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Habitat conservation
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We play a key role in biodiversity conservation by managing, restoring and re-creating a range of habitats on our nature reserves.
The UK BAP identifies 45 priority habitats. These are priorities for conservation action and a costed habitat plan including targets for the extent and/or condition has been published.
These habitats and how they relate to a broad habitat classification are shown in the table below.
The RSPB is involved in conservation action for many of these habitats.
This may involve advocating appropriate land use policies (e.g. for agriculture, forestry and water) or working for proper protection and management of important sites containing these habitats.
However, for some habitats, we cannot rely solely on influencing land use policy if they are to reach their full conservation potential. These ‘conservation dependent’ habitats need to be managed with biodiversity conservation as the primary objective.
Therefore the RSPB is playing a key role in acquiring and managing land to enable the restoration and re-creation of the habitats marked in bold on the table.
| Broad habitat types | Priority habitats |
|---|
| 1 | Broadleaved, mixed and yew woodland | Upland oak woodland |
| | | Lowland beech |
| | | Upland mixed ashwoods |
| | | Wet woodlands |
| | | Lowland wood pastures and parkland |
| 2 | Coniferous woodland | Native pine wood |
| 3 | Boundary and linear features | Ancient and/or species rich hedgerows |
| 4 | Arable and horticulture | Cereal field margins |
| 5 | Improved grassland | Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh |
| 6 | Neutral grassland | Lowland meadows |
| | | Upland hay meadows |
| 7 | Calcareous grassland | Lowland calcareous grassland |
| | | Upland calcareous grassland |
| 8 | Acid grassland | Lowland dry acid grassland |
| 9 | Bracken | |
| 10 | Dwarf shrub heath | Lowland heathland |
| | | Upland heathland |
| 11 | Fen, marsh and swamp | Purple moor grass and rush pastures |
| | | Fens |
| | | Reedbeds |
| 12 | Bogs | Lowland raised bog |
| | | Blanket bog |
| 13 | Standing open water and canals | Mesotrophic standing waters |
| | | Eutrophic standing waters |
| | | Aquifer-fed naturally fluctuating water bodies |
| 14 | Rivers and streams | Chalk rivers |
| 15 | Montane habitats | |
| 16 | Inland rock | Limestone pavements |
| 17 | Suppralittoral rock | Maritime cliff and slopes |
| 18 | Suppralittoral sediment | Coastal vegetated shingle |
| | | Machair |
| | | Coastal sand dunes |
| 19 | Littoral sediment | Coastal saltmarsh |
| | | Seagrass beds |
| | | Mudflats |
| | | Sheltered muddy gravels |
| 20 | Littoral rock | Littoral and sublittoral chalk |
| | | Sabellaria alveolata reefs |
| 21 | Inshore sublittoral sediment | Maerl beds |
| | | Saline lagoons |
| | | Serpulid reefs |
| | | Mud habitats in deep water |
| | | Sublittoral sand and gravels |
| 22 | Inshore sublittoral rock | Tidal rapids |
| | | Modiolus modiolus beds |
| | | Sabellaria spinulosa reefs |
| 23 | Continental shelf slope | Lophelia pertusa reefs |
Full copies of the Habitat Action Plans are available on the UK BAP website. Please use the link on this page.
Last modified: 02 October 2006