Northamptonshire’s Biodiversity Dr Tom Day Chair of Northamptonshire Biodiversity Partnership & Conservation Manager, the Wildlife Trust (Northamptonshire)

Introduction What is biodiversity? Northamptonshire’s biodiversity in the national and local contexts A quick tour of some of our natural habitats

What is “Biodiversity”? Biodiversity is simply “the variety of life” and includes plants and animals, as well as the habitats and natural processes that support them.

Northamptonshire in the national context Lost more plant species than any other county over a 50-year period. One of the lowest proportional areas of SSSI. Very few NNRs. Much of this is because Northamptonshire’s countryside is dominated by intensive agriculture. Unsustainable development and other pressures have also played a part.

However, we do now have a pSPA. We also have a number of important sites, albeit mostly comprised of small isolated fragments Pink = pSPA Red fill = SSSI Green outline = LWS

Wetlands Golden Plover at Summer Leys LNR Wet Lowland Meadow at Ditchford Wetland mosaic at Ditchford Open Water at Pitsford Reservoir SSSI Azure Damselfly

Ancient Woodlands Hazel coppice above bluebells Woodland ride at King’s Wood LNR Wood anemone Dormouse Purple emperorWild garlic Northants ancient woodlands

Limestone Grasslands Dyer’s greenweed & Pyrimidal orchids Marbled white butterfly on black knapweedDevil’s-bit scabious Common centaury Northants limestone geology

Acid Grasslands Meadow at High Wood Small copper Gorse Green tiger beetle West Northants acid soil areas

Summary So we do have some great places left but these are not viable long-term on their own. They are mostly too small and far apart to maintain our biodiversity, particularly considering climate change. Instead, we need to use these sites as starting points for connecting-up, restoring and creating new habitats. This is where the BAP provides guidance on what, where and how.