Item7Appendix1BSupportingInfo20220242DETAltnacriche

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 7 Appendix IB 23/09/2022

AGENDA ITEM 7

APPENDIX IB

2022/0242/DET

SUP­PORT­ING INFORMATION

Megan Park­er Sub­ject: FW: PNO Lost Forest

22/02715/PNO addi­tion­al machine ramp sup­port­ing inform­a­tion: Note all illus­tra­tions are indic­at­ive and not-to-scale.

New machine ramp at NH867119 uses an exist­ing ATV route, this will be widened and realigned with a new scrape for dir­ect access (first photo below) and a new cross-ditch/dip installed across the exist­ing ATV track to ensure sur­face run­off is pitched away from the track so it will not con­nect to a ditch which then con­nects to the nearby water­course. The new cross drain (shown in the second photo below) will still be pass­able to ATVs.

Above: route of machine access, note purple mound shown above relates to the photo below. Below: exist­ing low point in track needs to be enhanced and deepened, with mater­i­als used to build a downslope rise in the track ensur­ing water can­not pass down the track but is forced off the track at this point, it must still be pass­bale by an ATV. 1

NH867119 Exist­ing junc­tion to be wider New ramp 2 New cross drain

New machine ramp at NH867117 shown below, slightly shif­ted to the downslope side of the exist­ing ditch line cul­vert, this will have a very mar­gin­al amount of fill (shown in yel­low, no drain­age cul­vert needed) and cut (shown in red) as shown below. This is just to get the machine up off the track and onto the hill. Expec­ted usage will be min­im­al and we can con­sider re-veget­at­ing it after use since its in a sens­it­ive visu­al area.

NH868117 3 Copy­right Gelmap­ping ple YMZ1

KIN­RARA ESTATE: PRO­POSED NEW WOOD­LAND PLANT­ING ECO­LOGY SUR­VEYS INTRO­DUC­TION SCOPE OF WORKS Blairbeg Con­sult­ing Ltd have been com­mis­sioned to carry out a suite of eco­lo­gic­al sur­veys in sum­mer 2021 on behalf of Scot­tish Wood­lands Ltd for pro­posed new wood­land plant­ing at Kin­rara Estate, near Aviemore in High­land. The object­ives of the sur­vey are as fol­lows: • To provide base-line inform­a­tion on the loc­a­tion, extent and flor­ist­ics of the exist­ing veget­a­tion, and pres­ence and status of pro­tec­ted spe­cies with­in the site as delin­eated by the extent of the estate open ground (the ​‘site’); • To pro­duce an annot­ated veget­a­tion map using the Phase 1 clas­si­fic­a­tion to identi­fy and map the hab­it­ats. This is sup­por­ted by hab­it­at descrip­tions and tar­get notes; To provide inform­a­tion on the loc­a­tion of sens­it­ive orni­tho­lo­gic­al interest with­in the site; To eval­u­ate the status and nature con­ser­va­tion value of all sens­it­ive eco­lo­gic­al recept­ors and identi­fy poten­tial impacts res­ult­ing from new wood­land expan­sion; and Recom­mend meas­ures to mit­ig­ate any poten­tial impacts of sig­ni­fic­ance. SITE CHAR­AC­TER­IST­ICS The site is loc­ated near Aviemore, lying west of the A9 pub­lic road and extend­ing across a range of hills south of Kin­veachy forest towards the River Dul­nain. Bey­ond to the east, the site extends to head­wa­ters of a num­ber of trib­u­tar­ies of the River Dullnain bounded by Carn Dubh ​‘Ic an Deoir south to Carn Caol. The site lies with­in the Cairngorm Nation­al Park Author­ity boundary.

The site rises from approx­im­ately 250m above sea level in the south­east to a high point of approx­im­ately 800m on the north-east flank of Geal-charn Mor. The site falls to the north-west of this to approx­im­ately 400m above sea level along the River Dul­nain val­ley before rising to the range of hills at the west­ern bound­ary which reach just over 700m above sea level. Much of the site lies high­er than 500m above sea level.

All areas of the site are his­tor­ic­ally man­aged as grouse moor, with evid­ence of recent muir­burn across the site. Whilst the grouse moor areas are grazed by live­stock (sheep) at low-intens­ity, only the far south-east of the site near Lyn­wilg and some extens­ive field sys­tems along the River Dul­nain con­tains any cur­rently act­ive agri­cul­tur­al land man­age­ment with a net­work of pas­ture fields. There are a num­ber of small wood­land areas along ripari­an areas, par­tic­u­larly along the Allt Dubh to the south-east and the River Dul­nain but wooded areas are gen­er­ally scarce. Patchy stands of con­i­fer­ous wood­land are present, par­tic­u­larly on Cnoc Beag, but evid­ence of regen­er­a­tion is lim­ited. Sev­er­al small exclos­ures for wood­land regen­er­a­tion and plant­ing exist above the mature treeline on the steep­er east­ern slopes of Cre­ag Ghlean­nain and Cre­ag na h‑lolaire. There are a num­ber of both­ies, stalk­ers huts and ruins with­in the site. 1| Page

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TER­RESTRI­AL ECO­LOGY SUR­VEYS METH­OD­O­LOGY BACK­GROUND SUR­VEY Baseline data on the nature con­ser­va­tion interest of the site and its sur­round­ings, includ­ing inform­a­tion on pro­tec­ted spe­cies and hab­it­ats records were sought from the fol­low­ing sources:

Joint Nature Con­ser­va­tion Com­mit­tee (JNCC) web­site (http://​www​.jncc​.gov​.uk/); SNH Site Link web­site (http://gateway.snh.gov.ukl); and Large-scale 1:10,000 Ord­nance Sur­vey (OS) maps in con­junc­tion with col­our 1:25,000 OS map (to determ­ine the pres­ence of ponds and oth­er fea­tures of nature con­ser­va­tion interest).

Fur­ther inform­a­tion rel­ev­ant to eval­u­ation of the nature con­ser­va­tion fea­tures that could be affected by the devel­op­ment and the assess­ment of its effects upon them was obtained through searches of inter­net sources (e.g. UKBAPs, LBAPs) and the rel­ev­ant pub­lished lit­er­at­ure (i.e. rel­ev­ant guid­ance doc­u­ments and sci­entif­ic papers). PRO­TEC­TED SPE­CIES SUR­VEY MAM­MALS Pro­tec­ted spe­cies sur­veys were under­taken in sum­mer 2021, and fol­lowed the meth­od­o­lo­gies described below. An eval­u­ation of the mam­mal spe­cies present on this site is provided in the res­ults below. OTTER Otter field signs that were searched for, as described in Bang & Dahl­strøm (2001) and Sar­gent & Mor­ris (2003), and include:

Holts — these are under­ground fea­tures where otters live. They can be tun­nels with­in bank sides, under­neath root plates or boulder piles, and even man-made struc­tures such as dis­used drains. Holts are used by otters to rest up dur­ing the day, and are the usu­al site of nat­al or breed­ing sites. Otters may use holts per­man­ently or tem­por­ar­ily; Couches — these are above ground rest­ing-up sites. They may be par­tially sheltered, or fully exposed. Couches may be reg­u­larly used, espe­cially in reed beds and on in-stream islands. They have been known to be used as nat­al and breed­ing sites. Couches can be very dif­fi­cult to identi­fy, and may con­sist of an area of flattened grass or earth. Where rocks or rock armour are used as couches, these can be almost impossible to identi­fy without observing the otter in situ; Prints — otters have char­ac­ter­ist­ic foot­prints that can be found in soft ground and muddy areas; 3| Page

Spraints — otter fae­ces are often used to mark ter­rit­or­ies, usu­ally depos­ited on in-stream boulders. They can be present with­in or out­side the entrances of holts and couches. Spraints have a char­ac­ter­ist­ic smell and often con­tain fish remains; Feed­ing signs – the remains of prey items may be found at pre­ferred feed­ing sta­tions. Remains of fish, crabs or skinned amphi­bi­ans can indic­ate the pres­ence of otter; Paths — these are ter­restri­al routes that otters take when mov­ing between rest­ing-up sites and water­courses, or dur­ing high flow con­di­tions when they will travel along bank sides in pref­er­ence to swim­ming; and Slides and play areas – slides are typ­ic­ally worn areas on steep slopes where otters slide on their bel­lies, often found between holts/​couches and water­courses. Play areas are used by juven­ile otters in play, and are often evid­ent by trampled veget­a­tion and the pres­ence of slides. These are often posi­tioned in sheltered areas adja­cent to the nat­al holt.

Any of the above signs are dia­gnost­ic evid­ence of the pres­ence of otter; how­ever, it is often not pos­sible to identi­fy couches with con­fid­ence unless oth­er field signs are also present. Spraint is the most reli­able iden­ti­fi­able evid­ence of the pres­ence of this species.

Any evid­ence of otter pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS. SCOT­TISH WILD­CAT Field signs of wild­cat are described in Dav­is & Gray (2010) and SNH (2011). Field evid­ence searched for includes:

Dens — can be found in hol­low trees, rock crevices, rab­bit bur­rows, dis­used fox dens and badger setts and under fallen debris; Prints — are dis­tinct­ive cat prints, with no claw marks vis­ible and a small palm pad with two indent­a­tions at rear; Scat — is usu­ally cyl­indric­al with a tapered end and con­tains feath­ers, fur and bone; Scratch­ing posts on trees and fence posts; and Sightings.

Any of the above can be taken as dia­gnost­ic evid­ence that the pres­ence of cats in the area. How­ever, fur­ther sur­veys are required in order to identi­fy if the cats present are wild­cat or are a hybrid­isa­tion with domest­ic cats i.e. fer­al cats.

If signs were found then fur­ther field sur­vey meth­ods would be required in order to estab­lish if a den is present and if it is act­ive. This can take sev­er­al days/​weeks depend­ing upon the poten­tial num­bers of cats and hab­it­at suit­ab­il­ity. In areas where there are signs of wild­cats cam­era traps can be used to try and veri­fy pres­ence and also to prove if a wildcat/​hybrid or fer­al cat is present based on pel­age char­ac­ters. This would be the third step in the sur­vey pro­cess if required (fol­low­ing the ini­tial site assessment).

The key cri­ter­ia for identi­fy­ing Scot­tish wild­cat are com­plex due to their abil­ity to inter­breed with domest­ic and fer­al cats. Scot­tish wild­cat fea­tures and recog­ni­tion are sum­mar­ised in research by Kit­chen­er et al., 2005 with clear meth­ods for iden­ti­fic­a­tion based on pel­age (coat char­ac­ter­ist­ics) 4| Page

from the study of dead cats. How­ever with live cats in the field this is more prob­lem­at­ic due to the dif­fi­culty in observing cats. In addi­tion it is believed from field research that true wild­cats are now very rare in the field with very low pop­u­la­tions in many areas with much lar­ger fer­al pop­u­la­tions now present. Detailed field research is still required to accur­ately determ­ine wild­cat dens­it­ies in many areas.

Any evid­ence of Scot­tish wild­cat pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS. BADGER Badger field signs that were searched for, as described in Neal & Cheese­man (1996), Bang & Dahl­strøm (2001) and SNH (2002), included:

Setts are places of shel­ter often loc­ated in wood­land, at wood­land edges, in hedgerows or amongst dense patches of gorse and scrub close to fields; Prints — tracks lead from setts to lat­rines and for­aging areas and prints are iden­ti­fi­able from broad palm-pad and five toe pads with claw marks in a row; Lat­rines (and dung pits used as ter­rit­ori­al mark­ers) – are where badgers depos­it fae­ces in small excav­ated pits, and are often loc­ated at ter­rit­ory edges or close to a main sett; Hairs are often left in barbed wire or fen­cing as badgers pass through or under­neath and are dis­tinct­ive for their oval shape when rolled between fin­ger and thumb; and Feed­ing signs (snuffle holes) — where badgers have dug up roots, grubs, or wasps nests and can be found through­out their territory.

Any of the above signs can be taken as dia­gnost­ic evid­ence of the pres­ence of badger. Any evid­ence of badger pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS and pho­to­graphs taken to visu­ally cata­logue the record. WATER VOLE The meth­od­o­logy pre­scribed in Dean et al. (2016) was fol­lowed in order to search for field signs of water vole. The field signs searched for included:

Fae­ces — recog­nis­able by their size, shape, and con­tent. If not too dried-out these are also dis­tin­guish­able from rat drop­pings by their smell; Lat­rines — fae­ces, often depos­ited at dis­crete loc­a­tions known as lat­rines; Feed­ing sta­tions – food items are often brought to feed­ing sta­tions along path­ways and hauled onto plat­forms. Recog­nis­able as neat piles of chewed veget­a­tion up to 10cm long; Bur­rows — appear as a series of holes along the water’s edge dis­tin­guish­able from rat bur­rows by size and pos­i­tion; Lawns — may appear as grazed areas around land holes; Nests — where the water table is high. Above ground woven nests may be found; Foot­prints — tracks may occur at the water’s edge and lead into bank side veget­a­tion. May be dis­tin­guish­able from rat foot­prints by size; and 5 | Page

Run­ways in veget­a­tion – low tun­nels pushed through veget­a­tion near the water’s edge, less obvi­ous than rat runs. Any of the above signs can be taken as dia­gnost­ic evid­ence of the pres­ence of water vole. Any evid­ence of water vole pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS. RED SQUIR­REL Through areas of wood­land any sight­ings of red squir­rel, signs of feed­ing and evid­ence of act­ive dreys were recorded:

Dreys — are com­prised of an out­er shell of twigs and branches, with an inner lay­er of mosses, leaves, grass and con­ifer needles. Dreys are usu­ally built close to the main stem of a tree; Feed­ing signs — can be stripped and nibbled con­ifer cones, split hazel­nuts, nibbled fungus and berries.

Any evid­ence of red squir­rel pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS. PINE MARTEN The field signs searched for included:

Scats — These are typ­ic­ally dark in col­our and 4 – 12cm long x 0.8 – 1.8cm in dia­met­er. They often have a coiled twis­ted appear­ance, typ­ic­al of many mustelid scats. Scats will often con­tain food remains includ­ing fur, feath­ers, bone, plant con­tent and seeds. Scats vary tre­mend­ously in size, shape and col­our, and it’s dif­fi­cult even for experts to identi­fy some pine marten scats. Scats are placed in lat­rines at well-used dens (e.g. on lids of den boxes), as well as at sites else­where in an individual’s home range, where they prob­ably ful­fil a social com­mu­nic­a­tion role. Giv­en the dif­fi­culty in con­firm­ing pine marten scat, any sus­pec­ted scat will be sent for genet­ic ana­lys­is to con­clus­ively dis­tin­guish it from oth­er spe­cies. Foot­prints — The five-toed but slightly cat-like fore­foot imprints meas­ure approx­im­ately 40 x 45mm for females and 55 x 65mm for males; fur on the under­side of feet in winter may blur prints and make them look lar­ger, espe­cially in soft snow, but pine martens have less fur on their feet pads than stone martens (present in con­tin­ent­al Europe). Indis­tinct trails of bound­ing martens (stride length 60 – 100cm) may resemble those of hares, with prints in groups of two or three where one or both hind feet have registered over prints of fore­feet. Den sites — Dens are usu­ally not dis­tinct­ive unless revealed by vis­ible con­cen­tra­tion of scats. Elev­ated den sites are pre­ferred to keep martens safe from pred­at­ors and provide insu­la­tion and shel­ter from the ele­ments, and so hol­low trees, owl boxes and the roofs of dwell­ing houses are often used, as well as pur­pose-built pine marten den boxes. Where such elev­ated dens are absent, they may den on the ground in rab­bit bur­rows, rocky out­crops or under tree roof plates.

Any evid­ence of pine marten pres­ence was recor­ded onto 1:10,000 scale sur­vey maps in the field. The loc­a­tion of all signs was also recor­ded via the use of a hand­held GPS. 6|Page

HAB­IT­AT SUR­VEY The veget­a­tion was described and mapped fol­low­ing the meth­ods described in Nation­al Veget­a­tion Clas­si­fic­a­tion user’s hand­book (Rod­well, 2006) and the Joint Nature Con­ser­va­tion Com­mit­tee (JNCC) Hand­book for Phase 1 Hab­it­at Sur­veys (JNCC, 2010). Plant spe­cies were iden­ti­fied and hab­it­at types assigned and mapped in the field. Map­ping poly­gons were delin­eated based on the com­pos­i­tion of hab­it­ats. Full data for each poly­gon is provided in Appendix 2: Hab­it­at data. Poly­gons were lat­er­ally assigned a Phase 1 Hab­it­at Clas­si­fic­a­tion, accord­ing to the rela­tion­ships described in Phase One Hab­it­at Clas­si­fic­a­tion (JNCC 2010). For the pur­poses of cre­at­ing a visu­al rep­res­ent­a­tion of hab­it­at types, the dom­in­ant Phase One Hab­it­at Clas­si­fic­a­tion for each poly­gon is reflec­ted. Phase 1 hab­it­at maps were digit­ised using the ArcView 10.1 GIS pack­age, with fig­ures provided in Appendix 1, Fig­ure 1: Hab­it­at Sur­vey Results.

More widely, tar­get notes were also col­lec­ted to provide an over­view of the hab­it­at types present, fea­tures of interest and to place the pro­posed devel­op­ment in the con­text of site. All tar­get notes are accom­pan­ied by at least one pho­to­graph and provided in Appendix 3: Tar­get notes.

Nomen­clature for vas­cu­lar plants fol­lows Stace (2010), bry­ophytes and liv­er­worts fol­low Ather­ton et al (2010) and for lichens Dob­son (2011). A full spe­cies list for high­er plants iden­ti­fied with­in the site is provided in Appendix 4: Spe­cies List. 7| Page

BASELINE CON­DI­TIONS :PRO­TEC­TED SPE­CIES DESK STUDY Through the course of desk stud­ies, ref­er­ence was provided (pers. comm, Scot­tish Wood­lands) to the pres­ence of water vole in the catch­ment of the Allt Fion­naich. No detailed inform­a­tion was provided, how­ever spe­cif­ic sur­veys for water vole in this area were under­taken. FIELD SUR­VEY Water vole bur­rows and lat­rines were recor­ded sporad­ic­ally along two trib­u­tar­ies of the Allt Flon­naich. Along one trib­u­tary lying to the east of the access track (WV1: Start NH82363 1588, End NH8330 1552), a min­im­um of 14 bur­rows were recor­ded, in sev­er­al patches amongst grasses and rushes along the water­course banks. On a smal­ler trib­u­tary to the south-west of the access track (WV2: Start NH8234 1572, End NH 8228 1559), four bur­rows were recor­ded. At both loc­a­tions evid­ence of recent use was indic­ated by act­ive lat­rines and clipped veget­a­tion at bur­row entrances. Spe­cif­ic loc­a­tions for bur­rows are not recor­ded here, but the extent of each colony is high­lighted on Fig­ure 6, Appendix 1.

No signs of oth­er pro­tec­ted spe­cies were recor­ded with­in the site dur­ing the course of eco­logy sur­veys. Although not pro­tec­ted spe­cies, Rab­bit, Moun­tain hare were observed with­in the site and signs of Fox were also recor­ded. LEGIS­LAT­IVE BACK­GROUND Water vole (Arvic­ola amphibi­us) receive leg­al pro­tec­tion through inclu­sion on Sched­ule 5 of the Wild­life & Coun­tryside Act 1981 (as amended), in respect of Sec­tion 9(4) only. This means that the water vole’s places of shel­ter are pro­tec­ted, but not the anim­als them­selves. The Nature Con­ser­va­tion (Scot­land) Act 2004 enhances this pro­tec­tion by inclu­sion of the term ​‘reck­lessly’ in the offences quoted below. It is an offence to inten­tion­ally or recklessly:

Dam­age, des­troy or obstruct access to any struc­ture or place which water voles use for shel­ter of pro­tec­tion; and Dis­turb water voles while they are using such a place.

Water vole can be found along water­way edges in a vari­ety of hab­it­ats from upland streams to wide rivers and agri­cul­tur­al ditches. They favour ripari­an hab­it­ats afford­ing bank-side veget­a­tion includ­ing grasses and sedges to provide food and cov­er from pred­at­ors. They may tol­er­ate brack­ish water and feed on halo­phyt­ic plants, but do not gen­er­ally inhab­it areas that dry out twice daily, and so are largely absent from estu­ar­ies and salt marshes.

Water voles can cre­ate an extens­ive sys­tem of bur­rows with inter­con­nect­ing tun­nels and entrances both above and below the water sur­face. Steep banks with a slope angle of 35 degrees or more allow bur­row­ing and import­antly provide refuge dur­ing flood­ing events. How­ever, ver­tic­al or over­hanging 8| Page

banks may be dif­fi­cult for water voles to access for bur­row­ing, unless there are access ledges at water level. Rocky banks are gen­er­ally avoided due to the dif­fi­culty of excavation.

Hab­it­at loss and degrad­a­tion, fluc­tu­ations in water levels and pol­lu­tion have con­trib­uted to the water vole’s pop­u­la­tion decline in the UK, which has been greatly exacer­bated by the spread of the Amer­ic­an mink (Neo­vis­on vis­on), an intro­duced and effi­cient gen­er­al­ist pred­at­or. 9 Page

HAB­IT­AT Res­ults from hab­it­at sur­veys are mapped on Fig­ure 1, Appendix 1. Res­ults are provided in Appendix 2: Hab­it­at data. Assigned GWDTE cat­egor­ies are dis­played on Fig­ure 2, Appendix 1. Tar­get notes are provided in Appendix 3, and loc­a­tions dis­played on Fig­ure 3, Appendix 1. A spe­cies list is provided in Appendix 4.

The major­ity of high­er ground on the site con­sists of expanses of blanket mire com­munit­ies. These are gen­er­ally dom­in­ated by M17 Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire and M19 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire. Mires are sub­ject to his­tor­ic land drain­age across most of their extent. At high­er elev­a­tions and on exposed ridges and knolls evid­ence of erosion is appar­ent, with some­times extens­ive areas of gul­ly­ing and/​or bare peat.

Steep­er ground and areas of shal­low­er soil are dom­in­ated by a mix­ture of dry and wet dwarf shrub heaths, vary­ing with ground­wa­ter move­ment and sub­strate dry­ness. H10 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erica cinerea, H12 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus and H16 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Arctosta­phylos uva-ursi dry heaths form the bulk of these hab­it­ats. The highest elev­a­tions and exposed sum­mits are dom­in­ated by mont­ane dry heaths and lichen heaths typ­ic­ally rep­res­en­ted by H10 and H13 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Clado­nia portentosa heaths. Large areas of these dwarf shrub heaths, par­tic­u­larly in the east of the site, have been burnt for grouse moor man­age­ment pur­poses, with con­sequent impacts on the hab­it­at state and NVC classifications.

Gul­lies and ripari­an zones are occu­pied by sedge and rush-dom­in­ated acid flush com­munit­ies, and are fre­quent and some­times extens­ive along nar­row drain­age lines from high­er to lower ground.

Gentle slopes and flat­ter areas along the River Dul­nain and the south-east­ern bound­ary of the site are affected by agri­cul­tur­al improve­ment, and a net­work of act­ive and aban­doned field sys­tems are dom­in­ated by acid­ic and neut­ral grass­land pas­ture, with wet­ter areas trans­ition­ing to marshy grasslands.

Wood­land com­munit­ies are semi-nat­ur­al in nature, with frag­ments of Birch (Betula sp.) wood­land par­tic­u­larly along the Allt Dubh. Stands of scattered of Scot’s pine (Pinus sylvestris) wood­land are evid­ent with dens­er stands on Cnoc Beag.

Oth­er hab­it­at types recor­ded were frag­ment­ary or highly restric­ted in nature but include bog pools, sedge-mires, cal­careous grass­lands, marshy grass­lands, Wil­low scrub and Brack­en. 10 | Page

COM­MUNITY SUM­MARY TABLE Hab­it­at type Broadleaved wood­land (A1) W17 Quer­cus pet­raea-Betula pubescens-Dicran­um majus wood­land, Status* Old sessile oak woods Ground­wa­ter depend­ency** Low Scrub (A2) W1x Salix cinerea-Gali­um palustre wood­land, Salix aur­ita upland vari­ant Scattered trees (A3) W17 Quer­cus pet­raea-Betula pubescens-Dicran­um majus wood­land, Acid grass­land (B1) U4 Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Gali­um sax­at­ile grass­land U4a Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Gali­um sax­at­ile grass­land, Typ­ic­al sub-com­munity U4b Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Gali­um sax­at­ile grass­land, Hol­cus lan­atus-Tri­fo­li­um repens sub-com­munity U4e Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Gali­um sax­at­ile grass­land, Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus-Deschamp­sia flexuosa sub-com­munity U5 Nar­dus stricta-Gali­um sax­at­ile grass­land U6 Jun­cus squar­rosus-Fes­tuca ovina grass­land Neut­ral grass­land (B2) MG6 Cynos­ur­us cristatus-Loli­um per­enne ley MG9 Hol­cus lan­atus-Deschamp­sia ces­pitosa grass­land MG10 Hol­cus lan­atus-Jun­cus effusus rush-pas­ture Cal­careous grass­land (B3) CG10 Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Thymus poly­trichus grass­land CG10a Fes­tuca ovina-Agrostis capil­lar­is-Thymus poly­trichus grass­land, Tri­fo­li­um repens-Luzula campestris sub-com­munity Marsh/​marshy grass­land (B5) with Ilex and Blech­num in Bri­tain and Ire­land; Upland oak­wood Wet wood­land Mod­er­ate Old sessile oak woods Low with Ilex and Blech­num in Bri­tain and Ire­land; Upland oak­wood Low Low Low Low Low Low-Mod­er­ate Low Mod­er­ate Low-Mod­er­ate Spe­cies-rich Nar­dus Low-Mod­er­ate grass­land, on sili­ceous sub­strates in moun­tain areas; Upland cal­careous grass­land Spe­cies-rich Nar­dus Low-Mod­er­ate grass­land, on sili­ceous sub­strates in moun­tain areas; Upland cal­careous grass­land MG10 Hol­cus lan­atus-Jun­cus effusus rush-pas­ture Mod­er­ate M25 Molin­ia caerulea-Poten­tilla erecta mire Mod­er­ate M25a Molin­ia caerulea-Poten­tilla erecta mire, Erica tet­ralix sub- com­munity Mod­er­ate M6-25 Molin­ia caerulea-Carex echin­ata mire Upland flushes, fens and swamps Mod­er­ate-High Tall herb and fern com­munit­ies (C1 and C3) U20 Pter­idi­um aquilin­um-Gali­um sax­at­ile com­munity U20a Pter­idi­um aquilin­um-Gali­um sax­at­ile com­munity, Anthox­anthum Low Low odorat­um sub-com­munity U20b Pter­idi­um aquilin­um-Gali­um sax­at­ile com­munity, Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus sub-com­munity Low U20c Pter­idi­um aquilin­um-Gali­um sax­at­ile com­munity, Spe­cies-poor sub-com­munity Low OV25 Urtica dioica-Cirsi­um arvense com­munity Low OV27 Epi­lobi­um angus­ti­fo­li­um com­munity Low Dry heath (D1) 11 | Page

Hab­it­at type H9 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Deschamp­sia flexuosa heath H9c Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Deschamp­sia flexuosa heath spe­cies-poor sub- com­munity H10 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erica cinerea heath H10a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erica cinerea heath, Typ­ic­al sub-com­munity H10c Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erica cinerea heath, Fes­tuca ovina- Anthox­anthum odorat­um sub-com­munity H10d Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erica cinerea heath, Thymus poly­trichus-Carex puli­car­is sub-com­munity H12 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus heath H12a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus heath, Cal­luna vul­gar­is sub- com­munity H16 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Arctosta­phylos uva-ursi heath H16b Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Arctosta­phylos uva-ursi heath Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus-Vac­cini­um vit­is-idaea sub-com­munity H21 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus-Sphag­num capil­li­fo­li­um heath H21a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Vac­cini­um myr­til­lus-Sphag­num capil­li­fo­li­um heath Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Pter­idi­um aquilin­um sub-com­munity Wet heath (D2) M15 Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erica tet­ralix wet heath Status* European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land European dry heaths; Upland heath­land Ground­wa­ter depend­ency** Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low North­ern Atlantic wet Mod­er­ate heaths with Erica tet­ralix; Upland heath­land North­ern Atlantic wet Mod­er­ate M15a Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erica tet­ralix wet heath, Carex panicea sub-com­munity M15b Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erica tet­ralix wet heath, Typ­ic­al sub-com­munity M6 Carex echin­ata-Sphag­num fallax/​denticulatum mire Lichen/​bryophyte heath (D3) H13 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Clado­nia arubus­cula heath heaths with Erica tet­ralix; (some­times High) Upland heath­land North­ern Atlantic wet Mod­er­ate heaths with Erica tet­ralix; Upland heath­land Upland flushes, fens and swamps High European dry heaths; Low Upland heath­land H13a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Clado­nia arubus­cula heath Clado­nia arbus­cula- European dry heaths; Low Clado­nia ran­gifer­ina com­munity Upland heath­land Blanket bog (E1.6.1) M1 Sphag­num denticu­latum bog pool com­munity Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M2 Sphag­num cuspidatum/​fallax bog pool com­munity Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M3 Erio­phor­um angus­ti­fo­li­um bog pool com­munity Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M17 Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M17a Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land Drosera rotun­di­fo­lia-Sphag­num spe­cies sub-com­munity M17b Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land mire Clado­nia sub-com­munity M19 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M19a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land Empet­rum nigrum sub­sp. nigrum sub-com­munity M19a Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Erica Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land tet­ralix sub-com­munity M19c Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Vac­cini­um Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land vit­is-idaea-Hylo­co­mi­um splendens sub-com­munity Wet mod­i­fied bog (E1.7) M19 Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land 12 | Page

Hab­it­at type Status* Ground­wa­ter dependency* M20 Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land Dry mod­i­fied bog (E1.8) M17 Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land M17b Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land mire Clado­nia sub-com­munity M20b Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire Cal­luna vul­gar­is-Clado­nia Blanket bog; Blanket bog Peat­land sub-com­munity Flushes (E2) M6a Carex echin­ata-Sphag­num fallax/​denticulatum mire, Carex Upland flushes, fens and High echin­ata sub-com­munity swamps M6c Carex echin­ata-Sphag­num fallax/​denticulatum mire, Jun­cus effusus sub-com­munity Upland flushes, fens and High swamps M6d Carex echin­ata-Sphag­num fallax/​denticulatum mire, Jun­cus acu­ti­flor­us sub-com­munity Upland flushes, fens and High swamps M27 Fili­pen­dula ulmaria-Gali­um palustre tall-herb fen Upland flushes, fens and High swamps Swamp, mar­gin­al and inund­a­tion S9 Carex rostrata swamp Upland flushes, fens and swamps Occa­sion­ally High Upland flushes, fens and Low swamps S10 Equis­etum flu­vi­at­ile swamp Oth­er non-NVC hab­it­ats A1.2.2 Con­i­fer­ous wood­land — plant­a­tion A1.3.2 Mixed wood­land — plant­a­tion B4 Improved grass­land G1 Stand­ing water G2 Run­ning water J3.6 Build­ings and gar­dens J4 Bare ground (access tracks) Status key N/A N/A N/A N/A Head­wa­ters N/A N/A N/A Red text — Annex I hab­it­at under EC Hab­it­ats Dir­ect­ive (as trans­lated into UK legis­la­tion) Black text — Scot­tish Biod­iversity List / UK Biod­iversity Action Plan pri­or­ity hab­it­at **Ground­wa­ter depend­ency assessed based on: SEPA (2014) Land Use Plan­ning Sys­tem SEPA Guid­ance Note 31 — Guid­ance on Assess­ing the Impacts of Wind­farm Devel­op­ment Pro­pos­als on Ground­wa­ter Abstrac­tions and Ground­wa­ter Depend­ent Ter­restri­al Eco­sys­tems 13 | Page

HAB­IT­AT AND COM­MUNITY DESCRIP­TIONS WOOD­LANDS AND SCRUB There are a num­ber of areas of wood­land present with­in the site bound­ary. How­ever, estab­lished wood­lands are gen­er­ally lim­ited. Frag­ments are asso­ci­ated with ripari­an cor­ridors, being loc­ated along the Allt na Criche, Dul­nain river and trib­u­tar­ies. and dom­in­ated by frag­ments of broadleaved Birch wood­lands. Most oth­er wood­land areas are derived from regen­er­at­ing Scot’s pine Pinus sylvestris wood­land across knolls and ridges through­out the site. These stands dif­fer in dens­ity and age struc­ture, with the most con­cen­trated areas on the north-east flank of Cnoc Bheag, towards lar­ger areas of wood­land along the Dul­nain river. Stands of Scot’s pine tend to estab­lish on dry heaths and drier blanket mires.

Patches of wil­low scrub dom­in­ated by Eared wil­low Salix aur­ita are occa­sion­al in wet­ter flush and flushed wet heath hab­it­ats and scattered through­out the site. Occa­sion­al Downy birch Betula pubescens, Row­an Sor­bus aucu­paria are found on occa­sion through­out. Scattered wind-blown Scot’s pine, Lodge­pole pine Pinus con­torta and Sitka spruce are also found sporad­ic­ally. Juni­per Juni­per­us com­munis can be loc­ally abund­ant, par­tic­u­larly along the gully along the Allt an Tudair where it forms dense stands of mature shrubs. Small stands of Gorse Ulex euro­paeus are also found in some heath areas. MIRES AND HEATHS Mires and heaths are dom­in­ant hab­it­at types across the site. All heath, and on occa­sion some mire, areas have been sub­ject to regimes of muir­burn and in more recent areas of burn­ing pre­cise defin­i­tion of NVC type is not possible.

Mire com­munit­ies are fre­quent through­out the site and occupy areas of deep­er peat soils, often found in topo­graph­ic­al depres­sions, gul­lies and plat­eaus across the site. On more extens­ive areas of deep­er peats with lower gradi­ents and slower move­ment of water blanket mire com­munit­ies are dominant.

Typ­ic­ally, blanket mires on low-mid elev­a­tions are dom­in­ated by Hare’s‑tail cot­ton-grass Erio­phor­um vaginatum, Deer­grass Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum agg., Heath­er Cal­luna vul­gar­is, Cross-leaved heath Erica tet­ralix and Sphagna. These blanket mires con­form to those described in NVC as M17 Tricho­phor­um ger­man­icum-Erio­phor­um vaginatum blanket mire com­munit­ies. Most blanket mire com­munit­ies are sub­ject to ongo­ing impacts of drain­age, with a net­work of her­ring-bone drains across the site. Areas of intact mire where impacts of drain­age have been slight are rare, and mostly con­fined to small pock­ets of deep peat where the high-water table remains. These areas, espe­cially on the flat­test ground, have a rich car­pet of Sphagna and few erioc­oid shrubs and are typ­ic­al of M17a Drosera rotundifolia-Sph