Open Mosaic Habitat – Workington
Stuart ran the second workshop on the Open Mosaic Habitat (OMH) of post-industrial sites in Workington a week or so back. The session was kindly organised by Susan and Raegan of the Workington Nature Partnership along with two of their brilliant volunteers. After a morning theory session in a nice warm training room, they ventured out to a disused railway track-bed. They studied this linear brownfield site, as a test-run using the survey methodology, to determine whether it contained the all-important OMH. Although the plant list was reasonably long, these data will need to be collected during the spring and summer months to gain a full appreciation of the species present. It gave CBDC, however, sufficient information to prioritise this site for an OMH survey next year.
The local knowledge of the volunteers was particularly useful in providing an historical context for this post-industrial site, as well as details about which other taxa one should look out for during the survey.
If you are interested in taking part in brownfield site surveys to determine the presence of Open Mosaic Habitat, then please contact Stuart via email recordingofficer@cbdc.org.uk . Visit our website at www.cbdc.org.uk

CBDC is training volunteers to survey Cumbria’s brownfield sites.
Stuart, our Recording Officer, is leading a short programme of events which began with a workshop and field visit on 4th November as an introduction to Open Mosaic Habitats of Post-Industrial Sites (OMH). It is part of a project run by Cumbria Local Nature Partnership and funded by Natural England and local authorities. The venue was kindly organised by BOOM, the species re-introduction project led by University of Cumbria.
OMH comprises a mixture of habitats, which must as a minimum include bare substrate and/or sparsely vegetated substrate within a brownfield site. The photo of the slag heap from the former steel furnaces at Barrow, shows an impressive amount of bare-looking substrate which grades into sparse vegetation towards the foot of the heap. Upon closer inspection, it is evident that lichens are beginning to colonise the bare substrate - the start of an ecological succession. OMH on brownfield sites across the UK sustains many nationally rare species of bees, wasps, beetles, etc, many of which require the open nature of some of these habitats along with a range of other habitat types to fulfil their life cycle. OMHs also support a range of plant communities not yet fully described as part of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) system, which unsurprisingly include many introduced species, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas. These diverse plant communities are believed to lengthen the flowering period, not only sustaining plant populations but also providing greater resources in the form of pollen, nectar, herbage and shelter for a range of animal species.
The data from these surveys will provide evidence and improve our knowledge of this often overlooked but important habitat in Cumbria. The results will be added to the Nature Recovery Network maps which will be used to shape future planning and land management decisions.
Further training workshops and surveys are planned. If you are interested in participating, please contact CBDC or the Cumbria Local Nature Partnership (CLNP).
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