Wildlife News for April

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

Wildlife News for April

Post by RachelMC »

A RARE species of tree will be planted in Kingsmead with help from Chester Zoo.

Kingsmead Parish Council hopes to replace Poplar trees near London Road which had to be removed for safety reasons.

Clr Laura Hoey, council chairman, said: “Through a Cheshire Wildlife Trust contact I asked if he could help us find trees suitable for wet, boggy ground.

“He has a contact at Chester Zoo which has Black Poplars, which are rare but native.”

The zoo is working on a conservation project with the trees, which suit the soggy site that made the trunks of the former Poplars spongy and unsafe.

Clr Tim Moore said: “The ground is so boggy that nothing else will do.”

Re-posted from the Northwich Guardian

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

A new vision for Lindow Moss

Post by RachelMC »

On Thursday 3rd April, Transition Wilmslow hosted a workshop at the Quaker Meeting House in Wilmslow to bring people together and discuss a new way forward for Lindow Moss. Over 50 people attended, from local councillors, to English Heritage, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Manchester Museum, Environment Agency, and other interested parties thanks to local publicity.

Professor John Handley talked about the formation of the Moss (a much bigger area than that known as Lindow Common), and how the exploitation of the peat for fuel from the Middle Ages onwards created distinctive field boundaries called moss 'rooms'. He described it as "One of the best preserved landscapes of its type in Britain and yet, astonishingly, it is not protected by designation of any kind."

Tony Evans, Chair of the Saltersley Common Preservation Society (covering Lindow Moss), spoke about the apparent infringements of the planning conditions by the peat extraction companies, leading to a lowering of the water table, and effects including near-disappearance of wildlife such as water voles, and subsidence of houses in the area.

Groups looked at education, landscape restoration, access and usage, and ecology to identify possible steps to restore the Moss and were reminded that this year is the 30th anniversary of the finding of Lindow Man. The building buzzed with lively conversation.

By stopping the peat extraction the moss could recover and what Prof Handley called 'keystone species' could re-colonize the wet areas. The Workshop established that Lindow Moss is a key link in the chain of lowland bog habitats, which connects Shropshire to the south with the Mersey Basin to the north. If rare plants, animals such as water voles, and birds and insects returned, the moss could become a centre for bio-diversity, eco-tourism and education, as well as valuable carbon capture as it would absorb more greenhouse gases than it is emitting.

The participants agreed that the vision for Lindow Moss should be:

  • An area for recreation and exercise for all ages - on foot and where possible, bicycle, horseback and wheelchair
  • Cessation of peat extraction and restoration of the peat working area to create an attractive natural habitat and to re-establish it as a carbon sink.
  • Protection of the wider Lindow Moss landscape.
  • Creation of an area where flora and fauna (including native water voles) can flourish and be appreciated.
  • An educational resource where the rich natural and human history of the Moss, including Lindow Man, can be studied and appreciated.
  • A local green tourism destination bringing economic developments to the Wilmslow area.
  • Recognition of the moss area as a Green Infrastructure Asset and lung for Wilmslow.


For Transition Wilmslow, the project brings together many of the strands that they are about: local community, biodiversity, food, education, carbon, resilience and legacy for future generations.

Transition Wilmslow will be exhibiting A New Vision for Lindow Moss at the June Artisan Market and at The Wilmslow Show in July. Everyone is invited to come and talk about this exciting project.

There will also be a day school on 18th October 2014 arranged through the Wilmslow Guild, and led by Prof. John Handley.

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

Badger Vaccination Plans

Post by RachelMC »

Badger Vaccination Plans:

Environment Minister Owen Paterson announced the plans last week and said a potential further expansion of the Government’s badger culling programme which was previously due to extend across ten areas of the UK, would no longer take place this year.

The government did, however, stop short of calling a halt on badger culling pilot schemes in Gloucestershire and Somerset this summer, which will continue as planned, despite damning results from an independent assessment panel which highlighted significant missed targets across effectiveness and humaneness of the scheme last year.

It was also revealed that the same independent assessment process will no longer be used from this summer, leading to concerns over how the process will be monitored.

The news also comes just weeks after the Cheshire Wildlife Trust joined with other stakeholders in the multi-agency Cheshire TB Eradication Group to launch a six-month analysis of roadkill badgers across Cheshire.

Based at the University of Liverpool, the study is aiming to test up to 100 badgers from across the county and provide an initial indication of if, and where, TB is present in the badger population.

Since 2012, Cheshire Wildlife Trust has been operating a badger TB vaccination service across the region, which this year is expected to cover farms totalling almost 1,500 hectares.

The conservation charity believes that vaccinating badgers against bovine TB over a five-year period could help to create a natural barrier of immunity within the badger population, helping to slow its progression northwards.

In a Commons statement last week, Environment Minister Owen Paterson proposed a similar programme of badger vaccination within ‘edge areas’ which would currently include Cheshire, in an attempt to create a ‘buffer zone’ against the disease.

Richard Gardner, leading the Trust’s vaccination scheme said: “Whilst we remain firmly opposed to the Government’s continued strategy of putting badger culling at the heart of efforts to tackle this disease, it’s a welcome first step to see the Minister finally acknowledging the role that badger vaccination can play in ‘edge’ areas like Cheshire.

“At the Wildlife Trusts we have made it clear for several years that badger vaccination has a key role to play. However, we acknowledge that it must be part of a wide-ranging set of measures including better biosecurity and a cattle vaccine. We’ve been putting badger vaccination into practice here in the north west for three years, and this year expect the biggest take-up since we began in 2012.

“What must happen now is a fast-tracking of investment into badger vaccination – perhaps with those funds that would previously have been directed into the cull expansion – to assist those farmers who want to maintain TB-free badgers, and hopefully TB-free cattle herds,” he added.

Edited and re-posted from The Chester Chronicle

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

Badger Trust AGM at Macclesfield

Post by RachelMC »

The Wirral and Cheshire Badger Group will be hosting this year's Badger Trust AGM at Adlington Hall in Macclesfield on Saturday 26th April. Doors open at 10:30am.

The Great Hall of Adlington Hall, is located in beautiful surroundings in the Macclesfield area. The Badger Trust website says "we are privileged to have the use of this wonderful venue thanks to the generosity of the owners Peter and Camilla Williams who have sponsored the use of their premises."

The booking form: http://www.badgertrust.org.uk/_Attachme ... 022_S4.doc
Formal documents for Badger Trust members are now available. Supporters/Associate Member groups information

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

Barn Owls at Bickley Hall Farm

Post by RachelMC »

Cheshire farm's Barn Owls buck trend of falling numbers:

A PAIR of barn owls have taken up residence at Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s Bickley Hall Farm - as latest figures reveal that numbers in Cheshire alone have plummeted by more than 80 per cent on the previous year.

Recent data from monitoring groups across the UK showed that 2013 was the worst summer on record for barn owls in the UK. But the birds have this year decided to set up home in a specially-designed nestbox installed at the Trust’s 200-acre farm near Malpas.

The barn owl remains a rare breeding bird in Cheshire, with just 19 occupied nests recorded last year, down from more than 100 previously. It is believed the prolonged, cold and wet winter and spring last year contributed to the impact on breeding, with the British Trust for Ornithology recording a 280 per cent increase in deaths, with many of those surviving in poor health.

Charlotte Harris, Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s chief executive, said: “These figures make grim reading for one of our most iconic species, especially after so many years of hard work by volunteers to build up local barn owl populations. Just how long it will take to recover from the disastrous spring of 2013 remains to be seen.

“Thankfully, projects like our Living Landscape schemes are already making a difference in restoring habitats, like species-rich grasslands and floodplain meadows, which meant that we played host to one of the few successful pairs of barn owls in Cheshire last year, nesting at our largest reserve at Gowy Meadows. We can only do this, though, with the support of our members.”

Although the Cheshire Wildlife Trust was aware that owls occasionally hunted across their farm near Malpas, the arrival of a resident pair this year came as a surprise.

The Trust’s Joe Pimblett said: “Myself and a colleague Matt had gone onto the farm to install the nestbox during the winter, when in the process of climbing up the tree we were greeted with not one, but two barn owls leaving a natural hole in the tree next to us. Realising we were obviously in the right spot we continued with the job, and in recent weeks have noticed that the birds are using the natural hole and now the newly installed box too. The owls are also depositing regular owl ‘pellets’ below, telling us they’re spending lots of time there roosting. Our hope is that we’ll be lucky enough to see the pair raise young this year, which would be fantastic timing as we open our brand new £120,000 teaching facility for young people just a short walk away in the farmyard.”

With the ongoing loss of suitable natural nest sites, nest boxes have become central to the barn owls’ recovery, with organisations such as the Broxton Barn Owl Group leading the way in installing and monitoring hundreds of nests every year.

Edited from an article in Chester First

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