And finally ... A new four-legged recruit for Northumberland Wildlife Trust
Goose is ready to gander - Northumberland Wildlife Trust
Northumberland Wildlife Trust is always delighted to welcome new volunteers to the team, but the latest recruit is proving to be a hit with everybody he meets.
Seventeen-week old cocker spaniel Goose is being trained as a wildlife detection dog by his owners, Ellesse Janda and Tony Nellis to give a helping ‘nose’ to the wildlife charity as it continues surveying for water voles across the region’s waterways.
Northumberland Wildlife Trust lead volunteer and freelance social science consultant, Ellesse recently spent a four month placement with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and Forestry England, conducting water vole surveys in Kielder Forest and Water, following the completion of the Restoring Ratty water vole reintroduction project that saw over 2,000 captively bred voles released into the North Tyne catchment area.
Ellesse quickly realised that surveying for water voles in Kielder wasn't easy with extremely changing habitats and quickly rising water levels washing away signs of water vole activity - which is where Goose comes in.
Dogs have a significant advantage over humans - an amazing sense of smell. Whilst scent-trained dogs have been used for years for various jobs, including sniffing out contraband, explosives, and medical conditions, they are now being used to help conservationists’ work to preserve endangered species with.
Very often conservationists need to carry out surveys to determine whether a species is present in the area and the size of its population. Conducting such surveys can be quite intensive for humans, especially in challenging habitats, with delicate signs such as droppings or burrows being missed.
Posted On: 18/09/2024
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