Aggregates and biodiversity
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| Dingy skipper
(Erynnis tages)
© K Warmington/ Butterfly Conservation |
The aggregates extraction industry can play an important part in conserving habitats and species. Many of the UK’s best nature conservation sites are on old extraction sites (such as quarries), and as active sites come to the end of their working lives, they present great opportunities for creating habitats of high value for bees, butterflies, beetles, spiders and other invertebrates.
The processes of extracting aggregates can create valuable habitats such as bare ground and wildflower-rich open vegetation. These habitats can support many rare and scarce species, including many which are listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) such as the Five-banded weevil wasp (Cerceris quinquefasciata), Brown-banded carder bee (Bombus humilis), and the Dingy skipper butterfly (Erynnis tages).
Complexes of ponds and other wetland features are valuable habitats that can be created during the extraction of gravel and other materials. Ponds can support a range of rare and scarce aquatic invertebrates, for example water beetles, or those with an aquatic stage in their lifecycle such as the Scarce blue-tailed damselfly (Ischnura pumilio).
The features that make aggregate sites so attractive for wildlife such as bare ground, wildflower-rich grassland, and ponds were once common in the wider countryside. Over time our changing management of the countryside has resulted in these habitats being lost. This has lead to many very rare and scarce invertebrates becoming increasingly restricted to aggregate sites.
Managing aggregates sites for invertebrates
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| Terraced bare ground in a sand pit provides valuable nesting habitat for bees and wasps
© Peter Harvey |
Through careful planning aggregates sites can support an amazing diversity of invertebrates both during and after extraction activities. Habitat creation and site restoration projects have the potential to make a considerable contribution to invertebrate conservation and UKBAP targets. Often very slight changes to plans can have a significant impact on the potential of a site to support rare species – changes which are also at a low financial cost.
However, the importance of aggregate sites for invertebrates is poorly understood. Invertebrates are rarely taken into account when decisions are made about the future of aggregate sites and the full nature conservation potential of sites is often missed. In the worst cases inappropriate restoration schemes and site management regimes have destroyed important invertebrate habitat and the species have been lost. Raising awareness of the value of aggregate sites for invertebrates is crucial to ensuring their long term survival and sympathetic management.
Just published - best practice guide!
In March 2008 we published 'Managing Aggregates Sites for Invertebrates - a best practice guide'. This is the first dedicated guidance on how to manage aggregates sites for invertebrates.
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| The aggregates industry can play a valuable role in conserving UK biodiversity
© QPA |
This best practice guide is aimed at all stakeholders in the aggregates industry, including: minerals planners, restoration or estates managers from industry, ecological consultants, statutory bodies and non-governmental organisations.
Please click here for a copy of the report.
More information on the value of aggregates sites to invertebrate conservation, and more technical information on managing sites can be found on the Bringing Aggregate Sites to Life resources page here.
For further information about this project or to order a hard copy of ‘Managing Aggregates Sites for Invertebrates – a best practice guide’ please contact Andrew Whitehouse using the link at the bottom of this page.
This project was supported by Natural England through Defra’s Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund.
