North Banbridge Hills Biodiversity Profile

In the following account of this LCA it should be noted that for consistency, the biodiversity section follows the standard order for all LCAs even though some of the communities discussed later may have more importance for biodiversity than those discussed earlier

Key Characteristics

• undulating landscape with widely spaced drumlins
• improved pastures predominate with areas of fen and damp pastures in hollows and more extensive low-lying flat areas
• woodland important to landscape and biodiversity along the River Bann where associated with estates and former mills

Woodlands

Woodlands account for just over 1% of the land cover of the LCA. Most of this is alongside the River Bann in parklands of large houses (Lowland woodland pasture and parkland) and around mills and associated with late eighteenth and nineteenth century planting (see LCA 67). Many different broadleaves and conifers remain, including oak, beech, sycamore, Scots pine and larch. Exotic trees were also planted as focal points within the parks. There is little recorded about the species content and extent of understorey and ground layers in these woodlands, or about whether some of the planting took place in existing woods or scrubland. These woodlands form an important landscape feature along the boundary between LCA67 and LCA78. Some of the woodlands that were originally around mills are under threat from urban expansion and others from recreational pressures, fly-tipping and general neglect as the mills have declined. Other parks are scattered through the LCA, with similar tree species and similarly require further investigation.

Elsewhere in the LCA, apart from patches of coniferous woodland near Kilmacrew House, woodland is restricted to willow and alder wet woodland colonising fens and former cut-over bogs.

Grassland and Arable

Grasslands occupy approximately 72% of the LCA, predominantly in improved pastures. These have limited biodiversity because of their intensive management and any diversity of flora and fauna is generally to be found in the hedgerows surrounding the fields.

There are areas in the LCA where rough grazing is extensive; generally, these are damp, have been reclaimed at some time in the past and may now have some rush cover. The Irish hare has been recorded in one of these areas, but is likely to be found in others; such grassland is a refuge from the intensively managed improved pastures.

Arable fields are scattered through the LCA, but there are areas of concentration; for example between Gilford and Moyallan and south of Donaghcloney. These tend to coincide with larger farms and estates on better soils. Farmland birds including chough and linnet have been recorded in the LCA, as have reed bunting, tree sparrow and yellowhammer.

Heaths and Bogs

There are no extant peat bogs in the LCA, all have been cut over and either reclaimed for agriculture or have developed into fen.

Wetlands and Lakes

Fen is widespread and most individual sites are small; however, in some parts, the drumlins are widely spaced and the fens more extensive, as for example at Clare Bog, which also has developing wet woodland. Corbet Fen is also a large inter drumlin fen within intensive agriculture. Its fen communities are poor but there is some bottle sedge dominated fen and a diversity of habitats including a small area of cut-over bog, areas of willow scrub and of birch and rowan scrub. There are also some notable species including Royal fern and fringed bog-moss. As with several smaller fens, it has suffered from infill and drainage. Glass Moss has a diversity of habitats too, but as with many of the fens in the LCA has become enriched by nutrients from surrounding agricultural land.

The only sizeable lake is Drumnavaddy Lake but this too is nutrient enriched with high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen. Both the River Lagan and the Upper Bann have river water crowfoot.

Key Issues

General actions for UK and NI Priority Habitats and Priority Species are detailed in the Habitat Action Plans and Species Action Plans.

WOODLANDS

Issue: although very little of the land cover is woodland, the NI Priority Habitats Lowland woodland pasture and parkland and wet woodland are important biodiversity features

Actions:

• enhance the biodiversity value of broadleaved woodlands by discouraging felling; halt any further felling or pollarding; by retention of fallen and veteran trees (particularly for bryophytes, ferns, fungi and fauna)
• improve biodiversity through measures to improve and extend the woodland cover such as The Woodland Grant Scheme or The Farm Woodland Premium Scheme; management plans for demesne woodland should be directed toward their survival, through natural regrowth or planting of native broadleaf species
• encourage control of grazing in broadleaved woodlands to foster herb layer and regeneration and if necessary, encourage replanting of canopy species; ensure that hazel scrub is not cleared
• further study of regeneration and replanting within parks, as a key to future management;
• ensure conservation of wet woodlands by allowing succession to take place and installing fencing to prevent trampling; ensure that they are not lost through drainage, reclamation, landfill or dumping/tipping

GRASSLAND AND ARABLE

Issue: low biodiversity value of improved pastures and arable land, although the NI Priority Species Irish Hare has been recorded in areas of rough grazing

Actions:

• maintain and improve field boundaries, especially hedgerows where they occur through adoption of correct cutting cycles; hedge laying and replanting where necessary; leave saplings uncut to develop into hedgerow trees; avoidance of spraying with fertilisers, slurry, herbicides; provision of wildlife strips and conservation headlands around fields; and limitation of field amalgamation
• encourage (through participation in Environmental Schemes) adoption/continuance of less intensive management of pastures to allow reversion to/continuance of more species-rich grassland and protect unsown areas of grassland including dry, calcareous grassland
• maintain and enhance damp areas of rough grazing by where, possible, restricting field or arterial drainage
• leave stubble over winter, rather than autumn ploughing to increase food resources for farmland birds; spring-sown cereals are beneficial to farmland birds such as tree sparrow and yellowhammer

WETLANDS AND LAKES

Issue: Drumnavaddy lake, the rivers Lagan and Upper Bann, and the NI Priority Habitat fens are vulnerable to a range of threats in this LCA, including nutrient enrichment

Actions:

• protect the water quality of lakes, rivers and fens through nutrient management and by reducing suspended sediments
• prevent further loss of fen through drainage, reclamation, land-fill and encroachment by scrub woodland; prevent dumping of official refuse, building rubble and fly-tipping and encourage removal of rubbish; divert the inflow of nutrient rich water from agricultural land into fens
• promote and encourage existing good farming practices by following Countryside Management guidelines so that rivers are not polluted by releases from silage effluent, herbicides, pesticides, fertilisers or sheep dip
• monitor streams in relation to expansion of housing around Banbridge and the industrial development downstream, and in relation to associated septic tanks/sewage treatment plants

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