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Headlines from this week. |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Duo of loggerhead turtles seen close to shore in Dorset
- Marine Conservation Society Two loggerhead turtles have been spotted together by a group of
walkers from the coast path at Durlston Head, Dorset on Sunday, October
18th.
Sarah Fargher from Fuzzacker Guided Walks, based in the New Forest,
contacted MCS after one of her group of walkers spotted the turtles.
Sarah estimated the turtles to be about 50metres from the shore, and
could have been between two and three feet in length. MCS Head of Biodiversity and Fisheries, Dr Peter Richardson, is
concerned that they may be at risk of stranding on local beaches in
coming days as the sea temperature in the south west drops. This is a fantastic record because live loggerhead turtles are rarely
spotted in UK seas, and to see two together is incredibly lucky,” Peter
says. "But as the seas cool down locally, these turtles will stop
feeding, lose condition and suffer from acute hypothermia. If they are
lucky, they may strand alive on a beach, and if found in time they can
be rescued and rehabilitated back to health with specialist treatment”.
“South West inshore surface temperatures waters are about 15oC at the
moment. As the seas cool down these turtles will stop feeding, lose
condition and suffer from acute hypothermia. If they are lucky, they may
strand alive on a beach, and if found in time they can be rescued and
rehabilitated back to health with specialist treatment. We urge anyone
who finds a turtle on UK shores to report it immediately, and try and
make sure the tides don’t wash them back to sea”. Live stranded turtles in the UK should be reported immediately to Marine Environmental Monitoring on 01239 683033 or the regional numbers listed on the UK Turtle Code (pdf)
Juniper in jeopardy - Plantlife A new Plantlife report indicates Scotland's gin-flavouring plant is
declining and being killed off by a deadly disease
Now a deadly fungal disease, Phytophthora austrocedrae, first
recorded in Argentina in 2007, is having a severe impact on juniper
bushes. New sightings of Phytophthora are being found regularly.
Phytophthora is an air-borne fungal pathogen; it is still not clear how
it is distributed, although it needs wet conditions to thrive. Once
infected, bushes go orange, then brown. So far, this disease has only
been recorded in Argentina and Britain and it is not known how the
disease arrived in the UK. The Plantlife survey found that 63% of bushes
surveyed were found to have brown patches - a sign of ill health or
disease. Deborah Long, Head of Plantlife Scotland says “Volunteer citizen
science surveys are helping us understand what is happening to juniper
in Scotland. We know juniper populations are struggling, but they now
face an additional threat. It is thanks to these citizen scientists who
have been helping us monitor the species, that we can start working with
land owners to help juniper communities become more resistant to the
threats they face, including this new disease. We need to ensure juniper
has a future. It needs active conservation effort and intervention now
for it to survive."
Nature reserve angler fined - Environment
Agency An angler, caught in the act of fishing illegally at a Cambridgeshire
nature reserve, has been fined. The angler from Cornwall was thwarted by the combined investigations
of the Environment Agency and Cambridgeshire Police. Bait
containers, bonfires and evidence of fishing had previously been spotted
by wardens of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife
Trust at Godmanchester Nature Reserve, an area of outstanding natural
beauty. Environment Agency Fisheries Enforcement Officers later
discovered angler Philip Rule, aged 50, asleep under a shelter carved
deep into a hedgerow near the water’s edge. He had two baited rods cast
into the water, set up with bite alarms, commonly used by specimen
anglers across the UK. The case was past to Cambridgeshire Police for
prosecution. The nature reserve which is protected under various wildlife and countryside orders includes some large lakes, none of which are allowed to be used for angling or any other water sport. Intelligence suggested that the largest lake was regularly being fished illegally. Cambridgeshire Magistrates Court was informed by Cambridgeshire Police who brought the prosecution against Rule, that he was not only fishing illegally he also did not have a valid rod licence. He admitted knowing that he should not have been there but chose to take the chance and fish it regardless.
World’s biggest seabird tracking database shows their incredible
journeys The Global Seabird Tracking
Database - one of the biggest marine conservation collaborations in
the world - has just passed 5 million data points. The announcement was
made at the World
Seabird Conference, taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.
The database, originally called ‘Tracking Ocean Wanderers’, was
established in 2003, when data on the movements of 16 species of
Albatross and Petrel were brought together for the first time. From
albatrosses to penguins, the database now holds more than five times as
many species, provided by over 120 research institutes. Seabirds have some of the most extreme and fascinating life histories
in the animal kingdom. We know that Arctic Terns have the longest
migration of any animal, migrating from the Arctic to the Antarctic and
back again in a single year, covering over 80,000 kilometres in the
process. Others, like the Wandering Albatross, may spend up to six years
at sea before returning to the colony. The data in the tracking database is helping the global marine
community gain yet more insights into the lives of seabirds in all the
world’s oceans. Each new study adds to our knowledge of how and why
seabirds use the oceans, often surprising us in the distances covered,
the routes that birds travel and the speed with which they get there. All the tracking data, from penguins to albatrosses to terns, can be
viewed at
www.seabirdtracking.org The tracking data has helped BirdLife to identify Marine Important
Bird Areas - the most important places for seabirds at sea.
Landmark grant to secure New Forest’s future A partnership scheme to conserve the New Forest’s unique heritage,
landscape and wildlife for future generations has received £2.8m, thanks
to National Lottery players. The grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will fund a visionary
project to restore lost habitats, develop traditional Forest skills and
inspire a new generation of people to cherish and care for the National
Park. The five-year New Forest Landscape Partnership Scheme will
be led by the New Forest National Park Authority and 10 key partners,
who will contribute their own funding to increase the pot to more than
£4m. It marks a new era in organisations working together in the
Forest and follows on from the National Park Partnership Plan signed by
10 main organisations earlier this year – setting out ambitions and
actions for them to deliver collectively by 2020. The National Lottery money will help to restore sites across the
Forest, including waterways, ancient woodland, meadows and historic
buildings. The project will also promote more understanding and passion
for the area among landowners, local communities and visitors. The New Forest boasts special qualities formed over a thousand years
thanks to a unique system of land management based on commoning rights.
It now faces unprecedented modern pressures, and this scheme will help
the National Park become more robust and able to deal with climate
change, agricultural practices and a growing population that is
increasingly based in urban areas. The three key programmes of the project are:
Further details can be found at www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/landscapepartnership
Stakeholders get
their say on UK lynx reintroduction and vast eco-tourism potential
- Lynx UK Trust Lynx UK Trust launches a national stakeholder consultation to
formally discuss lynx reintroduction to the UK in 2016, citing
independent research from AECOM suggesting reintroduction would mean
hundreds of new jobs and tens of millions of pounds in new eco-tourism
revenues over a 25 year period. Earlier this year, the Lynx UK Trust asked the general public for
their opinion on bringing back the deer-hunting lynx after a 1,300 year
absence to help balance out deer overpopulation and its damaging effects
on forestry and agricultural crops. Over 9,000 people responded, the
largest ever response to such a survey, recording support of up to 91%
in favour of reintroduction. Suggesting trial reintroduction sites in Aberdeenshire, Argyll,
Northumberland, Cumbria and Norfolk, the Trust are now advancing through
the penultimate stages of the application process with a national
stakeholder consultation to formally discuss the details of
reintroduction, and what it may mean for UK ecology and industries
including tourism, farming and conservation. The consultation includes the release of a document detailing the
process of the consultation, the logistics of reintroduction and
detailed assessments of the various impacts the lynx would be likely to
have on life in the UK. The document cites a range of independent research drawn from across
the UK and Europe finding risks to be close to non-existent; lynx are no
threat to people and are little to no threat for pets or livestock,
however, they are very likely to provide benefits for various endangered
species, deliver a hugely beneficial impact to forestry and crop farming
through deer control and create substantial eco-tourism and job creation
opportunities.
The consultation will run until the new year at a national level,
moving onto more detailed consultations at a local level in areas where
trial reintroductions are planned in the new year.
More information will be available from
www.lynxuk.org/consultation
from Wednesday 28th October, including access to the Lynx UK Trust
consultation documents and AECOM research documents.
Rare butterfly is surprise success for South Downs project
- South Downs National Park Authority A project to boost numbers of butterflies and chalk grassland in the
South Downs National Park near Brighton has unexpectedly seen the return
of the silver-spotted skipper butterfly, once close to extinction across
the county. The ‘Brighton Blues’ project, led by the South Downs National Park
Authority and supported by a grant of £39,425 awarded by The Veolia
Environmental Trust through the Landfill Communities Fund, was set up to
improve and increase areas of rare chalk grassland which several species
of butterfly including the Adonis blue and chalkhill blue depend on to
thrive.
Neil Hulme, who works for project partner Butterfly Conservation,
said: “In the 1970s the silver-spotted skipper was so rare that its last
two locations were a closely guarded secret. It’s wonderful to see them
now flying amongst the iconic blue species of the South Downs. Sightings
at Anchor Bottom near Upper Beeding, Mill Hill in Shoreham and at
Benfield Hill and Waterhall in Brighton & Hove show the first expansion
in its range for nearly ten years. We’ve seen many other insects
and plants benefitting from this work, showing that decades of decline
in this rich and unique habitat can be reversed with good management.”
Puffin and turtle dove join the list of birds facing global extinction
- RSPB
The latest annual revision of birds on the IUCN Red List, which has
been announced by BirdLife International on behalf of the IUCN, doubles
the number of UK bird species considered to be facing the risk of
extinction to eight. Shockingly, a further 14 UK species are
considered to be Near Threatened, meaning that any further deterioration
in their status could see them added to the red list too. Martin Harper is the RSPB's Conservation Director. He said: “Today’s
announcement means that the global wave of extinction is now lapping at
our shores. The number of species facing extinction has always been
highest in the tropics, particularly on small islands. But now the
crisis is beginning to exact an increasingly heavy toll on temperate
regions too, such as Europe. The erosion of the UK’s wildlife is
staggering and this is reinforced when you talk about puffin and turtle
dove now facing the same level of extinction threat as African elephant
and lion, and being more endangered than the humpback whale.” The global revision also captures the crisis facing other birds
around the world, including vultures where several African species have
been listed as Critically Endangered – one step away from facing global
extinction. In Africa, vultures are facing persecution and they are
regularly poisoned or trapped. Examining the list of changes among the UK’s birds to this year’s red
list, several themes emerge, including: deterioration in the fortunes of
some seabirds, such as puffin and razorbill; an ongoing and increasingly
intense threat to wading birds, such as godwits, curlew, oystercatcher,
knot and lapwing; and an increasing deterioration in the status of
marine ducks, such as common eider, joining velvet scoter and
long-tailed duck as species of concern.
Conservationists warn Africa’s vultures are sliding towards extinction
- IUCN Six of Africa’s 11 vulture species – the continent’s largest and most
recognisable birds of prey – are now at a higher risk of extinction,
according to the latest assessment of birds for the
IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species™, carried out by
BirdLife
International – an IUCN Red List partner. The main causes of the drop in African vulture populations are
thought to be indiscriminate poisonings, where the birds are drawn to
poisoned baits, use of vulture body parts in traditional medicine, and
deliberate targeting by poachers, as the presence of vultures can alert
authorities to illegally killed big game carcasses. Dr Julius Arinaitwe, BirdLife International’s Africa Programme
Director, said: “As well as robbing the African skies of one of their
most iconic and spectacular groups of birds, the rapid decline of the
continent’s vultures has profound consequences for its people – as
vultures help stop the spread of diseases by cleaning up rotting
carcasses.” “However, now we are becoming aware of the sheer scale of the
declines involved, there is still just enough time for conservationists
to work with law-makers, faith-based organisations, government agencies
and local people, to make sure there is a future for these magnificent
scavengers.” Worldwide, 40 more bird species are now classified as having a higher
risk of extinction in the 2015 Red List. Besides the vultures, these
include many wading shorebirds, and other iconic species like Helmeted
Hornbill, Swift Parrot, Atlantic Puffin, and European Turtle-dove. IUCN Red List changes – summary in numbers
Data on The IUCN Red List website has not yet been updated. For a
full list of all the changes, see:
http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/
Final report of Review of Designated Landscapes in Wales published
- Welsh Government A wide-ranging review about the future of Wales’s national parks and
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) has been presented to
Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant. Chaired by Professor Terry Marsden, Director of the Sustainable
Places Research Institute at Cardiff University, the
Independent Review of Designated Landscapes in Wales makes 69
recommendations covering a raft of proposals and observations on
purposes, principles, vision, governance models, planning, and funding. The recommendations include:
The Minister said that due to the considerable scale and scope of the
recommendations, further work is now needed to understand their
potential benefit and their consequences. He has asked Lord Dafydd
Elis-Thomas AM to lead a Future Landscapes Working Group and that he
invites representatives of the national parks, AONBs, interest groups,
business, and local government to participate. The group will explore these recommendations and the case for reform
which is aligned to the priorities for public service reform in Wales,
and report their findings next year.
The Forestry Commission has published details of the seven research
programmes which will implement the current Science & Innovation in
Forestry Strategy for Great Britain over the next four years. The strategy and its constituent research programmes are designed to
meet the priority needs of the British forestry sector for robust,
science-based advice. Roger Coppock, Head of Analysts at the Commission,
explained, “A key need across the sector is for robust and timely
evidence to inform policy and forest management practice to ensure
sustainability and resilience in our woods and forests in the face of
developing threats, especially climate change and emerging pests and
diseases. These research programmes have been developed in close
consultation with the forestry community to fulfil that need as well as
other current priorities. They differ significantly from previous
research programmes in that they are highly interdisciplinary, with a
strong applied focus on both physical and social sciences. This will
support and encourage uptake and impact.” The programme titles are:
Mr Coppock added that because the programmes have been published
before details of the UK Government’s spending review could be known,
some changes might be needed to some of the research which can be
undertaken, and to its timing. Full details of the programmes and the Science and Innovation Strategy for Forestry in Great Britain are available at www.forestry.gov.uk/research.
Common pochard upgraded to “Vulnerable”
- Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
Concern that the common pochard – one of the UK’s most popular duck
species – is declining rapidly has led to its status being stepped up to
“Vulnerable” in the
IUCN Red List of threatened species, published today. It’s one of several wetland species whose numbers have declined,
leading to a step up in the level of concern for each. Amongst wading
birds, the knot, bar-tailed godwit, curlew sandpiper, oystercatcher and
lapwing have all been upgraded to “Near Threatened”. WWT’s nine wetland
centres provide important habitat for many of these species of wetland
birds. WWT is already working to find out the reasons for the common
pochard’s decline, so that more informed action could be taken to help
its plight. WWT’s Head of Monitoring Rich Hearn says: “A key thing we need to find out is whether more birds are dying, or whether fewer young are being produced in the first place. The survival of females could be an important part of ongoing changes to the population so volunteers are standing by across the UK, Europe and North Africa to count the ratio of males versus females at wintering locations. The data these volunteers produce could provide an important piece of the jigsaw of why such a common duck in the UK is declining so rapidly.”
New woodland driven forward by NRW and Ford -
Natural Resources Wales Llynfi Woods ground preperation Llynfi Woods ground preperation Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has joined forces with the Ford Motor
Company to create the new woodland on the site of the former Coegnant
Colliery and Maesteg Washery in the Upper Llynfi Valley, a project
funded by the Welsh Government Nature Fund. The partnership will
see the two organisations work with local people over the next 10 years
to develop and maintain the woods. Work to convert the 30 hectare
site began earlier this month when diggers moved in to prepare the
ground ready for the planting of 60,000 trees over the winter. Emyr Roberts, Chief Executive of Natural Resources Wales, said: “The
Llynfi project gives us the opportunity to show how we can take forward
the sustainable management of natural resources and deliver benefits for
local communities. Having green spaces on our doorstep is not just good
for wildlife, it also helps people feel better about their community and
provides an area to unwind and exercise. NRW’s purpose is to
ensure that our environment and natural resources are maintained,
enhanced and used. But we cannot do this alone and there is enormous
value in developing partnerships with communities and the private
sector. Our partnership with Ford Motors on this 10-year programme
will ensure wide-ranging benefits for the environment, economy and the
many people who will use it for recreation.” More than 300 of Ford’s employees live in the vicinity of the Llynfi
Valley. The Llynfi project will not only improve the environment
of the Llynfi Valley by increasing biodiversity, reducing water run-off
and absorbing pollution but will also encourage people to spend more
time outside and increase their activity levels. The partnership with
Ford will support tree planting and developing green exercise facilities
providing a space for health and well-being activities for the
community.
Schmucki, Reto et al.
A regionally informed abundance index for supporting integrative
analyses across butterfly monitoring schemes. Journal of Applied
Ecology DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12561
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CJS is not responsible for content of external sites. Details believed correct but given without prejudice. Disclaimer: the views expressed in these news pages do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CJS. |
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Loggerhead
turtle in rehabilitation (image: P Richardson, MCS)
Juniper's
decline in Scotland is due to a combination of factors: many juniper
bushes are over a century old and unable to regenerate because land
management practices have meant that they have been unable to set seed
successfully. According to the report, 79% of juniper recorded in 2014,
was either mature, old or dead. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these plants are
much less likely to be able to produce viable seed.
Silver
spotted Skipper (image: SDNPA / Neil-Hulme
Four
of the UK's bird species, including the puffin and turtle dove, have
today been added to the list of birds considered to be facing the risk
of global extinction.
The
not quite so common pochard
