In July/August of 3 consecutive years between 2019 and 2021 I was commissioned. to undertake post-construction monitoring of the upland habitats within a recently constructed Windfarm in Powys, Mid-Wales. Monitoring of the complex system of valley mires and blanket bog had been specified by Powys County Council and Natural Resources Wales as a condition of planning consent and was to be undertaken in years 1-5 & 10 &15 of the operation of the windfarm. The development had changed hands a number of times and thus the habitat monitoring programme had suffered from a lack of continuity.
I identified the need at the beginning of the project to robustly characterise the ecology of the diverse plant communities at the specified survey points, which could not be changed. In 2019 all 50 survey points were analysed to identify the best fitting community type within the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) system. This was achieved through a combination of surveyor knowledge, careful comparison of the accounts in British Plant Communities (Rodwell et al) and the computer programme MAVIS, for providing an objective analysis of the data.
Localised drying out of some of the more species poor, rush dominated communities on some of the steeper slopes was identified. Survey reports were submitted to, and accepted by the ecological steering group for the project. The information and analysis provided will give a solid base for identifying potential changes in the habitats in the later stages of the life of the windfarm, when significant effects could have occurred, and which can be used to guide future management decisions.