An undertaking of this
magnitude had to be tackled collectively, and involved the
close co-operation of Conservation and Research staff of the Nature Conservancy,
the former organised into regional groups (see map 2) with responsibility limited
geographically but covering all habitats, and the latter organised into habitat survey
teams with responsibility limited ecologically but covering the whole country. For
each Region an inventory was compiled of all sites with noteworthy conservation
value, arranged in grades of importance. This involved tapping as many sources of
information as possible, both within and outside the Conservancy, literature search,
and the organisation of field survey. In the South Region of England a complete
survey of all semi-natural ecosystems has been made, the conservation value of
each site mapped at the scale of i: 25 ooo and more detailed descriptions and
records made for the most valuable sites. This ideal of complete coverage has not
been achieved in other Regions, some of which have very large areas of semi-
natural vegetation and thus present much more difficult problems for basic survey.
The habitat survey
teams were provided by regional staff with the lists of the most
important regional sites including existing NNRs, other categories of nature reserve,
Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and unscheduled, recently discovered sites which
appeared to be of a high quality. The habitat survey teams examined the most
important sites, assessed their relative merits on the national scale and prepared
recommendations for a final series of key sites for each habitat. In practice, regional
staff and habitat teams worked in close conjunction, and were often involved in field
survey at the same time. Habitat teams frequently undertook initial field survey to
locate sites of importance in little known districts.
Such surveys were based
on information about sites of known or suspected interest
and on examination of i in. and 2,\ in. Ordnance Survey maps. Knowledge of the
range of variation of ecosystems within each region, in relation to that present on
scheduled sites, focussed attention on filling obvious gaps in the representation of
habitats. The surveys often involved prospecting, that is, examining areas of country
more or less systematically to locate sites of interest and then making a more careful
study of them. Student assistance was widely used in this field survey, especially in
recording sites of known interest.
Both groups collected
records of essential biological and environmental data for the
more important sites, using prepared record cards and check sheets for
convenience and uniformity in presenting data on location and size of site, physical
features, climate, geology and soils, land-use, vegetation types, flora, fauna, and
features of special ecological or biological interest. The Biological Records Centre at
Monks Wood Experimental Station supplied record cards, or helped in their
preparation, provided existing
information on sites and ecosystem features, including
species distribution, and processed and stored the recorded data.
Information on sites
and ecosystem features has been gathered from a large number
of professional and amateur biologists and other scientists outside the Conservancy.
A considerable effort has been made to seek the advice and information of all
individuals and bodies concerned with nature conservation, and in a position to help
the Review. Non-statutory reserves established by other nature conservation bodies,
notably the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Society for the Promotion of
Nature Reserves, the National Trust and local Naturalists' Trusts, have been taken
into account.
A Scientific Assessor,
D. A. Ratcliffe, was appointed to the Review, to supervise and
assist with various operations. His functions have been to assist in defining a
descriptive framework of reference for ecosystem variation; to advise on field
methodology and to formulate a rationale for the assessment of nature conservation
value of sites and the needs for representation within a national key series; to help
identify gaps in the existing NNR series; to approve key site selections, adjudicating
when there was disagreement or doubt about the value of sites; and to compile and
edit the final report.
