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Boost for vanishing water vole
Rare
species at risk as foxes take over final hiding place
Bruno the
elusive bear is shot after seven-week chase
Oil
leak at derelict sewerage farm puts wildlife at risk
Marine animals are given biggest playground as Bush turns greener
Poisoned golden eagle police
plea
Reptiles and
rocks top conservation league table
Sights are set on grey
squirrel cull
£1m to go wild improving park |
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Boost for vanishing water vole
Community
Newswire 30 June 2006
The
reclusive water vole which has almost disappeared from British waterways
is now set to make a comeback along a stretch of river in Herefordshire.
The Game Conservancy Trust is launching a project which aims to repopulate
the River Monnow and its tributaries, such as the River Dore, with around
500 water vole.
Almost 70%
of Britain's water vole population identified in a national survey in the
1980s has now been lost. Water vole inhabit the banks of ditches, dykes,
slow-moving rivers and streams, and grassland, but the loss of riverside
habitat has badly affected numbers of the protected species.
Water vole
have also fallen victim to native predators such as heron, pike and
otters, but the introduction of the North American mink has wiped out
entire communities of water vole, as it is the only predator able to fit
into their underground tunnels.
Before
releasing the water voles, the Game Conservancy Trust said it would remove
all North American mink from the river using a specially designed device.
More than 50 separate colonies of water voles, around 500 animals in
total, will then be released along 30km of riverbank this summer.
The animals have been bred in captivity by the Derek Gow
Consultancy, an organisation specialising in breeding British wildlife for
restoration projects.
The
programme has been funded with £80,000 in grants from the Rural
Development Service and marks the final stages of a £1.1 million project
funded by Defra to restore around 60km of riverside habitat on the Monnow.
The project has already reversed the decline of wild brown trout, grayling
and other wildlife in the river.
Rare
species at risk as foxes take over final hiding place
Times 29
June 2006
Evidence is
growing that the European red fox has reached Tasmania, crossing over
the186 miles of the Bass Strait from the Australian mainland. Rare small
animals that have become extinct on the mainland are now at risk from this
introduced predator.
The fox was
brought to Australia by settlers 150 years ago so that they could continue
to hunt it. Opinion has been divided as to whether the red fox had become
established, through animals being smuggled onto the island or
accidentally transported there.
Wildlife
experts believe that vicious Tasmanian devils may have destroyed foxes
smuggled in the past, but a disease is reducing the number of devils. A
panel commissioned by the Tasmanian Government now reports that there is
overwhelming evidence for the presence of the fox, from droppings, road
casualties and chicken coop raids. The fear is that the foxes will prove
impossible to eradicate on the rugged, forested island.
Bruno the
elusive bear is shot after seven-week chase
Times 27
June 2006
Hunters shot
dead a young bear in the Bavaria that eluded capture during a seven-week
journey around the Alps in which he killed sheep and rabbits, stole honey
and strolled through mountain villages. The first bear in the area for 170
years, brown bears have been re-introduced into the Austrian and Italian
Alps in recent decades.
Bruno is
believed to have crossed into Germany from the Trentino region of Italy.
His mother had been fed by humans and so had not taught him to avoid
contact with people. The lack of shyness explains Bruno seeking food in
farms and villages as he strolled northward.
Environmental groups said the killing was unnecessary and that the
Government had not tried hard enough to capture him alive. A Finnish team
of bear trackers with dogs and tranquiliser guns failed to catch Bruno,
and it was then that the hunters were brought in.
Anton
Steixner, head of agricultural affairs in the Tyrol, said: “We knew it was
an unpopular decision and there would be massive criticism. The bear
deserves protection, but so do people living is this region. We did all we
could to catch him alive.”
Oil
leak at derelict sewerage farm puts wildlife at risk
Times 26
June 2006
A nine-mile
oil slick off the Menai Strait in N Wales is threatening rare wildlife in
an area once proposed as a
Marine Nature Reserve. The strait, which separates Anglesey from
the mainland, is home to more than 1,400 species of plants and animals,
many of them rare.
The Environment Agency said that the mixture of heavy and light industrial
oils had leaked out of an abandoned sewage works on land owned by North
Wales Police. The pipe has been sealed to stem the flow.
Mopping up
started after beach sand on the straits had been mottled black by the oil.
The tidal sand banks are an important feeding area for maritime birds such
as guillemots and razorbills.
Marine animals are given biggest playground as Bush turns greener
Times 16 June 2006
A ribbon of uninhabited Pacific islands 100 miles wide
and stretching 1,400 miles, was declared the world's biggest nature
reserve yesterday. President Bush designated the northwestern Hawaiian
island chain of delicate reefs, islands, atolls and pinnacles, as a
national monument at a White House signing ceremony.
The human population is just a few dozen, with
currently only eight licensed fishing vessels. Fishing will be phased out
over the next five years, and the mining of coral for jewellery will be
banned, along with other practices that could cause damage. The isolation
and low level of exploitation has kept the islands undisturbed for the 14
million seabirds, which includes the Laysan albatross.
The monk seal, spinner dolphin, tiger shark, lionfish
and green sea turtle are amongst 7,000 species that occupy the islands, a
quarter of which are found nowhere else.
The islands are part of the state of Hawaii, except for
the Midway Atoll, remembered as a battle ground, which is a US territory.
The area protected is almost twice the size of Britain and is larger than
Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Protection of the islands has
received more than 50,000 letters of support over the past years.
Environmental Network News 16
June 2006
The world must lay to rest a "myth" that
protecting the environment harms economic growth, the new head of the U.N.
Environment Programme said on Thursday.
Achim Steiner, a 45-year-old German, said
he would seek to involve consumers, governments, businesses and activists
in developing new economic mechanisms to protect the planet from threats
ranging from climate change to pollution.
"Care for the environment is often
portrayed as detrimental to economic growth," he told Reuters on his first
day as head of the United Nations' top environment body. "We hope to lay
that myth to rest in the 21st century".
Most conventional economic theory places
no value on natural phenomena such as the coastline protection given by
coral reefs or forests' role in absorbing heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
Steiner said a shift was needed to recognise the "enormous wealth of
nature's services" underpinning all life on earth. In turn, that would
show that environmental protection is a condition for economies to survive
and thrive in the long term.
By conventional yardsticks nations can -
at least briefly --boost growth by axing all their forests for timber or
dynamiting reefs for fish. A shift in accounting would place a higher
value on intact natural systems.
"Environmental sustainability in the 21st
century is not only the preserve of environmentalists, but of everybody
who uses resources on this planet," Steiner said. He succeeds Klaus
Toepfer, also German, who has retired after eight years at UNEP.
www.enn.com/today.html?id=10684
Poisoned golden eagle police
plea
BBC online news 16 June 2006
Wildlife experts have hit out after the
death by poisoning of a rare golden eagle in Royal Deeside. The adult bird
was found by a hill walker between Banchory and Braemar.
Tests have revealed it contained traces of
the pesticide carbofuran and police have appealed for help in tracing the
culprit.
Grampian Police wildlife crime officer
David MacKinnon said it was especially unfortunate as there was a low
local population of golden eagles.
"There are estimated to be only around 18
breeding pairs of golden eagle in the Grampian area."
The officer said the birds live for 20
years or more and usually raise between one and two young per year.
"I appeal to members of the public,
particularly land-based workers, hill walkers, ramblers, bird watchers,
mountain bikers and people who enjoy the outdoor scene around Deeside to
report anything suspicious.
Reptiles and rocks top conservation league table
JNCC News Release 0606/01, 15
Jun 2006
UK Nature advisers the Joint
Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) this week released the current
'league table' for how well, or badly, our species, habitats and
geological features are performing in relation to the 2010 biodiversity
conservation target. It shows that the European goal, to halt the loss of
biodiversity by 2010, is ambitious but for some habitat and species
groups, achievable.
The table is part of the Common
Standards Monitoring for Designated Sites: First Six Year Report (online
at www.jncc.gov.uk/csm) published this week. It assesses the species,
habitats and geology on over 6,000 of the UK's protected areas, in
particular the Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Geological features, from
volcanic rocks to fossils, minerals to ice age landforms and sediments,
are the most favourable (86%), followed by species (68%). Terrestrial
habitats seem to faring poorly with only 39% of assessments favourable.
Marine and coastal habitats (60%) and freshwater habitats (49%) have fared
somewhat better. There are a large number of features which are recovering
from unfavourable condition. If these are combined with those which are
favourable, terrestrial habitats are more on a par with marine habitats
and species.
The species assessments show
considerable variability. Only four reptile assessments have been reported
and it would not be sensible to place too much reliance on the high rank
of this category. However, birds features are faring well, with between
73% and 81% in favourable condition. Mammals, invertebrate and plant
features form an intermediate group between 52% and 68% in favourable
condition, while, at the other end of the scale, fish (27%) have a
worryingly low proportion of favourable assessments. This is not
necessarily as bad as it seems, notes James Williams, Reporting and
Standards Manager at JNCC: "The condition of rivers is much better than it
has been, but more needs to be done to tackle sources of diffuse
pollution.”
The condition of habitat
features was also very variable. Upland assemblages, rocky shores and sea
cliffs fell in the range 70%-87% in favourable condition, while an
intermediate group of habitats, including a number of coastal habitats,
blanket bog and woodland habitats, fell in the range 43%-69% in favourable
condition. Below that were a group of habitats which fared relatively
poorly, including upland and lowland heathlands and grasslands, lowland
raised bogs, and rivers and streams, with lowland heathlands achieving the
worst result at just under 18%.
www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3763
Sights are
set on grey squirrel cull
Sunday Times 4 June 2006
A national cull of grey
squirrels is to be launched in an attempt to save Scotland’s native red
squirrel population from extinction.
The dominance of its
aggressive North American cousin, coupled with the spread of a deadly
virus, has seen the red squirrel all but wiped out south of the border.
Conservation bodies fear that the same could happen in Scotland and are
working with the executive on an action plan.
Rhona Brankin, the
deputy environment minister, has asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to
draw up an action plan aimed at reversing the dramatic decline of the red
squirrel population. The SNH document, which will be presented to Brankin
within days, will recommend “grey squirrel control” as the key to saving
the native reds.
Grey squirrels have
already carried a myxomatosis-like pox virus over the Scottish border, but
the disease has not yet spread to the red population, which is numbered at
120,000.
The stronger greys are
immune to the disease but infected reds suffer from skin lesions,
shivering and fur loss and usually die within 15 days. Grey squirrels were
introduced to Britain in the Victorian era when the North American
creatures were hailed as fashionable and exotic additions to the gardens
of the wealthy.
Tomkin said the cull
would be mainly targeted at areas like Aberdeen and the northeast, Argyll,
Loch Lomond and the Highlands, where reds were most under threat from
marauding greys. Encroaching English grey squirrels are already being shot
on sight by patrols in the Borders.
The squirrel action
plan is also likely to see areas of woodland around the country designated
as red “strongholds”, sanctuaries where the threatened species could
thrive.
The Scottish Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said that it did not support the
idea of a cull, but accepted that the executive was entitled to order one.
“If a cull is to go ahead we would call for it to be done as humanely and
efficiently as possible.”
www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2210504,00.html
£1m to go wild improving park
Blackburn Citizen 3 June 2006
A £1million plan to transform an
Accrington park into a 40-hectare wildlife reserve is being drawn up. The
project to extend Peel Park around the Coppice, between Plantation Road
and Burnley Road, aims to create a huge nature area as well as improving
the parkland.
The scheme is led by Lancashire Wildlife
Trust (LWT), Hyndburn Council and Lancashire County Council's Remade
regeneration project. Peel Park has been identified by the Wildlife Trust
as a potential Local Nature Reserve, qualifying it for grant aid, and if
the scheme is successful it will become the largest LNR in Lancashire.
LNRs are places with wildlife or geological features that are of special
interest locally.
The enlarged park will include open
moorland, reservoirs and deep valleys. Deer can be found in the southern
areas of the site around Arden Hall along with a range of urban wildlife.
Peel Park is already popular with walkers
but it is hoped that by increasing its size and improving unattractive
areas people will come from across the region to visit. Public access and
footpaths are set to be improved, there will be landscaping and tree
planting as well as making it a more habitable place for wildlife.
www.blackburncitizen.co.uk/display.var.782039.0.1m_to_go_wild_improving_park.php
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