • This area of pasture fields has occasional woodlands, some intact hedges and a few wetter grassland areas, it supports some interesting wetland species.

Q45a - Justification of overall evaluation

  • This area of mainly improved pasture contains occasional woodlands, some intact hedges and a few wetter grassland areas, it supports some interesting wetland species.

Bibliography

Q46 - Sources and additional assessments

  • Vexcel 2006 aerial photography, Getmapping - Millenium Map digital aerial photography. CCW - Phase 1 Habitat vector GIS data set. Countryside Council for Wales Species Information, Ceredigion BAP species; various data sets from NBN Gateway including: Mammal records from Britain from the Atlas of Mammals (1993), with some subsequent records, Rare Flowering Plant and Fern Data, Botanical Society of the British Isles; Vascular Plants Database; Bat sites inventory for Britain, Natural England.

Assessment

Q47 - Additional Assessments

  • This area of mainly improved pasture contains occasional woodlands, some intact hedges and a few wetter grassland areas, it supports some interesting wetland species.

Q48 - Additional Comments

  • Species records used in the study are not comprehensive and the absence of species in an area may well be an indication of incomplete records rather than a true lack. Land managers, developers, planners and other land users will need to satisfy themselves as to the occurrence of such species within the area if existing land management or management changes might affect these species in the future. A first step to procuring this data will be to consult with the local biodiversity records centre.