• Managing the AONB

• Start of "Managing the AONB" navigation
• Management Plan
• Landowners within the AONB
• Malverns Heritage Lottery Project
• Landscape
• Biodiversity
• Historic Environment
• Farming and Forestry
• Tourism, Recreation and Access
• Transport
• Community
• Development
• Sustainable Environment
• Monitoring
• End of "Managing the AONB" navigation

Biodiversity

The flora and fauna of the AONB is one of its defining features. The area includes a number of habitats and species, which are of international, national and local importance and many individuals and groups are involved in their conservation.

Biodiversity mapping work has recently been carried out in the AONB by Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council. This mapping provides a detailed picture of the current distribution of wildlife habitats. It also provides a basis for identifying habitats that are in need of improvement and indicates where habitats could be re-created.

This is an example of the 'landscape-scale' approach to conservation that is shifting the focus for nature conservation away from designated wildlife sites to the wider 'working' countryside.

Details about the UK Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs) covered by the Malvern Hills AONB can be found at: www.gloucestershirebap.org.uk, www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herefordshire/biodiversity and http://worcestershire.whub.org.uk/home/wcc-bio-index.htm.