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Headlines from week beginning 15 August 2016 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Plantlife launch new five year strategy -
Plantlife For over 25 years, Plantlife has had a single ideal; to save and
celebrate wild plants, flowers and fungi. Now, as fresh uncertainties and challenges emerge about the future of
our natural environment, Plantlife has launched a new strategy that sets
out the charity's plans for the next five years. The plan - available as a downloadable document - sets out to achieve
a vision of wild plants that are:
"We want to leave a lasting legacy" says Marian
Spain, Plantlife's Chief Executive Officer. "A world so rich in
flowers that children could pick a bunch without causing harm" "That
needs us to do two things: to bring wild plants and flowers back in
abundance, and help people young and old to understand and enjoy them.
This strategy sets out how we plan to do that over the next five years.”
The Wildlife Trusts welcome the Treasury's commitment today to fund
crucial UK wildlife-friendly farming and land management schemes which
currently rely on EU funding through the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP). The Treasury's decision to guarantee existing and new
agri-environmental schemes for their lifetime after the vote to leave
the European Union, and with it the CAP, will bring much-needed
confidence to farmers who are already involved in or are thinking about
taking part in vital schemes to help farmland wildlife. We also
welcome the decision to guarantee the Basic Payment Scheme, Horizon 2020
and LIFE funding to 2020. Stephen Trotter, Director for England of The Wildlife Trusts,
recently set out what
we would like to see in a new Integrated Environment Policy, which
could replace the Common Agricultural Policy after 2020. This could
enable a fresh approach to farming, to allow nature's recovery.
Success for Come Outside! - Natural Resources
Wales Nearly 3,500 people from deprived communities across Wales have
benefitted from a three year scheme to improve their health and ability
to find work. The Come Outside! Programme, managed by Natural Resources Wales
(NRW), brought partners together to deliver more than 1,000 outdoor
activity sessions in Communities First areas across Wales. The
activities ranged from bushcraft to gardening; and from star gazing to
geocaching. Juliet Michael, Come Outside! Programme Manager for NRW, said: “Come
Outside! provided opportunities for people in more deprived areas of
Wales to live a healthier lifestyle, develop new skills and enjoy the
fantastic natural environment in Wales. It not only improved their
job prospects, but made a real impact on their health and wellbeing. By
increasing their self-confidence, participants have been inspired to use
the local outdoors. More than 80 per cent said that the programme had
influenced them to become more active. Nearly half the groups are now
independently involved in outdoor activities and up to 700 people say
they have now adopted a more active lifestyle involving their friends
and families.” Project case studies, programme updates, a film and the Evaluation
Report are all available
on NRW's website
Wildlife-friendly farming schemes can help boost the abundance of
many UK moth species, a new study by the University of Liverpool has
found. Large moths (macro-moths) play an important role as pollinators, but
numbers have fallen in the UK by 28% since 1968. The situation is
particularly bad in southern Britain, where numbers are down by 40%,
with habitat loss thought to be behind the decline. The kinds of moths that benefited the most from the schemes were
those commonly found on grassland, but there was a group of specialised
chalk grassland moths that only benefited when the schemes were close to
remnants of this rare habitat. Scientists from the University of Liverpool and Natural England
assessed the impact of schemes which are creating grassland habitats on
the edge of arable farming fields. The team surveyed macro-moths species on arable fields with and
without wide grass margins, and on protected flower-rich chalk
grasslands in southern England. The findings, which are published in the Journal of Applied Ecology,
show that even small-scale habitat creation can benefit the moth
population, with the abundance of grassland moths 40% higher on wide
grass margins compared to margins outside schemes. Furthermore, moth species that are normally specialised to chalk
grassland habitats also benefited from these schemes, provided that
habitats were created close to existing chalk grassland. Access the publication: lison, J.,
Duffield, S. J., van Noordwijk, C. G. E., Morecroft, M. D., Marrs, R.
H., Saccheri, I. J. and Hodgson, J. A. (2016),
Spatial targeting of habitat creation has the potential to improve
agri-environment scheme outcomes for macro-moths. J Appl Ecol.
doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12750
Lowes osprey departs for Africa after a successful season - Scottish
Wildlife Trust Female osprey LF15 has left Loch
of the Lowes wildlife reserve in Perthshire after successfully
rearing a full brood of three chicks over the summer. Charlotte Fleming, Perthshire Ranger, Scottish Wildlife Trust said:
“We haven’t seen LF15 for several days which means it’s highly likely
that she has now started her long migration south to Africa. Last year
she left the reserve on 7 August, it’s possible that blustery winds kept
her here slightly longer than usual.”
Birds fly faster in large flocks – Lund University Researchers at the Faculty of Science in Lund show that birds fly faster in flocks.
New research at Lund University in Sweden shows that the flight speed
of birds is determined by a variety of factors. Among the most
sensational is that the size of the flock has a significant impact on
how fast the birds can fly. The larger the flock, the higher the speed. Researchers at the Faculty of Science in Lund have now shown how
several factors, working simultaneously together, determine the birds’
flight speed. Their morphology, that is, the bird’s weight and the shape
of its wings, is one factor; wind direction and speed is another; and
the situation (searching for food or travelling long distances) is a
third. However, what surprised the researchers the most was that the flock
size has a major impact on the birds’ speed. “I was surprised that it is such an important factor. It has usually
been neglected in studies of bird flight”, says Professor Anders
Hedenström who conducted the study together with Professor Susanne
Åkesson.
Hornsea offshore wind farm decision devastating for iconic seabirds
- RSPB
The RSPB is deeply concerned that the Secretary of State’s decision
to approve the Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm will lead to the
unnecessary death of hundreds of globally important seabirds. The charity believes that a growing offshore wind industry is
critical if the UK is to continue to cut its carbon emissions and fight
climate change, however, the RSPB opposed the Hornsea Project Two as it
poses an unacceptably high risk to seabirds that nest on the Yorkshire
coast. As Europe’s largest conservation charity, the RSPB supports the move
to generating more electricity through renewable sources and encourages
the development of renewable energy projects, but this must be delivered
in harmony with nature. This means carefully looking at each site and
the potential impact or risks any proposal may have on local or
migrating wildlife. Unfortunately, the Government licensed this area for
wind farm development without doing the necessary surveys.
New farmers and new small farms can kick-start agricultural revolution
- CPRE Brexit vote offers chance for farming to become more diverse and
environmentally resilient, say countryside campaigners A new report released today by the Campaign to Protect Rural England
(CPRE) argues that farming in England needs to become more diverse to
prove environmentally resilient and publicly accessible over the coming
years . The New model farming paper argues that a more diverse sector - in
demographics, farm size and production – would forge a more resilient
future that offers rewards beyond food: beautiful landscapes, clean
water, abundant wildlife, better flood management and improved carbon
storage. It also argues that a post-Brexit settlement along these lines
would make clearer the public benefits of huge public investment in
farming. The paper suggests that Government should attempt to reverse narrow
trends of industrialisation and short-term efficiency that have long
inflicted damage on vital natural assets - from landscapes and wildlife
to soils and water. Damage to soil is estimated to cost £1.2 billion a
year, while populations of farmland birds in England have more than
halved in the past 40 years . To arrest this decline in diversity across the sector, CPRE argues
that Government should address the bias in policy towards larger farms
through the tapering of public funding to benefit smaller farmers. It is
currently thought that around 80% of the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) payment goes to the 20% largest businesses. With 34,000 fewer farms in the UK than there were a decade ago, CPRE
also suggests that more land should be made available to new groups of
farmers and communities . Reaction: CPRE's New Model Farming paper - NFU NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “Our 47,000 farmer members
represent a diverse industry dedicated to feeding the nation and play a
part in feeding the world, working with the natural environment – not
against it. Our vision is for a dynamic productive and innovative food
and farming sector, which is committed to delivering improvements in
health, wealth and environment for the British public. Around 80% of
England’s landscape character is now in stable or improving condition –
take a walk down some of the 200,000km of public footpaths maintained by
farmers to see. This is not a debate about large or small businesses,
all farms contribute. Missing from the CPRE’s vision is food
security which, in our view, should be considered to be a legitimate
political goal and public good alongside the environment. British
farmers are proud of the high standards of production, traceability of
the food they produce and high animal welfare. British food
production is the bedrock of the food and drink sector – which is the
largest manufacturing sector in the country contributing £108 billion to
the economy and employing nearly four million people. It’s important
that we develop an ambitious agricultural policy that will stimulate a
productive, competitive and profitable farming sector. All our
survey work shows that the British public wants to buy more British food
and, interestingly, survey work also shows the British public believes
farmers play a beneficial role in improving the environment at the same
time.”
New study: neonicotinoid insecticides linked to wild bee decline across
England - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been
linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the
English countryside, according to research published in Nature
Communications. The research, led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology using data
provided by Fera Science Ltd and the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording
Scheme, examined changes in the occurrence of 62 wild bee species with
oilseed rape cropping patterns across England between 1994 and 2011 -
the time period spanning the introduction of wide-scale commercial use
of neonicotinoids.
The scientists found evidence suggesting that neonicotinoid use is
linked to large-scale and long-term decline in wild bee species
distributions and communities. The decline was, on average, three times stronger among species that
regularly feed on the crop such as Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus
terrestris) compared to species that forage on a range of floral
resources, indicating that oilseed rape is a principle mechanism of
neonicotinoid exposure among wild bee communities. Neonicotinoids are a group of insecticide which can be applied to
seed prior to planting. The active compound is expressed systemically
throughout the growing plant so can lead to potential ingestion where
pollinators feed on the pollen and nectar of treated crops. These findings add to previous small-scale and short-term exposure
studies which have identified negative effects of neonicotinoids on
honeybees and a limited number of commercially-bred wild bee species.
Reaction: CEH study on impacts of neonicotinoids - NFU NFU bee health specialist Dr Chris Hartfield said: “This study is
another interesting piece to an unsolved puzzle about how neonicotinoid
seed treatments affect bees. It does not show that neonicotinoids are
causing widespread declines in pollinator populations and it certainly
does not show that neonicotinoid use has caused any extinction of bees
in England.
Find your local community orchard with our new interactive map
- PTES Wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has
launched the latest element in their ongoing orchard conservation work:
an interactive community orchard map that lists around 400 community
orchard groups across the UK.
The map allows members of the public to find their nearest community
orchard, to meet others who share a common interest in orchards and
wildlife, and enjoy the benefits of locally sourced fruit. Using
orchards as a public green space is an effective way to protect orchards
from development and sustain these rare habitats into the future. Through PTES’ new map, people who are already running a community
orchard can promote their ongoing work and recruit volunteers for apple
picking, tree planting, pr5ning parties and pressing events at orchards
across the country. If you are involved with a community orchard that isn’t already
listed, PTES is also keen to add your orchard to their map. To check if
it’s already listed, visit:
www.ptes.org/community-orchards.
Biodiversity begins at home: saving old villages helps save farmland
birds - British Ecological Society Preserving old villages and farm buildings – and being more creative
in designing new rural homes – could help halt the decline in European
farmland bird populations, according to new research published today in
the Journal of Applied Ecology. The study, led by Dr Zuzanna Rosin of Adam Mickiewicz University,
found that traditional villages in Poland are biodiversity hotspots for
farmland birds, whose populations have declined at an alarming rate
across Europe over recent decades. As agriculture becomes ever more intensive, traditional villages will
play an increasingly important role in farmland bird conservation, says
Rosin, so preserving the variety of farms, homes and building materials
is key to conserving farmland birds, whose numbers have fallen
dramatically. According the official State of Europe’s Common Birds, between 1980
and 2005 the population of crested larks declined by 95%, corn buntings
by 61% and linnets by 54%. Previous studies have pointed to agricultural intensification, with
the resulting loss of habitat, as a major cause of farmland bird
declines. But the importance of old farms and villages to bird
biodiversity has been little studied until now. Working in two regions of western and southern Poland, Wielkopolska
and Małopolska, the team of ecologists from Poland and Sweden counted
the number and species of birds at three spatial scales: single rural
property, village and landscape. They visited 78 homes and farms in 30 villages, and recorded 12,000
individual birds from 135 species, including many species which are
declining in Europe. They found that old rural properties had more
birds, from more species, than buildings constructed after 1989 and that
farmsteads hosted more bird species than homesteads. They also found that old, traditional villages are biodiversity
hotspots for farmland birds, and that the proportion of new homes in a
village has a dramatic impact on bird life. They found 20-25 bird
species in villages with less than 10% new dwellings, but when new homes
made up 40-50% of a village, fewer than 10 bird species remained. Read the paper:
National Trust for Scotland reveals impact of climate change on alpine
plants Measurement of Scotland’s fragile alpine plants at high altitude
demonstrates how much of our mountain flora faces extinction, according
to experts at the National Trust for Scotland. The decrease in lying snow, dryer springs and milder, wetter winters
are all having an impact on plants which grow in Scotland’s mountainous
areas.
Expert teams from the conservation charity have been monitoring
results from as far back as the 1950s which show the impact of warmer
temperatures at high altitude on protected species. The Trust
currently undertakes detailed research on a six year cycle, which is
producing evidence of the long term trend towards extinction,
particularly on the lower lying, south facing slopes. On Coire nam
Beith in Glencoe, one population of Highland Saxifrage was seen to
reduce from 300 plants in the 1990s to only 31 in recent years. National Trust for Scotland ecologist, Dan Watson, said: “Our
monitoring shows that climate change is affecting Scotland’s mountains
at an alarming rate. Trust monitoring tracks the decrease of rare
arctic-alpine plants such as Snow Pearlwort (Sagina nivalis) on Ben
Lawers and Highland Saxifrage in Glencoe and shows how populations are
declining at lower altitudes. Meanwhile, common temperate plants less
able to cope with extreme climates are moving further up the hills. As
the distribution of plants found at high altitude is changing, more work
is required to confirm the extent of the problem. These results are firm
evidence of the rise in mountain temperatures and the decrease in lying
snow on southerly slopes and at lower altitudes. Current estimates
indicate that snow cover at 1060m is projected to be reduced by 21% by
the 2050s.”
Another satellite tagged bird of prey disappears in the Monadhliath
Mountains - RSPB RSPB Scotland has announced that a young male hen harrier, fitted
with a satellite transmitter as part of the charity’s part EU funded Hen
Harrier LIFE+ Project, has gone missing on a grouse moor in the
Monadhliath Mountains, south-east of Inverness. The bird, named Elwood, was the only chick to fledge from a nest in
Banffshire, which was being monitored under the Partnership for Action
against Wildlife Crime Scotland (PAW Scotland) “Heads-up for Harriers
scheme”. The transmitter’s data, being monitored by RSPB Scotland staff,
indicated that the young bird fledged from its nest in the first week of
July, but stayed close to the site in the hills above the River Spey
until the 20th, when he began to travel more widely. By the 27th, he had
moved 20 miles to the south west, and had settled in the hills around
Tomatin. The bird remained in this area, with the transmitter
providing detailed information about his daily travels until suddenly,
transmissions ceased abruptly on August 3rd. The bird’s last recorded
position was on an area of managed moorland a few miles from the Slochd
summit on the A9. Response:
SGA statement: missing hen harrier A Spokesman for The Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: "As with
other recent allegations, the SGA will work with Police Scotland and
Scottish Government in an attempt to get to the bottom of this. It is
clearly a situation which cannot go on. We have no independent
information, at the present time, so getting the facts will be the first
step. Speculation, at this stage, will not help. The SGA does not, and
will never, condone wildlife crime. As an organisation we advocate legal
solutions, solely, as the means to resolve conflicts. If there is any
evidence of illegal activity by an SGA member, appropriate action will
be taken." Response:
Moorland Group statement on missing hen harrier
- Scottish Land & Estates Tim Baynes, Director of the Scottish Moorland Group, said: “We are as
concerned as anyone when a satellite tagged bird goes missing and
particularly in this case because the bird was part of a project
involving Scottish Land & Estates and our members. This bird was tagged
on one of our member estates as part of the Heads Up for Harriers
project. We are contacting our partners in the Partnership for Action
Against Wildlife Crime (PAW Scotland) to find out more. Estates in the
area where the bird went missing are also concerned but have not been
approached by RSPB to help in any search. They are unaware of any
incident and would be willing to help. We would ask anyone with further
information on this to contact Scottish Land & Estates or PAW Scotland.”
Scottish wildcats: next phase of official action plan to tackle threats
- Scottish Natural Heritage Scotland’s largest official wildcat action project is preparing to
step up a gear with the launch of an ambitious neutering scheme aimed at
stamping out interbreeding and reducing the risk of disease.
Project officers at Scottish Wildcat Action (SWA), which is backed by
the Scottish Government, Heritage Lottery Fund, and around 20 other
influential organisations, will focus new efforts on the neutering
scheme. Trap, Neuter, Vaccination and Return (TNVR) sees feral cats in
wildcat priority areas neutered to prevent them breeding and
transmitting diseases to the precious remaining Scottish wildcats. The technique is already widely-used, and is a vital tool in the
arsenal to protect wildcats from hybridisation and disease. No cats –
feral or otherwise – are harmed in any way, unless for animal welfare
reasons a feral cat has to be put down because of illness. Pet cats are
not at risk. Roo Campbell, the priority areas manager, said: “The chief threat to
the wildcat is interbreeding with domestic cats, many of which are
feral, and wildcats will continue to lose their wild identity if this is
left unchecked. “Scottish Wildcat Action is committed to reducing the risk of
interbreeding between wildcats and feral cats. The best way of doing
this humanely is by trapping, neutering, vaccinating and then returning
feral cats. “We were delighted last week to announce that during our initial,
extensive survey our 347 camera traps had found 19 Scottish wildcats –
with the likelihood that more are out there. As we now focus our
attention on the trapping phase of this five-year project, our activity
will mean a greater chance that a kitten born next spring will have
wildcat parents.”
Endangered water voles return to Yorkshire’s Malham Tarn after fifty
year absence - National Trust One hundred water voles will be reintroduced into the National
Trust’s Malham Tarn in the Yorkshire Dales this weekend, in what is
believed to be the highest water vole reintroduction project ever
carried out in Britain. This will be the first time the endangered mammals have been seen at
Malham Tarn – England’s highest freshwater lake (377m) – in fifty years. National Trust ecologists believe Malham Tarn’s water voles were
wiped out in the 1960s by mink, which escaped from fur farms nearby.
Roisin Black, National Trust Ranger at Malham Tarn, said: “In the
rest of Europe, water voles are common. In Britain, the creatures are
incredibly rare. We know water voles have thrived at Malham Tarn in the
past and thanks to work by the National Trust, the habitat here is
perfect for water voles again. By reintroducing water voles to the Tarn,
we hope to give these rare animals the chance to recolonise the streams
in the high Yorkshire Dales.” Around one hundred water voles will be released in the fen area of
the Tarn this year, with a further hundred voles released in June 2017. The water voles have been specially bred for the National Trust by
Derek Gow Consultancy, an ecological consultancy with 18 years’
experience working on wildlife reintroduction projects.
New meadow creation underway in Montgomeryshire
- Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust
In June 2013, HRH The Prince of Wales launched the
Coronation
Meadows project at his home in Highgrove. His vision was to see a
flagship ancient wildflower meadow identified in every county to mark
the anniversary of The Queen’s Coronation. Over the last 3 years, this
remarkable project has done just that and there are now 88 Coronation
Meadows across the UK. These jewels in the crown are places where people
can enjoy a riot of colour and an abundance of wildlife in a setting
that has remained largely unchanged since the Coronation. But this incredible conservation effort doesn’t stop here. In order
to realise Prince Charles’ vision to create new wildflower meadows, seed
is now being collected from these special Coronation Meadows and used to
create meadows across the UK, leaving a legacy for the next 60 years. So
far, 66 new meadows (totalling 575 acres) have been created since the
project began. The new Montgomeryshire meadow being created now is an
exciting step towards the goal of 90 meadows to be created by the end of
2016. Montgomeryshire’s new meadow, which is being created using seed
harvested from Ty Brith, is adjacent to another Montgomeryshire Wildlife
Trust nature reserve, Roundton Hill. The meadow seed was broadcasted by
hand at Hurdley Meadows by Trust volunteers on 26th July 2016. The
outcome of this work will be carefully monitored over the coming years
by the site owners. It is hoped that this currently species-poor
grassland will soon be as colourful as the donor!
Scientific Publications Amael Paillex, Nele Schuwirth, Armin W. Lorenz, Kathrin Januschke, Armin Peter, Peter Reichert, Integrating and extending ecological river assessment: Concept and test with two restoration projects, Ecological Indicators, Volume 72, January 2017, Pages 131-141, ISSN 1470-160X,DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.07.048. Ramos, A. G. and Drummond, H. (2016),
Tick infestation of chicks in a seabird colony varies with local
breeding synchrony, local nest density and habitat structure. J
Avian Biol. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/jav.01107 Kroll, A. J., Verschuyl, J., Giovanini, J. and Betts, M. G. (2016),
Assembly dynamics of a forest bird community depend on disturbance
intensity and foraging guild. J Appl Ecol. Accepted Author
Manuscript. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12773 Mina, M., Bugmann, H., Cordonnier, T., Irauschek, F., Klopcic, M.,
Pardos, M. and Cailleret, M. (2016),
Future ecosystem services from European mountain forests under climate
change. J Appl Ecol. Accepted Author Manuscript.
doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12772
Selden, N. A. C. & Cowie, P. R. (2016)
Long-term microplastic retention causes reduced body condition in the
langoustine, Nephrops norvegicus. Environmental Pollution.
doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2016.08.020 Harvey, E., Gounand, I., Ward, C. & Altermatt, F. (2016)
Bridging ecology and conservation: from ecological networks to ecosystem
function. Journal of Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12769
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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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Brown
hare on farmland track (Image:
Terns
photographed on Öland. ( Anders Hedenström)
Pair
of gannets displaying at nest (Image: Andy Hay
Field
of oilseed rape in flower (image: CEH)
Bramley
apples by Megan Gimber
Snow
pearlwort (image: NTS)
Scottish
wildcat, (copyright Pete Cairns via SNH)
Water
vole at Malham Tarn (image: © National Trust Images / Paul C Dunn)
MWT
volunteers broadcasting meadow seed at Hurdley Meadows
