Biodiversity News - Issue 48 - JNCC - Defra

Biodiversity News Contents - News - Features - Local & Regional - UK BAP Updates - Publications - Events

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Photo: © Stuart Pudney

Issue 48 Winter Edition

In this issue...

2 Contents - News - Features - Local & Regional - UK BAP Updates - Publications - Events

Winter

News ‘Biodiversity is life’ – the UK partnership for the

International Year of Biodiversity 2010

2009 – A good year for surveys!

BTCV launches Carbon Army

What does landscape-scale conservation do for you and for wildlife?

Count ‘up’ 2010

Released Terrapins give added headache to wildlife experts

Funding for biodiversity projects

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Workshop

Nature lovers shortlisted for photo prize

Features Thousands of Young People Doing One Thing

for Nature

Swifts

The Warwickshire Wetlands

School Farm Visits Connecting Children with Biodiversity

Synergy through Partnerships 2010

Set aside – The Campaign for a Farmed Environ-ment

UK Wildlife Scoops Heritage Lottery Fund jack-pot to the tune of £860M

UK BAP Update Latest News

Local & Regional Isle of Wight Biodiversity: celebrating 10 years

of local action

Pembrokeshire bumblebee project wins £25k prize

38ha of new wet grassland habitat for Wigeon

Planning for habitat networks—Clyde Valley Project

Details of bryologist placement at RSPB Aber-nethy NNR

First Biodiversity Festival deemed a great suc-cess

Spindle Ermine Moth Web with Caterpillars

Events Tayside Biodiversity Festival: 1st to 31st May

2010

Tayside Orchard Festival: 9th to 24th October 2010

From Rags to Riches in 2010

Water & Environment 2010: CIWEM’s Annual Conference

Oxfordshire Goes Wild

Publications Natural Angus

Please note that the views expressed in Biodiversity News are the views of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UK Biodiversity

Partnership or the organisations they represent.

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Editorial


Winter

Welcome to Issue 48 of Biodiversity News!

It has been an exciting start to 2010 for me and I am sure many of you as well. The International Year of Biodi-versity (IYB) has already provided many opportunities to raise awareness of all the work that is done to con-serve and enhance biodiversity, but also what still needs to be done now and in the future. I have worked on many different projects here within Defra during January relating to the IYB which has given me a better in-sight into the importance of the issue. Being fairly new to this work, the last few months have been an excel-lent learning opportunity for me.

After an initial slow pick up on articles, I ended up being flooded with them at the last minute. I have had to make some tough choices as I could not include all of them in this edition. I am very sorry if your article has not been included, but please rest assured that all these articles have been put on hold for the spring edition and will then receive top priority.

This Winter edition is bursting with positive news. Articles range from national successes such as, ‘UK Wildlife Scoops Heritage Lottery Fund jackpot to the tune of £860M’ and ‘Thousands of Young People Doing One Thing for Na-ture’ to local achievements such as ‘Isle of Wight Biodiversity: celebrating 10 years of local action’ and Habitat en-hancement project piloted on the Clyde’. There are also plenty of events to add to your calendars. Many thanks to all the authors for their contributions to this issue. I have thoroughly enjoyed compiling this edition and I hope you enjoy reading it! If anyone is interested in having an article published in Biodiversity News or would like to be added to our mailing list, please contact me on [email protected]

Please do not hesitate to send me any comments or suggestions on the structure and content of Biodiversity News. I would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Regards,

Evaleen Brinton

UK Biodiversity Policy Unit, Defra, Zone 1/07, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN

[email protected]

Click on the boxes to see previous issues this past year

46 - summer 45 - spring 47 - autumn

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ukbap.org.uk/library/bn45.pdf



News


Winter

‘Biodiversity is life’ – the UK partnership for the International Year of Biodiversity 2010

We in the ‘biodiversity community’ already know that biodiversity is hugely important. Not just for its own sake but also because it underpins the vital benefits we get from the natural environment, because it con-tributes to our economy, to our health and wellbeing, and because it en-riches our lives. We also know that biodiversity is under great pressure from human ac-tivities and, although there have been some successes, there is some way to go to meet our conservation objectives. Part of our challenge is to spread the message to the public at large so that they understand this too. We need people to better understand what biodiversity does for them so that, as a society, we place greater value on our natural capital. The United Nations has designated 2010 as the International Year of Bio-diversity and, as a result, people all around the world will be re-doubling their efforts to promote the importance of conserving our bio-diversity. Here in the UK, a wide partnership is being established by the Natural History Museum, part-funded by Defra, to promote biodiversity for the

International Year under the banner “Biodiversity is Life”. This gives us a real opportunity to leave a legacy of a greater public understanding of the intrinsic importance of our natural world. This partnership will include many organisations who focus on biodiversity as a part of their core business. But it will also include many other organisations, for example, museums, arts, cultural and academic organisations, who are getting in-volved because they see the importance of preserving our natural heritage for future generations. This will give us a greater reach and enable us to make a greater impact. There will be a busy programme of activities during 2010, with partners taking all sorts of different ap-proaches to engaging the public to increase their interest, understanding and the value they place on the natu-ral environment, and to point the way for the future. Over 200 organisations have already signed up to be a part of this partnership. Find out more at http://www.biodiversityislife.net/.

© Defra

http://www.biodiversityislife.net/

News


Winter

2009 – A good year for surveys!

In its broadest sense the NERC Act placed a duty on public bodies to main-tain and where possible enhance biodiversity. To fulfill this obligation an understanding of what already exists on sites is required and in 2009 Northumbrian Water really upped its efforts to survey a range of species and habitats; from invertebrates to reptiles and waxcap grasslands to ponds. The last tranche of reports have just been received and overall they provide some positive news about the state of biodiversity on sites that include wastewater treatment works and reservoirs.

Some of the highlights include:

• Identification of two moth species last recorded over 100 years ago and a number of other rare and nationally scarce species

• Ongoing programme of NVC surveys monitoring effects of con-servation grazing have shown that diversity of sites appears to be slowly improving

• Survey of seven waxcap grassland sites with 4 identified as being of national importance (including a reservoir embankment with 21 species!)

• Eighth year of butterfly and dragonfly surveys with 22 sites hold-ing more than 15 species of butterfly (not bad for north east sites!) and a breeding colony of Broad-bodied

chaser dragonflies identified at Kielder, near Scottish border (and pos-sibly one of the most northerly breeding colonies)

• Twelve wetland sites surveyed using national PSYM methodology with 5 meeting criteria as UK BAP Priority ponds and remaining sites classed as ‘fair’

• Third year of reptile surveys which has highlighted previously unknown sites for slow worm and identifying other sites with good populations of adder and common lizard.

• Identification of several new sites holding populations of great crested newts

We hope to continue these surveys into the future not only to help build on our understanding of the wildlife using our sites but also to ensure that we are carry-ing out appropriate management – and at the same time balancing the opera-tional needs of these sites!

If you’d like to know more please contact us at ‘[email protected]’

© Harry Eales

© Stuart Pudney

© Mark Morris

© Stuart Pudney


News


Winter

Funding for biodiversity projects

With 2010 International Year of Biodiversity already in full flow, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is encour-aging more organisations to apply for funding for projects that help conserve the UK’s precious natural heri-tage.

From conserving priority spe-cies or habitats, to training volunteers in biological identi-fication and helping a wider range of people to access and understand the natural world, HLF funds a broad range of biodiversity projects.

It has already invested more than £860million to help safe-guard the UK’s valued coun-tryside, wildlife and parks, and protect some of our most threatened wildlife. But there is still much to do, particularly in 2010, and the Fund is keen for more potential applicants to get in touch.

You can find out about existing HLF projects on www.hlf.org.uk/landandbiodiversity. The Fund has also just released Thinking about biodiversity, a guidance document for potential applicants that sets out what HLF can fund, and lists sources of advice to help with planning a project – downloadable from www.hlf.org.uk/publications.

See also page 22 for more information on HLF Biodiversity funding.

For more information about HLF and how to apply, call 020 7591 6042, email [email protected], or visit www.hlf.org.uk

Chaser Dragonfly © Henry Stanier


www.hlf.org.uk

News


Winter

BTCV launches Carbon Army

A British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) environ-mental action campaign to tackle climate change has got off to a wildly successful start.

Launched on 25th November 2009, Carbon Army’s first move was a "3,000 Days of Action" campaign, timed to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Over the two weeks of the conference (7th-18th December 2009), volunteers aimed to carry out 3,000 days of practical action – one for each government delegate. In fact, by end of the conference, the volunteers had clocked up 6026 Workdays - double the target!

While the conference delegates talked, thousands of volunteers:

• Planted and managed 85km of hedges and trees - a distance equal to London to Brighton.

• Turned an area the size of 34 Wembley football pitches into urban green spa

• Saved over 3 million food miles through allotment and community food projects

The campaign, with funding from the Peacock Trust, is set to continue throughout 2010, with the aim of delivering 90,000 volunteer workdays on cli-mate change adaptation and mitigation activities by December.

The Carbon Army campaign focuses BTCV’s activities in a number of practical areas impacting climate change and biodiversity:

• Conserving woodlands and peatlands ... to keep CO2 locked up in carbon sinks

• Managing waterways and wetlands ... to reduce the risk of flooding • Stabilising sand dunes ...to form natural coastal defences • Conserving urban green spaces ... to keep cities cool • Conserving hedgerows ...to aid migration of species adapting to global

warming • Supporting local food growing projects ... to reduce the carbon impact of

food miles

The campaign began with a flurry of events supported by senior political fig-ures. At Buntings Wood in Thorne, South Yorkshire, Secretary of State for En-ergy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, joined BTCV volunteers to plant Scots pine and birch trees. He said: “The UK has the most ambitious emissions re-

Ed Miliband does Carbon Army duty at Buntings Wood before leaving for

Denmark © Steve Parkin

planting trees in Northern Ireland with MEP Bair-bre de Brún © Maria Maginness

News


Winter

duction commitments in the world and with projects like BTCV’s Carbon Army, the UK is well placed to show it is taking action at a community level to combat cli-mate change.”

At Waterlow Park, London, Nick Herbert, Shadow Secretary of State for Environ-ment, Food and Rural Affairs and BTCV supporter Charlie Dimmock joined scores of volunteers planting a kitchen garden.

In Northern Ireland, Bairbre de Brún MEP, part of the official European Parliament delegation at Copenhagen, praised the campaign as she joined 50 people, including school children, local and European volunteers, for tree planting in bright November sun-shine.

Huw Irranca-Davies, Minister for Marine and Natural Environment at Defra commented: “I fully support BTCV's Carbon Army. I would encourage anyone to have a go at volunteering in activities which support climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Carbon Army aims for a high rate of participation from young people, but it is open to volunteers of all ages, including BTCV's 2,000 Community Network groups.

Tom Flood CBE, BTCV Chief Executive, said: “While others bombard governments with demands for action, BTCV and our thousands of environmental volunteers will demonstrate a willingness to act without needing to wait.

“BTCV's Carbon Army is visible proof that local communities can play a part in tackling climate change. The world is in our hands.”

Sign up for BTCV’s Carbon Army at http://www.btcv.org/carbonarmy

Celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock and BTCV CEO Tom Flood set BTCV’s Carbon Army on the march in time for Copenhagen © Dave Hogan

http://www.btcv.org/carbonarmy

News


Winter

What does landscape-scale conservation do for you and for wildlife?

Researchers from Bournemouth University http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/cceec/ and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have been asked by Defra to compare the benefits for wildlife and people pro-duced by two approaches to conservation: the increasingly popular integrated landscape-scale conserva-tion, and the more traditional approach to conservation focussing on management in separate sites.

Protecting individual sites, such as nature reserves, plays a key role in our approach to conservation, but it does not always succeed in maintaining our wildlife and wild places. Therefore conservationists have in-creasingly called for action to reverse this trend and to manage bigger, dynamic, connected landscapes that allow species to move between patches or along corridors of habitat. This should provide numerous benefits both for wildlife and people, especially as plants and animals may need to move in response to climate change.

This research will investigate whether it is possible to demonstrate differences between these approaches in terms of the social, economic and environmental benefits that they bring.

We will be looking at a range of different projects that are already underway in England and Wales and mapping the benefits for the two types of approach in terms of wildlife, people and landscape benefits; for example protection from flooding, storage of carbon to help alleviate climate change, recreation opportu-nities, and provision of sustainable food, fibre, fresh water and fuel.

In addition to providing an appraisal of specific benefits, the results of the review may assist in identifying locations with particular potential for other landscape-scale restoration initiatives, accepting that the op-portunities and constraints will differ widely between landscapes.

For more information please contact Dr Kathy Hodder at Bournemouth University [email protected]

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Workshop

The Informal Expert workshop on the updating of the strategic plan of the convention for post-2010 pe-riod, chaired by the UK and Brazil Governments took place in London from 18-20 January 2010. Partici-pants from 54 countries from all regions attended, as well as representatives from international organisa-tions and non-governmental organisations. The aim of the workshop was to provide an informal setting where participants, in an open and consultative manner, could discuss ideas, expectations, proposals and suggestions associated with the review of the CBD Strategic Plan and consider the needs and priorities for implementation in order to meet post 2010 targets. The outcome will contribute to further discussions leading up to the CBD Conference of the Parties in Nagoya in October 2010.

http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/cceec/





News


Winter

Count ‘up’ 2010

As part of the celebrations for 2010 International Year of Biodiversity various Biodiversity Partnerships in Eng-land are coming together to record wildlife through BioBlitz events. A BioBlitz is a race against time to count as much wildlife as possible in a particular area over a set period of time, usually 24 hours.

Many partnerships have already hosted BioBlitzes in their respective patch but for 2010 they will be working together to create a coordinated programme of events across the country. Whilst the central aim is to record as much wildlife as possible it is also an opportunity to get the public involved in species recording with experts on hand to help with identification. We are looking for more local biodiversity partnerships to get involved and create their own local event as part of the national programme.

It may sound a daunting prospect to organise an event of this scale but if it is carried out through a partnership of organisations it means that a variety of people and expertise can be involved at different times throughout the event. If you are lucky enough to have a local record centre then they are the ideal organisation to carry out the task of coordinating the many different species records that you will collect.

A BioBlitz can be carried out at any time of year although most events tend to occur in the spring and summer months. The location can range from a small urban park to an extensive rural nature reserve; although if you want lots of public involvement it is best to select an area that has a good urban population nearby or regularly has high visitor numbers. A base camp is set up in which to coordinate the event from and to keep reference books and equipment to help identify more difficult species. Local schools can help out if your event runs dur-ing part of a week day or local groups such as scouts and guides could get involved at weekends.

All forms of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife can be targeted, and also species in the marine environment if your event takes place in a coastal location. It helps to set a wide ranging programme of specific activities to encour-age public participation. Ideas include:

• bird spotting

• bat walks

• plant surveying

• moth trapping

• pond dipping

• mini beast hunts

• Rockpooling

• small mammal trapping

Some UK BioBlitz Facts and Figures

The first BioBlitz to be held in the UK (to the author’s knowledge) was at Colwick Country Park by the Not-tingham Biodiversity Action Group in June 2006 where they recorded 471 species in 24 hours.

School Children learning about species in rock pools © NBP Photog-rapher John Williamson

News


Winter

A midnight rock pool survey at the Wembury Bay BioBlitz in Aug 2009 uncovered the rare Giant Goby fish - Gobius cobitis. Of the 825 species identified during the event, 35 were non-native. This included several sea-weeds such as the invasive wireweed, Sargassum muticum.

Don’t worry about the weather. Non stop rain at Druridge Bay in September 2008 didn’t stop the Northum-berland Biodiversity Partnership recording 357 species in 24 hours, including a new record for the county for the moss Aloina rigida.

The Lincolnshire Biodiversity Partner-ship has held a BioBlitz at Banovallum House for four consecutive years and each year the species count has in-creased.

At the Dalbeattie Forest BioBlitz in 2009, hosted by The Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Resources Centre, the Village Hall that acted as the base camp turned out to be an undocu-mented bat roost, as someone spotted droppings half way up the painted walls inside the hall!

Would your Biodiversity Partnership like to get involved? Are you already planning an event and want to be part of a national programme? Contact Berry Goddard or Savita Custead at the Bristol Natural History Con-sortium on 01173 700971 or [email protected]

Elaine Jaggs

Northumberland Biodiversity Partnership

Year Species Count 2006 205

2007 326

2008 357

2009 476

Year Species Count 2006 205

2007 326

2008 357

2009 476

Children from scout group inspecting a Great Crested Newt © NBP Photographer John Williamson


News


Winter

Released Terrapins give added headache to wildlife experts Efforts to make urban ponds more wildlife-friendly are being hampered by exotic terrapins, say Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. The charity’s urban pond regeneration scheme will leave their staff with a unique problem: how to find new homes for exotic terrapins, which, when caught during pond clean-ups, are prohibited by law from being re-released. Originating from warmer climes, terrapins find it too cold to breed in the United Kingdom – but ‘populations’ have built up following several decades of former owners dump-ing unwanted pets into urban ponds and lakes. “Wildlife conservationists have long been aware of the un-welcome effects of releasing non-native plants and animals into the wild – but lately terrapins are proving to be a new headache,” said Rebecca Turpin, London Living Water Of-ficer at Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. “Much of our work involves making ponds more wildlife-friendly, but if terrapins are caught we are then faced with the problem of where to re-home them. Often terrapins end up being taken to animal rescue cen-tres, but sadly many are either full, or lack the finances to look after an animal which can live for over twenty years.” Amphibian and Reptile Conservation is calling for the public to think carefully about buying terrapins . “Baby terrapins might seem attractive pets. But they can grow to the size of a dinner plate. The importation of one species, the red-eared terrapin, was banned over ten years ago - but we’re still finding them in urban ponds because they can live for several decades.” said John Baker, Conservation Officer at Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. “More recently, their numbers have been reinforced by other terrapin species that have taken the place of red-ears in the pet trade.” added Dr Baker. “Terrapins are best left to specialist pet-keepers. They’re not a suitable pet for casual interest and they cer-tainly shouldn’t be purchased as a present at Christmas - or any other time.” Amphibian and Reptile Conservation is calling on the public to report sightings of exotic amphibian and rep-tile species (including terrapins) seen in the wild. For more information see the website, Alien Encounters - www.alienencounters.org.uk

© ARC

www.alienencounters.org.uk

News


Winter

Nature lovers shortlisted for photo prize Nature lovers from the West Country and the Lake District have been shortlisted for a national photography prize by capturing on film the benefits of ‘mucking in’ to help the envi-ronment. The photographic competition asked volunteers from across the country taking part in Muck in 4 Life activities to capture images of their conservation projects in action.

Muck in 4 Life is a Defra campaign encouraging more people to get involved in conservation projects. It promotes being active outdoors, whether in urban green spaces or the natural environment to improve both physical and mental health.

The competition judges chose two finalists from each Region, having carefully con-sidered more than 50 entries. Andrew Lawson is a profes-sional photographer and member of the judging panel. He said:

“We, as the judging panel were impressed by the inspi-rational quality of the photo-graphs and the stories they told of some truly life-enhancing projects. We would like to congratulate all those who took part in the Muck in 4 Life activities, those who entered the competition and of course, our four finalists.”

Andrew was joined on the panel by Environment Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies. He was equally impressed with the stan-dard of entries and said:

"These are all great photos and picking a winner is a difficult task. All of the photos show the enjoy-ment people get from mucking in to help the environment. I hope even more people will ‘muck in’ this year and help with conservation volunteer-ing which, as well as being fun, is good for both the volunteers and our environment."

Ilene Sterns: photo of Rhododendron clearing on Lundy Island

Mike Turner: photo of dry stone walling near Ennerdale Water

West Country finalists

Beryl Heaton: photo of bulb planting on Highridge Common in Bristol

Lake District finalists

Jamie Green: photo of brush burning in Rusland valley

Features


Winter

Thousands of Young People Doing One Thing for Nature

Where did it all start? The BBC Breathing Places campaign set out to encourage and to provide practical support for the public to help UK biodiversity by creating and maintaining Breathing Places for nature. The concept was of a network of small areas that were wildlife and people friendly. In this way nature and people would benefit equally. A school and young peoples work stream was included in the planning and a contract was awarded to the RSPB to make it a reality. This became BBC Breathing Places Schools, which has de-livered six activities over two years, to encourage pupils to improve their school grounds for nature and the school community.

At the heart of the RSPB plan was an active partnership of like-minded or-ganisations, across the whole of the UK, sharing a commitment to environ-mental education and practical conservation. To see the most up to date partner list look here.

A target of 10,000 registered schools was established at the outset. This could not be said to be a ‘SMART’ target for although it was Specific, Meas-urable, Relevant and Timely no one was confident that it was Achievable.

By bringing together a motivated, knowledgeable group of specialists and a world-class communications or-ganisation, we should never have doubted that the target was achievable.

Where are we today? Over 11,400 teachers had registered their schools by the middle of December 2009. Our research tells us that many participants are classroom assistants, governors, parents or other volunteers. Our research also tells us

that it is likely that 50% of participants have done one or more of the activities. That is about 5,000 schools and over 100,000 pupils Doing (at least) One Thing for nature.

There are regional variations in participation, both between coun-tries and within countries. Registration levels range between 30% and 90% of schools.

The activities have been designed for primary, middle and special schools, where promotion has been focused, but we have attracted nearly 1,000 secondary schools.

The investment in promotion has been significant using written in-vitations to head teachers, BBC

broadcast, BBC and partner web coverage and action on the ground by the BBC, RSPB and our partners. We have also benefited from coverage in news-letters, such as this one, all helping to spread the word. The two most suc-cessful methods have been direct mail and broadcast.

We should not underestimate the BBC brand factor. It is clear that the pub-lic, as represented by schoolteachers, have a high regard for the integrity and quality of the BBC content. It was important when building the partnership that it was under the BBC um-brella. The brand values of impartiality, universality and quality gave partner organisations the confidence to cooperate and to contribute.

Plastic bottle bug home © Janet Wilson

© Brian Reid

© Brian Reid

http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/teaching/breathingplacesschools/partners/index.asp

Features


Winter

Objectives not Targets! Although numbers are important in justifying the effort and the expenditure, the partnership had an underlying objective to get as many pupils as possible out of the classroom improving schools for nature. We believe that giving young people a positive and enjoyable experience of nature, at first hand, is vital to the future. Building a respect for nature and a feeling that we can do something worthwhile to support it, is the lesson that we hope participating young people will take with them into adulthood.

Our formal research and routine contact with schoolteachers and pupils confirms that BBC Breathing Places Schools has provided the sort of experience that has de-livered against this aim. Wonder in the eyes of an infant being shown a daddy-long-legs spider by older pupils is an illustration of the self-perpetuating process of expo-sure to and education about nature that we find and support in our schools.

How did we do it? The activity for each term is described in comprehensive teacher’s notes, in English and Welsh, providing a step-by-step guide to the main Do One Thing. Teachers can add more related things using supplementary

activity sheets. A set of curriculum links for all four countries rounds of the package. All of these resources can be downloaded from bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/schools.

Registered teachers are supplied with an activity folder to manage the re-sources and the BBC has provided giveaways for some term activities.

Many of our partners prepare web pages, related to each term, which are linked from the relevant pages on the BBC web site. In this way we are able to offer schools extension activities and further information and to make connections between schools and the partner organisations.

Where do we go next? The BBC have decided to continue the campaign in this International Year of Biodiversity, and have asked our partnership to develop a seventh Do One Thing activity for the summer term of 2010. We have provided themed activities on seed sowing, nurturing minibeasts, feeding wildlife, homes for wildlife, water and trees. The new activity will launch in May, building on the previous activities and will focus on the topic of biodi-versity itself. We hope to mobilise most of our 11,400 teachers to take part and would be pleased if more schools decide to join in.

Conclusion From a personal point of view, the opportunity to be involved in BBC Breathing Places Schools has been a highlight of my working career. The BBC has provided the RSPB and our partners with a unique opportunity to influence the next generation helping young people to understand, support and enjoy the nature around them. The calibre of our partner representatives and the generous contribution of ideas and practical re-sources have been reflected in the enthusiasm that we have encountered in schools, despite the high work-loads experienced by teachers. We hope that we have created a resource base that can be used for years to come, introducing more young people to enjoyment of nature.

Brian Reid, RSPB, BBC Breathing Places Project Manager

© Brian Reid

Naomi Arnold © Paul Lang-shaw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/schools/

Features


Winter

Swifts Swifts are probably the most exciting and spectacular birds we have living in our villages, towns and cities. But the recent decline in the number of Swifts nesting in Britain has been dramatic, of the order of 50 % over the past 15 years, and it is quite likely that unless we help them now, Swifts will be effectively extinct within the next twenty years.

The only known reason for their decline, and one that is ob-vious, is the loss of nest places. Swifts nest inside eaves and gables. Modern and refurbished buildings either do not have these apertures, or else they are blocked to meet the require-ments of the Building Regulations. The latest designs, the “Eco Homes” will in fact be completely sealed and so useless not only to Swifts, but also to bats too.

There are several things we can do to try to reduce this loss and if possible recover the Swift population we had not so long ago. The first and perhaps most important is to pre-serve existing nest sites. That is why I have been involved with the Cherwell District Council in a project to identify the places where they nest, and to try to ensure that those sites are not damaged.

But we also need to create more nest sites. This can be done by incorporating “Swift Bricks” (pre-fabricated nest boxes that fit into the walls) into new buildings. These have been included in the Spiceball Centre in Ban-bury. As new buildings do not have the spaces under eaves and cavities in the walls which are essential for Swifts to nest in, hopefully this example can be copied much more widely in new buildings elsewhere.

Another even simpler method is to provide nest boxes which are now widely used by Swifts. The idea of placing nest boxes in churches is an especially appropriate one because Swifts have probably nested in church buildings for hundreds of years. Recently however building repairs and the use of wire mesh to exclude feral pigeons have lim-ited this. Using churches for nest boxes also makes sound sense be-cause once installed, a nest box in a church is likely to remain undis-turbed for many years.

There are at least a couple of villages in Oxfordshire which have Swift boxes in the church. One is St Mary’s Kirtlington, where I got permis-sion from the Parochial Church Council in 2006 to install some in the louvred windows in the tower.

The boxes each contain several nest spaces. They are fixed immediately behind the louvre so that birds cannot get into the building itself. We have been playing a CD of Swift calls to try to entice them in, because although there are a few pairs in nearby buildings, they have not been nesting in the church itself recently. So far we have not attracted Swifts into these boxes, but this method has been successfully tried in several churches around Cambridgeshire and I am confident that in time they will use ours.

The hope is that by using these different means of helping our Swifts, our children and grandchildren will still be able to enjoy these charismatic summer visitors.

Chris Mason

For full information on how to help Swifts please visit www.swift-conservation.org

Swift chicks in a nest box © Ulrich Tiggs

© Graham Catley

http://www.swift-conservation.org/

Features


Winter

The Warwickshire Wetlands

Anyone following the progress of the Warwickshire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group over recent years will notice an underlying theme of water. Following a project on the River Leam, came the Blythe Anker and Tame catchment, also the Avon vale and latterly the Upper Trent. Running alongside this have been several riparian enhancements on farms as part of Environmental Stewardship, culminating in large-scale wetland and scrape creation on an arable farm on the Upper Leam.

While water obviously plays a fairly important part in creat-ing ponds, it is also vital in re-wetting grassland and like-wise for some arable reversion, allowing land to revert to flood meadows. Even land that simply remains as damp grassland is an important habitat for many plants and insects which in turn provide the food source particularly for young birds, and especially waders. Their chicks require a consis-tent supply of high protein invertebrate food as do other birds such as Tree Sparrows, Reed Bunting and Yellow Wag-tail.

Regarding the vegetation, different birds have different re-quirements, from tall to short grass, and dense swards to ar-eas of bare earth. It follows that a bit of grazing can help cre-ate this variety while the manure encourages more inverte-brates. The days when a small area was managed for a par-ticular species is now largely in the past, we are increasingly looking at the whole ecosystem through twelve months of the year, linked to larger “landscape” scale projects which can take in riparian areas through several neighbouring farms.

This partnership approach is producing much better envi-ronmental gain, allowing farmers to receive a regular in-come from the Stewardship schemes for the sensitive man-

agement of these less profitable areas of the farm. They are also able to share equipment and expertise, which brings us on to one of the more recent innovations in wetland creation.

After much anticipation, the RSPB’s Rotary Ditcher visited Warwickshire in the autumn of 2008. This ma-chine was purchased by the RSPB with the support of Heritage Lottery Fund to create wet features in grass-land to provide habitats for breeding waders. The ditcher is ten times faster and works out at half the cost of a standard excavator, which makes it a much sought-after machine.

The machine worked on two Warwickshire Farms (Toft Farm and Burnt Heath Farm). The intention was to restore and create wet grassland for breeding waders, particularly lapwing which already breed on and around these sites. Having the machine working on two farms meant that transport costs could be shared, which we found an important consideration, and a larger area of habitat could be created.

On Toft Farm we created 1900m of foot drains, and at Burnt Heath Farm we created 1320m. Foot drains are shallow channels 2-3m wide and up to 40cm deep. These features are intended to catch and hold water into

© FWAG 2008

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the early summer. As they dry out and the water recedes bare mud is created to provide feeding habitat for breeding waders and their chicks. As the machine operates with a laser levelling system we are able to design the site to ensure that features were at the correct depth.

Recent research (Eglington et al 2007) has shown that fields with high density of foot drains attract higher densities of nesting lap-wings, and that chicks are more likely to feed near these features.

We found that the benefits of the ditcher were that it spread spoil evenly across the field up to 30m away. This removed the need for the costly removal of spoil from the floodplain. We also used the ditcher on long runs with minimal turning time, which was the most efficient and cost effective way to use the machine.

To maximise the benefits for wildlife we used the following tech-niques:

• Creating variable depths of foot drains, meaning that they will dry out unevenly and create wet muddy edge at different stages during the breeding season.

• Leaving the bottom of the foot drains with an uneven finish, leaving a series of pools as they dry out which should concentrate the food for breeding waders.

We also had several considerations before using the machine, and as a condition of hire, we were required to consult on a number of matters. This included site designations, archaeological interest, and Environment Agency consent.

The success of this project shows the value of partnership working as FWAG, working closely with the land-owner, involved both the Environment Agency and the RSPB at an early stage.

The ditcher is owned by the RSPB and operated by specialist agricultural contractors RC Baker (at the time of the work in Warwickshire the machine was operated by Agrivert). The ditcher can only be used for conservation projects approved by the RSPB’s Ditcher Project Manager. For more information visit www.rspb.org.uk/rotaryditcher or email [email protected]

Update- lessons learnt.

The extremely wet conditions on the day restricted work to two “passes” with the ditcher, this proved to be insufficient and several months later it was necessary to re-profile with an excavator. This shows the impor-tance of having the ditcher at the right time, in the right conditions. The hire cost is a significant factor in de-ciding whether to use this, or a more conventional digger which can be brought on at short notice when con-ditions are favourable.

© FWAG 2009

http://www.rspb.org.uk/rotaryditcher


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School Farm Visits Connecting Children with Biodiversity

Children need to engage with the natural world as part of their personal de-velopment. If they are allowed to explore the countryside and outdoors gen-erally it has been proven that they take an interest in, and improve their un-derstanding of, the natural environment.

More than 800 farms across England provide educational access visits, free of charge by prior arrangement, for schoolchildren as part of their agri-environment (Environmental Stewardship or predecessor Countryside Stew-ardship) scheme agreement. Visits can be used for a wide range of curricular subjects e.g. geography, history, maths, sciences, citizenship, art and music, and other studies including learning about how the food we eat is grown, and learning about countryside landscapes and habitats, the species that live there and how farming impacts on them.

Participating farmers provide teacher information packs to help teachers plan their visit. They provide information about the farm, crops grown and the farming practices employed, the plant and wildlife species that may be present, plus question sheets about the farm and suggestions for other work-sheets. Many of the farmers involved have undertaken special training through the Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme (CEVAS) which equips them with the skills necessary to share their knowledge of the countryside with children in a way that makes them interested and want to learn more. (CEVAS is the recognised ‘badge’ for countryside visits under the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) - led Learning Outside the Classroom manifesto to which Defra is a signatory).

Guided walks/talks are also available for special interest groups of all ages for life-long learning about the countryside, it’s wildlife and plants, and the environmentally friendly farming methods adopted through agri-environment schemes. Farm facts leaflets are provided by the farmer to support these visits.

• In 2007 (the latest year for which detailed figures are available), agri-environment scheme educational access supported over 6,800 edu-cational access visits to farms by more than 170,000 people, the major-ity of these being schoolchildren in the 7-11 year age range

• 92% of visiting schools reported improvements in children’s knowl-edge as a result of the visit.

• 99% of schools said they would visit again.

Natural England, which delivers agri-environment schemes for Defra is also using educational access to help achieve their aim of getting one million children out into the countryside to reconnect with nature.

Details of farms offering visits can be found on the Natural England website at http://cwr.naturalengland.org.uk

© Farming and countryside Education

© Farming and countryside Education

http://cwr.naturalengland.org.uk

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Hedgerows Hedgerows are a major farmland habitat for wildlife. Hedgelink UK (formerly the UK Hedgerows Habitat Action Plan Group) has recently launched an inter-active learning micro-site aimed at children aged 7-11, funded by Defra, Natural England and the National Hedge Laying Society . This includes information about hedgerows habitats and the species found there provided by Doris dormouse who encourages children to ‘create a hedge’. There are also teaching aids, and a mini hedgerow survey which children can complete on farm/countryside visits or in their own school grounds. The micro-site can be found on the Hedgelink web-site at http://www.hedgelink.org.uk and on the Growing Schools website at http://www.growingschools.org.uk/

Synergy through Partnerships 2010 New Year is the time for new starts and new opportunities, a time when we can assess how fortunate we are for the friendships we have and a time when we can make resolutions to better communicate with those around us.

We should also use this time to consider our relationships with the charities and businesses with whom we work to conserve and enhance biodiversity. If a good relationship is measured as progress made against pro-ject targets, then socio-economic studies have documented that relationships with well communicated goals will be those that flourish.

Aggregate Industries is a producer and supplier of materials to the construction industry and has been work-ing with The Wildlife Trusts for a number of years. As major landholders across the UK, we have long been aware of our social responsibility, successfully publishing our first company biodiversity plan in 2003. The Wildlife Trusts recognise that working with business reaches out to a different audience and advice will be gratefully received.

Both The Wildlife Trusts and Aggregate Industries have learnt collectively, that a bal-anced relationship between equal partners develops effec-tively via the four main ele-ments of a partnership: choos-ing partners, solving problems and overcoming conflicts, com-municating internally and exter-nally and, finally, measuring progress.

Initially - and hardest for some, is choosing the right partner. For a corporate, it can be locat-ing someone with similar ideals or who will contribute effec-tively to a specific project. For a charity, the challenges may © Aggregate industries UK limited

http://www.hedgelink.org.uk

http://www.growingschools.org.uk

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come from members who foresee working with certain sectors as “fraternising with the enemy” or anticipate a loss of independence. Deciding whether you are looking for a partner who will last (initially at least) just for a project or for a specific length of time makes the decision easier.

For Aggregate Industries, we were initially looking for a short term partner whose focus was on the whole of the environment rather than a specific species. It was fortunate that The Wildlife Trusts were looking to learn about accreditation in business processes like ours to strengthen their Biodiversity Benchmark, under their Chief Executive, Stephanie Hilborne. Therefore synergy through partnership became an expectation for eve-ryone involved.

Through supporting The Wildlife Trusts both partners have learnt more about building in capacity and de-veloping transparency so problem solving and overcoming conflicts efficiently became easier over time. This has enabled The Wildlife Trusts to take full advantage of campaigns like the BBC Breathing Places. Like any relationship – we need to recognise each others’ needs to move forward together. Before the relationship was even finalised, exit strategies were agreed which included post project evaluation so both sides could review achievements made and reflect.

In order to communicate internally and externally on both sides, it was found that a variety of levels within the organisation proved to be most effective. Aggregate Industries found that project outcomes were achieved if the ‘key people’ selected had both a wide reach within the business and a personal interest in the project matter – in this case biodiversity and community engagement. As an organisation very much focus-sed on grass roots action in local communities, The Wildlife Trusts are uniquely placed to identify and en-gage with those key people.

Our relationship continuously improves over time, and has meant we have each learnt more about how the other works, motivations and priorities. Together, we have tried and tested ways of measuring our progress using what we hope are meaningful performance indicators. Through success and exposure, a greater pro-portion of the leaders of the 47 Wildlife Trusts have an appreciation of the work carried out by Aggregate Industries - a number have been on quarry tours, supported site biodiversity action plans and/or benefitted from a donation of materials on their reserves.

As we move into 2010, The Wildlife Trusts and Aggregate Industries are again communicating about projects which will take place over the next three years, continuously striving to raise awareness, make introductions, promote communication, re-evaluate lessons-learned and above all, investigate new synergy opportunities to make these connections possible.

In the International Year of Biodiversity, we can support each other in ‘Thinking Globally, Acting Locally’ and getting the message of the importance of biodiversity out to as many people as will listen.

None of us can make the changes necessary on our own; should all our New Year resolutions be to find and improve communications with our partners for 2010?

Delia Shannon

Biodiversity Manager, Aggregate Industries [email protected] 01530 816664

With thanks to Tanya Perdikou at The Wildlife Trusts, Newark


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UK Wildlife Scoops Heritage Lottery Fund jackpot to the tune of £860M

Wildlife from the red-barbed ant to the basking shark are just some of the UK’s unlikely winners of the Na-tional Lottery, which has just celebrated its 15th anniversary. While lucky winners have scooped millions of pounds since the lottery launched in 1994, many of the UK’s most endangered plants and animals together with their habitats have also benefited from Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grants.

Corinna Woodall, Policy Advisor Landscape Partnerships and Biodiversity commented: “Our biodiversity is fundamentally important, but often undervalued for the wide benefits it brings for both society and the econ-omy. HLF investment has been crucial in protecting some of our most threatened wildlife and without it many of our valued habitats and species may be in an even more precarious state than they are in today. We can celebrate some real success stories but there is still much to do particularly in 2010, the International Year of Bio-diversity, where the new UK list of priority habitats and species sets us a new challenge for future fund-ing.”

HLF - biggest supporter of the UK’s natural heritage

For 15 years, HLF has not only been transforming a wide range of heritage, it has also become one of the biggest sup-porters of the UK’s natural heritage. Since 1994, the Fund has invested more than £860 million to help safeguard Brit-ain’s precious countryside, wildlife and parks. It has made major contributions toward the delivery of the UK Biodi-versity Action Plan (UKBAP), with £278 million awarded specifically to 2,270 bio-diversity and species projects. For example, HLF funding has restored 47,000 hectares of low-land heath (80 percent of target) and enabled the expansion of chalk grassland by 643 hectares (64 percent of target). Funding has also supported some of the UK’s rarest species such as the native red squirrel, water voles, horseshoe bats, the red-barbed ant along with the native barn owl.

Investing in the UK’s most endangered species

HLF funding supports a broad range of projects, such as the HLF grant of £4,300 to Rushcliffe Barn Owl Pro-ject which helped to reintroduce Barn Owls back to Nottinghamshire. The £50,000 award to the London Zoo-logical Society for the red-barbed ant will have helped to save this UKBAP priority species from imminent ex-tinction on the UK mainland. Its precarious status is primarily due to habitat degradation and loss and it cur-rently only survives on the Isles of Scilly and at one site in Surrey. The Surrey site is all female as this species forms single sex nests, but there are no all male nests left on the mainland. A key part of this project was to raise awareness of the plight of this species and its habitat within local communities and engage volunteers. The project is currently breeding red-barbed ants in captivity for release in the wild, is managing habitat at existing red-barbed ant sites (Chobham Common National Nature Reserve and the Isles of Scilly) and is creat-ing suitable habitats at nearby sites where the ant used to be found.

Hummingbird Hawk-moth © David Green

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Securing the UK’s natural habitats

Larger projects that HLF has funded include funding of £289, 000 to Butterfly Conservation in the south east of England which is taking a strategic approach to ad-dressing habitat management across 95 woodlands, through supporting landowners and training volun-teers. However, the £7.2 million worth of HLF funding for the restoration of Great Fen in Cambridgeshire represents the largest grant award made by HLF in Eng-land for a biodiversity project. The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough has acquired 1,300 hectares of arable land with HLF support in order to reconnect lost fenland habitat and reconnect two isolated National Nature Re-serves. There is a strong emphasis on enabling and en-couraging access to these regenerating areas of wilder-ness.

Challenges for 2010

In 2010, HLF will be supporting the United Nation’s International Year of Biodiversity and welcomes fund-ing applications for biodiversity projects across the UK. More information about the types of projects it funds and how to apply for funding can be found on the fund’s website www.hlf.org.uk. New guidance spe-cifically on biodiversity projects will also be available shortly.

© Rushcliffe Barn Owl Project

http://www.hlf.org.uk/

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Set aside – The Campaign for a Farmed Environment

The Country Land & Business Association (CLA) alongside the National Farmers Union (NFU) have been developing a proposal to put farmers in the driving seat in terms of set aside mitigation. The industry pro-posal was initiated following the governments plans to demand that farmers manage between 4-6% of their land specifically for environmental outputs through cross-compliance. This was not the same as former set aside since farmers would need to choose from a limited range of environmental land management options and if any of these were to fail, farmers SPS payments could be at risk. It has been estimated that this would force an additional 240,000 ha of land out of production.

The CLA and partners felt that the government proposals failed to acknowledge the enormous amount of high quality environmental management already taking place and could potentially jeopardise all that had been achieved to date. The industry approach known as The Campaign for a Farmed En-vironment (CFE) has been developed to recognise the envi-ronmental management already being delivered by land man-agers both through agri-environment schemes and also through other unrewarded mechanisms.

The campaign is formed on the belief that there are many challenges still to be overcome whether it be food security, climate change or those presented under the Wa-ter Framework Directive. If we are to address and overcome these we will need all farmers to take a part and the campaign offers a mechanism for the industry to work with government and conservation bodies to en-sure that all future challenges can be addressed but in a way that has a proportionate impact on farming businesses.

The Campaign aims to recapture and exceed the delivery of environmental benefits that were previously provided by set-aside on arable land. It will do this by focusing farmers and land managers attention on three key themes:

1. Resource Protection – protection of soil and water-courses

2. Farmland bird habitats – management and creation of the ‘big 3’ for farmland birds – namely safe nesting sites, spring/summer feed-ing opportunities for chicks and overwintering seed sources for adults

3. Farmland biodiversity – maintaining and enhancing key arable farmland habitats

The Campaign has agreed to meet a number of

© Corrina Gibbs

© Corrina Gibbs

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National (England) targets over a three year period (July 2009 – June 2012). These include:

- Supporting increased uptake of ELS

- Doubling the take-up of key in-field options within ELS

- Retaining a proportion of uncropped land (179,000ha) and seeking to enhance the environmental management on at least a third of it

- Increase the adoption of voluntary environmental management options be-ing undertaken on land outside of agri-environment schemes by 30,000ha over current levels

- Encouraging 60% of farmers currently not engaged in agri-environment agreements to undertake the Campaign’s voluntary environmental management options on their land

The first challenge for the CFE has been to demonstrate to ministers and government officials that the indus-try is fully behind the campaign. Key bodies including the CLA and NFU are working in partnership with Defra and its agencies, Natural England and the Environment Agency, alongside conservation organisations including RSPB and The Wildlife Trust. Local liaison groups are driving forward the Campaign in the target areas – where arable farming predominates. The liaison groups are chaired by a local farmers and taken for-ward by an employed county co-coordinator, funded by Defra.

For more details contact the National Campaign Coordinator Corrina Gibbs:

[email protected]

Tel: 024 7685 8536

www.cfeonline.org.uk

Ben Underwood, CLA, Deputy Regional Director,

[email protected]

© Corrina Gibbs


http://www.cfeonline.org.uk


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Isle of Wight Biodiversity: celebrating 10 years of local action

2009 was a milestone for the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partnership as we cele-brated our 10th birthday. Much has been achieved in the last ten years to improve our natural environment for both wildlife and the enjoyment of people who live here or visit the Island.

Back in September 1999, the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partnership was formed. A steering group meets regularly to discuss and oversee work being carried out to benefit the Island’s biodiversity. Working this way helps us pool our resources, enables us to consider our achievements and challenges and how we contribute towards the bigger regional and national picture.

There have been many suc-cesses during the last ten years which were highlighted at our birthday event attended by rep-resentatives from across the Island and South East region, and also within in a special publication ‘Isle of Wight Biodi-versity: celebrating 10 years of local action’. Here are some examples of which we can be proud and set the Island apart from other English counties.

Our chalk grassland is rich in a variety of species and managed carefully in a traditional way by grazing with minimal or no use of fertilisers with currently, more than 85% in favourable or recovering condition.

Our

spectacular coastlines support a rich diversity of wild-life and geology, some of which are of national impor-tance. The Islands’ soft cliffs have been recognised as some of the richest in the UK for their wildlife and our shallow, sheltered sandy bays are host to some of the UK’s most important underwater seagrass meadows – vital for young fish and seahorses.

The Island is home to 119 species of national impor-tance with a further 477 indentified as being locally distinctive. In fact, we have a handful of species which only exist on the Island, some of which are carefully monitored, others unfortunately not faring so well.

The pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly is one not doing so well. This little treasure is nationally threatened and is now confined to a tiny area in Parkhurst Forest.

© Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partnership

Chalk grassland with pyramidal orchids © Tina Whitmore

Cliff tiger beetle © Roger Key

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Ten years ago, it was widespread across the Forest but has since declined drastically due to a lack of suitable woodland management. However, a new work programme is currently underway, hopefully just in time to save the pearl-bordered fritillary from extinction.

The water vole is seldom seen on the Island, but despite a slight decline in numbers, the UK’s largest vole is actually doing quite well. The Island is the only county to not have feral mink, an introduced species which has contributed to the national decline of water voles. However, we must im-prove our waterway management and water quality to re-verse the decline of our local popula-tion.

Looking back over the last ten years we can truly celebrate many successes in protecting plants, animals and the habitats they depend upon, but it is clear there is still much work to do. The Island’s habi-tats and species are changing under pressure from both natural and human actions. The need for the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partner-ship is as strong now as it ever was and we will continue to work together to meet both the challenges ahead and to seek new opportu-nities in future.

------------------------------

Isle of Wight Biodiversity: celebrating 10 years of local action’ is available as a pdf from www.wildonwight.co.uk/library.

For more information on the Isle of Wight Biodiversity Partnership please visit www.wildonwight.co.uk

Contact: Tina Whitmore – Biodiversity Projects Officer [email protected]

Pearl-bordered fritillary © Keith Marston

Water vole © DEFRA

http://www.wildonwight.co.uk/library




www.wildonwight.co.uk


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Pembrokeshire bumblebee project wins £25k prize A project to encourage a rare bumblebee has been named the winner of a £25,000 conservation prize.

It is hoped the scheme to enhance the wildflower habitat near Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire, will help to establish a col-ony of shrill carder bees. It is one of just six sites in the UK where the species can be found. It was chosen as the winner of the 30,000 euro prize in an online vote on the Live for the Outdoors website, from a shortlist of six UK projects. The Pembrokeshire scheme is a collabora-tion between the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Ministry of Defence, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and the Countryside Council for Wales. "This is not only brilliant news for the shrill carder bee and other bumblebees but for a whole host of birds and beasties that

need more wildflower grasslands in Pembrokeshire," said Dr Pippa Rayner, Conservation Officer for the Bumblebee Trust. "We are so pleased that the project seems to have captured the public's enthusiasm and support and thank each and every person who voted. "We can't wait to get started and begin restoring wildflower habitats for bumblebees in Pembrokeshire." The shrill carder bee, named because of its high-pitched buzz , remains the rarest bumblebee in Wales and England. Its decline has been linked to the loss of wildflower environments and grassland meadows. Local ranger Lynne Houlston said: "Our project is at Castlemartin Range and includes planting native wild-flowers, linking related habitats and working directly to conserve a UK biodiversity action plan species, alongside the MoD's proposed creation of a new trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders."

Further good news for bees, the Wales Biodiversity Partnership is pledging financial support to enhance habitats for the shrill carder bee Bombus sylvarum at Solutia Meadows Reserve in the Gwent Levels. This re-serve is managed by Gwent Wildlife Trust and is known to support both B. sylvarum and the brown-banded carder bee B. humilis, which are each UK BAP species with important populations in south Wales. Habitat management works will be used to safeguard and expand existing species-rich meadow areas through scrub clearance, removal of inappropriate tree-planting and enhancing semi-improved fields through seed addi-tion, with all works undertaken under the advice of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT).

© BBCT

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38ha of new wet grassland habitat for Wigeon

WWT Consulting, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) and the Environment Agency (EA) have worked together to create 38 hectares of new wet grassland at Lady Fen Farm in Norfolk. The project has already proved to be a great success with daily re-cords of up to 1000 Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope.

WWT Consulting was appointed in 2005 by the EA to assess a number of sites in Norfolk to see whether they would be suitable for Wigeon habitat creation. New habitat was required to com-pensate for essential flood defence work carried out on the Mid-dle Level Barrier Bank of the Ouse Washes.

Wigeon favour open, flatter areas of land with good all round vision to ensure early warning of potential predators. The pres-ence of standing water is also a key feature. Wigeon particularly favour narrow, grassy strips at the peripheries of water. WWT Consulting looked specifically for an area of land where more than 30 percent open water could be created with shallow flooded areas and wide ditches, enabling roosting birds to retreat onto the water for safety. Although the diversity of the grass sward is not so important for Wigeon, the height is, as they need to be able to walk through the grassland and have good all-round visibility. Therefore, a grassland would need to be cre-ated where a sward of around 5cm in height could be achieved through grazing management.

The feasibility study assessed the topography, soil and hydrological conditions of the sites and identified Lady Fen as suitable, which the EA subsequently purchased in 2006. WWT Consulting were then appointed to undertake the detailed design and build of the project. Site supervision of the construction, by Fen Ditch-ing, was carried out by WWT staff. The ongoing management of the site is being carried out by WWT under

a 20 year agreement with the EA.

The main technical issues to overcome were hydrological. To maintain suitable water lev-els across the site the design needed to over-come a seasonal water deficit, deal with nu-trient rich water from a largely agricultural catchment and ensure that farmland, build-ings and surrounding roads would not be at risk of flooding. Site surveys determined the drainage, depth of underlying peat and clay, and topographic profiles across the site. Based on this, the design focused on altering the topography to accentuate the natural contours and create a sealed hydrological

Wigeon © Robbie Wilson

Post construction © Emma Hutchins WWT

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unit. This was achieved through bunding and the use of an imper-meable membrane. This ensured surrounding areas were not at risk of flooding as all water was impounded within the site. Transfor-mation into wet grassland was achieved by digging a system of ditches, channels and scrapes, inserting a waterproof liner and seeding it with native grasses.

As water levels are critical for Wigeon, the site has been engineered to allow control. This is achieved through the use of a settlement pond that holds abstracted water, pumped from a main drain, be-fore release into the ditch network as required. This settlement pond also acts as a wetland treatment system to reduce nutrient levels. Grazing by sheep and cattle has been established to manage the grassland, with an electric fence serving the dual purpose of

containing the livestock and deterring terrestrial predators.

The scheme has also been designed to benefit a number of breeding spe-cies such as Lapwing, Snipe and Redshank. Moreover, the project may help to retain Black Tailed-godwits in the Ouse Washes area. Their breeding areas have been restricted in recent years and for the last two years un-seasonal rains have led to spring / summer flooding on the Ouse Washes and the subsequent loss of eggs and chicks.

Although Lady Fen Farm was primarily transformed for wetland spe-cies, features were also retained and enhanced for the existing suite of farmland birds, such as Linnets, Tree Sparrows, Yellow Hammer, Corn Buntings and Goldfinches. This included planting of a native hedgerow, that also serves as a screen to an adjacent road and seeding of the road verge with wildflower mix to increase abundance of food.

Construction was completed in 2009 and early indications suggest that the project is proving to be a success. In addition to the numbers of Wigeon seen at Lady Fen Farm, Snipe and Jack Snipe have been recorded along with more than 120 Lapwing, 200 Golden Plover and 200 Whooper Swans.

Jon Mellings WWT Consulting and Emma Hutchins WWT.

WWT Consulting is the UK’s leading specialist wetland consultancy. We provide species surveys, habitat creation, restoration, management and visitor centre design services to our clients worldwide.

The consultancy is based at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK, the headquarters of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) to whom it returns all its profits to assist with wetland research and conservation.

Wigeon © James Lees

Post construction Livestock grazing © Emma Hut-chins WWT

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Planning for habitat networks—Clyde Valley Project

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Glas-gow Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership (GCVGNP) partner-ship have commissioned a project to develop an approach/model to align SEPA’s River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) require-ments with GCVGNP’s recently developed Integrated Habitat Net-work (IHN) model for the Clyde Valley. The enhancement and ex-pansion of habitat networks is a key mechanism for reversing effects of fragmentation of biodiversity, improving landscape resilience, and helping species adapt to climate change. Improvements to eco-logical networks can be undertaken directly as part of biodiversity action plans, site conservation management and may come about indirectly through property development or other improvement opportunities (e.g. Flood defence schemes, Sustainable Urban Drainage Schemes). The RBMP process driven by the EC Water Framework Directive seeks to improve the quality of our water environment, including their physical, chemical and ecological characteristics. An extensive programme of ‘measures’ is being devel-oped by SEPA and RBMP partners to achieve the required improvements.

Combining the expansion and improvement of ecological networks with implementation of RBMP provides great opportunities for delivering multiple benefits and achieving greatest environmental improvements. For example, wetland creation, reconnecting rivers with their floodplain, riparian woodland creation to contrib-ute to reducing impacts of diffuse pollution. This project is developing a ‘screening’ model to identify target locations where this approach is likely to be beneficial, opportunity areas will be discussed and agreed with partners, they may for example include areas of derelict land regeneration, urban development or rural land use change. The project outcomes will help Clyde Area Advisory group and partners to prioritise and de-velop practical measures at the catchment scale. This pilot project covers the Clyde Valley, but it is intended that the model can later be applied to other areas of Scotland.

Through a workshop which took place on the 3rd December we aim to engage partners in identifying key data sets, areas for habitat expansion and protection, potential case study locations, and receive feedback on proposed methods. If you would like more information please contact Heather Musgrave ([email protected]) or Louise Bond ([email protected])

Forth & Clyde canal, Knightswood, Glasgow © SEPA

Habitats along the River Clyde at Erskine © GCV green network



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WInter

The diagram below shows the study area with RBMP water bodies (red areas those water bodies with diffuse pollution pressures, at less than good status), orange areas generalist woodland networks within 1 km of wa-ter bodies with diffuse pollution pressures, intersecting with potential opportunity area, blue areas defined as vacant and derelict land.

Highlighting the benefits of the project Ally Corbett, Develop-ment Officer with the Glasgow Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership said "The Integrated Habitat Network (IHN) Model has the potential to be a key tool for reversing the ef-fects of habitat fragmentation. By combining this model with SEPA's initiative there are opportunities to deliver multiple benefits and achieve the greatest environmental impacts. Louise Bond, Senior Biodiversity Ecologist with SEPA, added "Taking a partnership approach we are scoping out these op-portunities and identifying target locations where the project approach is likely to be beneficial. A report detailing the next steps for the project is due May 2010.

GCV Integrated Habitat Network Model (Forest Research) - http://www.gcvgreennetwork.gov.uk/publications/reports_strategies.php

Clyde Area Advisory Group - http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning/area_advisory_groups/clyde.aspx

©Crown copyright. (2009)

http://www.gcvgreennetwork.gov.uk/publications/reports_strategies.php




http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/river_basin_planning/area_advisory_groups/clyde.aspx




Local & Regional


Winter

Details of bryologist placement at RSPB Abernethy NNR

The BTCV Natural Talent Scheme, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the RSPB, at Abernethy NNR, have collaborated to make it possible for an enthusiastic apprentice bryologist to contribute to biodiversity knowl-edge on the reserve. In late-autumn 2009, previously un-recorded areas of potential bryological interest were

targeted for survey. Over twenty new taxa for the re-serve have been discovered including the first definite record of the nationally scarce liverwort Cephalozia pleniceps since 1912. This species had last been noted by Knight and Nicholson with a vague locality close to what was to become the reserve boundary – so it was pleasing to find a location well within. In addition, new sites have been found for the endangered moss Buxbaumia viridis, three nationally rare species namely Cynodontium strumiferum, Orthotrichum speciosum and Sphagnum riparium and ten nationally scarce species. This work has built on previous contracted surveys of the mountainous parts of the reserve to take the total number of bryophytes recorded to nearly four hun-dred taxa. RSPB Abernethy NNR is clearly an impor-tant reserve for mosses and liverworts, with good populat ions

of many rare species. For example, the liverwort Tetralophozia seti-formis and the moss Pohlia filum are well represented at RSPB Aber-nethy NNR but outside of the Cairngorms, their main centre of dis-tribution, they are very rare. This work has developed the expertise of the apprentice and highlighted some important localities for bryo-phytes within the reserve - providing useful information for future management decisions.

Article by Oliver Moore (BTCV Natural Talent Apprentice Bryolo-gist)

email: [email protected]

The BTCV Natural Talent Scheme aims to train the next generation of naturalists. More details at http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/naturaltalent

More details about the RSPB Abernethy NNR can be found at

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochgarten/index.asp

© Oliver Moore

© Oliver Moore


http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/naturaltalent




http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochgarten/index.asp

Local & Regional


Winter

First Biodiversity Festival deemed a great success The first Tayside Biodiversity Festival was held in May with a 10 day celebration of wildlife and biodiversity in Angus, Dundee and Perthshire.

Angus showcased its impressive range of biodi-versity with a range of activities including a guided Reptile Walk to Loch Lee in the Angus Glens, the opportunity to participate in the big-gest spring bird survey ever in the Angus Glens, a guided walk along Seaton Cliffs 400 million year old red sandstone cliffs and a one day intro-ductory Bumblebee Identification Day in associa-tion with the Angus ranger service and Bumble-bee Conservation Trust.

One of the highlight of the festival was re-nowned photographer David Boag's light-hearted talk on his wildlife photographic adven-tures in Scottish quarries, and his session on wildlife photography techniques afterwards.

This event also saw the launch of the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s ZOOM In2 photographic project. The project provides free recyclable cameras to participants and asks them to choose a local green space and photograph it from the same spot every month for a year.

This time next year 20 sets of photographs from each local authority area will be selected and turned into time lapse films. For more information please visit www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk.

Spindle Ermine Moth Web with Caterpillars Caterpillars of the Spindle Ermine Moth, Yponomeuta cagnagella which we found in masses on spindle bushes on the B4509 road out of Wickwar (ST715903). Their food plant is the Spindle and they make cocoons amongst the leaves. Often they decimate whole swathes of foliage on the bushes as in this case. They tend to be found in chalk and limestone districts. I have never seen a larval infestation like this before. We found them in August last year.

Hazel Willmott

Pictures © Hazel Willmott

© Angus Council

http://www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk

UKBAP Update


Winter

Latest News Alongside the unexpectedly festive seasonal weather, 2010 begins not only a new decade but the start of the International Year of Biodiversity. 2010 is set to be a pivotal year for global biodiversity and conserva-tion, with the UK Biodiversity Action Plan involved with, relating to, and underpinning work and initia-tives across the countries and elsewhere in Europe. Reporting and targets for 2010 and beyond are being examined at both a UK- and devolved level, with the release of SNH’s ‘Scotland’s Wildlife – an assessment of biodiversity in 2010’ and the development of CCW’s Welsh BAP report. The 2010 edition of the UK Biodiversity Indicators are in production, drawing together updated trends from eighteen areas of conservation interest, and providing evidence to compare these to European and International progress. Publication of the latest indicators is intended to coincide with the International Day for Biodiversity on May 22nd. Meeting and collaboration between the UKBAP groups also continues into 2010, with the Biodiversity In-formation Reporting Group (BRIG) meeting in early February and the Biodiversity Research Advisory Group (BRAG) reviewing their activities of 2009. The new UK Habitat Groups have all met at least once, as a forum for sharing information and best practice on their habitats across the countries and working to-wards consistency of targets across the UK where appropriate. On research, Defra received over 30 expressions of interest in response to its call for proposals on the status, taxonomy and ecology of UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and habitats, and tenders have now been invited from a range of organisations. Work being taken forward by BRIG includes creating a web-based mechanism to make the wealth of knowledge on habitat management for species more accessible, and identifying the most cost-effective way of organising reporting in the light of devolution and our international requirements. We look forward to the launch of the progress and plans of the National Ecosystem Assessment and making an input to this via the user group. Updating of the UKBAP web resources is underway, with both the UKBAP site and the Biodiversity Ac-tion Reporting Service (BARS) set to undergo the first part of major updates and overhauls of their struc-ture and function. The updates will better reflect both the new BAP process itself, and provide a more available resource for BAP-practitioners and other interested parties. With biodiversity likely to be in the news a lot this year, a more-accessible information on the UK approach will be needed – so watch this space! Finally, a date for your diary – the 2010 UK Biodiversity Partnership Conference will take place in Stirling on 23-24 November, focussed on responding to the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity due to take place in Nagoya, Japan, in October. - Linda Birkin, JNCC

http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/

http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/biodiversityreport2010.pdf

http://www.biodiversitywales.org.uk/reporting-37.aspx

http://www.cbd.int/idb/

http://www.ukbap.org.uk/library/UKSC/DEF-PB12772-ConBio-UK.pdf

http://www.ukbap.org.uk/

http://www.ukbap-reporting.org.uk/

http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/

http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-1824

Publications


Winter

Natural Angus

A year round guide to viewing the natural wonders of Angus

Natural Angus is a perpetual calendar which highlights the wealth of biodiversity found in Angus throughout the year in our many spectacular habitats ranging from high in the Angus Glens down to the North Sea shore. Each month features a different habitat, species associated with it, events and photo op-portunities and how you can be a part of protecting Angus’s unique biodiversity.

The publication is available to local accommodation providers as reference for display and in limited num-bers in local libraries and museums. By highlighting what wildlife can be seen throughout the year it is hoped that people will be encouraged to make return visits to Angus at all times of year.

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy urges local government to promote sustainable development and biodi-versity conservation and Angus Council and Tayside Biodiversity Partnership have been able to produce this guide due to the kind assistance of Scottish Natural Heritage, VisitScotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

The Calendar was officially launched at a Bumblebee identification course on Thursday 7th May at Crom-bie Country Park during the ‘Tayside Biodiversity Festival’ which ran 1st May 2009 to 10th May in 2009.

Events


Winter

Tayside Biodiversity Festival: 1st to 31st May 2010

Following the success of the inaugural Festival held in Tayside in 2009, there will be an array of events throughout the month of May 2010. There will be the usual walks, talks and tours, ex-hibitions and seminars, some with an international theme to link to the International Year of Biodiversity, some with a Scot-land-wide theme to link to the Scottish Biodiversity Week. Film and science will feature again, with the Tayside Biodiversity Partnership working with the Dundee Science Centre, Scottish Crop Research Institute and Dundee Contemporary Arts. There will be an environmental arts and wildlife photog-raphy theme through much of the Festival with plenty of events for schools and families. The programme will be available via www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk in due course.

Tayside Orchard Festival: 9th to 24th October 2010

The second Carse of Gowrie Orchard Festival was held in the autumn of 2009 and involved an Apple Weekend at Glendoick Garden Centre, a Family Fruit Weekend at Historic Scotland's Elcho Castle, the plant-ing of a new school orchard at St. Madoes Primary School, and the Errol Community Apple Fair to which local people contributed their version of apple cake served with tea in the village hall. At each event apple juice making was the main draw, but there were also displays of Scottish fruit, cooking demonstrations, and fruit iden-tification. At the medieval Elcho Castle, visitors were encouraged to pick a bag of apples to take home to make an apple pie and many peo-

ple contributed to the Apple Ar-chive of local recipes.

2010 sees the 21st anniversary of Common Ground's Apple Day, so the Festival will be widened beyond the Carse of Gowrie to encompass Tay-side and Fife. There is a huge resurgence of interest in orchards in East-ern Scotland. Angus Council's School Orchard Project will see 60 or-chards planted in schools within 3 years; Orchard 800 will see fruit trees planted on greenspace in Perth in celebration of Perth 800. There is also a new orchard project in north-east Fife. Further details on orchards in Scotland are available from www.taysidebiodiversity.co.uk and www.clydevalleyorchards.co.uk.

Apple weekend © SAG Lloyd

Elcho Castle orchard © S Broad

© Angus Council



http://www.clydevalleyorchards.co.uk

Events


Winter

From Rags to Riches in 2010

The Shared Earth Trust's new course on making rag rugs is just one of eight workshops that the charity is running in early 2010 to help people make the most of tight budgets and gain skills for sustainability.

The Shared Earth Trust is now offering a varied and exciting programme of practical skills and leisure inter-est workshops. How about trying your hand at re-cycling old clothes to make rag rugs or making a hedge-row basket ?, Have you always wanted to create a name plaque for your house?, Well now you have the chance to make a unique mosaic of your own design. Other, cost saving topics include herbal medicine, sour dough bread and - for the more technically minded - an opportunity to learn about DIY solar hot water in-stallation or Permaculture design. This programme offers excellent value, with tuition from local experts, set in beauti-ful surroundings at Denmark Farm, near Lampeter. Tamara Morris (Shared Earth Trust) says: “There seems to be a huge demand for these type of courses and we have some fantastically skilled local people ready to pass on their skills to others. These are just some of the practical skills that will help us all get better prepared for our fast changing world and provide a perfect opportunity to meet like minded people”.

Rebekah Sheldon (participant on a previous course) says: “I now feel confident I could make a basket by myself and that I could go off and do more practical crafts by myself. It is always great fun at Denmark Farm, the staff and atmosphere are very warm and welcoming and you will learn lots of valuable skills”.

In addition, this spring, there is also a chance for a small group of people to help build a rustic timber framed shelter for use as a camp kitchen at Denmark Farm. Par-ticipants will work as part of a team and learn traditional timber construction techniques. This is a free op-portunity as part of the Big Lottery Fund funded programme Natural Links. The project takes place at the end of February into early March. Anyone interested in more information about The Shared Earth Trust and Denmark Farm please contact: [email protected] / 01570 493358 / www.shared-earth-trust.org.uk

Water & Environment 2010: Chartered Institure of Water and En-vironmental Management (CIWEM’s) Annual Conference

28th - 29th April 2010, Olympia Conference Centre, London

The way we manage water and the environment are fundamental to our long term future, both in the UK and internationally. The urgency of climate change and the challenges of water, food and energy security, set against a climate of financial limitation, call for more integrated and ‘green’ solutions. The aim of the conference is to challenge and inspire the water and environmental community by

sharing knowledge and best practice, which is at the heart of meeting key global challenges. In April 2010 CIWEM will hold a two-day Annual Conference that will address multidisciplinary issues across all areas of the global water and environment sector. There will be a mix of keynote speakers, offered papers, exhibitions and networking opportunities that will make this the key event for water and environ-ment professionals. To view the draft programme and book your place at this event please see www.ciwem.org/events/annual_conference

© Tamara Morris


http://www.shared-earth-trust.org.uk/

http://www.ciwem.org/events/annual_conference




Events


Winter

Oxfordshire Goes Wild

FREE fun fore the family at

Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Saturday 20 March, 12-4pm

Meet live bats, owls, snakes, fish and bugs, go pond dipping, shake a dinosaur’s claw; do lots of wildlife activities … and much more

Nature is fascinating – our local experts will show you why

Come and celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity

Cynth Napper 01865 407034 [email protected]


Documents

Biodiversity News - Issue 48 - JNCC - Defra