(1) 2. Identification of Wildlife Sites

The Local Wildlife Site Selection Criteria have been used to re-assess the original suite of sites and also to evaluate other sites not previously selected, to generate a revised register of Local Wildlife Sites for Rochford District.

The suite of sites has been amended from those identified in the report in 1993 for the following reasons:

1. Some sites have been de-selected on account of their decreased nature conservation value or failure to satisfactorily meet the revised selection criteria;
2. A few new, modified or previously overlooked sites have been identified and added to the register;
3. SSSIs have been removed from the system;
4. Some sites have been amalgamated where they lie next to each other or are otherwise sufficiently connected.

A major change is that areas designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest SSSI, included in the previous survey, are now no longer included in the Local Wildlife Site network, in line with national guidance. With regards to Rochford District, this removes: (old SINC identification numbers are given for ease of reference).

• W10 Hockley Woods SSSI (92.9 ha) TQ 832915
• G5 Butler's Farm Field (3.2 ha) TQ 902899; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• G6 Mucking Hall Marsh (3.3 ha) TQ 913898; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• FW2 Stannetts Lake and Creek (13.1 ha) TQ 925914; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• C2 River Crouch Marshes SSSI, part EWT Reserve (45.5 ha within the seawall) TQ 835957 and TQ 927950; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• C3 Lower Raypits Farm Seawall/Saltings part of EWT Reserve (2.6 ha excluding saltings) TQ 918965; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• C4. Lion Creek Seawall EWT Reserve (3.0 ha) TQ 923951; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• C6. Wallasea Seawall (1.5 ha) TQ 985946 to TQ 985932; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI
• C7. Foulness SSSI (1051.3 ha within the seawalls) TQ 990900; now part of the Crouch and Roach SSSI

Another deviation from past Local Wildlife Site Policy is in the inclusion of sites containing inter-tidal habitats. In the past Local Wildlife Status has been restricted to terrestrial and freshwater habitats, but it was felt during this review that this excluded important wildlife sites that fall outside of the SSSI boundaries. Both mudflats and saltmarsh are national Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitats.

Site numbering has also been changed. Previously, sites were roughly grouped into habitat categories of Woodland, Grassland, Mosaic, Freshwater, Coastal or Heathland, with an appropriate letter code and sequential number. Given that this process was repeated across the 14 boroughs/districts in Essex, this means that the county had 14 "W1" SINCs i.e. the first woodland site in each local authority area. In order to make the county-wide system less complicated, a new system has been introduced whereby each site has a borough/district and number code, with all Rochford Sites now being prefixed "R" and with no indication of the habitat(s) present on the site. These numbers will be confirmed in the final site register

The proposed, revised list of Rochford Local Wildlife Sites is included in Appendix 1 of this document.