Fens and marshes - upland

Context

Fens and marshes are characterised by a variety of vegetation types that are found on groundwater-fed (minerotrophic), peat, peaty soils, or mineral soils. These may be permanently, seasonally or periodically waterlogged. Fens are peatlands which receive water and nutrients from groundwater and surface run-off, as well as from rainfall. Flushes are associated with lateral water movement, and springs with localised upwelling of water. Marsh is a general term usually used to imply waterlogged soil; it is used more specifically here to refer to fen meadows and rush-pasture communities on mineral soils and shallow peats. Swamps are characterised by tall emergent vegetation. Reedbeds (i.e. swamps dominated by stands of common reed Phragmites australis) are also included in this type. Upland is defined as above the level of agricultural enclosure. The altitude at which this occurs varies across the UK, typically becoming lower as one travels North.

SSSIs can be notified if they qualify under criteria outlined in Chapter 7 Fens of the Guidelines for Selection of Biological SSSIs. In Northern Ireland, ASSIs are selected on a very similar basis – the Guidelines for the Selection of Biological ASSIs in Northern Ireland is an addendum to the SSSI guidelines rather than an alternative.

Summary statistics

	SAC	A/SSSI	Total
Favourable condition	45%	46%	46%
Main monitoring coverage	E, S, W, NI	E, S, NI
Reported assessments	58	56	114
Completeness of assessments	74%	unknown
Distribution of features			UK

Number of assessments reported by country and site type

Country	SAC	SSSI/ASSI
England	23	37
Scotland	31	18
Wales	2	0
Northern Ireland	2	1
United Kingdom	58	56

Natura features

List of Natura 2000 interest features within this reporting category

Interest feature name
Formal name	Informal name	No. of assessments reported	Total no. of features	% assessed
Molinia meadows on calcareous, peaty or clayey-silt-laden soils (Molinion caeruleae)	Purple moor-grass meadows	3	4	75%
Alkaline fens	Calcium-rich springwater-fed fens	20	30	67%
Alpine pioneer formations of the Caricion bicoloris-atrofuscae	High-altitude plant communities associated with areas of water seepage	10	15	67%
Calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus and species of the Caricion davallianae	Calcium-rich fen dominated by great fen sedge (saw sedge)	1	1	100%
Depressions on peat substrates of the Rhynchosporion	Depressions on peat substrates	1	1	100%
Petrifying springs with tufa formation (Cratoneurion)	Hard-water springs depositing lime	13	15	87%
Transition mires and quaking bogs	Very wet mires often identified by an unstable 'quaking' surface	10	12	83%

Natura 2000 comprises Special Protection Areas (under the Birds Directive) and Special Areas for Conservation (under the Habitats and Species Directive). The list presented here includes all of the qualifying interest features under these Directives, and shows the proportion of these features for which a condition assessment has been made.

SSSI features

List of SSSI and ASSI interest features in this reporting category

Interest feature name
Formal name	Informal name	No. of assessments reported
Alkaline fens	Alkaline fens	3
Alpine flush	Alpine flush	1
Basin fen	Basin fen	1
Fen, marsh and swamp	Fen, marsh and swamp	37
Fens	Upland alkaline fen	1
Flood-plain fen	Flood-plain fen	1
Hydromorphological mire range	Hydromorphological mire range	1
Spring-head, rill and flush	Spring-head, rill and flush	4
Springs (including flushes)	Springs (including flushes)	6
Subalpine flushes	Subalpine flushes	1

This list has not been fully standardised at a UK level yet. It is intended to show the principal constituent "feature types" for this reporting category.

Maps - distribution

UK distibution of reported interest features

Distribution of reported interest features.

Map showing the locations of the 10km squares in which at least one condition assessment has been reported. It does not show features that have not yet been assessed.

Maps - Natura

Current condition of SAC features
Distribution of SAC features showing assessments of favourability (where unfavourable-recovering is counted as unfavourable).

Condition of SAC features, with those currently reported as unfavourable-recovering shown as favourable
The implication of the unfavourable-recovering condition assessments is that at some point in the future these features should become favourable. This map shows the effect of that recovery by counting the favourable and unfavourable-recovering assessments together.

IMPORTANT NOTE: we do not have information on the timescale of the predicted recovery, which may be influenced by many past, natural and human related factors. A sustained sympathetic management regime is more likely to result in favourable condition being attained.

Key: Proportion of assessed features on 10km squares that are favourable:

Natura map legend - Key: proportion of assessed features on 10km squares that are favourable

Details of how these maps were produced

Maps - SSSI

Current condition of SSSI/ASSI features
Distribution of SSSI/ASSI features showing assessments of favourability (where unfavourable-recovering is counted as unfavourable).

Condition of SSSI/ASSI features, with those currently reported as unfavourable-recovering shown as favourable
The implication of the unfavourable-recovering condition assessments is that at some point in the future these features should become favourable. This map shows the effect of that recovery by counting the favourable and unfavourable-recovering assessments together.

Key: Proportion of assessed features on 10km squares that are favourable:

SSSI map legend - Proportion of assessed features on 10km squares that are favourable

Details of how these maps were produced

Condition summary

This lists the 10 different condition assessments and presents a bar chart showing the number of features within the SSSI series and the Natura 2000 series (either SPA for bird features or SAC for features other than birds). Note that for Natura 2000 we are able to estimate the number of features that have not been assessed during the 6 year reporting period - we are unable to do this for SSSI/ASSI because we do not have an overall list of notified interest features for these designations.

NB favourable unclassified and unfavourable unclassified have been used in this first six year cycle to get around difficulties in identifying trends in condition as common standards monitoring is implemented. It is expected that these categories will not be used for subsequent assessments of a feature.

Condition assessment - Natura 2000 features

The number and proportion of assessments for Natura 2000 (SAC and SPA) interest features falling into each of the condition categories. Note that the �unfavourable� category includes all reports of unfavourable condition except �unfavourable recovering� which is shown as a separate segment.

Condition assessment - SSSI features

The number and proportion of assessments for SSSI/ASSI interest features falling into each of the condition categories. Note that the �unfavourable� category includes all reports of unfavourable condition except �unfavourable recovering� which is shown as a separate segment.

Adverse activities

The number of interest features where an activity has been reported as being implicated in the "unfavourable" condition of a feature. More than one adverse activity may be reported for each feature.

Management measures

For each "measure" the chart shows the number of interest features where that measure has been taken on a site to improve or maintain the condition of an interest feature. More than one measure may be reported for each feature assessed.

Interpretation

46% of upland fen and marsh features reported are in favourable condition. This is just above the average for all habitats, above the average for terrestrial habitats, but below the average for all features combined. 46% of the A/SSSI upland fen, marsh and swamp features and 45% of SAC features reported are in favourable condition. A further 18% of A/SSSI and 19% of SAC features reported are unfavourable-recovering.

The reported activity that has had the greatest impact contributing to unfavourable condition on upland fen, marsh and swamp features is over-grazing. This leads to loss of vegetation structure and the failure of more palatable or vulnerable species to reproduce and maintain themselves. It can also lead to the loss of plant species and associated fauna, and the spread of rank, unpalatable plant species. In extreme cases, very heavy grazing and trampling can lead to exposure of bare soil and erosion. There is therefore a need for grazing to be undertaken at the right time and with the right intensity. The reporting of measures taken to address unfavourable condition indicates that management agreements/schemes and agri-environment schemes are in place on many sites. However, it is not yet known how long it may take to return upland fen, marsh and swamp features to favourable condition.