As the Chair of Natural Devon

Sublittoral habitats (below mean low water)
SSSIs: SSSIs do not extend below mean low water.
CWS: There are no sublittoral CWS.


Marine designations:

In 2010, two new candidate Special Area of Conservations (cSAC) were designated for their reef habitats and sea caves, Lyme Bay and Torbay cSAC and Start Point to Plymouth Sound and Eddystone cSAC. Lundy is also designated as SAC for its reef habitats.

Lundy became the first Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) in January 2010. In November 2013 27 new MCZs were designated nationally, including the Tamar Estuary and Torbay MCZs in Devon.
Wembury and North Devon (Combe Martin to Croyde) are Voluntary Marine Conservation Areas (VMCA). Wembury VMCA is managed by Devon Wildlife Trust.


Issues

• 
  Lack of appropriate grazing leads to scrub and bracken encroachment of coastal grasslands and heathlands.
  

• 
  Coastal squeeze. As sea levels rise, and cliffs erode, habitats in front of fixed coastal defences and coastal developments are squeezed as they are unable to migrate landwards.
  

• 
  Poor knowledge of the status and distribution of marine habitats and species and lack of co-ordination of available data hampers conservation of the marine environment. This is especially problematic given that evidence is currently required in order for marine management measures to be introduced.
  

• 
  Offshore developments, with a current focus on renewable energy projects, increase risks of habitat damage and species disturbance. However, with climate change, and the related ecological impacts from ocean acidification, a balance needs to be found between local impacts on habitats and species and the wider benefits of reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
  

• 
  Damaging fishing activities. Activities such as bottom trawling and scallop dredging damage marine ecosystems. Overfishing depletes fish stocks and has wider ecological impacts. Reducing the environmental impacts of fishing is important for the future of the industry as well as wider marine wildlife interests.
  

• 
  Pollution. Incidents in 2012 and 2013 have caused thousands of seabirds (largely guillemots, but also razorbills, puffins, gannets and cormorants) to be washed up on Devon’s south coast. The cause of these deaths has been confirmed as polyisobutene which is likely to have been washed from ship’s tanks at sea. A range of NGOs are working with government agencies to find out more about the source of these chemicals to ensure these incidents do not occur again.
  

• 
  Climate change is affecting the timing of plankton breeding, leading to effects up the marine food chain.
  

• 
  Designation and management of Marine Conservation Zones¹. A two and half year public consultation process recommended the establishment of 127 MCZs across England. In 2013 27 were designated in the first tranche.
  

Successes

• 
  Lyme Bay designated area. In 2008 Defra introduced a Statutory Order closing a 60nm² area to scallop dredging and bottom trawling. In 2010 the area was included within the wider Lyme Bay and Torbay cSAC. Monitoring carried out by the University of Plymouth suggests that seabed wildlife is recovering.
  

• 
  The 2006 Torbay Seagrass Project undertook survey work and put conservation measures in place. The project is used as a case study for areas outside the South West.
  

• 
  Higher Level Stewardship funding has been used to re-introduce coastal grazing schemes to areas such as Wembury Point, Bolt Head and Gammon Head.
  

• 
  The EA’s South West Habitat Creation Project is assessing the management of coastal defences in relation to sea level rise and, where appropriate, creating habitat e.g. intertidal habitat has been restored at South Efford Marsh, Aveton Gifford.
  

• 
  Coastal and Estuary Partnerships² have been set up for a number of Devon’s estuaries in order to co-ordinate management and support sustainable development. Examples of work include the Exe Estuary Management Partnership’s work on bird disturbance and the Torbay Coastal Zone Management Plan.
  

• 
  Devon Maritime Forum³ aims to provide a strategic overview of issues and bring diverse organisations together in order to motivate and co-ordinate action towards common goals.
  

• 
  Shoreline Management Plans⁴ (SMPs) include an assessment of the risks associated with coastal processes and how to reduce these risks to people and the environment. Plans which cover Devon’s coast are Durlston Head to Rame Head (South Devon and Dorset) and Hartland Point to Anchor Head (North Devon and Somerset).
  

• 
  The Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) enables Ministers to designate and protect Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs). The aim is for these sites to sit alongside European marine sites (SACs and SPAs), SSSIs and Ramsar sites to form an ecologically coherent network of Marine Protected Areas. In 2011 the Finding Sanctuary Project⁵ submitted a list of recommended MCZs in the South West. The Tamar Estuary and Torbay MCZs were designated in the first tranche of MCZs by government in November 2013¹.
  

• 
  The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) was created by the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009). MMOs will work with stakeholders to develop spatial plans for marine areas in order to promote ’sustainable development of our seas’. In 2013 work begins on the South Inshore and Offshore Marine Plan Areas. The inshore area runs from Folkestone to the River Dart.
  

• 
  Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA) were established as a result of the Act, replacing Sea Fisheries Committees. Increased responsibilities and powers for introducing measures for nature conservation make them a crucial part of management of the inshore (0-6 nautical miles) marine environment. Defra has introduced a new policy on the management of fishing activities within European Marine Sites. A national group has established priorities for assessing impacts of fishing activities on protected features. All high priority interactions between gear and habitat must be excluded by the end of 2013.
  

• 
  A number of national, regional and local sustainable fishing projects have been established including Seafish’s Responsible Fishing Scheme, the Blue Marine Foundation’s work in Lyme Bay and the Pisces scheme.
  

3.3 RIVERS AND STANDING OPEN WATER

Broad habitat types in Devon	UK BAP priority habitats identified as key habitats in Devon (Devon BAP, 1998)
Rivers and streams	Rivers
Standing Open Water and Canals	Ponds

Rivers and streams.
Rivers and streams. Devon’s 3,500km of rivers range from fast flowing upland watercourses to slow flowing meandering lowland rivers. Dartmoor provides the source of the Teign, Dart, Avon, Erme, Yealm, Plym, Tavy, Tamar, Okement and Taw. The Exe, Barle and Lyn have their source on Exmoor and the Torridge on the Culm of Hartland. The East Devon rivers of the Axe, Sid and Otter are very different in nature to other Devon rivers rising along the spring lines of the Blackdown Hills. The Axe supports some of the most important higher plant communities of any of Devon’s rivers. Devon’s rivers, floodplains and wooded banks are important for key species such as otter, bats, Atlantic salmon, brown trout, dipper, white-clawed crayfish, freshwater pearl mussel, lichens, mosses and ferns, as well as rare invertebrates.
Standing open water comprises semi-natural systems such as lakes and pools, as well as man-made waters including reservoirs, canals, ponds and gravel pits. Standing open water habitats occur across the county. Slapton Ley (ley is a local term for lake) is the largest freshwater natural lake in the South West. South West Water (SWW) manages 11 lakes in Devon. Ponds are found throughout Devon but particular concentrations of man-made ponds occur due to clay workings in the Bovey Basin and Lee Moor areas. Devon’s canals include Mary Tavy (part of Tavistock Canal), the Grand Western Canal, Exeter Ship Canal, Stover Canal and Bude Canal.

Rivers
Length: 3,500kms

Condition of habitat in SSSIs
The River Axe is the only river designated as a SSSI in Devon. It has been assessed as ‘unfavourable declining’ for the following reasons:

• 
  invasive species (Himalayan balsam);
  
• 
  a heavily grazed riparian zone;
  
• 
  modifications to the channel due to man-made structures; and
  
• 
  bullhead failing the population age structure target.
  

A SSSI River Restoration Plan has commenced that will seek to address these issues.

Two other SSSIs have units designated for rivers and streams. Hunshaw Wood Streams SSSI is favourable whilst part of Halsdon SSSI is unfavourable due to frequent Himalayan balsam.

Condition of habitat in CWS
No Devon rivers have been designated as CWS or monitored by DBRC. However, all rivers in the county will normally be recognised as being of comparable value to CWS.


Environment Agency monitoring
The Environment Agency in the South West aims to bring 43% of the 1,100 waterbodies into ‘good’ ecological status under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) by 2015.
Classification of the 373 river water bodies in Devon (Source: EA)

• 
  1% = bad
  

• 
  9.3% = poor
  
• 
  57.4% = moderate
  
• 
  32.3% = good
  

The main reasons for less than good status include: impacted fish and diatom communities, physical modification, high levels of copper, zinc and phosphate and low pH.

Standing open water
Area mapped: DBRC has no information on the overall extent of standing open water habitats.

Condition of habitats in SSSIs
There are three SSSIs designated for standing open water (Stover Park, Slapton Ley and Lydford Railway Ponds). 98% of this habitat is in unfavourable recovering condition. Stover Park SSSI is assessed to be as ‘unfavourable no change’ due to siltation issues. Slapton Ley is assessed to be ‘unfavourable recovering’ due to a Diffuse Water Pollution Plan having been put in place by the EA and NE. Lydford Railways Ponds requires habitat enhancement operations for the dragonfly populations.


Condition of habitat in CWS
There are no CWSs designated for standing freshwater although many CWS have freshwater components.

Issues

• 
  Non Native Invasive Species. Himalayan balsam is common on Devon rivers and forms monocultures which exclude other native plants. Signal crayfish will become an increasing problem in Devon’s rivers and still waters as the populations expand both geographically and in density. There are no known control methods that do not damage the ecosystem, so at present the species is monitored where possible, but no action is taken to control or manage populations.
  

• 
  Pollution. Two of the three standing open water SSSIs are in ‘unfavourable’ condition due to water pollution and siltation issues.
  

• 
  Principle issues which prevent Devon’s rivers from being classed, under the Water Framework Directive, as being in overall ‘good’ status include:
  

• 
  point and diffuse pollution (leading to increased nutrients and sedimentation)
  
• 
  physical barriers to fish movement
  
• 
  effects of physical modifications
  
• 
  low flows due to abstraction
  
• 
  poor fish habitat
  

• 
  Due to government tariffs, there are a growing number of applications for small-scale hydropower schemes on Devon rivers. The magnitude of the associated ecological impacts is still unclear but there are concerns in relation to obstructions to fish passage, alterations to river morphology and subsequent impacts on natural features.
  

Successes

• 
  Diffuse pollution from agriculture is being tackled through the Catchment Sensitive Farming¹ programme which was set up by NE and EA in 2006. Advice and assistance with grant applications is available in four priority catchments (Axe and Otter, South Devon, Exe and Tamar-Tavy) and via the Taw, Torridge and North Devon Streams Partnership.
  

• 
  In 2012 funding was received for River Improvement Projects from Defra’s Catchment Restoration Fund² for work on the Dart, Teign, Taw and Avon. The fund supports work which will restore natural features, reduce the impact of man-made structures and reduce the impact of diffuse pollution.
  

• 
  Upstream Thinking³ is a South West Water initiative which aims to improve water quality and quantity at source through changes to land management. In Devon the project supports the Dartmoor and Exmoor Mires Project, Working Wetlands, Otter Valley and Westcountry Rivers Trust work in the Tamar and Roadford Lake.
  

• 
  The Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area (NIA) is one of twelve national landscape scale management pilots launched in 2012. The partnership is led by Devon Wildlife Trust and aims to improve water quality and habitats in the Torridge catchment ecosystem.
  

• 
  Himalayan balsam is being tackled through various projects such as the River Tamar Invasives Project and work on the Rivers Otter and Axe.
  

• 
  The South West River Basin Management Plan⁴ (EA, 2009). WFD requires River Basin Management Plans to be drawn up with the aim of achieving Good Ecological Status. The West Country Rivers Trust is producing an Integrated Catchment Management Tool for the Tamar. This is one of 25 Defra funded projects, which are piloting different techniques to meet WFD targets.
  

3.4 WETLANDS

Broad habitat type	UK BAP priority habitats identified as key habitats in Devon (Devon BAP, 1998)
Fen, marsh and swamp	Lowland fen
	Purple moor grass and rush pasture
	Reedbeds
	Upland flushes, fens and swamps
Bogs	Blanket bog

Fen, marsh and swamp are habitats characterised by vegetation occurring on permanently, seasonally or periodically waterlogged peat, peaty soils, or mineral soils. Fens are generally peatlands (partially decayed vegetation), which occur where a lack of oxygen in waterlogged soils, slow the decomposition of vegetation. Marsh refers to rush pasture communities on mineral soils and shallow peats. Swamps are characterised by tall emergent vegetation.
Lowland fens receive water and nutrients from the soil, rock and groundwater, as well as from rainfall. Topogenous fens occur where water movement is vertical (basin fens, floodplain fens and open water transition fens). These are generally peat forming. Soligenous fens occur where horizontal water movement is also important (valley mires, springs, rills and flushes).
Purple Moor-Grass and Rush Pasture is wet grassland dominated by a combination of purple moor grass or a number of rushes usually soft rush and sharp-flowered rush. In Devon and Cornwall these wet grasslands typically occur on the Culm measures geology (giving rise to the name Culm grasslands) as well as valley mires on Dartmoor and spring lines on the Blackdown Hills. In Devon the term ‘Rhôs’ pasture is used to refer to a mosaic of habitats which include purple moor-grass and rush pasture, wet heath, mire and scrub, all found on poorly drained acid soils.
Reedbeds are dominated by stands of the common reed Phragmites australis with a water table at or above ground level for most of the year. They are especially important for birds, and invertebrates. Due to the topography of Devon there are few large freshwater reed beds, however Slapton Ley and South Milton Ley are both over 10 ha in size. Phragmites can tolerate brackish water and reedbeds are therefore also found at the upper edges of estuaries, such as the Exe and Teign.
Upland flushes, fens and swamps include all fen, marsh and swamp habitats in upland areas (above the limit of agricultural enclosures). Dartmoor’s upland valley mires (soligenous fens) support a rich flora as well as providing nesting habitat for waders such as curlew, snipe and lapwing.
Bogs support peat which is greater than 0.5m deep and which is fed by rainfall rather than ground water. The two major bog types are lowland raised bog and blanket bog but only blanket bog occurs in Devon. Unmodified bogs can be identified by the presence of cotton grass, bog-mosses (sphagnum species) and cross-leaved heath.
Blanket bog occurs where high rainfall allows peat to develop over large expanses of ground. There are about 120 square kilometres of blanket bog on Dartmoor which forms on the highest land where the rainfall exceeds 2000 mm a year. Part of Exmoor’s blanket bog is located in Devon. This internationally important habitat supports plants such as cotton-grass, sedges, bog asphodel, sundews and sphagnum as well as small populations of breeding birds such as dunlin, common snipe and red grouse.

Fen, marsh and swamp
Area mapped

Lowland fen - no figure available

Purple Moor Grass and Rush Pasture - 4,312 ha (difficult to give a precise figure as part of a mosaic)

Reedbed - 781 ha

Upland flushes, fens and swamps - No data

Change in extent of purple moor-grass and rush pasture since 1998

An assessment by DBRC of 400 random points from aerial photographs (1998 and 2006) showed:

• 
  A 3.5% overall decrease
  
• 
  A 2% decrease in habitat found in County Wildlife Sites
  
• 
  No change in habitat found in Sites of Special Scientific Interest
  

The decrease is largely due to abandonment of marginal land and inappropriate management.

Condition of habitat in SSSIs
13 SSSIs (148 hectares) contain lowland fen, marsh and swamp. 87% of this habitat is in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition. Three SSSIs have habitat assessed as unfavourable declining or no change (Wolborough Fen, Otter Estuary and South Milton Ley SSSI). The main reason for unfavourable status is too much scrub / lack of grazing. Many sites assessed as recovering are supported by Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements.
Data limitations: Note that NE classes purple moor grass and rush pasture as acid grassland rather than as fen, marsh and swamp. Some sites may have been classified as lowland bog rather than fen (e.g Blackdown and Sampford Commons is fen meadow but is classed as lowland bog). The pie chart below does not therefore include all habitats classed nationally as fen, marsh and swamp.

Only two SSSIs (138 hectares) contain upland fen, marsh and swamp (Blackslade Mire and East Dartmoor). All habitats are in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition.

Condition of habitat in CWS
74 CWS contain lowland fen. 44 of these sites have been monitored and only 6% assessed as Green. Issues identified include agricultural improvement, development, over-grazing, under-grazing and scrubbing up.

629 CWS contain Purple Moor-Grass and Rush Pasture. 255 sites have been monitored and 27% assessed as Green. Issues include under-grazing (leading to scrub encroachment), agricultural improvement, tree planting and bracken encroachment.

24 CWS contain reedbed and three have been monitored. Two sites were classed as Amber, and the other Red.

There are no CWSs designated for upland flushes, fens and swamps.

Bogs
Area mapped
10,075 ha of blanket bog

Data limitations: This area is lower than the area given for upland bog SSSI. This may be due to more accurate mapping undertaken by DBRC.

Condition of habitat in SSSIs
Five SSSIs (92.5 hectares) contain lowland bog. 79% of habitat is in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition. 21% of this habitat (part of Southleigh and Gotleigh Moors SSSI) is unfavourable declining due to excessive scrub cover.

Five SSSIs (11,606 hectares) contain upland bog (North Dartmoor, South Dartmoor, Tor Royal Bog, Exmoor Coastal Heaths, North Exmoor). 100% is in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition. Key management issues are securing appropriate grazing and burning regimes. Stocking levels are being managed through ESA / HLS. The Forest Fire Project on Dartmoor has been effective in dealing with wild fires and uncontrolled burning. However, condition assessments state that large areas are still species poor and dominated by purple moor-grass and, even under suitable management, will take a long time to recover.