Volunteer botanists are getting behind a major new project to help protect Nidderdale AONBs important wildlife sites. Working with local landowners, volunteers are surveying 87 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) across the AONB including ancient woodlands, species rich grasslands and heathland.

 

Some of the most important sites are protected by international or national designations such as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).  However, SINCs are also valuable habitats that provide a refuge for rare or threatened plants or animals. 

 

They often owe their existence to natural processes and the way the land has been farmed in the past.  Unlike the SSSIs and SPAs they are non-statutory designations, which means landowners are under no obligation to manage them in a certain way.

 

To help safeguard these sites for the future Nidderdale AONB have developed a project to contact all landowners and provide them with information about their SINC, survey the site and provide advice on how the site can be best managed.  Marian Wilby, AONB Farming and Conservation Officer said "this project is really important because a lot of landowners don't even know they have a SINC on their land.  When we go out and survey the site it is also a chance for us to talk to them about how they can access grants and volunteer help to manage the site". 

 

Fifteen local volunteers have been busy in late spring and into the summer surveying sites.  Many are experienced botanists and naturalists in their own right so the results from their work has thrown up some really useful information.  Marian said, "The data from the surveys highlights what fantastic wildlife sites there are in the AONB.  Some are really small and hidden away but very valuable none the less.  It is essential that we work closely with landowners to help them protect the plants and wildlife for the future".

 

Three SINCs have been selected as 'demonstration sites' and events for landowners will be run on these to highlight how simple changes to the way the land is managed can create great benefits for wildlife. 

 

Using funds secured from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust the AONB Conservation Volunteers will carry out a range of practical work on sites, including Yorkshire Water's Timble Ings, to improve the site for flora and fauna.  This will include creating new habitats for dragonflies and nightjar and woodlark.

 

For more information about the project visit the 'SINC pages' of this website.