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Headlines from week beginning 23 October 2017 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Help protect our amphibians from disease -
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust The emergence of diseases is increasingly recognised as a threat to
amphibians. In 2013 researchers in the Netherlands described a new type
of fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, often called “Bsal”, that
eventually led to a 99% decline in fire salamanders in that country.
Since then, we are gradually learning more about the fungus and the
disease it can cause. So far as we know, this fungus does not occur in the wild in the UK.
It has unfortunately been found in some captive amphibian collections in
the UK, as well as in the international pet trade. This is clearly a
perilous situation, with the risk of the fungus being introduced to the
wild via traded or captive animals. Click through
for information summarising and providing links to further advice on
what you can do to limit the risk of this pathogen entering the UK and
causing disease. If you see signs of sick or dead amphibians, please report them to
the Garden
Wildlife Health project, which acts as the UK reporting centre for
this project. 2,500+ people vote for the UK's favourite tree species in Biology Week poll - Royal Society of Biology The Horse Chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) has been
crowned the UK’s Favourite Tree after winning a public poll of over
2,500 votes in Biology Week 2017. The tree, surged ahead of the other contenders, securing more than a
quarter of all votes cast. The Horse Chestnut was introduced to the UK and is a well-loved
feature of parks, gardens and village greens. The tree is famous for its
seeds, which are used in the game of conkers. Dr Laura Bellingan FRSB, RSB Director of Policy and Public Affairs,
said of the result: “Trees are a valuable part of our culture and
economy as well as the environment. They provide us with cleaner air,
building materials, food and fuel, flood management; they are home to a
wide range of wildlife, from insects to mammals; and they are beautiful.
Urban trees can brighten up our cities, whilst many woodlands are
beneficial and relaxing environments for thousands of visitors.
However, trees are at risk from a range of threats, including pests and
disease. This includes a number of iconic species and we need to be
alert to the possibility that our wild and green spaces could be
significantly altered. It was tremendous to see so many people join the
conversation and take part in this year’s poll.” The Horse Chestnut beat 14 other trees to claim the title.
National Parks delivering a better environment today and for future
generations – New Forest National Park Larger National Parks and more young people learning in these
spectacular landscapes. These are just some of the highlights in a new
report published by National Parks England today (Monday 23 Oct).
The report shares
the work that has been achieved to take forward the ambitions of the 8
Point Plan for England’s National Parks that was published by Ministers
last year.
This work demonstrates the value that National Parks continue to provide society and their relevance as the Government looks to enhance the environment over the next 25 years.
New steps to tackle littering announced –
Defra Maximum litter fines are to almost double to £150 from April next
year as well as new fines introduced for owners of vehicles from which
litter is thrown
Image: Defra Cleaning up our streets and countryside currently costs the taxpayer
almost £800 million a year and so maximum on-the-spot fines for dropping
litter will almost double from April next year - from the current limit
of £80 to £150 - in order to deter and punish the anti-social minority
who continue to drop rubbish. In future councils will also be able to impose these fines on the
owners of vehicles from which litter is thrown, even if it was discarded
by someone else. The government is clear these fines should not be
abused simply as a means of raising money, so guidance on how fines
should be applied will be issued to councils. Environment minister Thérèse Coffey said:
Clock change increases deer risk on roads –
Scottish Natural Heritage As the clocks turn back this weekend, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)
is warning motorists that collisions between deer and vehicles peak at
this time of year. With night falling earlier, the peak commuting time coincides with
deer coming out to feed on grass verges near roadsides. Because of this, SNH – in conjunction with Transport Scotland and
Traffic Scotland – are placing warning messages on electronic variable
messaging signs (VMS). From Monday, 30 October to Monday, 20 November,
the signs will warn motorists at key locations on the main trunk roads.
These messages will be seen on signs on the A9, A87, A82, A85 and the
A835. A report released earlier this year commissioned jointly by SNH and
Transport Scotland revealed collisions between vehicles and deer have
increased by 10% in Scotland since previous figures were collated. The report showed that from January 2013 to December 2015 over 4,600
recorded collisions between vehicles and deer on Scottish roads were
submitted. However, taking into account the many incidents which go
unreported, the report estimates that the true figure could be as high
as 9,000 per year, resulting in 50 to 100 human injuries. The highest
number of collisions occurs in early evening through to midnight, with a
slightly lower peak from 6am to 9am. Over the past 50 years, the number and range of wild deer in Scotland have increased, while the volume of road traffic has almost doubled in the same period. This combination has led to higher deer-vehicle collision rates across the country, with the greatest increase occurring in Aberdeenshire, Fife and the central belt. This corresponds with the rise in the populations of roe deer, which are highly adaptable to lowland habitats.
Tens of thousands of pink-feet counted at Montrose Basin
– Scottish Wildlife Trust
Pink-footed geese at Montrose Basin Wildlife
Reserve. © Harry Bickerstaff Volunteers led by Montrose Basin Ranger Anna Cheshier took part in
the annual UK-wide Icelandic-breeding Goose Census at first light on
Sunday 22 October. They counted a total of 50,309 geese, compared to
last year’s return of 42,840. However, geese are still arriving from Iceland, and rangers estimated
their numbers at 80,000 on Monday 23 October. Anna Cheshier said: “The noise of the geese has been building on the
Basin and in the skies over Montrose as more and more birds arrive from
the Arctic. Their continued high numbers show that the surrounding
farmland is providing plenty of food. Pink-footed geese make an annual 1,200km migration from Iceland to the UK. Montrose Basin is one of the first suitable stops for the geese after crossing the North Sea, and tens of thousands of birds use the reserve as a stopping point to rest and refuel before leaving for estuaries in the east of England.
Unique moment to save our seas – The Wildlife
Trusts
Common cuttlefish, Devon ©Alex Mustard/2020VISION Today, The Wildlife Trusts publish a new report that identifies five
unprecedented challenges for our seas which must be addressed before the
UK leaves the European Union. The Government must ensure there is a
clear vision for our marine environment. Its first responsibility is to
ensure that we bring across existing European regulations which provide
protective measures for our seas and sea-life – we need to safeguard
existing protective law, as promised in the Withdrawal Bill. With that
done, the following five challenges remain:
The Wildlife Trusts’ Director of Living Seas, Joan Edwards, says: “We
are witnessing unprecedented pressures on UK seas and their fragile
seagrass meadows, reefs and mud plains on which fish, dolphins and
whales depend." Download the new report by
The Wildlife Trusts, The way back to Living Seas (PDF)
Scottish SPCA successfully release three otters back into the wild
– Scottish SPCA
We have cared for 105 otters since opening our centre in Fishcross in
2012, 96 of which were cubs. Otter (image: Scottish SPCA) With the land owner’s permission we were able to release the trio
into a freshwater loch at a secret location on Woodland Trust property
in the Highlands. Centre Manager Colin Seddon said, “We were successfully able to
release Eddy, Stream and Smoult into the Highlands after they spent
several months in our care. “Otters were driven to near extinction throughout the UK between the
1950’s and 1970’s, however due to improvements in water quality and with
otters now being protected they can be seen once again in Scotland and
other parts of the UK. Colin went on to say, “All three otters were orphaned as youngsters
and came into the centre at around eight to ten weeks old. They were
hand reared by staff who even had to play with them individually to
prevent boredom before they were introduced to each other.
New report on the exposure of barn owls to rat poisons
– Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) are used to
control commensal rodents (rats and mice) throughout the world. However,
wildlife species are also exposed to these poisons, both through
consuming bait and by eating poisoned rodents. Concerns in the UK about effects on wildlife have resulted in
stewardship for anticoagulant rodenticides. This is led by an
industry consortium, the Campaign for Responsible Use (CRRU) UK. The aim
is to change user behaviour so that unintentional wildlife exposure is
reduced. Changes in wildlife exposure are assessed by measuring liver SGAR
residues in the barn owl, a sentinel rodent-feeding species. Residue
levels are compared with those in a pre-stewardship "baseline" period
(2006-2012). Measurements are made on carcasses submitted to the
Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS); most of the owls have died from
starvation or in traffic collisions. The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) has now published its
report of SGAR residues in barn owls that died in 2016, the year
that stewardship was introduced. The main findings were:
Lee Walker, coordinator for the PBMS, said, "The results for 2016 are
generally consistent with the baseline years. Given stewardship was
launched only part way through the year, it is probably too early to
expect changes from baseline levels in liver SGARs in 2016. If
stewardship is successful, we expect to see reductions in liver SGAR
concentrations in barn owls in future years." The monitoring of SGARs in barn owls is conducted independently by CEH. It is funded by CRRU UK, who recently announced the publication of CEH’s report. All activities conducted under the stewardship scheme are reviewed by a government oversight group led by the Health and Safety Executive.
Restoration of 50 former quarry sites creates 1,000ha of land for nature
- RSPB
This month the restoration of Hopwas Quarry near Tamworth marks the
completion of an ambitious project to create 1,000 hectares of land for
wildlife from former quarry sites. In 2010 building materials company CEMEX and the UK’s largest
conservation charity, the RSPB, made a commitment to create 1,000
hectares of priority habitats within a decade. A combined area of land
over twice as big as the 2012 Olympic Park in London. As a priority habitat special attention was paid to restoring the
land in such a way that would make it appealing and suitable for some of
the UK’s most threatened species. The restoration has included 50 sites
across England, Scotland and Wales and has created a diverse range of
much needed habitats to encourage nature to return. 1,000 hectares, has resulted in a diverse range of habitats including
nearly 600 hectares of grasslands, over 177 hectares of woodland, 100
hectares of heathland and 190 hectares of ponds and open water. The work of specialists at the RSPB and CEMEX has successfully
transformed these sites, which are already providing homes for 46
threatened species of bird, including twites, choughs and turtle doves.
The sites area also creating homes for other rare species such as
otters, red squirrels and water voles along with plants, amphibians and
more.
£4M ‘Water, Mills and Marshes’ projects get the green light from the
National Lottery – Broads Authority The Broads Landscape Partnership has received a confirmed National
Lottery grant of £2,437,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through
its Landscape Partnership (LP)programme for the Water, Mills and Marshes
project, it was announced today. This valuable funding, made possible by National Lottery players,
will be matched alongside £1,519,999 from other partnership
contributions to provide £3,957,499 enabling 38 individual projects over
a 5 year period which will enrich and promote heritage sites in and
around the Broads National Park.
Stones Mill © Broads Authority Water, Mills and Marshes will provide countless opportunities for
thousands of people to connect with the unique landscape by deepening
their understanding of how it came about. There will be many chances to
gain new skills and hands-on experience from helping to restore historic
mills to surveying wildlife habitats. Trails, guided walks, events and exhibitions will be created and
there will also be a small grants scheme introduced so local people can
apply for funding for Broads heritage projects of their own. Together all these projects will help conserve the breath-taking landscape of the Broads National Park for people to enjoy in the future.
Exhibition highlights shocking cup and bottle waste in Scotland
- Keep Scotland Beautiful Thousands visit our exciting exhibit #SipDontTip in the Glasgow
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow on the 24 and 25 October highlighting the
issues of litter and waste associated with single use beverage
containers. The exhibit aimed to raise awareness of the issues linked to our
relationship with drinks packaging and to promote a step change in
everyday consumption and disposal habits. Single use drinks containers
are an almost inescapable part of modern life, and the exhibition aimed
to shock visitors with the amount of litter and waste associated with
these. With drinks related litter noticed by 55% of people in
their community and our recent audits highlighting that 74% of roads are
spoilt by drinks related litter – we know it is a huge problem.
(image: Keep Scotland Beautiful) Working in partnership with industry, Simply Cups and Recoup provided information and installations to showcase the recycling journey of both coffee cups and plastic bottles in to other useful items which were on display. Visitors, from Scotland and further afield, were promoted to share their thoughts on single use drinks containers and pose potential solutions to the growing issue. More critically, they were asked to commit to changing their behaviour following the exhibit. The results will be summarised and shared in due course.
Twists and ‘terns’ for one of the UK’s smallest and rarest seabirds
- RSPB One of the UK’s smallest and rarest seabirds has battled against the
odds to record a remarkable breeding season after fledging more than 600
chicks in 2017. Weighing no more than 55g – roughly the same as a tennis ball and
half the weight of a blackbird – these seabirds undergo an epic
migration journey every year flying more than 3000 miles from West
Africa to raise their chicks on our single beaches. Sadly, the number of
little terns in the UK has plummeted by 18% since 2000. Arriving on our shores in April, the survey of key sites revealed
1077 adult birds battled through a number of natural and non-natural
threats during the summer to raise 617 fledglings. The Norfolk coast
remained a stronghold for the seabird with 260 chicks raised on sites
across Winterton and Blakeney Point, while Gronant Beach in Wales also
had a successful season with 202 young. Susan Rendell-Read, RSPB Little Tern Project Manager, said: “You
wouldn’t think when looking at it but every year this tiny bird, against
all the odds, travels thousands of miles from Africa to raise a family
here in the UK. Sadly, like many of our seabirds, the little tern is in
trouble. Their numbers have dropped dramatically in recent years and
they are at risk of disappearing completely from our shores.” Little terns lay one to three camouflaged eggs on the beach, often
close to the sea. This means that nests regularly get washed away if big
tides are combined with stormy weather. Laying their eggs on the ground
also makes the tern nests vulnerable to disturbance and damage.
As the nests blend into the beach substrates they can often be
accidently disturbed by people walking by. Additionally, as this year
proved, deliberate nest disturbance is one factor that is preventing
tern numbers from making a full recovery. Colonies at Crimdon, near
Hartlepool, and Kessingland in Suffolk, suffered acts of deliberate nest
destruction with more than 60 eggs lost – decimating the number of
fledglings at both sites. Tidal surges proved destructive to nests at
Blackwater Estuary in Essex and Scolt Head Island in Norfolk, while
chicks at Long Nanny in Northumberland suffered from predation by other
species.
Ancient ferns highly threatened in Europe –
IUCN Red List A fifth of European fern and lycopod species, a group of vascular
plants that underpins healthy ecosystems, are threatened with extinction
and declining, as a result of urbanisation and expanding infrastructure,
according to a new report published today by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The new IUCN report – European Red List of Lycopods and Ferns –
assesses, for the first time, the extinction risk of all 194 European lycopod and fern species, 53 of which only exist
in Europe. It shows that a fifth of these ancient species, which date
back to over 400 million years ago, are at risk of extinction, with the
same proportion showing a declining trend. Aquatic ferns and lycopods
have been found to be more at risk than terrestrial species. This report
shows that ferns and lycopods are the most threatened plant group of
those assessed by IUCN so far in Europe. Previous European assessments
have covered medicinal plant species, all other aquatic plant species
and wild relatives of crop plants. The findings reveal that European fern and lycopod species are
primarily threatened by urbanisation and expanding infrastructure, which
leads to the fragmentation and reduction of their habitats. For example,
the Dwarf Moonwort (Botrychium simplex) is found in several countries
including France, Sweden and Austria, and is now listed as Endangered as
a result of habitat loss through land conversion to forest plantations
or tourist developments. Pollution from urban and agricultural waste also poses a serious
threat to many ferns and lycopods. As a result, many terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems suffer from eutrophication – an increase in nutrients
which causes local species to be outcompeted by other native or invasive
alien species. This threatens aquatic species in particular, including
the Critically Endangered Piedmont Quillwort (Isoëtes malinverniana).
This species is endemic to Italy and has declined by more than 80% in
the last 30 years, mainly as a result of pollution through inappropriate
irrigation channel management. Download the
European Red List of lycopods and ferns report
Proposals for a third National Park in Argyll & Bute
- Scottish Land
& Estates Earlier this week it was announced that Argyll & Bute Council seeks
to explore the potential to lobby the Scottish Government to consider
designation of a new National Park focused on the western seaboard of
mainland Argyll and extending west to include the Argyll islands. There is currently no firm proposal for a fixed boundary, though some
initial work has been undertaken by the Scottish Campaign for National
Parks (SCNP) and the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
(APRS). Click here for more
detail on the proposal.
Vital role in carbon sequestration maintained
- Utrecht University Plant communities in peat bogs are affected by global change, but
their ecological function is robust If all peat bogs in the world were to disappear, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would increase by two-thirds. A group of European biologists under the leadership of Utrecht University Prof Jos Verhoeven has studied how peat bogs react to climate change and increased levels of sulphur and nitrogen in the air. To their surprise, they discovered that these changes may cause plant species to disappear, but that these are replaced by others with a similar function in the ecosystem. Peat bogs cover only 3 percent of the earth’s surface, but they are
estimated to store around 500 billion tonnes of carbon. That is the
equivalent of 67 percent of the amount of carbon in the earth’s
atmosphere. “We know that the changing climate and increases in nitrogen
and sulphur in the atmosphere cause certain plant species to disappear
from areas. That may also have strong consequences for certain
biological functions in the area, like carbon sequestration by peat
bogs”, explains first author Bjorn Robroek. Recent research, however, has shown that the biodiversity of peat bog
plant communities is less affected by climate change than, for example,
in grasslands or dune ecosystems. “Our research confirms this, and may
also provide an explanation for it”, according to Robroek, who worked on
the study for four years. Access the paper: Bjorn J. M. Robroek
et al Taxonomic
and functional turnover are decoupled in European peat bogs Nature
Communications, DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-01350-5 Blog from CEH: Peat bogs ‘tougher than
we thought’ but may still be vulnerable to rapid or extreme
environmental change Plant communities in European peat bogs are affected by environmental
change, but their ecological functioning remains intact.
Franziska Komossa, Emma H. van der Zanden, Catharina J.E. Schulp, Peter H. Verburg, Mapping landscape potential for outdoor recreation using different archetypical recreation user groups in the European Union, Ecological Indicators, Volume 85, February 2018, Pages 105-116, ISSN 1470-160X, doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.10.015.
Nora-Charlotte Pauli, Jana S. Petermann, Christian Lott, Miriam Weber
Macrofouling communities and the degradation of plastic bags in the sea:
an in situ experiment R. Soc. open sci. 2017 4 170549; DOI:
10.1098/rsos.170549.
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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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Image:
New Forest National Park Authority
New
steps will be taken to deal with litter louts and those few who
mindlessly throw rubbish from their vehicles, Environment Minister
Thérèse Coffey announced today.
Up
to 80,000 pink-footed geese have been counted so far this season at
Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve and Visitor Centre.
New
report urges Government to tackle five challenges simultaneously
The
Scottish SPCA has released three otters, named Eddy, Stream and Smoult,
back into the wild following their rehabilitation at the charity’s
National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fishcross.
The
projects will not only help identify, preserve and improve the
incredible heritage, environmental and archaeological assets within the
Broads, they will provide opportunities for people to learn about them,
contribute in practical ways to their upkeep and ensure access for
future generations.
The
centre piece exhibit was created by respected
Thelypteris
pozoi (Hottentot Fern) - assessed as LC (© Fred Rumsey via IUCN)
