Overview

How do you record the wildlife in a wood? This book explains ways to record the flora and fauna found in woodland and outlines the sources you can use to find out more about the history and management of an area. Whether you have just a few hours, or a few years, there are examples that you can follow to find out more about this important habitat. Woods include some of the richest terrestrial wildlife sites in Britain, but some are under threat and many are neglected, such that they are not as rich as they might be. If we are to protect them or increase their diversity we need first to know what species they contain, how they have come to be as they are, to understand how they fit into the wider landscape. Conservation surveys are the bedrock on which subsequent protection and management action is based. There is not one method that will be right for all situations and needs, so the methods discussed range from what one can find out online, to what can be seen on a general walk round a wood, to the insights that can come from more detailed survey and monitoring approaches. Fast-evolving techniques such as eDNA surveys and the use of LiDAR are touched on.

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9781784271848

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Reviews

Blakesley and Buckley's book provides great support to the practical implementation of grassland restoration and grassland management. Although the book focuses strongly on the United Kingdom, there are links to restoration activities applied in other parts of Europe. The management and restoration techniques discussed can be used outside the United Kingdom very well, not only as they apply to site management and restoration but also in education. -- Peter Torok * Policy and Practice in Restoration * This is a must-read book for everyone involved in projects involving the management and restoration of grasslands, as this is the core driver and motivation of this compilation. This book will certainly be a great help in improving assessments and planning, and in solving real-world problems and setbacks inherently associated with these types of projects. -- Pedro Aragon * Journal for Nature Conservation * Overall, Grassland Restoration and Management is especially useful for European grassland practitioners and the assessment of grazing effects, seeding methods, and nutrient management approaches would be easily transferable for those managing grasslands elsewhere in the world. -- Kathryn Yurkonis * Landscape Ecology * The book is pioneering in many ways, as it provides a comprehensive overview of the conservation status, threats and nature conservation and restoration perspectives of dry grasslands in the United Kingdom. There is an urgent need for such books on grassland restoration and management in many regions. This publication is a nice example to follow, and hopefully similar syntheses will be published in other countries as well... To sum up, this is a comprehensive and practice-oriented book, which can be recommended for conservationists, site managers and also for scientists who are concerned with the conservation and restoration of grassland habitats. -- Orsolya Valko * Bulletin of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group * This new book is well formatted and there are ample photos and tables to complement the text. The authors successfully pull together the latest research and a wealth of practical advice on the ways to preserve, restore and create natural grasslands. Various management and restoration techniques such as soil amendment, reseeding and harvesting are all comprehensively covered. As are the threats and challenges of conserving this declining habitat, along with remedial measures available to land managers. Other chapters provide detailed information about the different grassland communities and their associated wildlife. My one minor criticism is that there could have been more emphasis on wet grassland communities, which are hardly mentioned. Despite this I am certain this latest edition in the Conservation Handbook series will be essential reading for land managers and site owners alike. -- Chris Gregory * About Birds, British Trust for Ornithology * This book is designed for those involved in the conservation and management of grasslands in the UK. While grasslands represent some 37% of the surface area of the UK, only about 2% of that area can be considered unimproved or semi-natural. Sadly, around 86% of the unimproved grasslands are hay meadows. It is not therefore surprising that such grasslands are of major conservation concern, and some categories have been recognised as priority areas in UK Biodiversity Action Plans and EU Habitat Directives... I was pleased to see the importance of grasslands for other organisms emphasised, with valuable synopses of associated invertebrates of concern, including butterflies, birds, mammals, reptiles, and fungi (even saprobes and pathogens). Particular attention is given to grazing regimes, including management of cattle and sheep, and mechanical harvesting. The treatments are pragmatic and hands-on, also with discussions of when to use herbicides and coping with invasives, not least bracken... The whole is lavishly illustrated with coloured photographs, both of organisms, grassland types, and management operations. The authors are both experienced ecological consultants, and this is reflected in a welcome hands-on approach throughout. This is surely destined to be the major reference work on grasslands for conservation practitioners in the UK, and merits a wide distribution amongst county Naturalists' Trusts, local authority ecologists, and those responsible for the management of grassland SSSI's. -- David L. Hawksworth * Biodiversity and Conservation *

Author Information

Keith Kirby was for over 30 years a woodland ecologist with Natural England and its predecessors and has a wealth of experience from different surveys across Britain. Jeanette Hall now has a similar role in Scottish Natural Heritage and adds an upland perspective to the mix. Both have drawn extensively on the experience of past and present colleagues in the agencies and elsewhere to create this account.

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