Level stewardship. Chris Wedge Natural England.

Transcription

1 Traditional Orchards Orchards & Higher Level stewardship Chris Wedge Natural England

2 Orchards & HLS Pays landowners, large & small, to manage traditional orchards for landscape, historic & wildlife objectives, & plant new trees of local varieties. 10 year scheme, score points for what s on your holding & what you plan to do.

3 HLS Options Maintenance and Restoration- 250/ha/yr HC18 Maintenance where 2/3rds original stations occupied & 75% don t require restorative pruning HC20 Restoration >2/3rds of original stations occupied & >25% require restorative pruning Both require adequate planting & restorative pruning

4 HLS Options HC21 Creation of traditional orchards- 190/ha/yr Small orchards (normally <1ha) Enhance landscape character Support threatened species sites Fewer than one third of the tree stations occupied Usually contain remnant trees or have old orchard site records

5 HLS Options HC19 Maintenance of traditional orchards in production Lower payment, 95/ha/yr Rarely used in South West Follow agreed crop protection i.e. agreed spraying programme allowed Other management tailored to the site and fruit varieties

6 Orchards & HLS (cont.) Capital grants for works, such as; Planting fruit trees - 17/tree Cattle-proof guard (post & rail) - 36 Sheep-proof guard - 32 Tree guard (tube & mesh) Restorative tree pruning - 17/tree Identification of fruit varieties - 30

7 Orchards & HLS (cont.) CSS over 1,200 ha. of orchard under agreement HLS - nearly 800 ha. of orchard under agreement

8 HLS Traditional Orchard Definition Groups of fruit & nut trees planted on vigorous rootstocks at low densities in permanent grassland, & managed in a low intensity way. Cobnut plats are also included.

9 HLS Traditional Orchard Definition FEP feature T15 Traditional Orchard Widely planted fruit trees - max 150 trees/ha >40 years old trunk base circumference 1m+ Near continuous grass cover; grazed Condition Assessment criteria: Between 50 & 150 trees/ha Absence of Scrub? 80% of trees free from livestock damage Sward 5-30cm <5% cover of bare ground

10 Prime Traditional Orchard features Grazed grassland diverse strcuture, nectar sources e.g. umbellifers Secondary features ponds, boundaries, linkages etc Fruit trees of varying age structure (i.e. old orchard requires new planting) Low intensity management

11 Prime Traditional Orchard features Abundance of standing and fallen dead and decaying wood Trees allowed to reach veteran stage Low intensity management - tidiness?! Deadwood resource rot holes, hollows & splits Standing/attached/fallen deadwood - woodpiles

12 Plum Orchards: Deadwood from 40 years old

13 Apple Orchards: Deadwood from 60 years old

14 Perry Orchards: Deadwood years old

15 Orchard HAP Condition Assessment criteria Criteria Excellent Good/Fair Poor Destroyed Established orchard, mostly X stocked / New trees planted where gaps Newly planted or young orchard X Established / mature orchard mostly gaps/no new trees planted X Grazed Mown or cut Scrubbed over Livestock damage to trees Orchard no longer present Standing deadwood trees and limbs Fallen deadwood trees and limbs X X X X X X X

16 Mature orchard, new planting, grazed, standing and fallen deadwood present = EXCELLENT

17 No new planting, overgrazed, fallen standing & deadwood present, livestock damage = POOR

18 But HLS: High Potential? plant up gaps change grazing regime/guard existing trees

19 Mature orchard, fully stocked, mown, no deadwood present = GOOD/FAIR manage for future deadwood Priority for HLS? on it s own? Depends on Targets

20 Priority for HLS? - depends on targets manage for future deadwood

21 New planting Apples: M25, M111-half standard or Seedling rootstock Spacing 8-10m, trees/ha Pears: Wild Pyrus Communis rootstock or BA29 Spacing 10-20m, trees/ha Plums: Brompton, Myrobalan B, St Julian- half standard Spacing 6-8m, trees/ha Cherries: Mazzards (wild Prunus avium rootstocks or F12/1 Spacing 10-15m, trees/ha

22 New planting Planting plan essential square/hexagon/quincunx Historic features plant in original stations? Retain landscape form same species Ridge & furrow Conflict *replant disease* if within 20yrs, plant 1m away If it dies, you have to replace it!

23 Formative pruning & aftercare Reasons trees fail - Livestock damage, inadequate guards Vole damage Support- High/low staking? No/poor formative pruning Form - Central leader/delayed central leader/open centre? Branches - Wide angles strong, narrow angles weak

24 Targeting? PTES- ground truth maps and locations Identify county clusters Species?

25 HLS targeting statements

26 HLS theme statements Theme 1: Improving the resilience of Nationally Important (UK Biodiversity Action Plan) habitats to climate change: Natural England will consider applications offering to maintain and/or restore/link/buffer significant areas of the following habitats: culm grassland of north Devon and north Cornwall; lowland meadows particularly in Braydon Forest, Chew Valley, Marshwood and Blackmoor Vale and Wye Valley and Forest of Dean; lowland heathland and acid grassland north of Bournemouth and Poole and the Halden ridge and south west of Exeter; grazing marsh of the Severn and Avon Vale, north Somerset Levels and Moors, Cotswold Water Park and Exe estuary; ancient semi-natural woodland, wood pasture and parkland, fen and limestone grassland throughout the region; and traditional orchards throughout the region, but particularly in Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devon.

27 HLS Illustrated guidance

28 Technical Information Notes 10 TINs covering all aspects of orchard management. Include summary & glossary TINs. communisis.com/natural EnglandShop/

29 Any pressing questions? Traditional Orchards