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On 12th February 2004, the Cheshire region Brown Hare Group held a workshop at Wirral Country Park, Thurstaston, to engage landowners and farmers in hare conservation across the region. Almost 30 individuals participated, including staff from the Wirral Ranger Service.
The event was the second in a series of landowners' seminars which have been organised by the Brown Hare Group as part of their work to implement the Brown Hare Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) in the Cheshire region. This plan forms part of the Countdown Programme for the conservation of rare and endangered species and habitats in the region.
In Cheshire, brown hare numbers declined between the 1950's and 1980's. By the 1990's the population had stabilised with localised increases. The main threats to hares in the region are poaching, intensive farming practices, development pressures and loss of diversity of habitats, e.g. removal of hedgerows.
The Brown
Hare LBAP for Cheshire was written in 1997 and has been reviewed annually
since. Its main objective is to reduce the fragmentation of brown hare populations
through habitat improvements and encouraging hare-friendly farming practices.
It also aims to reduce illegal poaching which is thought to be responsible for
a significant number of hare deaths in Cheshire each year.
The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral has its own Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
for brown hare which is included within the Countdown Programme. This can be
viewed at www.wirral.gov.uk/ed/biodiversity/hare.htm
Nationally, it is estimated that there are only 800,000 hares. The Government has produced a Brown Hare BAP with a target to double the spring population by 2010.
In 2000, a questionnaire survey of 3,500 farms and landholdings in the Cheshire region was carried out by the Cheshire region Brown Hare Group. The results, when analysed, showed a population density of 2.41 hares per sq km, equating to around 6,000 individuals.
In order to monitor changes in hare populations over time, landowners, farmers and the general public are being encouraged to take part in an annual spring survey using a methodology devised by the Cheshire region Brown Hare Group and based on the national survey method.
The landowners' seminars are part of this engagement process. The first such event was held at Byley Village Hall in October 2002. It is planned to hold another event in mid-Cheshire later this year.
The programme for the Wirral workshop included presentations by the Coordinator of the Cheshire region Brown Hare Group, Rick Rogers; an introduction to poaching issues by Andy McWilliam, Police Wildlife Officer with Merseyside Police; hare ecology, conservation and best practice by Rachael Lomas of the Rural Development Service and monitoring for brown hares by Dr Jac Potter of University College Chester.
After lunch, attendees took part in a practical site-based session to demonstrate the transect survey methodology developed for use in Cheshire. Using large photographs of hares mounted on MDF, delegates were shown how to estimate distances accurately, as required by the survey method.
During the survey, volunteer surveyors will be asked to walk a single, 1km transect line across farmland (with the landowner's permission), or along public footpaths. The survey should be conducted on one day between mid February and mid April during the first two hours after sunrise.
A survey record sheet is used to mark grid references or landmarks and to write down any sightings of hares. The width of transect is determined by how far the individual surveyor can see from the survey line. This line does not have to be straight but can meander depending on obstacles, such as, hedgerows, roads, streams etc. Every 100 metres the surveyor stops and scans around the transect line for hares.
Volunteers are being asked to walk the same transect line each year in order to collect comparative data. The data will be held at the local biological records centre, rECOrd and used solely for the purpose of hare conservation. People are being urged to send in all their survey results, even if they didn't see any hares. It is still useful data which can be used to calculate the distribution of hares in Cheshire and Wirral.
If you are a landowner, farmer or
interested member of the public and would like to get involved in the annual
brown hare survey in the Cheshire region, please contact the Countdown Biodiversity
Coordinator Fiona Mahon on
01270 610180.
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