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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Brownfield registers identify land for more than 1 million homes
- CPRE Councils find sites for more than five times the number of homes
predicted by Government An analysis of Brownfield Land Registers, published today (Monday, 12
February), confirms that there is enough space on brownfield land to
build at least one million new homes, with more than two-thirds of these
homes deliverable within the next five years. Many of these sites
are in areas with a high need for housing.
This
means that three of the next five years’ worth of Government housing
targets could be met through building homes on brownfield land that has
already been identified, easing pressures on councils to continue
releasing greenfield land unnecessarily and preventing the unnecessary
loss of countryside. Brownfield registers identify land for more than 1 million homes
(image: CPRE) The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which carried out the
analysis, found that the 17,656 sites identified by local planning
authorities, covering over 28,000 hectares of land, would provide enough
land for a minimum of 1,052,124 homes – this could rise to over 1.1
million once all registers are published, confirming CPRE’s previous
estimates. Most brownfield land is within urban areas that already have
infrastructure, and where there is a higher demand for housing. The
areas of England identified as having the highest number of potential
“deliverable” homes include London, the North West and the South East
with the new registers giving minimum housing estimates of 267,859,
160,785 and 132,263 respectively. Rebecca Pullinger, Planning Campaigner at the Campaign to Protect
Rural England said: Despite a requirement for all local planning
authorities to publish Brownfield Land Registers by 31 December 2017,
more than one in five failed to meet the deadline for submissions. As of
31 January, 18 were still to publish. The analysis was carried out on
the 95% of Brownfield Land Registers that have been published
successfully.
London soon to become the world’s first National Park City
– National Park City Foundation London is a step closer to becoming the world’s first National Park
City as the idea has now secured the backing not just of the Mayor of
London and members of the London Assembly but a majority of London’s 654
local council ward teams - the local authority councillors elected by
Londoners. With this broad mandate, leaders of the campaign will be working with
the Mayor and Londoners across the capital to launch the National Park
City in 2019. Inspired by the aims and values of Britain’s national parks, the
London National Park City will celebrate the capital’s remarkable urban
landscape and work with Londoners to make the city greener, healthier
and more enjoyable. Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London said: “It is fantastic
news that so many Londoners are getting behind our ambition of making
the capital the first National Park City. I’m committed to working to
make this a reality and have already ensured I’m protecting and
investing in our outstanding green spaces with my draft London Plan and
£9m Greener City Fund. I’ll be working closely with the Foundation to
help us reach our goal of declaring London a National Park City in
2019.” Daniel Raven-Ellison, Founder of the London National Park City
campaign said: “London being the world’s first National Park City is
backed by Mayor Sadiq Khan, London Assembly members and local
councillors of all parties. Thanks to thousands of Londoners contacting
their local ward councillors, a majority of local politicians now back
the idea of London as a National Park City. “In recent weeks councillors
in Bexley, Hackney, Kingston and Southwark have joined ward teams across
the capital from Barnet and Bromley to Wandsworth and Westminster to
show cross-party support for London to be the world’s first National
Park City. “Making London a National Park City is the capital’s big chance to
recognise everything that is done by communities, businesses and
councils to make our city greener, richer in wildlife and better for
Londoners’ health and well-being - and to challenge us to do even
better. With London set to be National Park City in 2019, let’s take
pride and use the time to make our streets, gardens and balconies as
green and beautiful as we can.”
Green Gym's 20th Anniversary - TCV To celebrate the 20th anniversary of setting up the first TCV Green
Gym in Sonning Common, South Oxfordshire, the pioneering group hosted a
giant work session on Thursday 8th February at Watlington Hill Nature
Reserve. This was joined by other local Green Gyms and staff from TCV. The Green
Gym was the brainchild of Dr William Bird, then at Sonning Common
Health Centre, who brought in nature conservation experts TCV to set up
the first group in 1998. That group has prospered, holding
two weekly sessions with a total of 40 active members, some of whom have
been there from the beginning. There are now 130 Green Gyms all over the
country. Sonning Common is now an independent Green Gym run completely by a
team of dedicated and energetic volunteers. The group enjoy working
outdoors, learning new skills and helping to rescue or preserve
important wildlife habitats and, of course, the social side of group
activity. Craig Lister the Managing Director of TCV's Green Gym gave a
short speech which shared how the Green Gym movement (now international)
is growing and its role in the NHS's Social Prescribing Programme. “I love going out in the fresh air and getting stuck into
scrub-cutting or whatever task we’re doing that day. Catching up
with the other members is also a big plus,” said Gill Vaughan, a founder
member.
Queen joins battle against plastic pollution in the UK
- WDC Plastic bottles and straws are to be banned from all Royal estates in
the UK. The move is said to have been instigated by the Queen after speaking
to television presenter, Sir David Attenborough about the issue of
plastic pollution in the ocean. The plan involves gradually phasing out the use of plastic straws in
public cafes at Royal estates, and banning them outright in staff
dining rooms. Internal caterers at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and
the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will now use china plates and
glasses, or recyclable paper cups. The Royal Collection cafes will also
now have to use compostable or biodegradable packaging for any takeaway
food or drink items.
Raising the financial red flag is a warning signal for green space
- Fields in Trust Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths, comments on the
recently published review of local council finance and its potential
implications for parks and green spaces. Figures from the Local Government Information Unit's
annual review of local council finance, released last week, show
some worrying signs for the UK's parks and green spaces. Coming just days after
Northamptonshire County Council "raised a red flag" indicating a
likely budget shortfall in the current year and an inability to set a
balanced budget for 2018/19 the LGIU report demonstrates that this
troubling situation is widespread and could affect as many as one in ten
councils who will be unable to cover the costs of delivering their
statutory services. No surprise then to find budgets for all other areas
of discretionary spending squeezed – whilst most council taxpayers
assume their parks and green spaces will always be there, there are no
guarantees that any local authority will maintain a local park when
reducing budgets are stretched across the whole range of adult and
children's community services. The LGUI report indicates that, financial difficulties will force
councils to cut many core community services for their 2018/19 budgets.
Over half say they will be reducing parks and leisure activities this
year (53% of councils). Added to this the change in the regulations from
the 2015 Autumn Statement which mean local councils can retain 100% of
the sale of assets to invest in public services and the prospect of a
local council selling off a green space for much needed housing may well
be attractive to cash-strapped council leaders - even though not a
long-term solution.
Funding to support marine economy – Scottish
Government More than £4.8 million shared between businesses. Sea fisheries, aquaculture and processing businesses will share more
than £4.8 million aimed at boosting growth and creating local jobs. The fifth round of the European and Maritime Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
will award grants to 43 projects across Scotland. The St James Smokehouse Ltd in Gretna is to receive about £1 million
to develop a salmon processing factory. This will create 50 jobs locally
over the next three years. The Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre will use its £2.2 million
grant to take forward a range of projects to develop the salmon
industry. Other projects include £12,155 to the Orkney Sustainable Fisheries
Ltd collaborative tagging project, which will work with five inshore
fisheries groups to develop data to help manage Scotland’s crab stocks. Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing said:
Scotland’s woodland and farmland birds increase, as upland birds decline
– Scottish Natural Heritage Scotland’s woodland and farmland bird numbers have increased over the
past two decades, but during this time, upland birds have faced decline.
This is according to a Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) report published
today, The Official Statistic for Terrestrial Breeding Birds.
The
latest results reveal varied trends for Scotland’s terrestrial breeding
birds, with woodland birds increasing by 67% between 1994 and 2016,
farmland birds increasing by 13%, but upland birds decreasing by 16%. Woodland specialists, such as great-spotted woodpecker and
chiffchaff, have shown the largest increases. Great-spotted
woodpeckers have expanded across Europe, possibly as a result of
increased forests and woodlands becoming more connected. Lapwing (image: Scottish Natural Heritage) For farmland species, goldfinches have continued to increase and are
now a common sight in most gardens. Whitethroat, a small migratory
warbler, has also bounced back from their historical lows associated
with droughts in their Sahelian overwintering grounds in Africa. Upland birds are the most concerning group, with declines for 10 of
the 17 species. Among the largest declines are breeding waders,
including curlew, golden plover and lapwing. Major work is
underway to help tackle these declines, including extensive peatland
restoration and the Working for Waders project. Simon Foster, SNH’s trends analyst, said: “It’s wonderful to see that woodland and farmland birds are not only
holding their own in Scotland, but that many are thriving. However, with
some upland birds struggling, there are a lot of people and projects
working hard to improve conditions for waders – some of which have seen
worrying declines. We and many of our partners are hoping to see these
birds fare better in the coming years.”
Delight for biologists as new scientific discovery made in the UK
– National Trust A fungus previously unknown to world science has been discovered on
land looked after by the National Trust. What was thought to be one
species, Big Blue Pinkgill (Entoloma bloxamii), has been proven
by mycologists at Kew Gardens to be at least four different species in a
ground-breaking find.
The
discovery of the dark blue Entoloma atromadidum – one of the
four similar looking species – was made by a group studying fungi at the
National Trust’s Wolstonbury Hill and later confirmed by the Lost and
Found Fungi project based at Kew. Big Blue Pinkgill had been identified
as one of 100 Target Species for the project, which began in 2014 and
concludes next year. Big Blue Pinkgill (Entoloma bloxamii) (image: Louise Buckley,
National Trust)
Dr Martyn Ainsworth, Research Leader (Mycology), Royal Botanic
Gardens. Kew, said: “After more than a year of detective work and DNA
sequencing at Kew we finally reached a position where we could
confidently describe and name this new species in a publication. This
work could not have happened without the keen eyes of many volunteers
searching sites such as Wolstonbury for suitable specimens to analyse as
part of our Lost & Found Fungi Project. It is always exciting to add a
new name to the fungal kingdom and I’m still amazed that, even in a
well-studied country such as ours, there are still fungi such as this
very striking blue mushroom to be discovered."
Sewage and animal waste having serious impact on UK coastline
– Cardiff University Analysis of fragile seagrass meadows by Cardiff University and
Swansea University scientists has shown that consistent pollution from
sewage and livestock waste is affecting their survival. Seagrass meadows are flowering plants that have adapted to live a
life in the sea and were recently featured in the BBC’s Blue Planet
II episode ‘Green Seas’. They have been called the “canaries of the
sea”, due to their sensitivity to a changing environment. Like the
canary in the coal mine, their condition can be used as an indicator of
the condition of our coastal areas.
Persistently
high pollution puts the long-term resilience of seagrass meadows in
doubt. Previous work provided evidence that nutrient pollution is a
constant feature across the British Isles, but these new findings give
the clearest indication yet of the source. Leaf tissue was analysed for nitrogen and a stable isotope of
nitrogen called 15N. The abundance of 15N is greater in sewage and
livestock waste than in other sources, so these results offer a unique
insight into where the nitrogen in seagrass originates from. Seagrass (image: B Jones) Ten of the 11 sites within this study were in areas with designated
EU marine protection. Despite being safeguarded under the EU Habitats
Directive and some meadows being designated Special Areas of
Conservation, most of the seagrass meadows included in the study were in
poor condition, with nitrogen levels 75% higher than global averages. The seagrass meadow with the highest levels of nitrogen from sewage
was found within the Thames waterway. However, a seagrass meadow in
Studland Bay, Dorset, popular with swimmers and boaters was also
significantly enriched with nutrients from sewage. Despite high levels of sewage nutrients being detected, none of the
locations were classed as unsuitable for swimmers. Benjamin Jones, a director of Project Seagrass and researcher at
Cardiff University’s Sustainable Places Research Institute, said: “This
is the first time research has uncovered the origins of pollution
affecting the health of seagrass meadows in the British Isles. Despite
these areas of the coast being protected by EU law, and many sites being
Special Areas of Conservation, untreated sewage from humans and
livestock is still making its way into the sea. Access the paper: Tracking nitrogen source using δ15N reveals human and agricultural drivers of seagrass degradation across the British Isles – is published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science
‘Momentous day for animals’ as RSPCA Cymru campaign for circus ban set
for victory - RSPCA RSPCA Cymru has decreed today (Wednesday 14 February) as a “momentous
day for animals” as the Welsh Government confirms its plan to bring
forward legislation to ban the use of wild animals in circuses. The animal welfare charity has led the campaign on this issue for
some two decades – with over 9,000 signing an RSPCA petition urging
action. Polling, too, has consistently demonstrated a clear will for action –
with 74% of people within Wales supporting a ban on wild animals
performing in circuses. The transient nature of circuses – alongside cramped accommodation
and forced training for animals – highlights how inappropriate these
settings are for wild animals. The RSPCA has long highlighted how the
welfare of wild animals based in such settings is likely to be heavily
compromised. Claire Lawson, RSPCA Cymru Assistant Director of External Relations,
said: “This is a momentous day for animals – with the sight of wild
animals touring in circuses in Wales set to be consigned to the history
books once and for all. The RSPCA has fought for years to see this ban become a reality –
and we are absolutely delighted that the Welsh Government has confirmed
its intention to bring forward legislation to end this outdated and
cruel practice on this country’s soil.
Derbyshire’s badger vaccination project gets Government funding for
another 4 years - Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is delighted to announce that the badger
vaccination programme is now able to continue for another 4 years. This
has been made possible thanks to generous funding from several sources,
£80,000 from National Trust, £4,000 from the High Peak Derbyshire Badger
Group, £40,000 from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust itself, all topped up by
£181,906.76 funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (DEFRA) which has just been confirmed.
Derbyshire
Wildlife Trust is delighted to announce that the badger vaccination
programme is now able to continue for another 4 years. Photo Andrew Mason This has been made possible thanks to generous funding from several
sources, £80,000 from National Trust, £4,000 from the High Peak
Derbyshire Badger Group, £40,000 from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust itself,
all topped up by £181,906.76 funding from the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) which has just been
confirmed. Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Head of Living Landscapes for North
Derbyshire Tim Birch said, “We are pleased the Government have provided
more money for Derbyshire’s badger vaccination programme. The funding
will mean this important work will continue for another 4 years –
enabling us to expand the vaccination programme to other areas of
Derbyshire. The area scheduled for vaccination will now increase to
cover up to 90km2 across Derbyshire. It also enables the Trust to
continue to work in partnership with many organisations and show that
vaccination is a viable alternative to the badger cull which we are
totally opposed to.” Vaccinating badgers against bovine TB is an important part of
tackling the disease in cattle.
Butterfly breeds for first time in 130 years
- Butterfly Conservation A declining butterfly may have started breeding in Scotland for the
first time in 130 years, after eggs were discovered by amateur
naturalists, Butterfly Conservation (BC) has confirmed.
A
handful of
White-letter Hairstreak eggs were found on Wych Elm trees at Lennel
near Coldstream, Berwickshire, on Sunday 4 February. White-Letter Hairstreak (image: Butterfly
Conservation) The discovery comes after Borders Butterfly Recorder Iain Cowe
spotted an adult White-letter Hairstreak about 10 miles north east
of this area last year - the first sighting in Scotland since 1884. Iain said: “The discovery of these eggs is hugely significant as it
not only confirms the White-letter Hairstreak is breeding here, but one
of the eggs was an old, hatched shell – so it looks like the butterfly
could have been breeding here since at least 2016. The White-letter Hairstreak, which has a distinctive ‘W’ marking on
the underside of its wing, is widespread across England and Wales, but
the butterfly has suffered a 72% decline over the last decade. The butterfly’s caterpillars feed on elm and the White-letter
Hairstreak declined dramatically in the 1970s as a result of Dutch Elm
disease. For more than ten years, a group of BC volunteers have been
monitoring the butterfly and its gradual spread northwards, which
experts think is most likely the result of a warming climate.
Bovine TB strategy review - Animal Plant and
Health Agency The government has announced a review of its 25 year Bovine
TB strategy. The government has announced a
review of its 25 year Bovine TB strategy to be chaired by Sir
Charles Godfray, a population biologist and Fellow of the Royal Society. Four years after the 25 year strategy was first published,
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said he believes now is a good
time to review progress and consider what additional actions might be
necessary now to ensure other tools and interventions are ready to be
deployed in later phases of the strategy. The government has said it
also envisages future reviews at five yearly intervals. The 25 year strategy outlined a very broad range of interventions to
fight the disease including tighter cattle movement controls and removal
of infected cattle from herds, improved diagnostic tests, enhanced
biosecurity measures, the culling of badgers in areas where disease is
rife, vaccination of badgers and work to develop a viable vaccine for
use in cattle. So far, the principal elements deployed in the first phase of the
strategy have been cattle movement controls, the removal of infected
cattle from herds and the badger cull which covered more than 20
different areas in 2017. Michael Gove and Farming Minister George
Eustice have said they want to ensure other elements of the strategy,
such as cattle vaccination or developing genetic resistance, are ready
to be deployed in the next phase of the strategy in order to ensure the
government maintains progress towards its target of becoming officially
TB free by 2038.
Severn Waste Services help wildlife -
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust
Evesham-based
firm Severn Waste Services have awarded £30,000 via the Landfill
Communities Fund to help wildlife in south Worcestershire. Boynes Coppice (c) Wendy Carter The money has been awarded to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, the
county’s largest conservation organisation, to help with essential
maintenance on three of their nature reserves – Boynes Coppice and
Meadow and Nash’s Meadows near Upton-upon-Severn and Tiddesley Wood on
the edge of Pershore. David Molloy, the Trust’s Conservation Officer responsible for the
three reserves, explained “We’re delighted that Severn Waste Services
has chosen to fund this really important work on three of our nature
reserves. “Some of the work that it’s funding may sound mundane but it’s
absolutely crucial if we are to manage these beautiful sites in the best
way for wildlife. “Fencing at both Boynes and Nash’s, for example, will allow us to
graze the meadows with cattle and sheep. The animals eat the coarser and
quicker growing plants, which allows the more delicate wildflowers to
thrive; come late spring the fields are awash with colour and alive with
bees and butterflies.”
Signs of spring sweep across the nation -
RSPB Acrobatic ravens, the dawn chorus and carpets of bluebells are among
the beacons of spring that have started to pop up on RSPB reserves
across England and Wales as nature starts to stir from its winter
slumber. Despite the current chilly conditions, temperatures in January were
above average with parts of southern England reaching 15°C, enough to
trigger a reaction from some early-nesting birds looking to gain a
competitive advantage on rivals ahead of the breeding season. The dawn chorus – nature’s soundtrack – is one of the most well known
and loved signs that spring is well on its way. Starting with the sweet,
simple melody of the blackbird, shortly followed by the robin, wren and
many others, the dawn chorus builds fast during February with more
places coming alive with the sound of bird song as the month goes on. But it isn’t just our garden birds that have been exercising their
vocal chords. The booming call of Britain’s loudest bird, the bittern,
was heard as early as mid-January at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset. While
the gruff, far-carrying call of early-nesting ravens have been heard on
a number of reserves as they take to the skies to perform their
acrobatic, tumbling displays usually only seen at this time of the
year. Debra Depledge, RSPB Wildlife Advisor, said: “As we emerge out of
winter and into spring RSPB reserves will become a hive of activity as
birds furiously prepare for the start of the breeding season. The warm
January conditions will have stirred many birds out of their winter
slumber earlier than usual allowing some pioneering individuals to gain
competitive edge on potential rivals by making a start on gathering nest
materials, securing a patch and finding a mate.” The warm January weather also acted as a catalyst for other wildlife.
Throughout southern England, there have been a number of reports of
frogs starting to spawn and newts heading towards the nearest pond as
they emerge from their winter hibernation. The sight and smell of early-flowing woodland plants such as
bluebells, primrose and daffodils have also started to greet people in
their gardens or while enjoying a woodland trail. These plants have
evolved over many years to flower before the woodland canopy closes
overhead plunging them into darkness.
Wildfowl recovery plan at Wyver Lane -
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
Derbyshire
Wildlife Trust is celebrating a grant of £3726.22 awarded by the Co-op
Local Communities Fund as well as an additional £2,550 from Hamamelis
Trust to restore the wetland habitat and renew signage and hide
information at Wyver Lane Nature Reserve. Lapwing at Wyver Lane, Paul Shaw The reserve is situated in the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site on
the outskirts of Belper and runs along the bank of the River Derwent. It
is one of the Trust’s most important wetland sites and is home to many
species of bird from waders such as curlew and common sandpiper passing
through in spring, to birds which breed here such as lapwing. Large
numbers of gulls visit the reserve during winter - they are mainly black
headed gulls, but you may also see common, herring, lesser and greater
black backed gulls. They are joined by wildfowl escaping the icy north.
In really cold conditions, numbers of duck species such as wigeon and
teal visit - they both have characteristics whistles, not quacks, best
heard at sun rise and sun set, and easily heard from the track running
parallel to the reserve (Wyver Lane). Some of the habitats at the reserve now need a bit of a helping hand
in order to be ideal for lapwing and wigeon, two nationally declining
species on the UK BAP Amber list. Some of the grant will be used for
this important improvement work as well as the help of local volunteers.
A barn owl box will also be installed at the reserve as well as a bird
seed store. In addition to the reserve work, the grant will enable the Trust to
commission a new orientation panel and several new species information
panels signposting the way for visitors and giving them a flavour of the
beautiful wildlife and special habitats they will see.
Laser technology reveals the weight of some of UK’s and world’s biggest
trees New laser scanning technology is being used by UCL scientists to
provide fresh and unprecedented insights into the structure and mass of
trees, a development that will help plot how much carbon they absorb and
how they might respond to climate change. Two studies, published today (Friday) by the Royal Society, by
researchers at UCL and the universities of Oxford, Sonoma State, Ghent
and Wageningen, reveal the technology has captured the 3D structure of
individual trees in ways they have never been seen before. The new approach pioneered by Dr Mat Disney, Reader in Remote Sensing
in UCL’s Department of Geography, and colleagues has enabled trees to be
“weighed” very accurately by estimating their volume from the precise 3D
data. A seemingly ordinary Sycamore tree in Wytham Woods near Oxford, for
example, has been found to have nearly 11km of branches, double that of
the much larger tropical trees measured by the team led by Dr Disney. Dr Disney’s team, in collaboration with Yadvinder Malhi, a
professor of ecosystem science at Oxford University, and the Gabonese
National Parks Agency, used the technology to measure a 45m tall Moabi
tree in Gabon with its 60m crown. They estimated its weight at about 100
tons, making it the largest tree ever measured like this in the tropics. Previously, trees could only be weighed by cutting them down or by
using other indirect methods such as remote sensing or scaling up from
manual measurements of trunk diameter, both of which have potentially
large errors. Access the paper: M. I. Disney, M. Boni
Vicari, A. Burt, K. Calders, S. L. Lewis, P. Raumonen, P. Wilkes
Weighing trees with lasers: advances, challenges and opportunities
Interface Focus 2018 8 20170048
Climate change means more frequent flooding, warns Environment Agency
- Environment Agency The Environment Agency has warned people to be prepared for flooding
as it launches its Flood Action Campaign Intense bouts of flooding are set to become more frequent, the
Environment Agency has warned today (Friday 16 February). The warning follows a pattern of severe flooding over the past 10
years linked to an increase in extreme weather events as the country’s
climate changes. Met Office records show that since 1910 there have been
17 record breaking rainfall months or seasons – with 9 of them since
2000. As intense storms are becoming more frequent, sea levels are also
rising because of climate change. The Environment Agency has today launched its Flood
Action Campaign, targeting younger people through social media and
online advertising to encourage them to check their flood risk at
GOV.UK, sign up for free warnings and be prepared to take action when
flooding hits. Research shows that 18 to 34 year olds are least likely
to perceive flood risk to their area, know how to protect their homes or
where to go for information. They are also at highest risk of fatality
as they are less likely to perceive their personal risk. Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive of the Environment Agency, said: Scientific Publication Gaughran A, Kelly DJ, MacWhite T, Mullen E, Maher P, Good M, et al.
(2018)
Super-ranging. A new ranging strategy in European badgers. PLoS ONE
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191818
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