Wolds Survey Results for 2011
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We have prepared the first survey results map for the Lincolnshire Wolds which includes the most wildflower- rich verges recorded last summer.
Explore these maps to see where high-scoring verges have been discovered so far and whether your verges appear among them! You might like to use them to help you target likely hotspots and connecting areas with your own surveys this year. |
You can view the results either as a complete map (above left) or as a series of interactive maps (right). Roads have been colour-coded to reflect the conservation value of their verges. Survey data has been combined with a map of Roadside Nature Reserves to show how they link between known stretches of high diversity.
Life on the Verge lives on!
Life on the Verge would like to express a huge "thank you" to all voluntary surveyors who helped to explore the project area last summer.
A notable cluster of high-scoring verges has been identified between Horncastle and Louth which appears to link existing Roadside Nature Reserves in the locality. The predominance of discoveries in the south of the project area is very much due to survey coverage and it is still too early to identify any landscape scale patterns. Although mostly patchy in quality and often poor in condition, the persistent presence of scarce wild flower species indicates a high potential for the restoration of biodiversity.
How you have helped
Over 40 volunteers have so far been active in the Lincolnshire Wolds and have surveyed 125km / 77 miles of road (250km / 154 miles of verge). We estimate that this may have involved over 400 hours of volunteer time.
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust staff were able to survey 180km of road in the same time. An additional 62 km of road were surveyed with Google Maps Street View facility online to discount those stretches with no verge or suburban management. The total distance of road surveyed by the project in the Lincolnshire Wolds is therefore 367 km to date.
Taking account of additional survey work undertaken throughout the Lincolnshire and Rutland Limestone Natural Area since the summer of 2009, this gives a grand total of 1626 km / 1010 miles of road surveyed by the project as a whole involving a grand total of 694 km / 431 miles of road surveyed by over 175 volunteers and over 2400 hours of voluntary time generously donated. The huge contribution from volunteers has made Life on the Verge an incredibly successful habitat survey in just a short time.
However, 71% of the Lincolnshire Wolds project area still remains unexplored and could contain verges important for local wildlife. Whether you have volunteered before or wish to help for the first time, please get in touch or visit the Survey page to find out how you can help this summer. The project still needs as much help as you can give!
Progress in designating Local Wildlife Sites
Surveys in 2011 revealed 44km / 27 miles of road in the Lincolnshire Wolds that could qualify for designation as Local Wildlife Sites. Although not a legal designation, LWSs are a way of ‘putting a pin in the map’ to focus sympathetic management and help mitigate disturbance. Data will be collated over the winter of 2012-13 and evaluated by an independent review panel including the local authorities. In the meantime, promising results are focusing revisits by LWT staff and helping to build up an overall picture.
How this information is being used
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is currently working in close partnership with Lincolnshire County Council. Survey data is currently being made available to the relevant Highways Divisions of LCC to enable tree and scrub clearance to be targeted precisely where it delivered most benefit to grassland wildflowers. Maps will be prepared for use by Lincolnshire County Council, North Lincolnshire Council and North East Lincolnshire Council when organising cutting schedules on road verges and for the attention of utilities companies. In this way, the project is helping public bodies and other organisations carrying out functions of a public character under a statutory power to keep to their ‘Biodiversity Duties’ under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.
