The vast majority of grassland habitats in Wales are agriculturally-improved and support little of biodiversity interest for either the fauna or flora. The loss of species-rich hay meadows from the Welsh landscape is well documented, with more than 95% being lost, primarily through conversion to silage and permanent pasture, since the 1950s. Of those that…
Arable habitats cover about 25% of the European land area and c.30% of the most rapidly declining species in Europe are strongly associated with, or dependent on, arable habitats. Despite this, the habitat remains virtually unprotected at both the national and international levels. Arable habitats have been part of the UK landscape for more than…
It is estimated that some 50% of hedgrows in the UK have been removed since the early 1950s, primarily to maximise food production in the aftermath of World War II. The main hedgerow components in Wales are blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and European gorse (Ulex europaeus), though a wide variety of other trees…
