Lapwing Magazine Summer 2015

Home of the Kings

School's out-doors Bright future at Mere Sands Searching the seashore www.lancswt.org.uk

Protecting Wildlife for the Future

Chief Executive Anne poses for her My Wild Life poster - by Ali Selby

Senior Trust Officers Chairman Steve Garland Honorary Secretary Roger Rees Honorary Treasurer John Drury

OUR 120 STAFF AND 1,000 PLUS VOLUNTEERS ARE DETERMINEDLY GETTING ON WITH MANAGING THE WILDLIFE SITES AND HABITATS WE LOVE.

Chief Executive Anne Selby

We are also deeply concerned about the review of the European Regulations which protect some of our best habitats and species. If pressure to cut red tape and remove barriers to growth start to unpick this legislation, it will seriously weaken our systems to protect the very best of our nature.

EU nature conservation legislation has been excellent at driving protection and often been the key tool we have used when fighting in public inquiries to save sites or species.

Head of Finance and Services Ian Pollitt Head of Conservation Tim Mitcham Head of Development Lindsey Poole Head of Operations Mick Weston Head of People and Wildlife Daveen Wallis Editor Alan Wright E. awright@lancswt.org.uk

Some Wildlife Trusts have advertised the My Wild Life campaign on bus shelters - ours would look like this

Sub Editors Alison Whitham, Julie Colvin

Our 120 staff and 1,000 plus volunteers are determinedly getting on with managing the wildlife sites and habitats we love. Campaigning and education are also popular for volunteers and surprisingly some people even bring their skills to bear and help out in our finance department. We had a fantastic response to our advert for new trustees in the last edition of the magazine.

Trust Headquarters The Barn, Berkeley Drive, Bamber Bridge, Preston PR5 6BY T. 01772 324129 F. 01772 628849 www.lancswt.org.uk Design www.nectarcreative.com Cover photo Kingfisher © Malcolm Brown Lapwing is produced for the Members and Supporters of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside.

Views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Trust.

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust is a Registered Charity (No.229325) and a Registered Company (No.731548) dedicated to the protection and promotion of wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, all lying North of the River Mersey.

Printed on FSC accredited paper using vegetable based inks.

All packaging is biodegradable.

fsc logo

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Heavenly bluebells were worth the wait...

Spring has sprung, the elections are over and we ramped up our My Wild Life campaign in June with #30DaysWild.

This was a challenge to members and non-members alike, to do something wild, each day for a month. It could be as simple as stopping to smell the flowers or as physical as signing up for some volunteering on a nature reserve.

I was speaking at a conference in Cornwall some weeks back and was delighted to see big Wildlife Trust – My Wild Life posters cropping up on bus shelters around the county.

Well done Cornwall Wildlife Trust for getting poets and surfers to do posters.

I waited for the bluebells to come out for my personal My Wild Life poster entitled “My Blue Heaven” but keep your own posters coming as they are brilliant.

What an amazing array of members with incredible skills came forward to volunteer their services for the governance of the charity. The chairman is being kept busy with interviews for appointments to the board. All will be announced at the Annual General Meeting in October. As usual we combine the AGM with a volunteer conference to support and celebrate the fantastic work our volunteers do.

Now hosted at UCLAN, it is a good way to meet staff, trustees and find out more about our work.

I am putting mine at the bottom of all my e-mails encouraging people to become members. I see this not as a marketing campaign but as a real call to remind people why they love nature. If we do not reconnect an increasingly remote population to wildlife then there is little hope we can keep protecting it.

Nationally, the 47 Wildlife Trusts worked hard to get key pledges into the manifestos of each political party.

We combined forces with other environmental charities and were successful in getting all the parties (except UKIP) to pledge to delivery of the Nature and Well Being Act and delivery of the Marine Conservation Zones,. We have worked so hard to get them designated to protect our seas. Now we need the new government to step up and deliver.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

@lancswildlife

There has also been a big stick of substantial fines if the legislation was ignored by developers or governments.

So we need to ensure we don’t lose one of our most powerful tools when we fight to protect nature.

I am also delighted to welcome Lindsey Poole as the new Head of our Development team, which covers Membership, Marketing, Fundraising and Communications. Lindsey has been with the Trust for several years, as Marketing Manager and recently, completed a secondment to Brockholes.

Lindsey joins the Senior Management Team bringing her talents to this group and a new advisory group of Trustees and experts is forming to support this role. Their mission is to find new income streams to replace those we have lost from all the public sector cuts.

Lindsey with Simon King

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“THERE HAS BEEN AN INCREASE IN ALL KINDS OF WILDLIFE USING THE RESERVE, INCLUDING BROWN HARE, A RARE INSECT CALLED THE BOG BUSH CRICKET AND A NUMBER OF BIRDS OF PREY. LAST YEAR CURLEWS NESTED ON THE BARE PEAT.”

Rare bird causes a flutter on the moss Birders have been in a flap over a number of rare sightings on the Manchester mosslands over spring.

And the most exciting has been a stone curlew which landed on Little Woolden Moss, in Salford.

Spring and summer migrant stone curlews generally stick to the south and breed in small numbers. They are distinctive birds, looking quite gangly with long yellow legs and bright yellow eyes, which they use as they forage for food at night.

Mosslands Project Manager Dr Chris Miller said: “There has been an increase

The size of a crow, they have large heads, long wings and a screeching call similar to curlews. This explains one of their nicknames the “wailing heath chicken” but the bird is also known as the “thick knee” because of its thick knees.

“This is a rare report of a stone curlew in the North West and we had another rare bird the curlew sandpiper recently.”

The Little Woolden stone curlew was spotted by our resident bird expert David Steel, who has been birdwatching in the area since the early 1960s.

David said: “This is a rare occurrence.

I have been told by the County Bird Recorder that there has only been one other accepted record in Greater Manchester and that was on Irlam Moss on my 13th birthday in 1963.

This is very exciting.”

Individual stone curlews have been spotted on the Fylde but they are generally summer visitors to the south and particularly the south east coast.

The best area to spot them is Norfolk Wildlife Trust’s Weeting Heath nature reserve, close to Bury St Edmonds.

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in all kinds of wildlife using the reserve, including brown hare, a rare insect called the bog bush cricket and a number of birds of prey. Last year curlews nested on the bare peat.

Bird watchers train their lenses on Little Woolden Moss

The curlew sandpiper is another wader, pale in colour in autumn with a white eyestripe. It has a long curved bill.

In spring and summer, especially during the breeding season, its plummage changes to a dark chestnut colour.

Common cotton-grass and hare’s tail cotton-grass are now spreading on Little Woolden Moss, both signs of the correct management of the area. Common cotton-grass has a number of “flowers” on individual stalks while hare’s tail has just one.

The mosslands team has also seen some success in planting sphagnum moss on Little Wooden. This has flourished over the last couple of years in a number of areas of damp peat. Ideally the moss will be covered in carpets of sphagnum, in its various guises, in future years.

Clockwise from top left: The stone curlew on Little Woolden Moss by David Steel; a dragonfly emerges; hare’s tail cotton-grass; a carpet of sphagnum moss

Female stone curlew in Norfolk

by Lawrie Webb

Lancashirewildlifetrust

@lancswildlife

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THE SCHOOLS Bowker Vale Primary The Year 1 class are discovering Forest Schools with Miss Corryn Nicholson in their school grounds just over the road from Heaton Park.

Broadhurst Primary Broadhurst has been pioneering use of our Moston Fairway reserve as an outdoor venue since the autumn of 2013.

Mr Brendan Camm, Forest School lead, enthused: “The Wildlife Trust staff are magnificent and the experiences out in the woods extend and embed learning right across the curriculum from Literacy to Geography”.

Children from St Mary’s CoE building their Forest School

School’s out-doors in Manchester

By Ada m Moolna The Wildlife Trust is delivering a Forest Schools project with four primary schools in central Manchester near to our Moston Fairway nature reserve. Funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, specialist outdoor learning areas are being established both at the schools and on our reserve, with a dozen teachers being trained and accredited as Forest Schools professionals.

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www.lancswt.org

Crab Lane Community Primary Miss Fae Huddart’s reception class are learning about habitats in their fantastic school woodland.

They’ve also had the chance to visit Moston Fairway.

St Mary’s C of E Primary Miss Julie Barker at St Mary’s, Year 3 teacher and science coordinator, has been amazed at how children grew in confidence within the first two weeks – and developed new passions for mud, bugs and exploring!

Moston Fairway is just a mile from the city centre

Forest Schools are about a child-led approach to outdoor education and play in a woodland environment.

Programmes allow children to develop a relationship with the natural world and sessions foster resilience, creativity and confidence.

Our education team has been pioneering Forest Schools in the North West for the last seven years - running Forest Schools sessions and training at both Seven Acres and the Hive in central Bolton and at Brockholes near Preston.

We are now delighted to be one of three Trusts nationwide selected to expand local community involvement in Forest Schools in a national project funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

We will establish our partner schools as an independently sustainable cluster and develop Moston Fairway as an outdoor learning venue.

Education officers K athryn Phillips and Suzanne Stewart are working at Broadhurst Primary, St Mary’s C of E Primary, Crab Lane Community Primary and Bowker Vale Primary in the Moston Brook wildlife corridor. Four series of six week Forest School programmes will run in each school between April and November. For each school we are providing equipment to establish outdoor classrooms in the school grounds and training a core group of teachers to the nationally recognised Level 3 Forest Schools certification.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

A second outdoor classroom area has also been put in place on Moston Fairway by local volunteers from the Friends of Moston Brook working alongside The Wildlife Trust and Moston companies OneFile and Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Volunteer and local resident Andrew F itzman enthused:

“My two-year-old lad is going to grow up playing here so it’s great that local children will love this spot and grow up to protect it just as they learn from it”.

@lancswildlife

Contact Ada m Moolna, Communications Officer (Forest Schools), on amoolna@lancswt.org.uk for further information on our Forest Schools and work supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

We also have dedicated pages on our website for this project www.lancswt.org.uk/ forest-schools-manchester and other Forest Schools work www.lancswt.org.uk/forest-schools.

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Rockpool rambles are vital to wildife

By Bex Lyna m If you’ve ever spent a few hours rambling amongst rockpools on the coast you’ve probably found yourself asking many questions. Is that seaweed and what are the bubbles that cover it? Is that a dog whelk or a periwinkle? How do anemones survive out of water at low tide, and so on.

Clockwise: Identifying wildlife; beadlet anemone; flat topshell

For anyone left with more questions than answers, the Wildife Trusts’ interactive Shoresearch project can point you in the right direction. Since 2011, the North West Wildlife Trusts have run a volunteer-led coastal recording project, identifying and recording animals, plants, and habitats across our rocky shores.

The North West project is part of a UKwide surveying programme to increase our knowledge and data on intertidal wildlife around our coast, to help promote its conservation.

Now more than ever our seas are in need of protection. Years of neglect have left them damaged and degraded but there is still time to set them back on the path to good health.

Collecting data such as that recorded during Shoresearch surveys allows us to feed vital information about our marine species and habitats in to national databases. This information can then be used by scientists and government agencies to support conservation and management decisions.

Shoresearchers out on the North West coast

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www.lancswt.org

In recent years the data provided by our volunteer Shoresearchers has been fed in to the review of ecological evidence for recommended Marine Conservation Zones (www.irishsea. org/MCZs). The project also helps us to raise awareness of the importance of our coastlines as habitats. During a survey, we aim to record species distribution and diversity which gives us a measure of species richness. By surveying sites at different times of the year each year we are able to record any changes that may be occurring, such as those thought to be caused by climate change.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

For example, as sea temperature rises many species have begun to adapt by retreating northward, such as the northern stone crab (Lithodes maja).

The brown seaweed dabberlocks (Alaria esculenta) has also declined and become extinct on some localised shores. We’re also able to identify some of the region’s most vulnerable habitats and species and so develop strategies to protect them. So recording what we see and what we don’t see present on rocky shores allows us to build our knowledge oflocal marine environments.

You don’t need to be a marine biologist to take part in a survey. Anyone with a keen interest in our rocky shores can join in. Taking part in the Shoresearch project is a great way for those new to marine species identification and marine surveys to learn in the field from experienced Shoresearchers.

Plus, joining a survey is a great way to spend time outside on our beautiful coastlines and meet like-minded people knowing that you are contributing to important survey work. What’s more, volunteering on a project like Shoresearch can add greatly to your CV!

@lancswildlife

Meet our new Marine Graduate Trainees who will be spreading the word in our fight to protect the Irish Sea with Marine Training Programme Manager Bex Lyna m Once we have finished on the shore we gather together to check that all species observed have been recorded within each main habitat type alongside an estimate of their abundance. There is always time for a coffee or tea and a chat about the species we’ve seen once we’ve finished on the shore.

If you’d like to join us and other volunteers on a local rocky shore to assist with surveys then you can sign up to our Shoresearch newsletter here www.irishsea.org/shoresearch.

Our regular newsletters provide upcoming dates for surveys across the North West, interesting facts and figures on locally found species and the latest information about our marine work.

So whether you are already a keen marine recorder or would just like to know a little more about our local shores, you are very welcome to join us on the shore. You can contact our Volunteer Shoresearch Co-ordinator Bex Lyna m at shoresearchnw@ cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk for further information.

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One of the early architect’s visions for the new Mere Sands Wood visitor centre

Than you f k youror supp ort

Long-tailed tit feeds chicks by Andy Rowett

Long lenses for long tails A clear view of Mere Sands Wood The future is bright at Mere Sands Wood as we are deep in discussion with architects over the new building. Initial funding for the new MSW building was raised through an amazing appeal where more than 600 of you contributed a total of £30,000. This will be increased with match funding from various sources.

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Early plans are for buildings to form three sides of a courtyard. There would be a cafe overlooking the scrape and woodland beyond. A new activities room would provide space for visiting schools and be used for functions and events.

And there would be an increase in the number of toilets.

Reserve manager Lindsay Beaton said: “One of the basic concepts we have explored is that we have the same entrance but with a glass wall seeing all the way through to the existing picnic area. The pine tree would stay in the picnic area which would be much bigger.

However we are at a really early stage and some of the detail may change.”

This will be great news for visitors and the hard-working Friends of Mere Sands Wood who work alongside The Wildlife Trust to preserve one of our very best nature reserves.

This will be great news for visitors and the hard-working Friends of Mere Sands Wood who work alongside The Wildlife Trust to preserve one of our very best nature reserves.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

Staff at The Lancashire Wildlife Trust HQ at Cuerden Valley Park were queuing to see some surprising visitors.

Just a few hundred yards from the office door, long-tailed tits had built a nest in fencing belonging to the CVP park rangers.

It meant a flurry of video and camera carriers, zoomed into the nest and got some wonderful shots.

The best of these belonged to Lancashire Environmental Fund’s Andy Rowett who captured a parent carrying a caterpillar and NW Wild Images’ Peter Smith who managed to take some hungry chicks demanding food.

Communications Officer Alan Wright managed to get a short burst of video which can be seen on the Facebook page.

@lancswildlife

facebook.com/Lancashirewildlifetrust

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If you would like more informa tion about leaving a gift in your will, call Sa lly H a n d sco m be on 01772 32 4129 or email shand scombe @lancswt.o rg.uk

Remembering...

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust holds a special place in people’s hearts and it is wonderful when we are remembered after they have gone.

Volunteers have created a bright and wildlife-friendly pathway through Otterspool Park

Sadly the group recently lost Roger Hems, a key volunteer with Lancashire Wildlife Trust for nearly nine years.

Roger was a valuable member of the group with a dedication to its aims and its ethos of bringing people together to do their bit for the environment.

Roger Hems

Over the past 12 years, a thriving Liverpool group has volunteered thousands of hours restoring Merseyside’s green spaces for local people and wildlife.

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Officially, Roger worked on several small funding bids, which contributed towards supporting the group. He was also well regarded for his unofficial role, which involved keeping the group stocked with the finest biscuits. This earned him the prestigious title Biscuit Monitor.

Added to this, he was always the first to volunteer to don a pair of leaky waders, no matter how unpleasant the task.

For his support and continual good humour, Roger is and will continue to be much missed by Liverpool volunteers and staff in Merseyside.

In memory of Roger, the Liverpool group planted trees and wild flowers in Otterspool Park, using donations collected by his friends and family. Some of the money was matched by his son Ed’s employers UBS. Reflecting Roger’s passion for wildlife and foraging, the planting introduced new species including wild garlic and trees bearing plums, damson and blackthorn. The latter would have been ideal for providing sloes for Roger’s highly regarded sloe gin.

Daughter Sally said: “It felt right to donate towards a living tribute which will benefit local wildlife and the community. Dad was passionate about nature and the area now has real significance for our family as a place to come and remember him.

We’re looking forward to gathering some of those sloes so we can raise a few glasses of gin in his honour!”

Michael used arm crutches for the last 25 years due to hip surgery problems, having been plagued with illness for most of his life.

Michael Connaughton

He had an infectious sense of humour and a desire for knowledge and he completed an Open University degree in social science. He supported many charitable organisations not least of which was The Wildlife Trust.

Michael was a member of The Lancashire Wildlife Trust for more than 25 years. He left a wonderful gift in his will to ensure his support will continue to support wildlife in the region.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

For the last 15 years he worked for the NHS collating data and was well liked by his workmates who described him as “their secret weapon” in the quiz team. Blackburn Rovers was his favourite football team.

@lancswildlife

WE WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE GENEROSITY OF OUR KIND SUPPORTERS WHO AFTER TAKING CARE OF THEIR LOVED ONES CHOSE TO LEAVE A GIFT IN THEIR WILL TO THE LANCASHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST: George Riley Walsh Michael Connaughton

WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR KIND DONATIONS MADE IN MEMORY OF: Joyce Bond John Robson Joan Myers Ian Barry Salway

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A trail fit for a king One of Britain’s most iconic birds will be the star of a riverside trail being revived to link walkers to their historic past and to benefit wildlife.

Longsite is one beauty spot along the Kingfisher Trail

The Kingfisher Trail is an 11mile route leading from the West Pennine Moors above Bolton through Salford and into Bury.

It follows the course of the CroalIrwell Valley, passing through seven Local Nature Reserves and an internationally important Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Unfortunately much of the information about this route has disappeared since its first conception in the 1980s.The Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s new project is calling for volunteers to help reassess and survey the route and its current state so that we can begin to use this vital asset once again.

Through most of the 20th Century the river was synonymous with squalor and pollution but this is no longer the case.

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The trail is a fantastic place to see the flash of an iridescent blue kingfisher as it streaks down the valley, to watch nesting dippers, hear the call of an owl, go deer spotting or witness the acrobatics of bats at night.

Project Officer Stephen

Cartwright said:

“Kingfishers can be seen on many parts of the trail. Walking the trail will be a great opportunity for people to see these wonderful birds and to learn something about the heritage of the area.”

It is a vital lifeline for wildlife through one of the country’s largest urban conurbations.

At present lots of community groups and organisations are quietly working away on individual patches. The Wildlife Trust hopes to link these groups together to better manage the route on a larger scale and create a living landscape full of thriving wildlife.

Clockwise, from top: Phillips Park; Friends of Turton Tower; roe deer by Peter Hunter; bluebells at Upper Bradshaw

The stretch of river was altered massively by the industry that thrived here during the Industrial Revolution from Benjamin Rawson’s Vitriol works to James Brindley’s ingenious Wet Earth Colliery and the huge increase in manufacturing brought about by the creation of the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal.

The Wildlife Trust is seeking volunteers to help us research this history to create material to celebrate the industrial and engineering achievements that brought prosperity to the area.

Many of the industries along the trail have only fallen into disuse in living memory and we are also asking people to get in touch so that we can create a record of their memories and add to the rich heritage value of the valley.

Kingfisher by Peter Hunter

For more information, to volunteer, help with surveying or share your memories contact Stephen Cartwright, the Industrial Wildlife Project Officer at the Lancashire Wildlife Trust on 01204 663 754 or scartwright@lancswt.org.uk.

Lancashirewildlifetrust

@lancswildlife

Botanist Phil Smith has been out and about in West Lancashire and reported 877 marsh orchids at Haskayne Cutting. This is a wonderful nature reserve formed when nature took over a disused railway cutting.

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Thank you to our corporate sponsors Gold EH Booths, EDF Energy, United Utilities Silver Amey, Beaverbrooks the Jewellers, Freedom Renewables, Hanson Cement, Manchester Airport, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lafarge Tarmac The InBev team at Brockholes

InBev’s pathway to success World Environment Day was a perfect excuse for Samlesbury brewers InBev to join its national and international colleagues in doing something special for the environment.

The team of 20 staff volunteered at Brockholes for the day and created a new footpath overlooking the Visitor Village. The previous path was prone to flooding making it difficult for families, parents with prams and people in wheelchairs.

The activity was part of SunRise Save the Beach, a global programme led by Corona, the world’s most popular Mexican beer. Corona SunRise Save the Beach comes from the desire to give back to the beaches, coasts and other areas of natural beauty that have given us so much.

The team from AB InBev’s Samlesbury Brewery in this instance was keen to give something back to the local community via the new path – and we were grateful for their brilliant efforts.

Chris I’Anson, Brewery Manager at AB InBev UK’s Samlesbury Brewery said: “We believe we have an important role to play to address the world’s most serious environmental challenges and we’re proud of our colleagues and partners who helped this week.”

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Anne Selby, Chief Executive Officer at The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said:

“We rely heavily on volunteers to carry out restoration work which is of huge benefit to the wildlife of the region. InBev’s Samlesbury team has worked on the reserve before and it is heartening to see that they care so greatly about their local environment and huge variety of wildlife that lives here.

“The footpath at Brockholes will benefit visitors of all ages giving them a better chance to get close to nature. And we commend InBev on the wider work of SunRise Save the Beach, helping to preserve vital areas of coastline.”

Local companies regularly take part in work days at the majority of The Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserves. Many give donations to The Wildlife Trust to help boost its conservation work.

For details go to the website www.lancswt.org.uk/ how-you-can-help/business or call 01772 324129.

Bronze Albany Training, Aggregate Industries, eni UK Ltd, Bourne Leisure (Marton Mere and Cala Gran), Community Gateway Association, Ecospeed, Electricity North West, Hoghton Tower, Knotweed Eradication, Little Achievers Nurseries (Rosy Apple Childcare), Myerscough College, Neales Waste Management, Pets R Pals, South Ribble Borough Council, Derek Fox and Sons (Timber), Dugdale Nutrition, Eagle and Child, Ramsbottom, Fort Vale Engineering, Herpetosure Ecological Solutions, Responsible Mailing, Shared Services Connected Ltd, Trade Plate Logistics, UCLAN, Wienerberger, Wilkinson Cameras.

Natural World Where to see reptiles News from The Wildlife Trusts across the UK

Summer 2015

We pick ten great places in England and Wales, p15

Natural Carbon Capture Scheme EcoSpeed - Level 2

Tha nk you to our recent funders Cheshire Wildlife Trust, Leyland Trucks, Nurture Lakeland, EDF Energy, Mrs D M France-Hayhurst Charitable Trust, Charles and Edna Broadhurst Charitable Trust, Joy Welch Educational Trust, The Winton Charitable Foundation, MOD Community Covenant, The Poppy Factory, Sport England, John Grant Davies Fund, Tonge and Breightmet UCAN, Rotary Club of Bolton Daybreak Charity, Tonge with Haulgh Community First Panel, Pilkington General Charity, Esmee Fairbairn, LEF Dirtworks, LEF Main Grants, Cory Environmental Trust, Viridor Credits, Veolia Environmental Trust, Wren, United Utilities, Johnson Matthey Clitheroe, Eric Wright Construction, Duchy of Lancaster, Windfall Fund, Rotary Club, The Hamamelis Trust.

Contact Lindsey Poole on 01772 324129 or lpoole@lancswt.org.uk

Bristol reinvented

A new way to turn a city green

Buried treasure

Local Wildlife Sites: the hidden gems you can discover

Mysterious Dogger Bank

What’s happening to this wildlife-rich sandbank in the North Sea?

Lat newsest UK-w wild and issuide li e org/fnetrusts.s: ews

UK NEWS

Ready, steady... wildlife!

Avon Wildlife Trust’s pioneering Bristol eco-map is a blueprint for bringing wildlife back to every city

5 species that could benefit from local action

Chaffinch One of many birds to benefit from garden feeders

DAVID CHAPMAN

Lesser stag beetle Lives as a grub in dead hardwood

DAVID CHAPMAN

Common frog A network of ponds helps colonies thrive

DAVID CHAPMAN

Honey bee Plant nectar-rich plants to benefit bees and other pollinators MATTHEW ROBERTS

Extreme detail The maps, which draw on more than 200 datasets, give detail down to individual houses and gardens to guide optimal action for wildlife

Hedgehog Create holes in fences to allow hedgehogs safe passage

RUPERT PAUL

Bristol

PAULHOBSON

PAUL HOBSON

W

e’re all aware that bringing wildlife back into our daily lives makes us healthier and happier, and that wildlife-rich places are more resilient in the face of climate change.

The question is, what can individual people do to help create such places?

Avon Wildlife Trust has come up with the answer.

Its 20 My Wild City maps show Bristol as never before: a network of wildlife habitats and green spaces showing householders, businesses and local authorities the best thing they can do for wildlife in their local area.

“We want to turn Bristol into a giant nature reserve,” says Avon Wildlife Trust’s director of conservation programmes Dr Lucy Rogers. “The maps allow you to zoom right in to your own street and garden level. They identify the areas where it would help to improve woodland and grassland habitat, or to do other things such as put up bird boxes, dig a pond or simply plant up a tub.”

The Trust hopes that linking gardens, passageways and other green spaces will create corridors for wildlife to move easily around the city.

“It doesn’t matter the size of your garden, or if you live in a flat,” says Lucy. “There are still lots of small changes you can make that will benefit wildlife.”

Hengrove and Stockwood

n Read more and download one of the maps at avonwildlifetrust.org. uk/mywildcity

n Buildings and roads n Water n Areas with sealed surfaces, for example car parks n Gardens with opportunity for tree, shrub and wildflower planting n Gardens with opportunity for tree planting n Gardens with opportunity for wildflower planting n Gardens without green space, opportunity for bird boxes, planters etc n Existing semi-natural habitat, for example woodland and hedges n Green space with opportunity for further wildlife enhancement n Other green space, for example sports pitches n Agricultural land which can be enhanced for wildlife

Local Wildlife Sites.

Local Wildlife Sites.

Apparently when you hear things three times it sticks. And I’m resorting to repetition because, despite our championing these hidden gems non-stop for decades, few people have ever heard of them. Yet in many places Local Wildlife Sites hold most of our remaining wildlife, covering up to ten times the area of their legally protected SSSI cousins.

It’s not that Local Wildlife Sites have been designated on a whim. Scientific experts have surveyed the land field by field. Using rigorous criteria they’ve mapped out 52,000 places across the UK – our most important reserves of wildlife and soil. So what’s the problem?

In our centralised culture the word ‘local’ can, wrongly, mean ‘not so important’. So these amazing places get overlooked. And, because they have a variety of names, and data on them is held locally, they are harder to integrate into centralised decisions.

But our economic prosperity and social fabric depends on our starting ecological restoration in earnest and Local Wildlife Sites are a massive part of that equation.

Thank you for supporting your Wildlife Trust. By doing so you are helping the biggest champion of your Local Wildlife Sites – whether in quiet locations away from the public eye or in the centre of cities.

Stephanie Hilborne OBE Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts

KEY

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Local Wildlife Sites

Get talking The Trust hopes that communities will talk about what they can do in their local urban areas.

Five demonstration sites will kickstart the project

Avon Wildlife Trust is mapping habitats in urban areas to raise awareness

Together The Wildlife Trusts have more than 800,000 members. We are the largest voluntary organisation dedicated to conserving all the UK’s habitats and species.

Contact us on enquiry@wildlifetrusts.org or 01636 677711. To join your Wildlife Trust, visit wildlifetrusts.org/joinus. Natural World, The Kiln, Waterside, Mather Road, Newark, Notts NG24 1WT. Editor Rupert Paul Communications officer Emma Websdale. Layout editor Dan Hilliard Cover: common lizard near Bedruthan in Cornwall, by Ross Hoddinott twitter @wildlifetrusts facebook.com/wildlifetrusts

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL WORLD 3

UK NEWS

Achieving an ecologically coherent UK network of marine protected areas As an island nation, we haven’t taken care of our seas; despite our seas taking care of us. After centuries of putting our seas under pressure, the marine environment is degraded and we are losing species at an alarming rate. But all is not lost. We can help our seas recover by establising an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas (MPAs).

We are progressing towards that. In Scotland, 30 national sites were designated last year. Northern Ireland has designated its first site and is

working to designate more. Wales is protecting inshore waters from scallop dredging and in England, 23 sites have been designated.

However there are still gaps in our network, both geographically, for example in the Irish Sea, and in terms of species (for example, to protect our whales and dolphins).

Better protected seas are good for us all. By creating areas safe from damaging activities, the habitats within them can recover – which benefits both wildlife and people.

NICK UPTON/NATUREPL.COM

PAUL NAYLOR

Giving back to our seas

English beaver makes history With a slap of its flat tail and a fast paddle to The first beaver freedom, this beaver was released into the wild is returned into the wild this spring on the river Otter. It was an historic moment for the wild colony discovered living in a Devon river and finally given the green light to remain. Now Devon Wildlife Trust will monitor the animals and study what impacts they have on the local area.

The beaver was hunted to extinction in the 16th century. Its disappearance from the UK meant the loss of the species’ function as a wetland engineer.

Beaver activity can improve water quality, create new wetland habitat and even reduce the effects of flooding.

Other Wildlife Trusts are working hard to bring back this keystone species, including the The Devon beavers were Scottish Wildlife Trust who is expecting a decision either an escape or unsanctioned release. It now on the beavers at Knapdale later this year. has Government approval n More on wildlifetrusts.org/beavers

The new designations will protect habitats such as this reef off Devon

More forest schools

HUGH CLARK

rotect PAs only p All these M s. There are al static anim r highly none yet fo ks and ar sh ile mob in h dolp s

PAUL HARRIS/2020VISION

Did ? you know

ANDREW PEARSON

Support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery is giving hundreds more city-dwelling schoolchildren regular access to nature with The Wildlife Trusts’ Forest School activities.

Trusts in Leicestershire & Rutland, Lancashire and Birmingham & the Black Country have begun giving children the chance to experience the natural world, develop confidence and build relationships with their environment.

Volunteers needed for bat research

A spiny seahorse in Studland Bay, Dorset which we hope will also be an MPA in the future

Prince Harry visits Northumberland’s reds HRH Prince Harry harboured a desire to see red squirrels in Northumberland ever since trekking to the South Pole with explorer (and Northumberland Wildlife Trust patron) Conrad Dickinson last year to raise money for injured servicemen. This year the Prince, who planted a Trust flag at the Pole, got his chance. He visited

4 NATURAL WORLD SUMMER 2015

the Haydon Red Squirrel Group and Frankham Woods near Fourstones, where new conservation techniques are helping red squirrels return to the wood.

“It’s tremendous that the Prince found time to support what he sees as a very worthwhile cause. He loves red squirrels,” said Conrad.

Harry tries out a thermal imaging scope used to study the returning reds in Northumberland

The new Forest Schools n Leics & Rutland: wildforestschool.org.uk n Birmingham & Black Country: bbcwildlife.org.uk/ForestSchools n Lancs WT: lancswt.org/forest-schoolsmanchester

Brown long-eared and (top) pipstrelle bats are two of the species in the project area

How do bats use the landscape to roost, forage and commute? Tees Valley Wildlife Trust is beginning a two-year study in East Cleveland to find out. The area is heavily wooded, and important for at least eight of the UK’s 16 bat species.

But first the Trust needs volunteers to help survey for these fascinating and long-lived mammals. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t done this kind of work before; training is provided.

“We want to build up the pattern of bat distributions across the area to create a unique batscape and help with their conservation,” says Bat Officer Sarah Barry. Thanks to funding from HLF and the Branch Out Fund. n Interested? Contact Sarah on sbarry@teeswildlife.org

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL WORLD 5

PEOPLE & WILDLIFE

Orchards for people When people restore an old orchard, the benefits flow both ways.

Emma Websdale went to Herefordshire to find out how

FERGUS COYLE

Left: Clare finds the process of restoring old fruit trees hugely beneficial. Right: spring maintenance; removing crossed branches and checking for blossom damage.

Below right: “I love keeping the old trees going.” Martin has been a volunteer since 2012. Below left: juice and cider sell locally

A few years ago this little orchard had fallen into neglect, but today it’s back in business selling juice and cider, thanks to a band of happy, motivated volunteers

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t’s a beautiful spring morning at Davies Meadow in Herefordshire, and the pear blossom is out. Clare is sizing up one of the fruit trees, her pole saw leaning against the trunk. Like her fellow colleagues, she seems completely at peace with her surroundings.

Clare is a farmer by profession, but she’s not at work today. She’s here to relax, meet friends and get in contact with nature. “Farming can be really isolating – it’s so nice to enjoy the social life here, and to know that other people like apples!” she says.

It’s not just about this year’s cider crop.

Clare is also recovering. “Being affected by mentall ill health can feel isolating. You feel away from the world, but here you’re connected. I like the whole cycle of these 6 NATURAL WORLD SUMMER 2015

Tell your story, find out more trees. I enjoy finding neglected trees and putting their fruits to good use.”

Clare is volunteering for Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s Orchard Origins, which aims to improve people’s wellbeing as well as manage some of the county’s most beautiful – and formerly neglected – orchards. Every Friday, the Trust brings together local people and clients from Herefordshire Mind to care for a space that is part fruit crop, part wildlife habitat.

“We try to create an environment for people to talk, to feel comfortable and

relaxed,” explains Laurence, Orchard Origins manager. “About half of our volunteers are recovering from or managing recognised mental health conditions, but all feel better for being involved.”

Volunteers undertake in every step of cider making, from pruning to bottling and labelling. The new skills, friendly atmosphere and green surroundings are a huge help. “The change in these people is absolutely massive,” says Laurence. “In the first week, people’s chins are down,

After a few weeks, they walk through our gates with proud smiles. That’s the magic

We’d like to capture how intimate and important nature is to you. n Share your story at mywildlife.org.uk n Learn more about Orchard Origins at orchardorigins.org

and you can tell they’re thinking, ‘Why on Earth am I here?’ After a few weeks, the tension in their shoulders has gone and they walk through our gates with shoulders back and proud smiles. That’s the whole magic of it.”

Pouring out tea for each of his hardworking volunteers, he smiles proudly. “I have the best job in the world. It’s all about making people happy. How can you not enjoy that?”

Nature ‘could save the NHS £2.1bn’ Herefordshire is one of many Wildlife Trusts to run a nature-based social enterprise to improve people’s mental and physical wellbeing. Wildlife Trusts in Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Lancashire, London, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Tees Valley, Warwickshire and Yorkshire run similar projects, many in partnership with local NHS Trusts. They are doing so because a huge body of research shows that access to nature has great benefits for people, among them reduced depression,

obesity and diabetes. Mental ill health costs the UK £105.2 billion in 2009-2010 (The Centre for Mental Health). One study suggests green therapy could save the NHS £2.1bn a year.

This is one reason why The Wildlife Trusts and RSPB are campaigning for a Nature and Wellbeing Act, to put nature at the heart of decisions such as health, housing and education. It would also put wildlife habitats back into the landscape, and reconnect people with nature. Find out more at wildlifetrusts.org/ naturewellbeingact

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL WORLD 7

LIVING SEAS

PROPOSED WIND FARM building 1200 turbines will create huge underwater noise

HARBOUR PORPOISES These small cetaceans feed here in large numbers

Dogger Bank: safe yet?

Abundant wildlife has made the UK’s largest sandbank a Special Area of Conservation – but so far BEAM TRAWLING This destructive form of fishing carries on regardless

DAN HILLIARD DESIGN

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or most people, the shipping forecast’s lilting rhythm is their only connection with the Dogger Bank, conjuring up images of brave fishermen, battling the elements somewhere far off in the North Sea. The name comes from an old Dutch word for fishing boat, dogge, but there is more to the Dogger Bank than fishing.

Formed during the last ice age, it was part of the large ‘Doggerland’ which connected Britain to mainland Europe.

Around 8,000 years ago, rising sea levels gradually cut off this connection, leaving just a raised sandbank area in the middle of the North Sea, the Dogger Bank. It is the largest sandbank in UK waters and, despite being 609 miles from the English coast, is only 17 metres deep in places.

8 NATURAL WORLD SUMMER 2015

the protection isn’t happening, reports Eleanor Stone

CRUSTACEANS Several crab species recycle nutrients up the food chain

Sandbanks may not have the obvious splendour of a rocky reef or kelp forest, but look a little closer and they support a wealth of marine life. Within the sandy and gravelly seabed live many different worms, crustaceans, molluscs and anemones. Hermit crabs and starfish patrol the seafloor searching out food.

Sandeels burrow into the sand for protection. In turn, this provides food for more charismatic animals such as porpoises, dolphins and whales.

Seabirds, including fulmars, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and the spectacular plunge-diving gannets, also feed on the Dogger Bank.

In recognition of its ecological importance and its declining state of health, the UK government plan to

designate the Dogger Bank as a Special Area of Conservation, with Germany and the Netherlands doing the same for the parts of the sandbank in their waters.

This should give the Dogger Bank strict protection against damaging human activities, but we have concerns that this is not yet happening.

The biggest impact comes from fishing. Boats from several European countries exploit the rich variety of commercial fish, including herring, sprat and gurnard, often using methods that damage the sensitive sandbank. Despite efforts to better control these fisheries, there are no management measures in place. Oil and gas extraction and aggregate dredging may also be licensed, and there are plans to build

SHOALING FISH Sprat and herring exploit plankton blooming in the shallows

1200 wind turbines here, making one of the world’s biggest offshore wind farms.

As well as impacting the seabed, the construction of wind farms creates huge amounts of underwater noise. This will disturb the thousands of harbour porpoise and other marine mammals for whom the Dogger Bank is so important.

We want to see better protection of the Dogger Bank. We are pushing for a reduction in human impacts and proper management of this important site, so that it can thrive once again. n If you want to support The Wildlife Trusts in pushing for greater protection for harbour porpoises in protected areas like the Dogger Bank, please sign our e-petition at wildlifetrusts.org/ oceangiants

SANDEELS These swarming, sand-burrowing fish are food to seabirds

STARFISH They and brittlestars are slow-speed predators of the sea floor

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL WORLD 9

F M IND LOCORE AOUT AL W BOU SITEILDLIT FE S Jo

LIVING LANDSCAPES Hoe Common, Norfolk – one of more than 52,000 Local Wildlife Sites in the UK. This one is in safe hands but many are being lost or damaged

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Patrick Barkham is a natural history writer for The Guardian, and author of The Coastlands and Badgerlands

Hidden treasure

There are more than 52,000 Local Wildlife Sites in the UK. But they are often overlooked or neglected. Patrick Barkham visited Hoe Common in Norfolk to learn why they’re worth saving

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woodpecker is drumming on an old oak, two green hairstreaks twizzle round an overgrown hawthorn and, somewhere in the bracken, adders are gathering in the growing heat of the day.

Entering Hoe Common, near Dereham in Norfolk, is like discovering a secret room in the countryside. Not much bigger than a couple of football pitches, it is unsignposted, tucked away in the Norfolk countryside. I grew up ten miles away but never knew of its existence.

Like many other Local Wildlife Sites, it is unheralded and yet treasured by those who live next to it. There are 42,865 Local Wildlife Sites in England, covering at least 5% of its land mass. There are 1,300 in Norfolk alone, from large commons to an old tennis court boasting more than 200 orchid spikes.

A dome of bracken and heathercovered heath, Hoe Common is a remnant of a much larger common which was parcelled up during the Enclosures. This sandy patch was

deemed agriculturally useless and so was left as a ‘fuel enclosure’ for poor people who would collect gorse and firewood, overseen by local landowners who administered it as a charity.

A small group of villagers, led by Eilean MacGibbon, and Dick and Sue Malt, took on its management in 1994. Determined not to let it return to its overgrown past, they asked Helen Baczkowska of Norfolk Wildlife Trust for help.

Most Wildlife Trusts employ someone like Helen, whose job is to work with

LIVING LANDSCAPES

Why do Local Wildlife Sites matter?

Pink and orange fruits of the spindle tree in early summer

LAURENT GESLIN

Because of their spread, LWS act as refuges, stepping stones and corridors between other wildlife-rich places. They also provide buffer zones to protect nature reserves and SSSIs from damage. If areas for nature are to become bigger, better and more joined up in future, to recreate resilient ecosystems, then LWS need better protection than they have today – and the right kind of care and management. We also need to identify new ones and get neighbouring landowners involved wherever possible.

n Local Nature Conservation Site (Scotland) n Site of Local Nature Conservation Importance (Northern Ireland) n Manx Wildlife Site (Isle of Man)

Asham Wood: a link in the landscape Asham Wood East in Somerset is a typically valuable Local Wildlife Site. It provides a link between a maternity roost for greater horseshoe bats and another nearby protected ancient wood. The roost (which holds 12% of the UK population) is protected by European law. This connected chain of habitat helps the bats to find shelter, and to forage and breed safely.

The hidden gems where wildlife clings on and can move through the landscape

UNDER THREAT

Habitat damage by development at Dale Road LWS, Buxton More than 10% of surveyed Local Wildlife Sites in England have been lost or damaged in the five years up to 2013. Worryingly, the status of a further 35,000 sites is unknown. This is due to a lack of resources for regular surveys and advice on management.

Light grazing to encourage species-rich grassland

nature reserves but you can tell how important they are to local people.”

I walk onto the common with local volunteer Danny Danson and Helen. We check under the corrugated iron for adders and slow worms but it is still too cool. At our feet are heath speedwell and heath bedstraw. A buzzard soars on a thermal above several ancient apple trees planted by the poor for cider.

Danny began volunteering after attending a local parish meeting. “I worked in an office for 40 years but I’m an outside person – rolling up my sleeves really appeals to me.” He’s derived great satisfaction from seeing Hoe Common revived. “There’s a good community spirit engendered from this and you’re enhancing the natural habitat as well.”

And nest boxes to multiply the benefit of the old oaks

I’m excited by the honeysuckle hanging from so many of the trees: this looks good for white admiral butterflies.

Like many Local Wildlife Sites, however, Hoe Common is relatively underrecorded, though Hoe Bird Walk has recorded 134 bird species. Local residents held a moth night last year but are keen to find out what else is here – bats, insects and other wildlife. This – recording, and enjoying it – is the next, exciting step.

“These are the hidden gems where wildlife clings on and can move through the landscape,” says Helen. n Download our Local Wildlife Sites report on wildlifetrusts.org/ secretspaces

REASONS FOR LOSS 83% Lack of management 74% Inappropriate management 54% Change of land use 40% Agricultural practices 28% Access/recreation 25% Ploughing 13% Pollution 11% Vandalism 9% Consequence of development 9% Highways, gas works etc 20% Other

Helen reassures landowners that she will not impose rules on them. “What I say is that the Local Wildlife Site notification opens doors. I can help find funding, graziers and, in some cases, volunteers. It’s about saying, ‘Look what we’ve got, it’s fantastic’”.

The first thing Helen did was help the Hoe volunteers enter the Higher Level Stewardship scheme so they could obtain a modest income to manage the land. Then she did a botanical survey and devised a management plan to stop their precious heath scrubbing over.

Volunteers received scything lessons from the environmentalist Simon Fairlie because the fascinating presence of First World War training trenches prevents the use of big machinery. Residents also conducted an adder survey while the Wildlife Trust enlisted the Hawk and Owl Trust to help clear bracken and give the common and bell heather a chance to flourish. Now the residents will use their stewardship funds to fence the cleared area for grazing with native ponies.

“The Wildlife Trusts’ report, Secret Spaces, really sums up these places,” says Helen. “They are not well-known like

n Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (Wales)

Percentages add up to more than 100 because the cause is often due to mutiple factors

Greater horseshoe bats need joined-up habitats. They hunt for large moths and beetles in woodland and old pasture

What you can do Local Wildlife Sites are some of the last fragments of our natural heritage, and a last defence against a landscape devoid of nature.

They should be protected as the seed bank that will restore our countryside and ecosystems. Instead, they are being neglected or destroyed at a terrifying rate.

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JOIN your local Wildlife Trust, which fights to protect LWS

SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND for a Nature and Wellbeing Act, and the creation of local ecological networks: wildlifetrusts.org/actfornature

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ASK FOR ADVICE If you own LWS, or a piece of land that could be one, contact your Wildlife Trust. We offer expert advice.

NATIONALLY RECOGNISED NAMES

landowners to better manage unprotected countryside. Despite their designation, Local Wildlife Sites are hugely vulnerable. A survey by the Wildlife Trusts revealed that out of 6,590 Local Wildlife Sites, 717 were lost or damaged in the five years to 2013.

Helen finds most farmers and landowners are proud of their Local Wildlife Sites but mistakes do happen: planting ornamental trees on meadows, for instance. “People don’t always know how to manage them or realise how important they are,” she says. The most common problem, however, is neglect.

Meadows and heaths quickly become overgrown and their unique plants and animals disappear.

Quite simply, Local Wildlife Sites are where most of our wildlife is. In some counties they contain more biodiversity than National Nature Reserves or Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), which are protected by law.

In Nottinghamshire, for example, Local Wildlife Sites (LWS) cover ten per cent of the land area, while SSSIs make up just 1.5%.

Greater London has 36 SSSIs, compared with 1,500 LWS covering eight times the area. In Wiltshire, LWS contain three quarters of the county’s broadleaf woodland.

Also known as...

Local Wildlife Sites have different names across the UK, but their value, and the threats they face, are the same wherever you are.

DERBYSHIRE WT

Delights of Hoe Common: green hairstreak butterflies in May

GREAT DAYS OUT

Places to see

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Reptiles A glimpse of one of Britain’s six reptile species adds a thrill to any walk. Here’s where to find these ancient, mysterious and long-lived animals

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Stanford Warren Essex Wildlife Trust One of the largest reedbeds in Essex, created by gravel extraction in the 1920s, plus marsh and rough grassland.

The grassland is where you’ll find common lizard, grass snake and adder. There are harvest mice nesting among the reeds too.

Where is it? 1 mile S of Stanford-le-Hope, and just N of the new Thurrock Thameside reserve.

Grid TQ 687 812.

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Upton Towans Cornwall Wildlife Trust Internationally important dune grasslands harbour glow worm, pyramidal orchid, skylark and adders. It also has wonderful views across St Ives Bay. A must visit if you’re holidaying in mid Cornwall this summer.

Where is it? Between Hayle and Gwithian off A30. Grid SW 579 398 (extra parking at SW 581 407).

Where to find these places

Higher Hyde Heath Dorset Wildlife Trust One of the best areas in England to see all six native reptiles: an internationally important mix of wet, dry and humid heaths, plus peaty pools, mire and wet woodland. Besides the reptiles there are many dragonflies and damselflies, nightjar, Dartford warbler, woodlark and tree pipit.

Grayling and silver-studded blue butterflies can be found on the open heath.

Where is it? 2 miles N of Wool on Puddletown Rd, between Bovington and Wareham. Grid SY856899.

Fulbourn Fen Wildlife Trust BCN These old meadows have never been treated with pesticide or fertiliser, and swarm with plants and animals. Look for grass snake and common lizard in the wettest meadow, East Fen, where hundreds of orchids bloom in early summer.

Where is it? 6 miles from Cambridge. Grid TL 526 557. n Access/transport details for each site: wildlifetrusts. org/wildlife/reserves

Reptile watching

Snelsmore Common Berks, Bucks & Oxon WT This 100ha mix of heather, wet bog and woodland is home to a host of nationally rare species. There is a good chance of spotting adder, grass snake, common lizard and slow worm in one visit. A pond also hosts breeding palmate newts.

Where is it? 2 miles N of Newbury off the B4494, opposite Mary Hare School.

Grid SU 468721.

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Rackenford and Knowstone Moor Devon Wildlife Trust With the adjacent Hares Down, this is the county’s largest remaining block of Culm grassland, and designated an SSSI and SAC. Walk slowly and carefully to see adders and slow worms basking on the tussocks.

Where is it? 9 miles west of Tiverton on the A361. The reserve is either side of the road. Grid SS 851 211.

14 NATURAL WORLD SUMMER 2015

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Gilfach Reserve Radnorshire WT A hill farm of open moorland, flower-rich grasslands and oak woods. Follow the river upstream and out along the Monks Trod. This is the walk where you are most likely to spot up to 50 common lizards basking in the sun – an amazing sight.

Where is it? Off the A470, 7 miles from Llangurig and 2 miles from Rhayader. Follow brown Nature Reserve signs.

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Potteric Carr Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Level paths wind around the ponds and channels of this exceptional wetland. Newts, frogs and whirligig beetles are easy to find. But come early in the day and you’ll see grass snakes of all sizes in the ponds in Loversall field, or along Loversall delph.

Where is it? Just south of Doncaster, post code DN4 8DB. By bus from city, get off at B&Q. Grid SE 589 007.

Unlike us, reptiles need a warm day before they can be active. So it’s often easiest to see them early in the morning, when they are still soaking up the rays. Snakes in particular can feel the vibrations of your footsteps, so tread softly.

Never chase a reptile or try to pick one up.

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66cm, bears live young. Bogs, heaths, woodland clearings

COMMON LIZARD

14cm, spider hunter. Heaths and woodland clearings

SAND LIZARD

20cm, very rare. Sandy heaths and dunes

SLOW WORM

54cm, legless lizard. Grassland, woodland and heathland

SMOOTH SNAKE

70cm, constrictor. Predator of other reptiles. Heaths

GRASS SNAKE

75cm, frog hunter.

Frequents lakes and ponds

10 3 1 2 9 8

7 6

Reptiles can be irresistible, but leave handling them to experts

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL WORLD 15

DAVID CHAPMAN

MATT COLE

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ADDER

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A ONE-MINUTE GUIDE TO

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Britain’s six native reptiles

BRUCE SHORTLAND

See our full listing of places to see reptiles and more species information at wildlifetrusts.org/ reptiles

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OTHER PICS: STEWART CANHAM

Sandwich & Pegwell Bay Kent Wildlife Trust The only ancient dune pasture in Kent, with intertidal mudflats, saltmarsh, shingle beach, sand dunes, chalk cliffs, wave cut platform and coastal scrubland. Look closely in the dunes. You may see the extremely rare sand lizards there.

Where is it? Between Sandwich and Ramsgate.

Post code CT12 5JB. Grid TR 341 632.

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THE WILDLIFE TRUSTS

Harbottle Crags Northumberland WT A beautiful open moorland where nearby rocks have been scratched and polished by the last glaciers. The eastern end has sphagnum mosses but adder, slow worm and common lizard are easiest to find in the heathland areas.

Where is it? 0.6 miles SW of Harbottle. Use Forestry Commission car park. Grid NT 922 040.

WILD FAMILIES Wild Families are our popular series of events aimed at getting the whole family outdoors working together. All events are £4 per person/£14 families (2+2). All the events run from 2pm-4pm unless otherwise stated and pre-booking is essential.

Pond Dipping for All

Sat & Sun 18/19, 25/26 Jul & 15/16 Aug mon 27 Jul, 3, 10, 17 & 24 Aug Wed 29 Jul, 5, 12, 19 & 26 Aug 30 minute sessions at 11am, 11.45am, 12.30pm, 2pm & 2.45pm

Come along and discover what lies beneath the surface here at Brockholes! This session is an opportunity for ALL visitors to roll up their sleeves and enjoy a spot of pond dipping.

Please note you need to buy your ticket(s) from 'The Nest' giſt shop on arrival. Tickets sell out fast, so make sure you get here early.

Wildside Holiday Club*

Wed 29 Jul, 5, 12, 19 & 26 Aug & Thu 30 Jul, 6, 13, 20 & 27 Aug. 9.30am-4pm, £16 per child.

Wildside is our popular school holiday club aimed at those aged 8-14 and now we are able to offer post Wildside sessions too!

Activities include shelter making, fire lighting, woodland games, outdoor art and more.

You can also extend your child’s session from 4pm-5.30pm for an extra £3.50.

open Air Theatre – mr. Stink!*

Sun 2 Aug, 5pm, £13.50pp (adults)/£9pp (children)/£39 family (2A+2C)

Watch the colourful characters from David Walliams'popular novel come to life in this interactive, adaptation of the family favourite, Mr Stink. You’ll laugh along as Chloe and Mr Stink unite and forge an extraordinary and rewarding friendship that takes them to the heady heights of live television and Downing Street via a garden shed!

Chrissy’s Craſt Workshops* mon 3, 10, 17 & 24 Aug, 1-3pm, £5-£7.50pp

Join us for a series of fun, creative workshops lead by eco-artist and qualifies craſt tutor Chrissy Webster. Workshops are as follows: 3 Aug – Pebble Mosaics (£5pp); 10 Aug – Wildlife Batik (£7.50pp); 17 Aug – Animal Sculptures (£5pp); 24 Aug – Silk painting (£7.50pp).

Drop-in Clay modelling Wed 5, 12, 19 & 26 Aug, 10am-12pm, £3pp

Fri 31 July - Teddy Bear's Picnic Tue 4 Aug - Vicious Vikings Fri 7 Aug - Gruffalo Adventure* Tue 11 Aug - Pirates!

Fri 14 Aug - Wonderful world of mud Tue 18 Aug - Spy Day

The experts at ‘Jumping Clay’ return to Brockholes for the summer every Wednesday!

These morning sessions are ‘drop-in’, where we’ll be making pencil toppers or magnets, so no booking is needed.

Fri 21 Aug - Superworm

Clay modelling Workshops*

*Also an additional 10am-12pm session.

Tue 25 Aug - Photo Scavenger Hunt Fri 28 Aug - Stick man

Wed 5, 12, 19 & 26 Aug, 1-2pm, £8pp These Wednesday aſternoons sessions are run by 'Jumping Clay' and the tutors will teach you how to make one of their fantastic models from mess-free air drying clay.

once Upon a Twisted Tale*

Sun 9 Aug, performances at 12, 2 & 4pm, £3.50 per adult, £2 per child, £9 family (2A + 2C)

Come along and be touched by magic as the Tangled Dance Company performs a magical woodland walk where fairytales untangle through an enchanting promenade dance performance. We’ll follow the characters through the forest and help break the spell of the poisoned apple!

Wind in the Willows – Theatre Performance*

Thu 13 Aug, 2pm (doors open from 1.30pm), £6.50pp/under 2’s FREE Performed by Ribble Valley based Ribcaged Productions, this indoor adaptation of the classic Kenneth Grahame novel Wind in the Willows promises to light up Brockholes!

Events marked* require pre-booking

For a full list of events visit

Tue 28 July - Slimeball

www.brockholes.org

REGULAR EVENTS THURSDAY CRAFTY CREATIVE

Thursdays from 27 July - 30 August, 10am-12pm & 1-4pm, small charges apply.

CRAFTY CREATIVE

1st weekend of the month, 10am-12pm & 1-4pm, small charges apply.

PRAm WAlk

Tuesdays, 10-11am, FREE.

mIDWEEk mEAnDER

Wednesdays, 1.30-3pm, FREE.

HEAlTH WAlk

Thursdays, 10-11am, FREE.

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nATURE ToTS*

Fridays (upto & including 17 July), sessions at 9.30-10.45am, 11am-12.15pm & 1.15-2.30pm, £4 per child.

To book or for more information please call us on 01772 872000 or email info@brockholes.org