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Headlines from week beginning 11 April 2016 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Consultations for next phase of marine planning opens
- Marine Management Organisation The Marine Management Organisations (MMO) are asking for your views
on the first documents to be published as part of the North East, North
West, South East and South West marine plans. Today (Monday 11 April) the MMO have launched two consultations,
which focus on the draft Statement of Public Participation for each area
and the draft Sustainability Appraisal scoping report. The Statement of Public Participation sets out whom, when and how the
MMO will engage with stakeholders during the marine planning process.
Stakeholders’ involvement in developing the marine plans is essential.
Their specialist and local knowledge is central to ensuring the marine
plans are robust and meaningful. The Sustainability Appraisal provides an independent assessment of
the marine plans at each stage in their development, ensuring that
economic, social and environmental sustainability is at the core of the
marine plans. The scoping report is the first stage of the
Sustainability Appraisal, setting out what issues the appraisal will
include. Steve Brooker, Chief Planning Officer said: “The launch of these two
consultations is a significant step in the development of marine plans
for the North East, South East, South West and North West. I would
encourage anyone with an interest in the marine area, or anyone who
relies on it for their business to get involved. Stakeholder input has
been invaluable in developing marine plans for the east and south areas,
especially in identifying and understanding local issues and
opportunities. The Statement of Public Participation shows our
commitment to including stakeholders throughout the development of the
marine plans. One of the objectives of marine planning is to ensure
that future use of our seas is sustainable. The Sustainability Appraisal
is part of making sure the plans meet economic, social and environmental
sustainability criteria. This scoping report sets out which criteria the
Sustainability Appraisal will include.” Both consultations open on Monday 11 April and close on Friday 13 May
at 11.59pm. The consultations are available here:
Ash Dieback in Warburg Nature Reserve - BBOWT A case of Ash Dieback has been confirmed in BBOWT's Warburg Nature
Reserve, in south Oxfordshire. BBOWT has taken advice from the Forestry
Commission, which confirmed the ash tree is diseased, and has put up
signs at the nature reserve advising visitors what to do to reduce the
spread of the disease.
Ash Dieback. (image Forestry Commission The fungal disease Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, is becoming widespread in
the UK, and is now suspected to affect ash on a number of BBOWT nature
reserves. The disease, a relative of a fungus already found naturally in
our countryside, has had a huge impact on ash in mainland Europe, and
may have significant nature conservation impacts in the UK. The
disease is spread predominantly by wind-borne spores, making it
impossible to halt its movement through the countryside. However, it can
also be spread in soil and leaf litter, and people and vehicles may
accidently increase the rate of spread. Following advice from the Forestry Commission, BBOWT is taking action
to reduce any accidental spread of the disease by implementing
‘biosecurity’ measures – principally removing loose soil and leaf litter
from footwear and vehicles moving between woodland sites.
Woodland made more accessible – for people and wildlife
- London Wildlife Trust Ten Acre Wood now has new paths and restored freshwater ditches
thanks to £25,000 grant Visitors to Ten Acre Wood in Hillingdon, west London, are enjoying
the benefits of nearly half-a-kilometre of new path that has been laid,
replacing muddy tracks and making it easier for people to access this
London Wildlife Trust nature reserve and enjoy its native wildlife.
Sharp-eyed visitors this summer should be able to spot birds such as
black cap, whitethroat and great spotted woodpecker, alongside
butterflies and bush-crickets. The path will also reduce trampling
around the site and help protect plant species such as orchids and
adder’s tongue fern. Other work at the site has included the clearance of ditches where
water voles, Britain’s fastest declining wild mammal, have been recorded
in the past. These ditches had become heavily silted and overgrown with
dense scrub, and the desilting programme is expected to increase the
chances of water vole returning to the wood. Veolia Environmental Trust generously gave London Wildlife Trust a
grant of £25,045 in April 2014, awarded through the Landfill Communities
Fund, to carry out this programme of work at Ten Acre Wood. It was
completed with the help of 42 volunteers over a two-year period. Tom Hayward, Reserves Manager for London Wildlife Trust, said: “We
are delighted that these new pathways will enable more people to enjoy
Ten Acre Wood, while at the same time helping to protect the
wildlife-rich grassland and woodland habitats that we have here. It will
be exciting to see if our ditch clearance work helps attract more water
voles to the nature reserve in the near future.”
Rare
birds spotted during the 2016 Big Farmland Bird Count – Game &
Wildlife Conservation Trust
The ring ouzel was spotted by NFU’s Vice President, Guy Smith, in a
field adjacent to his house. Ring ouzels usually migrate from the
Mediterranean to the west of the UK to breed. This ouzel was ahead of
the game, as breeding does not usually occur for this species until
mid-April to mid-July. Guy’s sharp eyes and ears led him to spot the
bird singing with the resident thrushes and blackbirds. While Guy Smith was spotting birds in his paddock in Essex, Matt
Willmot and Jenny Parsons from Natural England saw a rarity of their
own. As they were taking part in the count with farmer Hugh Darbishire,
on his farm in Warwickshire, Matt and Jenny managed to get a rare and
exciting view of a snow bunting. Hugh Darbishire is a young farmer who, for over a decade, has
dedicated his sheep and arable farm to helping farmland bird numbers. By
using key techniques such as bird seed mixes and wild flower patches,
Hugh has encouraged farmland birds to take up residence on his farm. Matt Willmot, Natural England Advisor, says: “This was my third year
of taking part in the Big Farmland Bird Count and I will definitely be
counting again next year. The time you put in really counts towards the
support of our farmland birds. It is always a pleasure not only to take
part in the event, but to encourage local farmers to count their
resident birds as well.”
Polecat survey report published – Vincent Wildlife Trust The report on our recent national polecat survey has just been
published and can be downloaded here.
A summary of the survey report is shown below.
Delight as high court judge rules in favour of Broads National Park
brand - Broads Authority Welcome to the Broads National Park – that was the message today
after a high court ruling was made in favour of using the name to fully
promote the special qualities of the area. Mr Justice Holgate gave the go ahead for the Norfolk and Suffolk
Broads, as the only member of the UK National Park family in the Eastern
region, to benefit from marketing campaigns that clearly identify it as
having equivalent qualities to the 14 UK National Parks. The Chair of the Broads Authority, Prof Jacquie Burgess said she was
“thrilled” that the judge had recognised the clear rationale for the
name. "The Broads fully deserves to be known as a national park – as much
as the Lake District, the Cairngorms or any of the US Parks such as the
Everglades or Yosemite.” Because it has a navigation purpose in addition to the other UK
National Park purposes the Broads Authority was given similar status to
that of a National Park under its own Act of Parliament. It was
previously only known as a member of the family, despite receiving
National Park Grant, the same protection under the planning legislation
and the same first two purposes as the other National Parks relating to
conservation and recreation. The move to identify the Broads as a National Park came out of a
desire to more clearly promote its national park credentials and special
qualities and Prof Burgess said the historic decision could benefit all
three of its purposes.
Natural England designations programme for areas, sites and trails
- Natural England Publications The list of places Natural England is considering for designation up
to March 2017. This document shows the areas, sites and trails that Natural England
is considering in its designations programme to March 2017. Inclusion in
the programme is not a commitment to designate. The designations programme considers whether places are suitable to
become:
See the full list here:
Natural England’s designations programme to March 2017
Ambitious plans for improving Alice Holt Forest
- Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission will be investing over £2.3million to improve
Alice Holt Forest’s amenities over the next 12 months. Visitors to Alice
Holt Forest will soon benefit from a new café, extra seating and
additional facilities, as the site undergoes a redevelopment to improve
the popular woodland destination. The site and existing café will remain
open to the public during the redevelopment to ensure visitors can
continue to enjoy the forest while work takes place. In addition, car park improvements are planned to create more spaces,
including purpose built disabled parking. There will also be the
introduction of safer pedestrian zones and a turning area, helping to
improve access and traffic flow.
Slowing the Flow scheme helped avoid Christmas flooding
- Environment Agency A pioneering natural flood risk management scheme reduced river peak
flow by around 15-20% during the December floods, a briefing note
published today (13 April) reveals.
The natural flood risk management scheme provided important
protection for the town of Pickering in Yorkshire when a total of 50 mm
of rainfall fell over a 36-hour period over Christmas 2015. Pickering’s ‘Slowing the Flow’ partnership was set up after the town
saw four serious floods in 10 years, with floods in 2007 estimated to
have caused damage of around £7 million. The scheme combines conventional upstream flood storage with a wide
range of measures designed to work with nature to hold water on the land
and slow the speed at which it enters the river system. In addition to
the construction of a flood storage reservoir: 40,000 trees were
planted, local heather moorland restored and over 300 leaky dams built
in forest and moorland drains and streams in the upper catchment. The new analysis, conducted by Slowing the Flow Partnership, concludes that these measures reduced the flow of flood water between 15% and 20% and prevented the flooding of a number homes and the town’s museum. Based on the extent of inflows to the flood storage area, it is estimated that around half of the reduction was due to the upstream land management measures and half due to the flood storage area.
RSPB fears the worst for England's last golden eagle
Golden eagle at eyrie (Image: Chris Gomersall, RSPB) RSPB staff at Haweswater, who operate a special eagle viewpoint at
the site, haven’t seen the bird since last November but only became
concerned last month when it still hadn’t appeared. The bird isn’t
always sighted during the winter but in spring it would normally have
been seen nest building and displaying to attract a mate around its
territory in Riggindale. Lee Schofield, Site Manager at RSPB Haweswater, said: “When the eagle
didn’t appear last month we thought there was a chance he might be
hunting in a nearby valley but over the past few weeks we’ve been
gradually losing hope. We will probably never find out what happened to
him but as he was around 19-20 years old, an advanced age for an eagle,
it’s quite possible that he died of natural causes." His disappearance marks the end of an era as he has been an iconic
part of the Haweswater landscape for the past 15 years. New worries over willow tits - Lancashire Wildlife Trust One of Britain’s most endangered birds has suffered another dramatic
plunge in numbers according to a new report. The Rare Breeding
Birds Panel has just announced that willow tits are now down to just
2,000 breeding pairs in the United Kingdom. But work by our Wigan
team aims to halt the decline using creation and restoration of habitats
and raising awareness of the bird in the North West.
Much of the willow tits’ decline is down to loss of habitat with
developers seeing no merit in the willow scrub which these beautiful
birds inhabit. But volunteers working with The Wildlife Trust are
working to restore habitat, create nesting areas and provide vital
information about tit populations. The Wildlife Trust’s Wigan Reserves Manager Mark Champion said: “The
situation is critical and we need to ensure the willow tit is protected
both locally and nationally. Last year we were reporting that there were
5,000 birds in the UK, this new report says we are now down to 4,000.
This is not good news.” The main work is being carried out in Wigan, which is at the centre
of a regional population accounting for a large percentage of the UK’s
total. Thanks to funding from the Lancashire Environmental Fund and
Biffa Award, work on the willow tit’s habitat by The Lancashire Wildlife
Trust will continue well into 2017. The Wildlife Trust recently put out a call for volunteers to help
with habitat improvement and recording work and more than 50 people
turned up to sessions in Wigan and Preston. Mark said: “This
proved that there is interest in supporting this bird, which is becoming
an iconic species in Wigan. People around here are keen to support our
work for a bird that is in real danger of extinction in the UK.”
More than 10 per cent of the UK’s willow tits live in the area around
Wigan, St Helens, Warrington and Chorley. Nationally the UK population
has fallen by 90 per cent in the past 30 years placing it on the red
list of species of conservation concern.
A bright future for the over 50s - Cheshire
Wildlife Trust Access to green spaces and spending time outdoors is fantastic for
our wellbeing. That's why Cheshire Wildlife Trust is delighted to be
launching the Great Outdoors Malpas project – a new initiative to help
older people from in and around Malpas access the countryside and
connect with nature. Thanks to a £50,000 grant from Brightlife – a
Big Lottery funded project aimed at reducing social isolation and
loneliness in the over 50s – the Trust will be helping people to develop
new skills and interests while rediscovering the physical, mental and
social benefits of being outdoors. The new initiative will be run by the team behind the Trust's
Heritage Lottery Fund Natural Futures volunteering project and a whole
host of activities will be available to anyone aged over 50 from Malpas
and the surrounding villages. Sam Caraway, the Trust's Natural Futures Manager, said: "This is an
exciting new chapter for us as it's the first time we have run a project
involving social prescribing, an approach that aims to improve health by
tackling people's social and physical wellbeing. One of our main aims as
a Trust is to ensure that wildlife is enjoyed and valued by all – this
project will allow people who might not otherwise be able to enjoy the
benefits of nature the opportunity to explore the great outdoors."
Vandalism at Wildlife Trust leads to death of 1000s of bees
- Gwent Wildlife Trust Last weekend (9-10/4/16), two honey bee hives were vandalised at the
Ebbw Vale offices of Gwent Wildlife Trust (GWT) resulting in the death
of thousands of bees and their young. The two beehives were originally installed in partnership with
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council as part of the Pollinators for Life
Project funded by Welsh Government last year. The project aims to help
pollinating insects, such as the honeybee, hoverflies, solitary bees and
wasps amongst others, and this attack over the weekend has been a major
setback. Veronika Brannovic, Living Valleys Manager for Gwent Wildlife Trust,
said, ‘This is a particularly difficult time for bees as they are
starting to become active and look for food. Spring weather has been
unpredictable but our colonies had started to produce larvae within the
hives. We came in to work on Monday to find one of the hives on its side
with the contents tipped out. The lid had been tipped off the other hive
and the sides damaged by large stones and logs being thrown at it. Bees
need to maintain a temperature of around 36 degrees within the hive
before they start to suffer. The rain and cold temperature on Sunday
night meant that around two thirds of the bees died and, because the
hive filled with water, all their larvae died.’ Along with the vandalising of the bee hives over the weekend, the
Trust’s site has also been affected by an ongoing pollution problem
caused by a leaking and contaminated drain that has made the ponds
uninhabitable for the toads, frogs, newts and dragonflies that had made
the former steelworks their home. GWT has had to stop all school visits
to the site and activities with groups such as scouts for the
foreseeable future.
Illegal off-roaders targeted across the Park
- Brecon Beacons National Park The National Park Authority and two local police forces have joined
to target illegal off-roaders in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Operations carried out in March saw off-roaders stopped in their tracks,
many leaving the National Park with warnings and pending prosecutions.
National Park Authority Wardens, Dyfed Powys, Gwent and West Mercia
Police forces have mounted operations to fight illegal off-roading.
Quads, 4x4’s and motorbikes are a problem in the National Park, the open
countryside with its grass tracks may look like the perfect playground
for off-road vehicles, but driving on common and privately owned land
without permission is a criminal offence. It causes damage and disturbs
the quiet of the countryside and the National Park Wardens work hard
each year alongside the local police force to get this message across. Police apprehended a number of drivers at Trefil Quarry in the east
of the park and the owner of a 4x4 caught driving off-road near the
quarry was successfully prosecuted, fined and made to pay court fees. In
this particular case the individual had been warned during a previous
exercise. If someone receives this warning (known as a Section 59) it
means that if they are caught a second time in the following 12 months
their vehicle will be seized, possibly destroyed and they will be fined.
Councillor Rosemarie Harris, National Park Authority Member
commented, “What the vehicle owners need to realise is that their actions cause
damage to the beautiful landscape, with land being cut by the tyres and
deeply scarred. Wildlife and livestock are also disturbed by this
activity and the safety of other park users is put at risk especially
when non-vehicular rights of way are used. The Police and the Authority
receive many complaints about this every year.”
Fires damage protected site - Natural
Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales is appealing for help after a spate of fires
at a protected site near Flint.
Several fires at Halkyn Mountain have been tackled during April.
The fires are believed to have been set deliberately on common land
between the villages of Pentre Halkyn and Brynford. Wildlife is an
important part of our environment, our heritage and our culture in Wales
and anyone caught starting a fire on an SSSI without consent could be
fined up to £20,000. Kevin Jones, Business Education and Arson Reduction Team Manager at
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It is extremely
disheartening to find that such incidents have been ignited
deliberately. Deliberate fires place tremendous pressure on resources,
with our crews tied up for a considerable length of time trying to bring
them under control - which in turn delays firefighters from attending
life threatening incidents. The potential for serious damage to our
environment, often in sensitive areas, by the impact of countryside
fires is a serious concern.” 25th anniversary bid to extend Glen Affric woodlands towards Scotland’s west coast - Trees for Life A quarter century of volunteering conservation action in the
Highlands is being marked by Trees for Life this month, with a new
initiative aiming to expand Scotland’s Caledonian Forest from Glen
Affric towards the west coast.
The bid to restore life to deforested parts of the famous glen comes
as next week marks the 25th anniversary of Trees for Life's acclaimed
Conservation Weeks, in which volunteers from around the world carry out
practical conservation action to protect Scotland’s natural environment. Trees for Life’s
Back to Our Roots appeal is seeking to raise £18,000 for a new phase
of tree planting by volunteers in Glen Affric this year – extending the
endangered Caledonian Forest westwards of the area planted by the
charity’s first Conservation Weeks 25 years ago, and creating vital
habitats for wildlife. “Back to Our Roots is an important new phase of our work in
partnership with Forest Enterprise Scotland in Glen Affric. It will
extend the native woodland beyond its current stronghold in the east of
the glen towards Scotland’s west coast, creating a continuous corridor
of forest across this part of the Highlands,” said Alan Watson
Featherstone, Trees for Life’s Founder. “Helping a new generation of young trees to take root further west in
Glen Affric will create an important addition to what is the largest
extent of least disturbed forest in the country. This will provide
habitats for a host of species – including some, such as the red
squirrel, that have been lost from these deforested landscapes for far
too long.” Study reveals that wind farm led to reduction in number of breeding birds - RSPB
A new study has shown a significant reduction in the number of
breeding birds following the construction of turbines at a wind farm in
the north of Scotland. RSPB Scotland scientists, funded by SSE, studied golden plovers at
the Gordonbush wind farm in Sutherland for five years, before, during
and after construction. The study, due to be published in Ibis, reports that numbers of the
plover, which are protected under the European Birds Directive, dropped
by 80 per cent within the wind farm during the first two years of
operation, with these declines being markedly greater than on areas
surrounding the wind farm that were studied over the same period. Lead researcher Dr Alex Sansom said: 'Golden plovers breed in open
landscapes and it is likely that the presence of wind turbines in these
areas leads to birds avoiding areas around the turbines. This study
shows that such displacement may cause large declines in bird numbers
within wind farms. 'It will be important to examine whether these effects are maintained
over the longer term at this site, and we should also use these detailed
studies to examine the effects of wind farms on other bird species.' The study is available for early view online ahead of its publication in Ibis.
Seven out of ten parents with young children worried about cuts to parks The Parks Alliance (TPA), the UK’s voice of parks, today published
‘The National Playground: growing the next generation’ on the importance
of parks to family life. The current squeeze on budgets is putting our
parks and green spaces at risk and data highlighted in the report show
that parents with children under 10, are most concerned about the impact
of budget cuts on local parks, with 7 out of 10 worried about the
prospect of cuts. In this parent group, 8 out of 10 visit parks once a
month, the highest number of any park users. Parks are an integral part of childhood. In an average month, 48% of
all children in England visit local urban parks. Across the country it
ranges from 46% of children in the North East to 54% in the east of
England. Other data highlighted in the report include:
Scientific Publications Yamaura, Y., Shoji, Y., Mitsuda, Y., Utsugi, H., Tsuge, T., Kuriyama,
K., Nakamura, F. (2016),
How many broadleaved trees are enough in conifer plantations? The
economy of land sharing, land sparing and quantitative targets.
Journal of Applied Ecology. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12642 Cooney, Christopher R. Seddon, Nathalie Tobias & Joseph A. Widespread
correlations between climatic niche evolution and species
diversification in birds. Journal of Animal Ecology DOI:
10.1111/1365-2656.12530
Scott M. Weir et al.
Integrating copper toxicity
and climate change to understand extinction risk to two species of
pond-breeding anurans, Ecological Applications (2016). DOI:
10.1002/15-1082 Cooney, C. R., Seddon, N. & Tonias, J. A. (2016)
Widespread correlations between climatic niche evolution and species
diversification in birds. Journal of Animal Ecology.
DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12530
Doherty, Tim S. & Ritchie, Euan G.
Stop jumping the gun: A call for evidence-based invasive predator
management. Conservation Letters. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12251 Lee, Jong Koo & Lima, Steven L.
Nest building under the risk of predation: safe nests are not always the
best option. Journal of Avian Biology. DOI:
10.1111/jav.00958
Stefano Fenoglio, Núria Bonada, Simone Guareschi, Manuel J. López-Rodríguez, Andrés Millán, J. Manuel Tierno de Figueroa. Freshwater ecosystems and aquatic insects: a paradox in biological invasions. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.1075
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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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The
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) 2016 Big Farmland Bird
Count (BFBC) has been an incredible success. Nearly 1,000 farmers
spotted 130 species across the UK. This year the count not only beat the
last two years’ records, but also included the spotting of several rare
birds over the week. The highlights were a ring ouzel and snow bunting.
We
are very grateful to everyone who submitted records for the survey.
Without you, the survey would not have been possible.
Alice
Holt Painting, image: Forestry Commission
Flood
storage at Pickering
England’s
last remaining golden eagle has failed to appear this spring, leading
RSPB staff and volunteers at its Lake District home to fear the worst.
The golden eagle had been resident at Riggindale at Haweswater in
Cumbria since 2001/02 and had been alone since the death of his mate in
2004.
Willow
tits at Wigan Flashes by Peter Smith NW Wild Images
A
motorbike seized for illegal off-roading, photo shows the damage the
activity causes to the landscape.(image: Brecon Beacons NPA)
Halkyn
Mountain damaged by fire
Planted
Scots pines at Athnamulloch
Golden
plover in field (winter) (image: Steve Round, RSPB)
