News
East Lancashire Bat Group discover rare bat
A Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros), a cave dwelling bat thought to be found only in Wales and South West England, was discovered during a survey of hibernation sites in Bowland on 31st October 2008. Historic distribution of this bat included Lancashire and Yorkshire with the last known records dating back to the 1890's.On the same date this year the bat was again recorded on the same site indicating it is a resident species and work is now underway to discover if this is a remnant of the historic population or a attempt by the species to repopulate it's former range.
Follow our research at www.eastlancsbats.org
North West Lowlands Water Vole Project Officer - £19,500 p.a. (full time + pension) Fixed term Contract until March 2011 (extension subject to funding)
This is an exciting opportunity to undertake survey and habitat enhancement works for Water Voles. The North West lowlands are a National stronghold for this endangered and declining mammal. The project aims to map distribution and co-ordinate conservation activity for key populations in South West Lancashire to the North Cheshire Plain. The successful candidates will have a proven track record in field based Water Vole conservation and data handling.
Closing Date: Tuesday 5th January 2010
Interviews: w/c 18th January 2010
For further details visit www.lancswt.org.uk/About Us/jobs.htm
International Year of Biodiversity launched 25 November 2009, Natural History Museum, London
Hundreds of organisations and groups across the UK are joining together to play a part in the global awareness campaign, International Year of Biodiversity 2010 (IYB2010). From charities to farmers, councils to wildlife rangers, schools and colleges to zoos and museums and botanic gardens, the UK has one of the strongest programmes in the world to celebrate IYB2010.
Talks, public dialogues, art work, citizen science experiments and exhibitions encompassing both science and the arts are being planned between January and December 2010 under the banner of International Year of Biodiversity UK (IYB-UK). IYB-UK aims to help people discover the connections between themselves and the world around them and to realise the consequences of biodiversity loss, as well as the huge benefits that are shared if we conserve and use life on Earth in a sustainable way.
During IYB2010, the people of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will have an unprecedented opportunity to understand why biodiversity is important for our health and wealth, to enjoy it and learn how to preserve it. Opportunities include the chance to take part in surveys of farmland birds, butterflies, harvest mice, hedgehogs and water. There will be bat walks, bird watching, honey and apple sampling and orchard visits at blossom and harvest time. Summer highlights include pond dipping, insect trawling, bird box building and rambling. Hives will be introduced into the grounds of city churches and city squares will be transformed into gardens. Towns and cities will be going head-to-head, competing to map their local biodiversity. Hundreds of thousands of new plants and trees will be planted. New songs and music about bees will be commissioned and heard. A symbolic conference table and chairs, made from driftwood, will be built and shipped to Nagoya as a powerful call to action to the world's leaders as they hold the future of life on Earth in their hands.
It is hoped the partnership of key organisations in the UK and across the world will encourage people to understand the issues and learn about some of the success stories that indicate a way forward that can make a difference. IYB2010 gives people an opportunity to take time throughout 2010 and beyond to appreciate the natural world around them and join in the world-wide action on a local level.
For more information visit www.biodiversityislife.net
Upland Vision and Value
Natural England have released a number of documents (free to download) setting out the vision for the future of the uplands and their value.
Vital Uplands -
sets out the vision for the long term future of the upland environment .
Economic Valuation of Upland Ecosystem Services -
may sound complicated but it sets out the value of numerous important services the uplands provide; including fresh water, climate regulation and health and well-being. It also examines the values and impacts of policy and management practices across various scales.
Mapping Values: the vital nature our uplands - an atlas linking environment and people” seeks to describe the benefits we get from the uplands, using mapping, and highlight how it can be secured into the future along with many of the key issues for the upland environment.
Delivering Nature’s Services is a leaflet explaining how Natural England’s partnership projects in 3 areas are case studies for how the vision for the uplands could work.
Exciting New Find for Lancashire
In early September, Jenny Elsworth found a patch of Touch-me-not Balsam in an area of woodland in north Lancashire and mentioned to her husband, Martin, that it would perhaps be worthwhile checking for Netted Carpet. Jenny and Martin visited the site and were successful in finding several larvae of what they believed to be that species. The following day they returned to the area with Brian Hancock for further searches. A few days later Graham Jones was shown the site and confirmed that the larvae were Netted Carpet.
A subsequent full survey of the site produced 30 larvae spread over several patches of the plant. The woodland had been visited several years previously, by several experienced recorders as part of a national search for this Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species, with negative results. It seems possible that the wet weather over the last three summer has been good for the plant, which likes damp woodland, allowing the moth to build up its numbers from a much lower level. Early indications are that this moth has been present in the area for some long time.
This is the first ever record of this very rare moth in Lancashire, which has only otherwise been found in south Cumbria and a small area in Wales, and is an incredibly exciting discovery. It is hoped next year, subject to the approval of the landowner, to run an event giving moth recorders the opportunity to see the moth - more details will be made available next year if this becomes possible. An new Lancashire BAP is also in development for the species.
Information from Lancashire Moth Group at www.lancashiremoths.co.uk.
28th September 2009
SITA Trust funding announcement
SITA Trust are delighted to announce that we will be offering a new three-year Enriching Nature Programme that will run from 2010 - 2012.
The Trust has committed £8m in new funds to this programme. There will be three funding rounds per year in each of the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. Applicants may request up to £120,000 for an individual project.
We welcome applications to this funding programme from not-for-profit organisations with projects that focus on conserving a species or habitat identified as a priority in the UK BAP process. As a previous applicant to SITA Trust's Enriching Nature programme, we wanted to let you know of the new funds available.
Previous successful applicants to SITA Trust's funding programmes can apply for new project sites. To apply for a site which has previously been funded an applicant must wait three years from the date that any funding agreement was signed. If this affects you and you wish to know the date of any previous funding agreement, please call our team on 01454 262910.
Applications to the new fund must be made online using our new online application system. Once you've registered on this system you can revisit your form as often as you wish before submitting it to the Trust for consideration. We will not see the form until you submit it to us.
For more information on the programme including deadline dates and an application guide visit www.sitatrust.org.uk/nature-funding
2nd September 2009
Eel and Elver Pass on Bezza Brook
Work by the Ribble Catchment Conservation Trust has created an eel and elver pass on Bezza Brook, at Balderstone. The scheme was funded by the Environment Agency plus the RCCT input and was carried out by the Trust and their contractor Messrs. Bailey Developments Ltd of Clitheroe, with the kind permission of the landowners, Trustees of the Booth Charities. Though the main results will be seen in 2010, they have already found their first elver!
