Orchids in a meadow © Jim Higham
Surrey's "Old" Grassland Inventory
Recording Surrey’s irreplaceable grassland sites
Some of Surrey’s most delicate and biodiverse habitats – ancient grasslands once used for grazing but now havens for wildflowers and wildlife including Small Blue butterflies and Bee Orchid – are set to be better protected and understood as Surrey Wildlife Trust staff, partners and volunteers head out to form an inventory of these little-known and at-risk sites.
With thanks to funding from The Banister Charitable Trust, Natural England’s Seedcorn Funding and the Hamamelis Trust, Surrey Wildlife Trust are working alongside partners including Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre (SBIC), Surrey County Council, Natural England, Surrey Botanical Society (SBS) and local advisers from Butterfly Conservation and the Surrey Fungus Study Group, to create an inventory of irreplaceable grasslands within Surrey.
© Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
About the inventory
The inventory will play a part in Surrey’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), which is currently being developed by Surrey County Council.
The inventory will also support a landscape scale recovery approach and will facilitate the change needed to better connect and protect at least 30% of land in Surrey for nature’s recovery by 2030. We are following Lawton’s approach for nature’s recovery of bigger, better and more joined up, to ensure we reach our goal.
Survey sites
An app has been created to help surveyors identify the relevant criteria needed to determine if a site should be included in the inventory. Surveys started in summer 2023, conducted by Surrey Wildlife Trust staff, and volunteers from the Surrey Botanical Society, to help determine whether the site should be included in the inventory.
If you own, manage or know of any sites that could be eligible for the inventory, please do get in touch at grasslands.inventory@surreywt.org.uk.
Sites included in the final Inventory may also qualify as non-statutory Local Wildlife Sites or Sites of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) as they are known in Surrey, which will also ensure that these irreplaceable grasslands are recognised within the planning system. SNCIs are identified by the Surrey Local Sites Partnership (SLSP) against defined habitat and species criteria formally adopted by the Surrey Nature Partnership (SNP).
We plan to conduct surveys during summer 2024 and summer 2025 and hope to have a first draft of the inventory by the end of 2024. The inventory will continually be updated as new sites are identified.
Surrey Botanical Society
The Surrey Botanical Society has, in preparation for the project, compiled and internally consulted on an updated list of axiophyte vascular plant species.
Axiophytes (sometimes referred to as “worthy plants”) are species that are considered to be indicators of important habitats for conservation and can indicate a period of historical continuity of permanent pasture (comparable with the concept of ‘ancient woodland indicator species’) and include Pyramidal Orchid, Kidney Vetch, Lady’s Bedstraw and Fairy Flax.
While the presence of any one of these axiophyte species cannot by itself confirm the existence of a long-standing unimproved or semi-improved grassland, as an assemblage and when present as a self-sustaining native population, they can.
If you own, manage or know of any sites that could be eligible for the inventory, please do get in touch at grasslands.inventory@surreywt.org.uk.