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| What is HEF? | | | Quality of Life Monitoring |
| | Education & Promotion |
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'97 Update |
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| Introduction |
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| Quality of Life Report 1992 |
| '98 Update |
| '99 Update |
| '01 Update |
| '02 Update |
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Wildlife & Habitats Introduction A Biodiversity Action Plan is being prepared for Hertfordshire, following national guidelines and is currently in draft form. This Plan deals with key habitats, and a selected number of key species and falls into two parts : a "Vision" for the County over the next 50 years, and key targets for action over the next 10 years. The Wildlife indicators used for the purposes of this report cover two key habitats and one species identified for action in the Action Plan. Indicator 1: Population of Water Voles Last year's report outlined a decline of 63% in the water vole population since 1989. Further sampling of new sites has been carried out during 1997. Over all the intention is to increase the total number of monitoring sites to 100. Data from these visits indicates that of the 73 sites currently under review, 39 have had positive sightings during 1996/97. This revises the current estimate of decline in the water vole population to 47% since the 1980's. The principle reasons for this are:
The map below shows the distribution of the vole monitoring sites.
Indicator 2: Area of Heathland A revised calculation of the area of heathland remaining in Hertfordshire shows a decline from 30 hectares in 1996 to 21.1 hectares in 1997. However,this decline is not significant, as it reflects a more precise measurement of the actual remaining heathland in the County . Heathland is a very rare habitat in Hertfordshire, and any further loss would be of great concern. The graph below shows the distribution of remaining areas by District.
Indicator 3: Area of Ancient Woodland The extent of ancient woodland (i.e. woodland over 400 years old) in Hertfordshire has been revised from the Hertfordshire Habitat Survey. Of the 14,957 hectares of all woodland in the County, only 5,414 hectares is of ancient origin. However, only 4038. hectares have been found to be still semi-natural (composed of native stands of trees and shrubs). This is 2.5% of the County area. The chart below shows the percentage of woodland types in Hertfordshire.
For further information contact: Trevor James at Hertfordshire Environmental Centre (01462) 432454
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