Biodiversity baselines across Our Farms

Executive Summary

Key results

• An impressive range of 24 habitat types were identified across the 15 farms demonstrating the range of farms represented in the network.
• The farm with the most habitat types was one of the red meat farms and had an impressive 15 different habitat types
• The amount of land covered by natural or semi-natural habitats ranged from 1.3% to 77.3%
• Eleven of the 15 farms had more than 10% of their land area covered by natural habitats.

Introduction

Biodiversity is an integral part of our farming systems. The types of wildlife living on a farm will be shaped by, among other things, the farm type, location, altitude, as well as the management systems employed on that farm. Farmers have worked alongside this wildlife for generations and value the species that they see during their daily work. We now understand more about the importance of a biodiverse landscape and the indicators that certain species provide to the health and well-being of the landscape and the communities within it.

The Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which will be introduced in 2026, lays out how habitats of interest will be supported as well as the creation of new habitats in suitable locations. There is a proposed requirement for farmers entering the scheme to have at least 10% of the farm managed as habitat and with this in mind, biodiversity baseline surveys were undertaken on the 15 Our Farms Network Farms. This has enabled the farmers taking part to see whether their farm meets the eligibility criteria for entry to the SFS and any areas that are suitable for habitat creation if they wish to increase the area of habitat on their farm. Welsh Government list the following habitats as requiring maintenance in order to achieve the Universal Action relating to habitat maintenance:

• Coastal saltmarsh

• Coastal sand dune and shingle beach

• Lowland and coastal heath

• Enclosed wetland and marshy grassland

• Enclosed semi-natural dry grassland (grazed and hay meadow management options)

• Upland open habitats

• Traditional orchards (woody habitat)

• Dense bracken

• Scrub (woody habitat)

• Wood pasture (woody habitat)

• Permanent wildlife ponds

• Newly created habitat areas on improved land

Methodology

To test different methodologies of undertaking the surveys there were two approaches to these surveys.

1. A full Phase 1 survey undertaken by a trained ecologist. This survey involved the ecologist walking the farm and mapping the different areas of habitat before preparing a full report on the farm. This approach was implemented on 6 of the farms and produced an account of actual data based on observations.
2. A desk-based survey undertaken by the Local Environmental Records Centres (LERC) in Wales. This involved downloading information from online databases (based on Phase 1 habitat mapping) to show the habitat types and species observed on the farms. This approach was implemented on 9 of the farms and produced a historic account based on information obtained from the online databases. These 9 surveys were ground-truthed by undertaking farm walks during the summer of 2024 to check that historical data matches the current situation.

A Phase 1 survey is a standardised system for classifying and mapping wildlife habitats in Great Britain and was developed by the Nature Conservancy Council (1990). Each habitat is defined and allocated a specific name and code which is consistent for all users.

The surveys were undertaken during spring and summer 2024. It is important that surveys such as this are done during the active growing season because identifying some plants can be key to the classification of some habitats.

Results

When it comes to interpreting the data from the surveys and assessing the percentage of eligible habitat on the farms an anomaly has been identified regarding the terminology used in Phase 1 surveys and the terminology being used by Welsh Government in the SFS documentation. One of the categories in a Phase 1 survey is semi-improved grassland which is a transition category for grasslands that have had some degree of improvement through fertiliser application or grazing. Some of these grasslands may be species diverse but still show some degree of improvement. The list of habitats provided in the SFS (and listed in the introduction) does not refer to semi-improved grassland but instead only uses the term ‘semi-natural’. It is not clear when a semi improved grassland becomes a semi natural one and therefore for the purposes of this report, semi-improved grassland is not included in the calculation for % habitat land.

An impressive range of 24 habitat types were identified across the 15 farms demonstrating the range of farms represented in the network. These are shown in Table 1. 

Table 1. The range of habitat types identified across the Our farms network farms and the number of farms exhibiting each habitat.

The farm with the most habitat types was one of the red meat farms and had an impressive 15 different habitat types. The dairy farms tended to have less habitat types but equally some of the red meat farms had a high proportion of improved grassland and a low range of habitat types.

To calculate the % habitat land on each farm the following habitat types from Table 1 were excluded because these are not considered natural or semi-natural: Improved grassland, semi-improved grassland, arable and coniferous woodland.

The amount of land covered by natural or semi-natural habitats ranged from 1.3% to 77.3%. It is meaningless to create an average figure because this range is so vast. The habitat that contributed the most across these farms was broadleaved woodlands demonstrating its value as a habitat on farms in Wales. Eleven of the 15 farms had more than 10% of their land area covered by natural habitats.

Conclusions

• The farms in the Our Farms network have a diverse range of habitats that are typical of farms in Wales.

• 11 of the 15 farms have more than 10% of natural habitat land on their farms.

• Broadleaved woodland is the greatest contributor to natural habitat on the farms.

• These farms are all productive, working farms and as such, improved grassland makes up the majority of the land area. This is typical of farms across Wales.

• The amount of land covered by natural or semi-natural habitats ranged from 1.3% to 77.3%.