24 - Vale of Mowbray : Analysis: Ecosystem Services

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Fertile soils
• Water
• Semi-natural pollinator habitat

State – 1 per cent is grade 1 agricultural quality, 25 per cent is grade 2 and 68 per cent is grade 3. 46 per cent of the land is under cereal production, much for livestock feed. Land under grass/uncropped accounts for 37 per cent. The remaining 14 per cent land area for which data is available is under cash roots, stock feed, oil seeds and ‘other’.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – The grade 1, 2 and 3 soils currently support production of cereal and feed grains with livestock rearing dairying, and some arable. Future ability to maintain or increase food production will be shaped by soil quality, and by availability of inputs, including water.

Poor soil and nutrient management is associated with diffuse pollution and sedimentation which impacts on water quality and the ecology of watercourses.

Opportunities – Continue working with the farming community to ensure good soil, nutrient and pesticides management, thereby securing the sustainable management of key assets essential to farming and protecting and enhancing other services such as carbon storage and regulating water flow.

Enhance pollinator habitat and encourage more diverse food provision by creating conservation headlands and using pollen and nectar mixes to encourage invertebrates, birds and rare arable plants.

Maintain mixed farming, with sustainable grazing levels on grasslands, preventing soil compaction and aiding water infiltration and hence recharge of the Sherwood sandstone aquifer.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Food provision
• Water availability
• Climate regulation
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Regulating soil quality
• Regulating soil erosion
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Woodland cover, soils

State – The NCA contains 1,991 ha (3.3 per cent of the total area), of which c215 ha is ancient woodland, some now planted over with conifers.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – There is relatively little woodland cover in this NCA. The greatest scope for new native woodland is on the vale slopes, particularly in the east where land rises to the North York Moors, with additional opportunities to increase tree cover through parkland and wood pasture restoration, and creation or expansion of riparian and flood plain woodland in suitable locations.

Restoration of plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) offers opportunity to convert to hardwood species with additional benefits in carbon storage and biodiversity.

Restoring riparian and flood plain woodland would produce similar benefits, though to date there has been limited uptake of grants for flood plain woodland.

Opportunities – Expand native woodland cover, predominantly on vale slopes, focusing on locations where tree planting will reduce soil erosion and protect watercourses from sedimentation, while maintaining or strengthening local landscape character.

Seek opportunities to restore PAWS to native species, and where appropriate reinstate traditional woodland management practices such as coppicing.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Timber provision
• Biomass energy
• Water availability
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating soil quality
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Major Sherwood Sandstone aquifer
• Magnesian Limestone aquifer
• Rivers
• Water also derived from neighbouring upland or upstream NCAs

State – Key rivers in the NCA are the River Swale and two of its tributaries, the River Wiske and Cod Beck, all running south through the NCA and eventually draining into the Humber. The resource availability status for all surface waterbodies in the NCA has been overridden to ‘no water available’ to ensure adequate flows further downstream, specifically at Naburn (to the south of York). Groundwater sources in the NCA include the major Sherwood Sandstone aquifer (the second largest aquifer in England) and the Magnesian Limestone aquifer.

Groundwater in the Sherwood Sandstone is heavily used for drinking water supplies (Humber River Basin Management Plan, Main document, Environment Agency, 2009) in the Northallerton, Doncaster, Selby and Goole areas, and supplies the grid system supporting supplies to Sheffield and Hull. This is a Drinking Water Protected Area. The River Swale is underlain by both the Sherwood Sandstone and Magnesian Limestone aquifers and the River Wiske is partially underlain by the Sherwood aquifer. Cod Beck is underlain by a series of minor or non-aquifers with limited use as a source of reliable groundwater. There is ‘water available’ from all these groundwater resources (Swale, Ure, Nidd and Upper Ouse Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy, Environment Agency, 2004).

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – To protect downstream supply in the Vale of York there is ‘no water available’ for extraction from surface waters within the NCA, therefore it is imperative that water is used sustainably and that land management practices are employed which will increase water infiltration and enable groundwater supplies to be maintained.

Demand for on-farm water storage may increase as contingency against predicted increases in summer droughts.

Opportunities – Seek opportunities to increase area of semi natural habitat, and sustainable grazing of all grasslands, thus increasing ground permeability and infiltration of rainfall to recharge groundwater supplies and reduce surface flooding.

Work with the farming community and businesses to improve sustainable use of water and sympathetic land management practices, including crop selection and water harvesting, and that water conservation measures and sustainable drainage is designed in to new development.

Ensure that water storage facilities are well integrated within the landscape and make a contribution to habitat networks and biodiversity.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Food provision
• Water availability
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating soil erosion
• Biodiversity

No information available.

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Woodlands, soils

State – Woodland cover in this NCA is limited to scattered small woodlands and hedgerow trees, with occasional parkland plantations. There is a total of 1,991 ha of woodland in the NCA (3.3 per cent of the NCA area), which provides local potential for the provision of biomass through bringing unmanaged woodland under management.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – There is medium potential yield for Short Rotation Coppice in the NCA while there is a high potential yield for miscanthus through much of the NCA south of Northallerton, and a medium potential yield elsewhere. For information on the potential landscape impacts of biomass plantings within the NCA, refer to the tables of ‘opportunities and optimum sitings for energy crops’ on the Natural England website.

Opportunities – Work with the farming community to identify suitable opportunities to increase the area of miscanthus and short rotation coppice, where this may be accommodated within local landscape character and provide enhanced regulation of soil erosion, water flow, water supply and water quality.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Biomass energy
• Timber provision
• Climate regulation
• Regulating water flow
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Woodlands
• Other semi-natural habitats, particularly wetlands and permanent grassland
• Management of soils and cropping practice

State – There is generally a low soil carbon content of 0-5 per cent throughout the NCA. There will be higher soil carbon content under the 1,991 ha of woodland in the NCA (3.3 per cent of the NCA area), which could also be managed to further enable carbon sequestration and storage.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – Carbon sequestration can be increased through managing and expanding native woodland cover, and other semi-natural habitats particularly wetlands and permanent grasslands. This can be of wider benefit for regulating water flow and quality if located in riparian corridor or flood plain.

Carbon storage in soils can be enhanced through careful management of organic matter inputs to soils, by reducing the frequency of cultivation and reverting some cultivated areas to permanent grassland.

Opportunities – Restore and create wetland habitats, for example flood plain pasture and meadow to increase take-up and storage of carbon while achieving a diverse and coherent wetland habitat network, which can also help regulate peak water flows.

Expand native woodland into appropriate locations, such as on the eastern Vale side, in appropriately sited flood plain and riparian woodlands, and expand small farm woodlands to increase the carbon storage within these habitats.

Seek opportunities to adopt minimum tillage, increase use of green manure crops within rotations, and create uncultivated margins to arable fields, and along watercourses.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Climate regulation
• Water availability
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating soil quality
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity

No information available.

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Geology
• Soils
• Semi-natural habitats
• Farming and other land management practices

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

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – One of the key reasons for failure of water quality standards in this NCA are water industry discharges during storm conditions and diffuse pollution from agriculture. Groundwater quality risks for the Magnesian Limestone aquifer primarily relate to urban and rural inputs from localised use of nitrates and pesticides in agriculture and horticulture.

The Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative has offered advice and grants to farmers in this area to reduce diffuse pollution of the watercourses, concentrating on improved management of soils and chemical applications, and in farmyard infrastructure.

Opportunities – Continue working with the farming community to ensure best practice in soils, pesticides and nutrient management, for example using low pressure machinery, carefully managing stock movements and informed nutrient and pesticides application following regular infield analysis.

Work with farmers to manage riparian grazing, including fencing off sections of watercourses to prevent access by livestock, creating permanent grassland strips along watercourses, and creating areas of scrub and woodland.

Encourage selection of crops which require lower applications of pesticides and fertilisers, to help protect watercourses from diffuse run-off. Promote use of buffer strips to watercourses, and creation of riparian semi-natural habitat.

Continue to promote improvements in farm infrastructure and waste management and improvements to waste water storm overflows.

In new developments, promote sustainable drainage systems which will improve water infiltration and protect the underlying aquifers.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Regulating water quality
• Food provision
• Climate regulation
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating soil quality
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Flood plain of Swale, Wiske and Cod Beck
• Semi-natural vegetation cover, particularly wetland and woodland

State – Fluvial flood risk is high within this NCA, with a total of over 1,050 properties at risk within Northallerton, Brompton, and Thirsk. Within parts of the Cod Beck catchment, the topography creates potential for flash flooding (short period of time between rainfall and the onset of flooding), which can be very hazardous in these areas.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – Land management in the upper catchment (the North York Moors and Cleveland Hills and Yorkshire Dales NCAs), including tree or scrub planting, sustainable management of moorland vegetation, and blocking drains to restore bog hydrology, will influence the degree to which these areas intercept and absorb rainfall and hence influence the volume and characteristics of water flows downstream within the NCA. The use of the Boltby Reservoir (located north east of Thirsk, just beyond the NCA boundary), which was decommissioned in 2005 following damage due to a severe flooding event, is also being considered, along with reducing run-off into Cod Beck and Willow Beck (a tributary of the River Wiske that runs through Romanby) through land use management changes.

Opportunities – Work with organisations in neighbouring upland NCAs to restore the ability of upland habitats to intercept and store increased volumes of precipitation;

Restore or create flood storage areas within the flood plains, including creating new wetland areas, which are well-integrated in the landscape, contributing to habitat networks and sense of place.

Seek opportunities to restore a more natural morphology to watercourses, in particular the River Swale, allowing the river to reconnect with the flood plain where this will help dissipate the energy of peak flows and contribute to the restoration of a network of wetland areas within the Vale.

Promote tree planting and creation of wet woodland habitats in appropriate locations within the flood plains.

Improve hedgerow density, particularly in southern areas where many hedgerows have been lost – these will help reduce cross land flows of water during peak floods, improve soil permeability and the holding time of flood waters within the wider catchment before reaching main watercourses.

Promote sustainable drainage in new development by increasing the use of semi-natural habitats and permeable surfacing to reduce run-off and increase water filtration, slowing the rate at which water enters the river system.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Regulating water flow
• Timber provision
• Water availability
• Climate regulation
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating water quality
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Soil types
• Geological and geomorphological processes
• Semi-natural habitats

State – There are 10 main soilscape types in this NCA, the most significant by area being the slowly permeable seasonally wet loam and clay soils (48 per cent of the area); freely draining slightly acid loamy soils (22 per cent); slowly permeable seasonally wet acid loamy and clayey soils (6 per cent); slightly acid loamy and clayey soils with impeded drainage (5 per cent); loamy and clayey flood plain soils with naturally high groundwater (5 per cent).

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – The slowly permeable seasonally wet loam and clay soils (48 per cent) may suffer compaction and/or capping as they are easily damaged when wet. In turn this may lead to increasingly poor water infiltration and diffuse pollution as a result of surface water run-off. The freely draining slightly acid loamy soils (22 per cent) may be valuable for aquifer recharge, requiring the maintenance of good structural conditions to aid water infiltration and requiring the matching of nutrients to needs to prevent pollution of the underlying aquifer. Both of these soil types have potential for increased organic matter levels through management interventions. The Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative has offered advice and grants to reduce diffuse and farmyard-source pollution.

Opportunities – Continue working with the farming community to encourage best practice in soil management to improve structure and quality of soils, particularly where this can assist aquifer recharge. This may be achieved using low pressure machinery and managing stock and vehicle movements, particularly in wet conditions, to avoid poaching and compaction.

Encourage the use of fallow and green manure crops such as nitrogen-fixing legumes within arable systems to replace nutrients and bind soils, manage organic matter levels in soils, and support informed infield nutrient application, particularly where aquifer recharge occurs.

Continue to promote improvements in farm infrastructure and waste management.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Regulating soil quality
• Food provision
• Water availability
• Climate regulation
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Soil type
• Good soils management
• Semi-natural habitat

State – The entire NCA lies within Defra’s ‘Yorkshire Ouse, Nidd and Swale’ Priority Catchment. Priorities in this catchment including reducing sediment losses from farm yards. The River Wiske and River Swale catchments (encompassing the majority of the NCA) are considered ‘target areas’ of particular importance.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – Around two-thirds of the soils covering this NCA have a low risk of soil erosion, this includes the dominant soil type (slowly permeable seasonally wet loamy and clayey soils) the slowly permeable seasonally wet acid loamy and clayey soils, the loamy and clayey flood plain soils with naturally high groundwater, and the freely draining flood plain soils. Loamy soils with naturally high groundwater generally have a low risk of soil erosion, except where coarser textured variants occur on sloping or uneven ground.

Freely draining soils have enhanced risk of soil erosion on moderately or steeply sloping land where cultivated or bare soil is exposed, often exacerbated where organic matter levels are low after continuous arable cultivation or where soils are compacted. There is widespread potential for wind erosion of sandy and fen peat soils where soils are cultivated or left bare, especially in spring.

Many of the slightly acid loamy and clayey soils with impeded drainage are prone to capping or slaking, leading to increased risk of erosion. Soils are easily compacted by machinery or livestock if accessed when wet, increasing the risks of soil erosion by surface water run-off, especially on steeper slopes.

The Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative has offered advice and grants to improve soils management.

Opportunities – Continue working with the farming community through Catchment Sensitive Farming and other initiatives to promote good soils management, including shallow cultivation and creating permanent grassland or areas of semi-natural habitat within the arable landscape.

Other beneficial measures include encouraging use of green manure crops within arable systems to replace nutrients and bind soil, along with winter stubble.

Minimise vehicle and stock movements in wet conditions.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Regulating soil erosion
• Food provision
• Climate regulation
• Regulating soil quality
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Pollination
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Limited areas of semi-natural habitats and arable margins
• Hedgerows
• Linear transport routes

State – 30 ha of species-rich grassland and tiny area of heathland provide very limited nectar sources for pollinating insects in this NCA.

Hedgerows are predominantly of hawthorn. These will provide some nectar source for pollinators within the farmed landscape.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – There is an opportunity to increase food security by increasing the areas and connectivity of suitable habitat for pollinators. This also contributes to climate adaptation in both food production and biodiversity.

Many hedgerows, particularly in the southern Vale are gappy and require restoration.

Habitat corridors around the main transport routes – rail and main roads – could be managed to increase their berry, seed and nectar provision and structural diversity for birds and insects.

Opportunities – Seek opportunities within the agricultural landscape, particularly in proximity to oilseed rape, to promote nectar-rich margins and species-rich semi-natural habitats, within a coherent network.

Manage and restore the network of hedgerows, particularly in the southern Vale.

Seek opportunities to create linear areas of habitat for birds and invertebrates, in particular using linear transport corridors.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Food provision
• Regulating soil erosion
• Pollination
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Limited areas of semi-natural wetland, grassland habitat and hedgerows

State – Small areas of semi-natural habitat are interspersed with productive agricultural land, provide limited habitat for beneficial species.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – Semi-natural habitat within productive agricultural landscapes may support species which prey on pest species, thereby regulating the potential damage of these to food production.

Hedgerows are the most common field boundary, providing some habitat for beneficial predator species, although many hedgerows are gappy and require restoration.

Opportunities – Enhance the network of semi-natural habitats throughout the agricultural landscape so they may provide habitat for predator species within close proximity of main food production areas.

Manage and restore the network of hedgerows in the southern Vale.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Pest regulation
• Food provision
• Pollination
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Landform/vale topography
• Rivers and flood plain
• Land cover
• Archaeological and historic assets

State – Sense of place is provided by the flat, predominantly open agricultural landscape, framed by surrounding uplands with localised areas of woodland cover and hedgerows producing locally enclosed landscapes, particularly in the east where sense of enclosure is reinforced by parklands.

There is an overall sense of containment within the NCA offered by the prominent scarp of the North Yorkshire Moors and Cleveland Hills to the east and the more gentle foothills of the Pennine Dales to the west, with views out to these masses of higher land being a distinctive feature of the area. The low lying valleys of the River Swale and its tributaries are another important element of the landscape, characteristically tree-lined and fringed by a belt of rough pasture or scrub, especially in the north. Villages are generally situated on higher ground, often with a linear form along a wide main street, while churches provide local landmarks.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – Pressure for change in this landscape, associated with transport infrastructure, new housing and agriculture could alter the sense of place, with intrusion levels already locally high around the road and rail networks.

Restoring hedgerows including hedgerow trees, particularly in the southern part of the NCA where many have been lost, will strengthen landscape character and sense of place, while protecting soils and providing components of a wider restored habitat network.

Opportunities – Ensure that new developments and changes in land use are successfully integrated into the landscape, that they respect historic settlement and field patterns and do not compromise the rural character of this landscape.

Manage and restore trees in the landscape, including hedgerow restoration in the southern part of the Vale, and management of veteran trees and parkland on the eastern fringes.

Protect and where possible enhance natural features and processes, particularly those associated with the rivers and flood plain.

Protect areas classified on Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) maps as ‘undisturbed’ from further intrusion, particularly important along the eastern edge of the Vale adjacent to the North York Moors National Park.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Sense of place/inspiration
• Sense of history
• Tranquillity
• Biodiversity
• Geodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Archaeological features
• Historic settlement patterns
• Building styles

State – The history of the landscape is evident in late iron-age/Romano-British settlement seen as occasional crop marks, Roman influence along Dere Street (the A1 trunk road) and Ermine Street, Saxon and Medieval origins to settlements, some later rebuilt as planned villages, others surviving only as earthworks, for example at Birkby, Swainby and Winton. Deer parks and hunting lodges developed in the 14th century with increased woodland and tree cover.

The area’s long history as a transport corridor (Dere Street and the Great North Road, the latter influencing early development of Northallerton and Thirsk as coaching stops) has continued into the modern day with major north-south road and rail routes. The Vale was the location for a number of early military airfields, some now disused, which are a repeated feature across this landscape. The Heritage at Risk register indicates 46 designated monuments currently at risk within the Vale of Mowbray.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – Aspects of history likely to be particularly evident to the general public are the area’s medieval churches, vernacular building style of red brick and occasional cobbles with pantile roofs, and the historic market towns of Northallerton and Thirsk.

The local presence of military airfields is widely known and evident in the landscape, the army and RAF retaining a visible and audible presence in the area, with hangars and control towers, used and disused, a common feature. There are a number of designed landscapes and parkland across the area, including Kiplin Hall and Upsall Castle.

Opportunities – Ensure that new developments and changes in land use are successfully integrated into the landscape, that they respect historic settlement and field patterns and do not compromise the rural character of this landscape.

Strengthen the pattern of historic field systems in the landscape through hedgerow restoration, where key hedgerows have been lost.

Manage and restore parkland features, including veteran trees. Minimise damage to archaeological sites from cultivation, particularly along the north-south transport corridors and the hilly edges to the Vale, where there are concentrations of archaeological evidence – seek to protect key sites under permanent pasture or reduce plough depth; seek opportunities to preserve and where appropriate interpret these features.

Retain 20th century military remains and structures as features in the landscape.

Reduce the number of ‘at risk’ heritage sites through targeted management and advice.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Sense of history
• Regulating soil erosion
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity
• Recreation

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Agricultural landscape
• Semi-natural habitats
• Historic parkland
• Low population

State – Tranquillity has declined significantly in recent years. The main factors affecting tranquillity are the major north-south transport corridors, namely the A1, A19 and the East Coast Main Line, as well as Northallerton in the centre of the NCA.

The area of the NCA classed as ‘undisturbed’ declined from over 80 per cent in the 1960s to 40 per cent in 2007.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – A sense of tranquillity is most likely to be associated with the rural areas of farmland away from these transport corridors, especially along the undeveloped stretches of the River Swale and within localised parkland and woodland landscapes.

The population is relatively low, concentrated in two market towns, and small scattered villages, which contributes to the rural tranquillity.

Opportunities – Seek to contain further disturbance associated with the main transport corridors through enhanced screening by semi-natural vegetation, enhancing biodiversity and strengthening landscape structure and character.

Minimise light spill through careful lighting design, particularly in areas classed as ‘undisturbed’ on the CPRE intrusion maps, and along the eastern fringe of the NCA bordering the North York Moors National Park.

Manage woodland and parklands, extending and linking these, to enhance local sense of enclosure and tranquillity.

Manage agricultural land to enhance features associated with tranquillity and sense of place, for example increasing permanent grassland and semi-natural habitats in the flood plain and along the River Swale.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Tranquillity
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating water quality
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Rights of way network and other public access
• River Swale
• Thirsk and Catterick Race Courses

State – Recreation and access are supported by 687 km of rights of way (at a density of 1.13 km per km2), including the Coast to Coast route, although there is virtually no open access land within the NCA. The River Swale provides angling opportunities, while horse racing, hunting and field sports are popular throughout the area.

Main beneficiary – Local

Analysis – Recreational opportunities, for residents of the Vale of Mowbray and its visitors may be enhanced though improvement to public access in the landscape, primarily in the rights of way network, and a stronger sense of the Vale’s history with improved interpretation of aspects of the historic environment.

These opportunities should be pursued in ways which will not undermine the Vale’s sense of place, or further erode tranquillity levels.

Opportunities – Identify opportunities to create new circular routes or links to existing rights of way, particularly the Coast to Coast long distance route which passes through the Vale of Mowbray.

Seek opportunities for educational access to historic farm buildings and other historic sites, and opportunities to interpret the farmed environment.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Recreation
• Sense of history

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Sites designated for their nature conservation interest; priority habitats and species

State – There is a tiny portion (0.08 ha) of one internationally designated site within the NCA – the North York Moors SPA/SAC, designated for containing the largest continuous tract of upland heather moorland in England. There are also five SSSI in the NCA, totalling only 61 ha (0.1 per cent of the NCA area). The largest of these is the Swale Lakes SSSI, adjacent to the River Swale at Catterick, designated for its diverse population of breeding birds and large numbers of wintering wildfowl and waders.

In total there is a small area of priority habitats in this NCA covering some 554 ha, the majority of which is flood plain grazing marsh (338 ha) and lowland mixed deciduous woodland (100 ha). There are also smaller areas of wet woodland and undetermined grassland.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – The fragmentation of semi-natural habitat within the Vale means that the best wildlife-rich areas tend to be isolated and lack the resilience of being part of a more robust ecological network.

Restoring hedgerows including hedgerow trees, particularly in the southern part of the NCA where many have been lost, will strengthen this component of a wider restored habitat network, while strengthening landscape character, and protecting soils.

Managing and extending native woodlands, and riparian and flood plain habitats can achieve these benefits, which also help to regulate soil erosion and water quality and flows.

Habitat corridors around the main transport routes – rail and main roads – could be managed and extended to enhance their contribution to the habitat network.

Opportunities – Seek opportunities to restore a more natural river morphology and restore or create flood plain habitats such as flood plain pasture and meadow.

Improve the long term condition of designated wildlife sites and core areas of priority habitat by ensuring that underlying contributors to site condition are understood and managed appropriately, and that these are also considered in light of anticipated environmental change. Seek opportunities to expand and buffer these sites, building more robust ecological networks, particularly for grassland, wetlands and for woodland.

Seek opportunities to utilise linear transport corridors to create semi-natural habitat and strengthen the habitat network of the Vale.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Biodiversity
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Sense of place/inspiration

Assets/attributes: main contributors to service –

• Sites designated or identified for their geological or geomorphological interest

State – There are two geological SSSI and one further SSSI (Gormire) with both geological and biological interest, though this lies mostly within the North York Moors and Cleveland Hills NCA.

Main beneficiary – Regional

Analysis – The geological SSSIs of the Vale of Mowbray are exposures created within quarries, Black Scar Quarry being of particular research importance as unique mineralisation band exposed marking transition between the northern and southern Pennines. Factors influencing site condition at Black Scar Quarry are scrub and woodland development.

Allowing geomorphological processes to function naturally, such as those associated with rivers, may enhance a variety of habitats, as well as improving the value and range of geomorphological features within the NCA.

Opportunities – Maintain the long-term condition of geological and geomorphological sites and features through their appropriate management and the natural functioning of geomorphological processes. Identify and promote the importance of such features through local partnerships with geologists, schools, colleges and other interested parties.

Identify further sites of local and regional importance for geology and geomorphology and where appropriate prepare management advice to maintain or restore their interest.

Principal services offered by opportunities –

• Geodiversity
• Regulating soil erosion
• Regulating water quality
• Regulating water flow
• Sense of place/inspiration
• Biodiversity