12 - Mid Northumberland : Natural Capital and Key Ecosystem Services

Introduction

The Mid Northumberland NCA provides a wide range of benefits to society. Each is derived from the attributes and processes (both natural and cultural features) within the area. These benefits are known collectively as ‘ecosystem services’. The predominant services are summarised below. Further information on ecosystem services provided in the Mid Northumberland NCA is contained in the ‘Analysis’ section of this website.

What is Natural Capital?

Natural capital means “the elements of nature that directly or indirectly produce value to people, including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions” (Natural Capital Committee, 2017).

It is helpful to consider natural capital in the form of a logic chain that represents the links between ecosystem assets, services, benefits and value to people. The figure below displays that logic chain. The quantity and quality of ecosystem assets (woodland, bogs, etc) support different types of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration or water filtration. These ecosystem services then provide different benefits to society, providing value for people. The figure also shows how management interventions, as well as pressures and drivers of change, influence this chain. Other capital inputs are also often needed for people to obtain the benefits from ecosystem services (a simple example is the processing of trees to produce wood products).

As an example, an area of woodland (ecosystem asset) may reduce air pollution created by traffic on a nearby road. This woodland is therefore improving air quality (ecosystem service) in the local area which results in cleaner air and improved health in the adjacent residential street (benefit). This cleaner air has a value because we know it impacts the health and wellbeing of communities.

Sometimes for ease of understanding, economic framing is used to give these benefits a monetary value. The figure below shows how natural capital assets support the provision of ecosystem services, benefits and value. The roots of the tree show how aspects of asset quality are critical to the provision of ecosystem services. The roots also show that geodiversity underpins the ecosystem assets and therefore the ecosystem services and benefits they can provide. It is important to remember that this diagram, and natural capital frameworks more generally, are a simplification of how nature works in practice.

Natural Capital within this NCA

In 2018, Natural England published ‘Natural Capital Indicators: for defining and measuring change in natural capital’ (Lusardi et al., 2018). This report identified key properties of the natural environment vital for the long-term sustainability of benefits, which can act as indicators of change.

These indicators are designed to inform our understanding of the state of our natural assets. The indicators highlight the importance of our natural assets for delivering which ecosystem service and the benefits they provide for society. The indicators and datasets identified in Natural England’s Natural Capital Indicators Project provide the foundation for the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles.

Natural England’s Natural Capital Atlas Profiles provide an “off the shelf” natural capital evidence base for each county or city region. They have a wide variety of uses with more information in the How to Start Using Your Natural Capital Atlas.

The Natural Capital indicators are presented on the map below by broad asset theme, displaying the natural capital within the NCA.

It is noted that not all indicators listed within the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles are included within the map as data is not yet available to measure them. Refer to the “Indicator Gaps and Limitations” of the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles for further information.

Natural Capital Atlas Profiles

The following Natural Capital Atlas Profiles cover counties within this NCA:
 

• 27: North of Tyne

Provisioning services (food, fibre and water supply)

Food provision: Mid Northumberland supports a mixed farming system, predominantly of livestock and cereal production, alongside cash roots and stock feed, making an important contribution to the rural economy. The rivers in the NCA are important fisheries. Locally produced food has the potential to play an important role in supporting tourism in the area, and in the process to encourage a locally sustainable green economy.

Water availability: The rivers Coquet, Wansbeck and Blyth are the principal sources of water supply in Mid Northumberland – the predominant (80 per cent) use of abstracted water is public water supply, followed by industrial and commercial (11 per cent). For information regarding the current state of water availability within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Abstraction Licensing Strategy).

Regulating services (water purification, air quality maintenance and climate regulation)

Regulating soil erosion: The north of the NCA falls within the Tweed, Aln, Coquet and Coastal Streams Priority Catchment designated under Defra’s Catchment Sensitive Farming Project. Land management measures are supported which reduce the run-off of soil from agricultural fields and therefore help to regulate soil erosion.

Regulating soil quality: The Catchment Sensitive Farming Project promotes and supports good soil management in the north of the NCA. This approach to working with the farming community encourages best practice in soil management to improve the structure and quality of soils, and hence the value of soils in food production.

Regulating water quality: For information regarding the current state of water quality within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Draft river basin management plan maps).

Regulating water flow: The physical characteristics of the River Coquet catchment mean that it can often respond rapidly to high rainfall events in its upper reaches and create a high risk of flooding. Improving the biological condition of semi-natural habitats including wetland habitats in the upper reaches of the catchment can assist in mitigating the severity of flood events. Morpeth in the Wansbeck catchment suffered serious flooding in 2008. Morpeth’s Flood Alleviation Scheme now seeks to reduce this risk of flooding by storing floodwater upstream near Mitford and ‘debris catching’ to prevent bridge blockages in the town. Other opportunities include creating semi-natural wetland habitat upstream to increase floodwater storage capacity and absorb some of the energy associated with peak flow events. Conversely, this may also maintain water flows during periods of drought. Restoring the natural function of river systems which can respond dynamically to increased flow will also alleviate some flood risk.
.

Cultural services (inspiration, education and wellbeing)

Sense of place/inspiration: Sense of place and inspiration are strongly associated with the area’s diversity of woodland, enclosed and unenclosed land, and its numerous parkland landscapes and historic country houses, including Kirkharle Estate which was the childhood home of Capability Brown, and more locally within the wildlife-rich broadleaved woodlands that line the river valleys. Red squirrel is an iconic species of Britain’s native fauna and a feature of this local landscape.

Sense of history: The area has a rich diversity of designated and undesignated heritage assets which offer a strong sense of its prehistoric and Roman past, the continuation of settlement into the Anglo-Saxon period, the impact of the Norman invasion on its settlement pattern, cross-border instability and the development of many estates with their parkland settings and improved farmland and farmsteads.

Tranquillity: This is a quiet, rural area, with few settlements and few major roads. While still high at 80 per cent, the area of land classed as ‘undisturbed’ has declined from 92 per cent since the 1960s. A sense of tranquillity is most likely to be associated with the semi-natural woodlands lining the river valleys and the areas of parkland and open standing water, especially away from the major roads.

Recreation: Recreation is supported by the area’s rights of way network, including the Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail which extends for 9 km within the NCA. The access network supports a number of recreational opportunities including angling, horse riding, bird and wildlife watching and walking. Recreational opportunities and access provision in the area provide health and wellbeing opportunities for local people and visitors.