Sussex Wildlife Trust Wild Comment blog

What’s that singing in the woods?

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Nature Tots / Anna-Marie Kyriacou

Author Sue Curnock

I’ve just had the best lunch hour of my life – off with the office shoes, lacing up my walking boots with eager anticipation and heading deep into the woods in search of the Nature Tots for some sing-along fun. An over-keen shortcut led to the unscheduled soggy and inelegant negotiation of a muddy ditch, which I’m truly grateful nobody saw, but I soon spotted some fizzily animated pre-schoolers playing woodland games along the paths among the bluebells.

Metamorphosed into Aunty Sue, the nervously surreal love child of David Bellamy and Mary Poppins, I wummaged around in my carpet bag to find the stars of the show: Prickly Hedgehog, Jumpy Frog and Tickly Spider, and belted out my best ‘Wiggly Woo Worm’ in the glorious spring sunshine. The braver kids joined in straight away and it sort of snowballed until everyone was up enthusiastically stamping their feet and riding along on an imaginary multi-coloured tractor (I usually go for ‘big green’ – but we made it work).

Rather out of breath after much make-believe bunny hopping, tail shaking, dig-a-digging and with the words ‘I love you because you sing songs’ ringing in my ears I headed back to the office with the most enormous grin on my face. This time I took a leaf out of the kids’ book and stuck to the path.

To be honest, I can’t wait to slip outside and do it all again, but timing is key, I’m hoping to turn up just as the hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows are ready.

The Sussex Wildlife Trust is holding two Nature Tots taster sessions for 2 to 5 year olds. Please see the Nature Tots webpage for details.

Nature Tots singing with Aunty Sue / Anna-Marie Kyriacou

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Will you be catching the Garden Bioblitz bug on the 1-2 June?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

A guest blog by Jane Adams – Garden Bioblitzer & part of the Garden Bioblitz Team

hedgehog / David Plummer

It’s an amazing experience, your first Garden Bioblitz. You think you know what wildlife is in your garden – at least I stupidly did – then you slowly realise you haven’t a clue what all the species are you’ve photographed.

Don’t be scared off by the strange name. It’s all really simple, and you don’t have to be a wildlife expert to take part. To Garden Bioblitz all you need to do is photograph as many species of wild plant and animal in your garden (or window box) over a 24 hour period. I usually crawl over the grass, rummage under logs, and dip a net into our tiny pond but there are no hard and fast rules – anything goes. It’s your garden, and your Bioblitz! If you only have half and hour to spare, that’s fine! If you have 5 hours over the 24 hour period, that’s fine too.

With the first bit completed, you then need to identify what you have photographed. Over the next couple of days and with tons of help from other wildlife enthusiasts and experts on www.ispot.org.uk (a great website where you can share wildlife photos and people help to identify what you’ve found), you can start to identify your photographs before finally recording them online on a national database of biological records run by the National Biodiversity Network, called iRecord.

I can’t wait to do it again this year along with hundreds of other Blitzers across the UK during the national Garden Bioblitz weekend on 1-2 June. Anyone can take part, so please join in. It’s free, and it doesn’t matter if you are a wildlife expert or a beginner (like me) it’s not only fun it also adds to the national information on wildlife in our gardens, helping to give organisations like the Wildlife Trusts the data they need to make landscape wide conservation decisions.

One word of warning though, if you do take part I guarantee you will catch the Bioblitzing-bug!

Event Details:

Garden Bioblitz
Date: 1-2 June 2013
Time: 24 hours (on and off!)
Location: Your Garden (or local patch/park/allotment)
Find out more: www.gardenbioblitz.org
Twitter: @GardenBioblitz
Email: gardenbioblitz@gmail.com

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The State of Nature

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

State of Nature

Author Tony Whitbread

For the first time ever, the UK’s wildlife organisations have joined forces to undertake a health check of nature in the UK and its Overseas Territories. The report looks at some of the wider issues involved in our changing countryside, the historical declines of habitats and species and asses the status of wildlife in eight different habitat types. This is a national report but the trends shown nationally are probably reflected in Sussex.

Here are some of the headlines:

Quantitative assessments of the population or distribution trends were done for 3,148 species. Of these, 60% of species have declined over the last 50 years and 31% have declined strongly.
Half of the species assessed have shown strong changes in abundance, indicating that recent environmental changes are having a dramatic impact on the nature of the UK’s land and seas. There is also evidence to suggest that species with specific habitat requirements are faring worse than generalist species that are better able to adapt to a changing environment.
A new Watchlist indicator has been developed to measure how conservation priority species are faring, based on 155 species for which we have data. This group contains many of our most threatened and vulnerable species, and the indicator shows that their overall numbers have declined by 77% in the last 40 years.

Farmland

Of 1,064 farmland species for which we have trends, 60% have decreased and 34% have decreased strongly.
14% of all farmland flowering plants are on the national Red List: 62 species in all.
Some species groups, such as birds and bats, have benefited from conservation action, particularly through agri-environment schemes. Despite this, many widespread farmland species have failed to recover from the declines of recent decades.

Lowland semi-natural grassland and Heathland

Overall, 65% of the 923 species for which we have sufficient data have declined, and 35% have declined strongly. A warming climate may be helping some species.
One in four species of flowering plants is threatened in this habitat. Nitrogen deposition, disturbance, inadequate or inappropriate land management, and habitat loss and fragmentation all pose barriers to recovery.

Upland

Of 886 upland species for which we have information, 65% have declined and 34% have declined strongly.
More species have become extinct in the uplands (15) than in any other habitat: 137 upland species, including 131 plants, are on recent national Red Lists.

Woodland

The area of UK woodland has increased, mainly due to conifer planting, but woodland birds have been declining since the 1970s and butterflies since the 1990s. 94 species of woodland moths have halved in number.
Of the 1,256 woodland species studied, 60% have decreased and 34% have decreased strongly.
11% of woodland vascular plants are on the national Red List: 30 species in all.

Coastal

Of the 682 coastal species for which we have trends, 60% have declined and 29% have declined strongly.
13% of coastal plant species are regarded as threatened with extinction in the UK.
Habitats such as saltmarsh support internationally important bird and invertebrate populations. Huge areas of coastal habitat have been lost or damaged in recent history, as a result of coastal development, cliff stabilisation and changes to agricultural practices.

Freshwater and wetlands

57% of freshwater and wetland species for which we have sufficient data have declined, and 28% have declined strongly.
Many characteristic freshwater species have declined significantly over the last 50 years, including the Atlantic salmon, water vole and the aquatic plant frogbit.
One in ten species of freshwater and wetland plants assessed are on recent national Red Lists. Some, such as the freshwater pearl mussel, are threatened with global extinction.

Urban

Of the 550 urban species for which we have data, 59% have declined and 37% have declined strongly. Invertebrates are doing particularly poorly in urban environments and 42% of species (183) are showing strong declines.
Despite the fact that brownfield sites provide important refuges for a diverse range of wildlife, including many rare and threatened invertebrates, they are often viewed as ripe for development and receive little protection.

Marine

UK seabirds have had mixed fortunes since 2000, with some species showing sharp declines. Harbour seals have also declined significantly, especially in Scotland.
The state of UK fish stocks has improved recently, but overall, 75% of EU fish stocks continue to be overfished. Skates and rays are no longer viable commercial species in many areas.
There is increasing evidence that climate change is affecting the breeding success of UK seabirds, particularly in Scotland.

Join the discussion on twitter

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Balance of Competences – an audit of what the EU does, and how this affects the UK

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

: erjkprunczýk / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Author Tony Whitbread

I recently received this important and potentially worrying blog written by Joan Edwards, the Head of Living Seas in the Wildlife Trusts National Office so simply reproduce it here as I believe there will be many in Sussex who will be interested:

The UK Government has just launched its review into EU environment and climate change regulation. This forms part of a review of the Balance of Competences between the UK and the EU – an audit of what the EU does, and how this affects the UK.

European legislation helps us to manage common resources such as our climate and has brought in policies to help improve our water and air quality. It has provided strong protection of our habitats and species, especially at sea where national legislation is lagging far behind and, recently, has stalled again (see my recent blog on this).

In many cases, EU policy has led the way, resulting in far more stringent legislation, including the bathing water directive, habitats and birds directive and the air quality directive than may well have been in place if we had relied on national policy.

There are areas where these EU policies can be improved, and certainly areas where guidance and information about the regulations could be made clearer and more accessible. However, what is clear is that many of the decisions we take about the environment have huge impacts, not just nationally but internationally as well. For instance air and water quality can have impacts that are more far reaching than national boundaries and decisions on the quota of fish that we take from our seas clearly affect many nations. One of the biggest challenges facing us at the moment, climate change, cannot be tackled at a national level alone. We need to work in collaboration with neighbouring countries, and wider to ensure that decisions taken have the biggest impact.

From The Wildlife Trusts point of view, what is clear is that we need to continue to make the case for the importance of protecting and improving our environment. Our environment provides us with vital services that underpin our economy. We will robustly respond to this review, to highlight the importance of environmental legislation. We need to ensure that short term economic aims do not end up undermining our environment and ultimately, our economic future.

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Great Snakes!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

adder / Elliot Neep

Author Tom Forward
A stones throw from our office here in Tilgate Park, we are working to manage a small patch of heathland no more 0.36 acres in size. We know it to be a good site for adders, slow worms and grass snakes and enjoy regular sightings of them basking in sheltered sunny spots. After hearing that it was possible to identify individual adders by their unique head markings, I decided that it would be interesting to find out how many adders used this isolated patch of heathland, which is surrounded by Scots pine plantation with plenty of Rhododendron ponticum.

It’s is possible to find adders emerging from hibernation as early as February but because of the lingering wintery conditions this year, it was not until 20th March we had our first adder sighting, which was a male. It is quite tricky to get record photos of adder heads without disturbing them, but with a bit of patience and care we now have head shots of two males and one female. Interestingly, females weren’t recorded until 12th April, and we are fairly certain that there are two females present, one who frequents a log pile, named ‘Log-pile Lady‘, and another much larger female who prefers a patch of mature heather, named ‘Big Mama’. Since the beginning of May we have witnessed frenzied ‘breeding knots’ of adders with both females being closely attended to by at least three males vying for an opportunity to pass on their genes.

We’ll observe how the season progresses for ‘our’ adders, but for now we think we have recorded at least six individual adders in this small area, two females and four males, though we have yet to get head shots of all of them.

Five adder facts:

Adders our only venomous snake, This is not something to be overly worried by as snakes dislike being disturbed. If they sense that something big is coming they will simply slither away undercover. Adders do not want to waste their venom biting something they can’t eat so will only use it to defend themselves as a last resort. There are only around 100 adder bites reported in the UK each year, and the majority of these come from people who tried to pick a snake up.
Females breed every two to three years, disperse from their hibernation grounds and give birth to up to 20 fully formed young in August/September
Adders will feed on voles, lizards, frogs, newts and the young of ground nesting birds, swallowed whole
The digestive juices of the adder are powerful enough to digest flesh and bones of their prey completely
Adders are BAP species of conservation concern

We have also recorded two grass snakes, one adult and three juvenile slow worms, but interestingly no common lizards, which would normally be found in this habitat type too. Did the adders eat them?

As part of the Week on the Wild Side nature festival, you can try to find reptiles with the Gatwick Greenspace Project.

Find out more about Snakes in your garden.

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In The Words of Bono, ‘It’s a Beautiful Day’

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

swift / Stefan Johansson

Author Mike Russell

Sorry, just had to send this out into the ether! After so much gloomy weather, gloomy news and Brighton not making the Championship play-offs, I had the most brilliant walk into work at Woods Mill this morning from my house in Small Dole.

Starting in the garden, a young robin was hopping about, yet to acquire the red breast of adulthood. Walking along the edge of Sands Farm a screaming noise, the sound of summer for me, came from a party of up to 30 swifts or more not too far above my head, ecstatic at the sudden explosion of a multitude of insects in the morning sun. In amongst the swifts were a few swallows and house martins, all suddenly realising why the have come here after that long, hazardous journey from Africa.

Approaching the far end of the nature reserve, I could see a brilliant white, ghostly vision stalking along the edge of the stream, a little egret. Sound was now coming from every bush and tree, wrens, blackbirds, song thrushes and a reed bunting representing the residents who stuck it out all year while chiffchaffs, whitethroats and blackcaps warbled on behalf of the newly arrived migrants.

Then, in the distance but clearly visible at the top of a tree, came the distant gentle purring of a turtle dove, the sound you so want to hear as its numbers a plummeting all around us. A camouflaged shape at the end of the reedbed turned out to be David Plummer who runs the Trust’s Wildlife Photographic courses. He was staking out some very vocal reed warblers deep from within the reeds.

And, as a grand finale, the nightingale burst into his full repertoire as I walked by; what a way to start your day.

turtle dove / David Coke

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Turning concrete into a jungle

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Vertical Garden at CaixaForum in Madrid / Patrick Breen

Author Fran Southgate

Did you know that it’s predicted that by 2030, six out of every ten people will live in a city? With a global population of around seven billion (thousand million) people, that’s a lot of houses!

At the Sussex Wildlife Trust, we often talk about habitats – or distinct environments where specific food webs of species live. For me, the urban environment is very much the environment of people, where we are top of the food chain (all be it via a supermarket!) and kings of the urban jungle.

This man-made and essentially human habitat is where we consume food, energy, fuel, building materials and resources in vast amounts. It is a habitat that some other wild species have adapted to such as pigeons and foxes, but in general terms, urban areas are an ecological disaster. They literally destroy vast areas of countryside – firstly through direct building on top of natural areas, and then by the huge amount of resources that they require to keep them going, and the huge amount of waste they produce (imagine how much sewage and air pollution is produced by that many people, and where it goes?).

So I am convinced that if we want to solve some of our environmental issues, we literally need to start at home. We know that it is possible to feed everyone on the planet, and that if just a fraction of the urban population started to produce their own food, that it would massively decrease the pressure on non-urban natural resources.

Most of us can’t (and many don’t want to) move back to the countryside and live the rural idyll, and many of us don’t even have an urban garden, so how on earth are we supposed to grow food? Well, imagine a building that you can walk past and pick a salad from, fruit trees on top of buildings, or a balcony where you could capture rainwater and turn it into food? Think that sounds a bit fanciful? Well, these things are happening already, and they can create the most beautiful urban spaces, as well as helping you acquire some spuds from somewhere other than a supermarket.

For more information see the Worldwide Permaculture Network – Tackling the urban challenge, find your local food partnership , find your local allotment association, buy from a local farmers market, or join the thousands of people helping to create community food spaces in their local parks through groundwork and other community food initiatives.

The Driver Pub, North London / London Permaculture

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News from Trackside

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Huw Morgan

The Youth Rangers have been working on one of the Trust’s smaller sites, the Deneway in Westdean, Brighton. The long, narrow site is 1.5 hectares and runs between the back of suburban gardens and the London to Brighton railway line. Bought by the Trust in 1975 the site isn’t open to the public and acts as an undisturbed wildlife corridor on the edge of the city. The site is an SNCI ( Site of Nature Conservation Importance ) and makes up part of a larger Local Nature Reserve.

Huw and the Youth Rangers working at The Deneway

Badgers and foxes call the site home and the Youth Rangers have spotted adders, kestrels, chiffchaffs and black caps during their sessions there. The site has a good number of elm trees and a population of white-letter hairstreak butterflies.

The group have cleared vast amounts of fly tipping from the site over the last couple of years and have opened up small glade areas to encourage basking reptiles and increase the variety of ground flora found there.

Despite the rush of trains, the site is a tranquil spot and I wonder if the commuters off to work are aware of the wildlife thriving in the urban woodland just meters away from where they’re sitting?

Please watch Ryan’s expose of the nocturnal goings on at the Deneway

Youth Rangers meet every Thursday please call Huw Morgan on 07771 375273 or email Huw here for more details

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The Brighton and Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere project

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Last chance to have your say

Author Tony Whitbread

The public is being urged to make sure they have their say on the Biosphere bid in this last week of the consultation. With over 1600 responses to date, and over 90% support for the Biosphere amongst responses received to date, the consultation is due to end on 22 May.

It was recently extended when the Biosphere boundary was altered to include Southwick and Shoreham and to bring in two new areas near Ringmer. The proposed Biosphere Reserve covers the whole area between the River Adur and the River Ouse, including the sea. To the north it follows the South Downs National Park boundary except around Ditchling. It now has almost exactly the same area as the Isle of Wight.

The Brighton & Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere Partnership is pleased with the response so far. However, it would like to get more support by next Wednesday if it can. The more support and feedback from the public, the better it will be for the bid. However, it’s also important to hear what people value in their local area and would like to see improved. This information will then be used to bid for funding, where possible, to help realise local residents’ aspirations for the area.

So if you haven’t managed to fill in the questionnaire, please do so now. Remember it only takes 30 seconds and 7 clicks of the mouse to answer the first two questions, the only ones you are obliged to respond to. All the others you can skip over, although if you can spare a little time saying what you care about in the area and what you’d like to see improved, it would be helpful.

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Making Waves

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Sussex Wildlife Trust

Author Nikki Hills

Would you like to know more about the wonderful marine life that lives along our coastline? And how you can help to protect it? Or looking for fun activities to do at the coast or in the classroom? Then head to the new Making Waves website www.makingwavesproject.org.uk

Making Waves is our marine education and awareness project, which is spreading the word about the wonderful marine life found around our coast and the importance of protecting it. As part of this project we’re running lots of family events and working with schools across the county to celebrate life in our seas.

Watch this six minute film to find out what it’s like to go for a SCUBA dive in southeast seas.

The project is being run by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and Sussex Wildlife Trust, supported by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. For more information please visit the Making Waves Project website

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