Wildlife News for July

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RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Wildlife News for July

Post by RachelMC »

New "Mammals on Roads" App!

The People's Trust for Endangered Species has just launched a new app for Android phones as well as iPhones.

July sees the start of the Trust's "Mammals on Roads" survey, a nationwide survey of mammal sightings along single-carriageways. To date, over half a million kilometres of road have been surveyed, and changes in counts of species such as hedgehogs, foxes and badgers have been tracked over time. Findings from the survey have already alerted the drastic decline in hedgehogs and were the impetus for our hedgehog projects and surveys.

The Mammals on Roads app logs your route and lets you record the mammals (roadkill or healthy) that you spot along the way. You can check your records online and distribution maps of records collected nationally will be available in the future. The information helps us to monitor how populations in the wild are changing from year to year and to act in time if numbers are falling. Mammals on Roads puts you in the driving seat of conservation.

Get the apps here:

Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... nJvYWRzIl0
iPhone - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mammals ... 09227?mt=8

And don't forget to record on RODIS as well!

RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Film Spotlight on Water Voles

Post by RachelMC »

Film Spotlight on Water Voles:

A short documentary by a budding young filmmaker from Salford University has set the spotlight on one of the region's rarest species, the Water Vole.

Simon Goodall approached the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, who have been monitoring the rare mammals on the Shropshire Union Canal in Nantwich, and filmed and produced the package in just two weeks during May 2013.

The result captures the heart of the water vole’s life on the canal, from neighbouring wildlife to dealing with canal barges trundling past their burrows every day.

Simon, who also narrates the film, explains how the voles have come to see the canal as a safe haven, and the threats that now find them with the unenviable title of our fastest declining British mammal.

The Cheshire Wildlife Trust has been working with partners to map the fortunes of water voles across the Cheshire region.

Last year, the project saw 52 separate water vole surveys undertaken across dozens of kilometres of local rivers, with the equivalent of almost 300 hours of surveys taken on by volunteers. Encouragingly, the presence of water voles was noted in four out of ten sites last year, however it is unclear yet how the unseasonal weather in recent months may affect results in 2013.

View the film here:



RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Warrington's Wildlife to Feature on the BBC

Post by RachelMC »

Warrington's Wildlife to Feature on the BBC:

WARRINGTON’s wildlife will be coming to a television screen near you when it features on a BBC programme to be aired in August 2013.

The town was selected ahead of other North West locations to be the focus of the programme, Urban Jungle, which will show the wealth of wildlife on offer in Warrington.

Three friends of the Warrington Nature Conservation Forum were filmed at various locations around Warrington, capturing the natural beauty of town.

Chair of WNCF, Geoff Settle said: ‘It’s great to see the hard work these wildlife enthusiasts have put in over the years captured by the BBC.”
Wildlife experts jumped at the opportunity to showcase the wildlife hotspots in Warrington alongside presenter David Lindo and his crew.

Jane Cullen from Wirral and Cheshire Badger Group, said: “The film crew was lovely and it was an excellent opportunity for us all to tell people what great wildlife we have here.”

I don't have any more details of when the programme is to be aired but will post when I do!

UPDATE! The programme is Urban Jungle and is to be broadcast on BBC1 on Thursday, August 1, at 7pm.

Last edited by RachelMC on Wed Jul 31, 2013 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

White-faced darters back in Delamere Forest

Post by RachelMC »

White-faced Darters (Leucorrhinia dubia) Back In Delamere Forest:

One of the UK’s rarest dragonflies has been reintroduced into the wild after being found in Shropshire.

In a ground-breaking project the White-faced Darter dragonfly (Leucorrhinia dubia) has been bred in Cheshire, where it hasn’t been seen for a decade, after being moved from Fenn’s and Whixall Moss in north Shropshire.

It is only the third time the feat has been attempted in the UK.

The project, part of a five-year plan by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, came to fruition in recent days as team leaders spotted adult White-faced Darters flying over the pools of Delamere Forest in Cheshire.

They have also recorded evidence of a number of other individuals emerging from the water in a specially selected pool where they were translocated earlier in the summer.

Joan Daniels, senior reserve manager at Fenn’s, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, said she was pleased the transportation has been a success.

She said: “When we took over 23 years ago there were hardly any White-faced Darters left, we have been improving this moss for them so now it is lovely to have enough to be able to donate them to another site.

“After last year’s poor summer we were very concerned that we wouldn’t have enough White-faced Darters to donate but in fact this summer we have had a superb emergence of dragonfly to transplant.”

About the White-faced Darter
Scientific name: Leuchorrhinia dubia
In Britain the White-faced Darter is a rare dragonfly having declined, notably in England, in the last 35 years. It is a species of lowland peatbogs. It requires relatively deep, oligotrophic, acidic bog pools with considerable rafts of Sphagnum at the edges in which to breed.

The White-faced Darter is a small dark dragonfly, with a pale creamy white frons. The wings have small black patches at the base and dark brown pterostigma. The male has a narrow black abdomen, marked with red and orange on the dorsal and lateral segments. The thorax is black with faint red antehumeral stripes and lateral markings. The female is patterned like the male but yellow replaces the red markings.


Image
Photo: BBC

Last edited by RachelMC on Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign needs your help

Post by RachelMC »

RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign needs your help in Cheshire

In Cheshire gardens the numbers of baby song thrushes recorded in an RSPB survey were down this spring as much as 21%. Here’s how you can help.

British birds are in trouble and need our help. The ‘State of Nature’ report, compiled by 25 wildlife organisations revealed that 60 per cent of the species studied have dramatically declined over recent decades. And because of the deterioration of natural habitats, one in ten of all the species assessed are under threat of disappearing from the UK.

In Cheshire gardens alone, the numbers of baby song thrush recorded in the RSPB’s 2012 ‘Make Your Nature Count’ survey were down this spring as much as 21% compared to last year. Sightings of baby blackbirds (-19%), robins (-21%) and song thrushes (-19%) were also down on last year, which may be a result of wet weather in the early part of the breeding season making it harder for birds to find food for their chicks.

Results from the RSPB’s annual 2013 ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ survey, of which more than 10,000 Cheshire residents participated, showed that some of our best-loved bird species are continuing to decline in this county. The numbers of starlings and house sparrows, which are already UK ‘red-listed’ species – meaning they are of the highest conservation concern dropped a further 11% and 22% respectively in Cheshire gardens compared to 2012. Bullfinches and dunnocks, both amber-listed, fell by 28% and 19% respectively.

So what does this really mean for a nation which purportedly loves nature and the great outdoors? It means no birds tweeting, no butterflies fluttering, no hedgehogs or ladybirds to enchant us, and no bees to pollinate flowers and make honey for our tables. However, the State of Nature report also highlights that with sufficient resources and public support, we can turn the fortunes of our wildlife around. The RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign urges the public to provide a place for wildlife in their own gardens and outside spaces – no matter if you only have a window box in a city apartment.

How children can help
• Create nature corridors for wildlife to move around and easily get from place to place.
• Build a hedgehog home so they can shelter, hibernate in winter and even raise a family.
• Create a high-rise home for wildlife out of bricks, old wood and garden waste material that can be used by bugs to live and breed.
• Help a lonely bee by building it a home, especially in urban areas.
• Create a small pond or water feature to attract dragonflies and damselflies, while offering frogs and toads a place to drink and bathe.

For more details about the RSPB’s Giving Nature a Home campaign visit: http://homes.rspb.org.uk

Article re-posted from Cheshire Life. Words by Natalie Drury
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