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Cheshire Landscape Trust ran a photo competition on the theme of 'Cheshire's Landscapes'. The winning photos were displayed at the Cheshire Show 2006.
Three nature reserves in Warrington have been classified Special Areas of Conservation by the European Commission. Rixton Clay Pits reserve is home to Great Crested Newts, while Risley Moss and Holcroft Moss are great examples of mossland habitat. All three sites embrace community involvement and benefit from volunteer help. To learn more contact Warrington Borough Council.
Through winter 2005-06, Cheshire Landscape Trust, British Waterways and the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) worked in partnership on the Canalside Hedgerow Improvement Programme (CHIP). This project aimed to enhance and improve lengths of hedgerow all over Cheshire alongside the Shropshire Union, Llangollen and Trent & Mersey Canals. Working with local communities and local volunteers they laid, coppiced and gapped-up significant stretches of hedgerows for the benefit of wildlife, biodiversity and the local landscape. All this work will make a significant contribution to the Hedgerow LBAP.
rECOrd, the biological record centre for Cheshire and Wirral, held their biannual conference on Saturday 29th October 2005 at Frodsham Community Centre, Fluin Lane, Frodsham, Cheshire. They demonstrated their newly written web-site on the day which will have the facility to browse/search the database online and to interactively map out the chosen species.
The Cheshire Mammal Group ran a training day on Small Mammal Identification on Saturday 24th September 2005 at Chester Zoo. There was a practical trapping session in the morning followed by an indoor session looking at various aspects of small mammal identification, ecology, survey techniques and legislation regarding small mammal trapping.
To date a total of 485 different hedgerows have been surveyed in 49 different parishes ranging from Culceth & Glazebury in the north to Sound in the south, Rainow in the east to Ellesmere Port in the west. The total length of hedgerow surveyed is 112087 metres, which is over 112km or nearly 70 miles. Surveyors have recorded an average of 5.6 standard trees in each hedgerow surveyed.
Warrington Nature Conservation Forum, in partnership with Cheshire Landscape Trust, are running a hedgerow survey in the parish of Burtonwood. Volunteers selected a kilometre grid square of the parish and are surveying the hedgerows. CLT have also been involved in producing Burtonwood's Village Design Statement and Landscape Strategy as well as providing trees and shrubs for Burtonwood Nature Park and the surrounding area.
Well done to all involved!
The Hedgerow Survey is still ongoing so if you would like to take part then click here for more information.
Did you know that more than half the population of England live within 5 miles of a canal?
Through summer 2005 people were asked to help monitor wildlife on their local waterways. The National Waterway Wildlife Survey, held in June, July and August 2005, was a joint venture between British Waterways and English Nature. DFor mroe information visit http://www.waterscape.com/waterwaysguide/wildlife/
Belted Beauty Moth LBAP
A fifth habitat scrape has been created in the experimental plot site and chestnut paling fencing erected.
The spring survey started in March, with disappointing numbers so far.
Captive breeding is proving successful, with a number of adults emerge who have mated and produced egg batches. Over 1,000 eggs have been introduced to the experimental plot sites and will be monitored.
Floodplain Grazing Marsh LBAP
On the Gowy Meadows site 31km of fencing has been erected, 8.5 km of ditches dredged and 8km of hedgerows reinstated.
Bluebell LBAP
A bid to WREN for landfill tax monies has been submitted for a new project to grow a sustainable source of native bluebells of local provenance, at Barrowmore Estate, near Chester. The Landlife and Mersey Forest Bluebell Recovery Project has ended but the findings from this project will feed into new initiative.
New survey sites have been chosen for this year and there will be 11 community seed gathering events in July.
Otter LBAP
The Action Group now meets on a regular basis. A survey programme is being drawn up for the summer/autumn. Around 20 volunteer surveyors will be trained and mentored over the summer to go out and carry out otter surveys.
The Know Your Otter card is still being distributed and new records are being collated and analysed.
At least 4 new artificial otter holts will be constructed this year. It is hoped that video-monitoring equipment can be installed in established holts to monitor otter activity once Fiona has received her holt licence. An otter holt building day at Trentabank Nature Reserve is being organised for Friday 8th July 2005 to celebrate National Mammal Week.
A funding bid is being prepared for a riparian mammal project officer to implement the actions in both the Otter and Water Vole LBAPs.
Brown Hare LBAP
Members of the action group are currently involved in carrying out the annual spring survey on sites across Cheshire and Wirral. Survey forms are available on the here and several landowners are engaged in the process following a successful training event held last September.
Bat LBAP
On-going survey work with driving survey of Cheshire planned for June/July 2005. Several education/awareness-raising events organised by the Group over the Autumn/Winter.
Black Poplar
A new propogation programme started. Cuttings have been collected from 25 trees and initial rooting of the cuttings has been done at Chester Zoo. Sites for 4/5 stool beds are being investigated
Great Crested Newt
Copies of GCN handbook have been supplied to a number of landowners and members of the public.
The action group coordinator attended national Herpetofauna Workers’ Conference
An advanced GCN survey training course in conjunction with CCW and North Wales Amphibian and Reptile Network has been run.
Proposals for a GCN conservation project have been discussed with Andrew Hull of Liverpool John Moores University.
Advice has been provided to members of the public on GCN conservation, habitat management and protection.
The action group coordinator attended the SEMMS steering group meetings to encourage implementation of appropriate mitigation measures on new road construction scheme.
Amendments have been suggested to the GCN mitigation guidelines
Harvest Mouse
In June 2004 400 mice were released at Marbury Country Park. In total 950 harvest mice have now been released in Cheshire.
No further releases are planned for 2005 but there will be on-going monitoring of release sites during 2005/06
(IUCN considers a release has reached re-introduction status if animals are still existing and a self-sustaining
population has been achieved at the release site within 4 years of the initial release with no subsequent ‘top-up’ releases).
Nest searches on Chester Zoo sites during spring 2005 have proved fruitful with many nests found.
March 2005 – live-mammal trapping on Zoo’s 2003 release site successfully trapped one live female Harvest Mouse, which was unexpected given the time of year (lowest fecundity).
The BBC filmed the work of the Harvest Mouse Project with Bill Oddie for their springwatch 2005 programme.
Dr Martha Newton (one of the North West's eminent bryologists) was asked by rECOrd to run a beginners training day for anyone interested in, or thinking they may become interested in, bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).
This training day took place on Monday 18th April 2005 at Linmere Visitor Centre, Delamere and included an Introductory talk, with slides, on the life of mosses and liverworts followed by a look at living material with hand-lenses then after lunch the group did outdoor work involving field identification and the use of bryophytes as ecological indicators
The Barn Owl Groups annual report has now been circulated. The report collated data from the West, Mid Cheshire, South Cheshire and Wirral Barn Owl groups. It is hoped that an East Cheshire group will be set up in late 2005. There were 76 confirmed breeding pairs in Cheshire in 2004 .with a total of 199 confirmed young hatched (including second broods) -some of which subsequently died .At five of the 76 sites the young were not counted .Using the average number of chicks per pair at the counted sites of 2.80 would give an estimated total of 213 young in 2004.The maximum number of young produced at one site was 6. The number of boxes installed by end 2004 in Cheshire was 429.
Congratulations to the Barn Owl groups on their success. Their hard work is clearly paying off in the year on year increase in numbers of this beautiful bird.
If you would like to join these volunteers please take a look at the Join your local Barn Owl Group page.
Progress on the Halton BAP Habitat and Species Action Plans has just been released from Halton Borough Council. Click here to find out more how the local authority are conserving local wildlife.
Cheshire Mammal Group organised a training course on 22nd January 2005 at Risley Moss. The course covered a basic introduction to the ecology, biology and behaviour of the mammals in Cheshire and the identification of mammals in the field and field signs.
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