Wildlife News for October

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

Wildlife News for October

Post by RachelMC »

Cheshire Wildlife Trust Badger Appeal:

Cheshire Wildlife Trust has started an appeal to raise £20,000 to help their vaccination of badgers against bTB - the alternative to culling.

This is from their website:

"The government has recently begun an untested method of culling the UK's largest wild carnivore and the Wildlife Trust's iconic emblem, the badger. 'Free-shooting' has been endorsed as a method of controlling badgers in effort to tackle the disease bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle and could continue and expand for five years.

Cheshire Wildlife Trust needs to raise £20,000 to allow us to vaccinate badgers in areas of high bTB incidence and begin putting in place a ‘firewall’ to stop the spread of the disease across Cheshire.

We are currently on the front line of bTB as it slowly spreads to the north and west - and have a unique chance to demonstrate that culling is not the answer to the bTB problem."

More can be read on the CWT website here: http://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/badgerappeal

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

RSPCA: Wild About Britain

Post by RachelMC »

Wild About Britain:

The 2012 summer of celebration may be over but the RSPCA is inviting children and young adults to continue in the spirit of British pride by going Wild About Britain. Join them in their very special writing competition and share your story about the animals who live in our forests, rivers and hedgerows.

Many of our favourite children’s classics are written about wild animals – 'Fantastic Mr Fox', the 'Wind in the Willows', 'Farthings Wood' and Beatrix Potter, to name but a few, so what better time than the Autumn for you to stick on your wellies, wrap up warm and head outdoors to research ideas about your favourite British wild animals, such as the fox, badger and hedgehog, and write about them for this short story competition.

Let your words run wild ......

More, including how to register, is on the RSPCA website

Last edited by RachelMC on Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Microchips for Northern dormice

Post by RachelMC »

Microchips for Northern dormice

The North West's dormice have been monitored and fitted with tiny microchips in an annual survey by conservationists. Staff from Chester Zoo and Cheshire Wildlife Trust are halfway through their autumn checks on the elusive animals.

Experts have been monitoring the populations since 2005, making two visits to each of the sites every May and June, and again in September and October after the breeding season. With the help of volunteers, checks are made on the number, health and sex of dormice living in the woodlands. The conservationists have also carried out an extensive programme of microchipping to help keep track of the mammals. When the dormice are collected they are scanned by a chip detector, any of the right size that are found without a chip are then fitted with one.

Chester Zoo vet Gabby Drake is responsible for the delicate procedure that requires the small mammals to be anaesthetised before the chip, which measures 8mm in length, is fitted. Only dormice that weigh more than 10g, aged around one month to six weeks old, are given the trackers. They are fitted via a needle underneath the loose skin on the dormice's backs and will remain with them for life.

The team aim to collect a further three years of data, a decade's worth in total, in order to better understand the movements and requirements of the dormice. They are considered a threatened species in the UK due to the loss and fragmentation of their woodland habitat. The team aim to collect a further three years of data, a decade's worth in total, in order to better understand the movements and requirements of the dormice. They are considered a threatened species in the UK due to the loss and fragmentation of their woodland habitat.

Chester Zoo biodiversity officer Sarah Bird described the northern populations as "unusual". Although the mammals' stronghold was thought to be limited to hazel trees in the south of the country, monitoring has revealed that the mixed woodland sites in Cheshire and North Wales are home to thriving populations. "Since the beginning of the project we have microchipped nearly 1,000 animals," said Ms Bird, adding that the project is the largest of its kind in the UK and has revealed the largest known population of dormice in the country.

See more including photos at http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19846366
Image
Article re-posted from BBC Nature.
RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Volunteers help brighten up Wirral woodland

Post by RachelMC »

Volunteers help brighten up Wirral woodland

A TEAM of volunteers has helped brighten up a Wirral community woodland by planting more than 100 wildflowers.

The Forestry Commission teamed up with Cheshire Wildlife Trust for the planting at Bidston Moss community woodland to celebrate the Trust’s 50th anniversary.

Duncan MacNaughton, Forestry Commission ranger for the area, volunteers from Friends of Bidston Moss and Wirral Wildlife and even passers-by rolled up their sleeves to help out.

They planted meadowsweet, cowslip, hedge bedstraw, fleabane, betony and ragged robin alongside one of the main paths where there were few existing wild flowers.

Duncan said: “The planting has added more species to existing wildflower meadows on the site to widen diversity. All the volunteers did a great job and it will ensure a fantastic bloom next year. It’s a really vibrant area and we hope the new planting will encourage more people to come along and enjoy it in the spring.”

It was one of a number of planting sessions organised to celebrate the Trust’s 50th birthday. Most of the sessions have involved 50 wildflower plants.

Hilary Ash, honorary conservation officer for Wirral Wildlife, said: “We had a busy afternoon planting and even roped in passing cyclists and walkers to help. The plants will brighten up that area for people and provide food for wildlife, including bumble bees and butterflies.”

Article re-posted from The Wirral Globe
RachelMC
Posts: 460
Joined: Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
Location: Chester

Seal spotted in the Mersey

Post by RachelMC »

Seal spotted in the Mersey:

A SEAL was spotted in the River Mersey at lunchtime on 28th September 2012.

The animal was basking at Howley Weir and was spotted by Barrie Scholes who took this picture (below).

Image

The animal could have followed the first salmon run of the season.

(I am reliably informed that the seal has been ID'd as a Grey Seal Halichoerus grypus - and has been entered into RODIS! RachelMC)

Re-posted from The Warrington Guardian

About grey seals:

Grey Seals are the largest breeding seals found in the UK. Half of the world's population of Grey Seals are found around British coasts, and numbers here have doubled since 1960. In the autumn, females congregate at traditional pupping sites called rookeries.

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

Successful start to badger vaccination in Cheshire

Post by RachelMC »

12 badgers vaccinated:
Cheshire Wildlife Trust has described its first badger bovine tuberculosis (bTB) vaccination deployment as ‘extremely successful' after a two-day programme was undertaken at its Bickley Hall Farm headquarters.

A total of 19 badgers were captured in ‘live traps' across two separate dawn sessions, with 12 badgers vaccinated with the BCG vaccine and the remaining 7 badgers recorded as ‘re-captures' on the second morning.

The five-year vaccination strategy taken on by the charity will initially focus on Trust-managed sites and will expand to other private land in the area over the next four years.

Speaking after the final badger had been released, Cheshire Wildlife Trust's Richard Gardner said: "We're delighted with the result over the last 48 hours, most importantly with our trapping and re-capture rates.

"The overall total of a dozen individuals treated and the seven re-captures suggests we've hit our target of around 75% of the badger population on this location. This will, of course, be bolstered by a continuing year-on-year vaccination for another four years which, in spring may also include badger cubs too."

The deployment of the vaccine, supported by Chester Zoo and undertaken in partnership with Shropshire Wildlife Trust and volunteers from the Wirral & Cheshire Badger Group, is the most northerly programme of badger bTB vaccination to date.

The scheme follows the announcement by Defra last week to issue a second ‘free-shoot' culling licence in the south west of England, where bTB in cattle is most prevalent.

In-depth monitoring:
The strategy involves in-depth monitoring of badger setts and ‘runs' across each site, and a two-week preparatory period of ‘pre-baiting' to allow badgers to become accustomed to the trapping equipment.

In contrast to the Government's present culling trial in the south west, the Wildlife Trusts believe that a natural barrier of ‘herd immunity' in local badger populations can be created, forming a firewall to potentially stop a northerly spread of bTB.

Richard Gardner added: "As someone who works with farmers daily, the scepticism over capture rates and effectiveness was high on the list of my own concerns, however this initial deployment has shown that with hard work and careful research we can achieve the necessary numbers.

"We're already aware of a number of local farmers who would like to see vaccination take place on their land in 2013, and we'll be working hard to make sure that happens over the coming months."

Sarah Bird, Biodiversity Officer from Chester Zoo, which has backed the scheme with £6,000 worth of equipment and expertise said: "Chester Zoo supports wildlife conservation programmes all around the world, working on human-wildlife conflict in many places. In India we are working to protect crops from elephants and in South America we are studying jaguar predation on cattle. Here in the UK, while we acknowledge the problem of bTB and that wildlife plays a role, by supporting this project we're encouraging development of disease control techniques that protect badgers."

Along with increased bio-security and improvements to cattle movement monitoring, the Wildlife Trusts say that vaccination offers an alternative to culling as a method of tackling bTB as the scheme minimises movements between badger populations, a process that has been proven to occur with culling - the so-called ‘perturbation' effect.

Image

Re-posted from Wildlife Extra News

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