Farm Wildlife Grading
 Farmers have a crucial contribution to make to the national strategy for biodiversity conservation because agriculture is the major land-user in the UK countryside. Some farmers may be unaware of the value of their land for biodiversity or the ways in which they could help it to be maintained and enhanced at no cost, or even gain, to themselves.
The Farm Wildlife Action Plan programme provides a simple analysis of UK and Local BAP species and habitats across the counties where the farm is located, and assigns a red, amber or green coding depending on their conservation status:
Species
| Red |
UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species |
| Amber |
Local Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Species |
| Green |
Any Species Not Listed on either the LBAP or the UK BAP but is Considered Suitable as a Dairy Farmland Biodiversity Indicator |
Habitats
| Red |
UK Biodiversity Action Plan Priority Habitat |
| Amber |
UK Biodiversity Action Plan Broad Habitat |
| Green |
Local Biodiversity Action Plan Habitat |
If farmers are to make a contribution to the delivery of biodiversity targets, appropriate mechanisms are required to achieve this. The Farm Wildlife Action Plan lists actions to ensure a practical delivery mechanism for biodiversity improvements contributing to BAP targets at the farm level.
Farmer Grade
WildCare has identified 60 key farmland species which are broadly divided into the following groups: Mammals, invertebrates, vascular plants, aquatic species and birds.
Each farmer has graded these key species by applying a Red, Amber, Green to indicate the status of the species on his/her farm. In this instance.
| Red |
indicates that the species is seen very rarely on the farm |
| Yellow |
indicates that the species is seen occasionally on the farm |
| Green |
indicates that this species is frequently seen on the farm |
The on-going WildCare monitoring will give the farmer the opportunity to amend his/her grading to reflect changes in the status of these key indicator species on the farm.
|
