Our Local Wildlife Habitats
Habitats are the places where you find living things. There are all sorts of measures by which we can describe habitats but they are usually defined in relation to specific species or a specific group of species. Across the parishes of Freshford and Limpley Stoke we have five main local habitats:
You can see these habitats on a map that we at FLEWG have constructed based upon details provided by wildlife record centres. Note that on the map are also shown Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). These special sites like others up and down the country are designated for special protection because they have been surveyed as being our best wildlife and/or geological sites.
There are also less prevelant habitats that are very relevant to our Parishes.
For example 'Green walls' which are defined as brick or stone built walls bonded with mortar that have been colonised by lichens, ferns and/or flowering plants.
see Natural England Technical Information Note TIN030
- WOODLANDS
- GRASSLANDS
- POST INDUSTRIAL SITES
- STREAMS, RIVERS, WATERWAYS & PONDS
- ANCIENT AND SPECIES RICH HEDGEROWS
- DRY STONE WALLS AND BANKS
You can see these habitats on a map that we at FLEWG have constructed based upon details provided by wildlife record centres. Note that on the map are also shown Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). These special sites like others up and down the country are designated for special protection because they have been surveyed as being our best wildlife and/or geological sites.
There are also less prevelant habitats that are very relevant to our Parishes.
For example 'Green walls' which are defined as brick or stone built walls bonded with mortar that have been colonised by lichens, ferns and/or flowering plants.
see Natural England Technical Information Note TIN030
Habitat history
It is helpful to understand the history of our landscape and the impact that humans have had upon it. The UK agriculture website has a helpful introduction guide.
What is a "habitat" anyway?
When you hear the word "woodland" and you have visited woodlands yourself, your mind will paint a picture of what a woodland might look like: tall trees, shady undergrowth, lots of leaf litter on the floor, maybe you will also think of plants like blue bells, or animals like deer and owls, or fungus like toadstools. All of these species share a common habitat: the woodland habitat.
The habitat of any given species is usually defined loosely by the things that species interacts with which at first glance would include food and potential predators. Look a little more closely and you will know that what they eat and what eats them is part of a whole chain of living things (also known as a food chain or ecosystem), and these in turn may require specific living conditions.
You will notice certain plants grow better in your garden than others. Underlying these differences are things like climate, soil chemistry (e.g. pH and nutrient content) and drainage. These in turn are dependent upon things like the lay of the land (topology), underlying bedrock (geology), past and present erosion mechanism as well as the movement of water through the ground (groundwater) which can help move nutrients around and even what animals and plants grew there previously.
This is why sometimes definitions of habitat might include references to these things. For example according to English Nature, one of our local woodlands has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because it comprises some of the very best examples of southern calcareous ash-wych elm woods. 'Calcareous' refers to the soil type, 'ash-wych elm' refers to the tree species to be found, the combination of which in a woodland comprises a habitat.
The habitat of any given species is usually defined loosely by the things that species interacts with which at first glance would include food and potential predators. Look a little more closely and you will know that what they eat and what eats them is part of a whole chain of living things (also known as a food chain or ecosystem), and these in turn may require specific living conditions.
You will notice certain plants grow better in your garden than others. Underlying these differences are things like climate, soil chemistry (e.g. pH and nutrient content) and drainage. These in turn are dependent upon things like the lay of the land (topology), underlying bedrock (geology), past and present erosion mechanism as well as the movement of water through the ground (groundwater) which can help move nutrients around and even what animals and plants grew there previously.
This is why sometimes definitions of habitat might include references to these things. For example according to English Nature, one of our local woodlands has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) because it comprises some of the very best examples of southern calcareous ash-wych elm woods. 'Calcareous' refers to the soil type, 'ash-wych elm' refers to the tree species to be found, the combination of which in a woodland comprises a habitat.