11:12am Monday 18th May 2009
By Mike Pryce
IT’S particularly worrying news in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, the spiritual home of the apple, plum and pear, but according to a new report more than 60 per cent of traditional orchards have disappeared over the last 50 years.
Traditional orchards have been among the chief beauties in the English landscape for many centuries and faced with a serious demise they have now been made national priorities in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
A series of environment stewardship schemes have been launched to help save them and encourage famers and landowners to hang on to these ageing gems.
Geoff Newman, West Midlands regional orchard specialist for Natural England, said: “Traditional orchards are special places where people and nature have learnt to live together over many generations.
“At home in the English countryside they provide a rare variety of fruit and wildlife. This value is recognised through the environmental stewardship schemes and we would encourage landowners to look at what the schemes can offer.”
Traditional orchards are hotspots for biodiversity in the countryside, supporting a wide range of wildlife and containing Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitats and species, as well as an array of nationally rare and nationally scarce species.
The variety of habitats that surround traditional orchards provide food and shelter for hundreds of species of wildlife.
The veteran trees in traditional orchards are wonderful habitats for whole range of invertebrates. The cardinal beetle is a typical insect found in these orchards and also the stag beetle, which is listed under the European habitats and species directive.
A more scarce beetle that relies on orchards is the noble chafer.
Traditional orchards also provide sources of pollen and nectar to bees, which are thought to be declining partly because of a lack of suitable food. Among the birds which rely on traditional orchards are species which have suffered major declines in numbers in recent years, such as tree sparrow and lesser spotted woodpecker, both priority BAP species. Many birds use orchards for nesting and feeding, with species such as redwing and fieldfare feeding off the fallen fruit in the autumn and early winter.
Numerous species of fungi are also associated with both the living and the decaying wood of orchard trees. Many are intolerant of the chemicals used in agriculture and therefore thrive in traditionally managed orchards.
Natural England is very keen to reduce the decline of traditional orchards, and is encouraging landowners to manage them through the environmental stewardship schemes.
These comprises three strands – entry level stewardship, organic entry level stewardship and higher level stewardship – which provides funding to farmers and other land managers to manage traditional apple, pear, cherry, plum and damson orchards.
For more information about environmental stewardship visit naturalengland.org.uk/ES
Picture 2 caption: AGEING GEM: It’s easy to grub up an old, uneconomic orchard but difficult to replace the many species of wildlife that then die because they rely on the diversity of the special habitat in order to survive.
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