Raptors of Delight

Sparrowhawk recently spotted at Coombe Hill Nature Reserve by Zsuzsanna Bird

Being an ecologist can result in one taking an opinion that is diametrically opposed to that of simple logic. A classic example is that of the bird of prey populations that have made a spectacular recovery over the past 30 years. Surely more raptors must mean less songbirds? Not according to my understanding!

Studies of predator-prey dynamics have shown that there are often two characteristics of population curves; predator numbers are determined by the abundance of food and they reach a peak later than the prey species. In other words the more that there is to eat the more predators there may be! The total amount of prey in an area will be an important factor in determining the number of predators, but there is a time delay.

The British Trust for Ornithology has presented some important new information that contributes understanding to this model in its BTO News May-June 2010. In a piece entitled Are Predators to Blame? Stuart Newson and Stephen Baillie summarise their research that is published in full in the Journal of Applied Ecology 47.

‘In summary, for the majority of the songbird species examined, there was little evidence that increases in common avian predators and grey squirrels were associated with large-scale depression of prey abundance or population declines. For the majority of declining songbird species with unfavourable conservation status, population declines appear to be due to factors other than predation’.

In Gloucestershire, the numbers of many of our birds of prey have increased dramatically since I have lived in the county. Whilst it is true that species like the house sparrow, yellow hammer, nightingale, turtle dove and many others have achieved the undesirable red or amber status (in trouble), it would seem that the causes are often more complex than their immediate natural enemies. Habitat loss in the UK and overseas for migrant species, combined with disease and climate change may play a far more important role in determining population size.

So don’t worry about your local sparrowhawk, buzzard or kestrel, just marvel at their aerial grace and their subtle role in local ecology.

Welcoming New Supporters

Standing in a wonderful piece of flower rich limestone grassland, I could have been anywhere in Cotswolds rather than only three miles from Stroud. The valleys and coombs around Chalford are a precious hidden landscape which only the curious or those lost because of a confused SatNav are likely to experience. The effort that Margaret and I had put in (SatNav notwithstanding) was well worth it. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trusts’s nature reserves at Strawberry Banks and Three Groves Wood are absolute gems.

Strawberry Banks, which is managed in cooperation with the very committed owners, the Shorts, was the most fascinating on the night as dozens of common blue butterflies were flitting around our feet. This is not any exaggeration; I counted 12 butterflies within a few feet of me, remarkable!

I was actually working, although it was more pleasure than pain. The Trust has started to hold meetings with its newer members to help them to learn more about our work and to enjoy the wonderful nature reserves that their subscriptions support. Last week, through the hard work of Membership Development Manager, Alice and her team, over 50 members were greeted and shown around by a bunch of our hard working staff.

Two walking groups set off down through Far Oakridge towards the reserves. Each group had an expert guide; Jeremy Doe or Pete Bradshaw. I was in Pete’s group and I learned a lot, nature reserve management is more sophisticated than it used to be! After our 90 minute ramble we reassembled at the Butcher’s Arms for excellent refreshment and a short talk. All very pleasant.

The Trust has over 24500 members, making it one of the largest in the country. It is its members that have shaped and supported its strategies and actions over the last five decades. Last night it was clear why the Trust is still so well supported; effective local action for local wildlife by a local organisation. David Cameron could learn a lot from the Wildlife Trusts!

Back to blogging... and badgers

My blog rate has been very low since the election. Politics affects charities quite significantly and I found myself becoming ultra careful over my choice of subject matter. Whilst I write as me, my words could be associated with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust policy.

Charities are not allowed to campaign politically and I could not risk the Trust being damaged by association with my opinons. 16 charities have found themselves subject to investigation because of accusations of political bias.

Bovine TB became a political issue during the election because the two parties that now form the government chose to take a significantly different line over badger culling than the Labour party.

My view remains that the culling of badgers is not a means of controlling and reducing Bovine TB in cattle. Culling is difficult, expensive and scientifically unproven. Even in culling trial areas where it has been shown to have a transient local impact (and no overall benefit); its effect has been merely to slow the rate of increase in cattle infection. This is not a solution to a chronic problem.

The vaccine for badgers is at the stage of field trials and I am told that there is very encouraging news about its effectiveness. However, even at best, vaccine is only part of disease control which needs a necessary mix of cattle testing, biosecurity measures and transport restrictions. A vaccine for cattle is not likely to be ready for testing until 2015.

I very much hope that government decisions about bovine TB are sensible and balanced. It would be bad for all concerned if hasty action led to greater cost, confusion of policy and muddled outcomes.

Walking 4 Wildlife

Pete Bradshaw, Mike Dilger, and me.

Working for wildlife brings me into contact with many special people; staff, volunteers and the general public. I have had the pleasure of meeting some famous conservation personalities and of doing silly things for the press (standing in a London pond with Michael Palin comes to mind). The Trust’s Walk 4 Wildlife, held in the lovely Sapperton Valley on Sunday, managed to combine most of the above.

Over 400 Trust supporters and 40 dogs gathered in The Daneway Inn garden to register for the 5 mile amble through some of the loveliest countryside in the England. This is not an exaggeration and the reaction of most walkers, many of whom had never seen the five nature reserves on show (Daneway Banks, Siccaridge Wood, Strawberry Banks, Three Groves Wood and Sapperton Canal) was of pure pleasure.

TV personality Mike Dilger, The One Show presenter and an all-round nice guy, added an extra layer of fun to the event. Mike is a very knowledgeable and passionate naturalist who bubbled with fun and enthusiasm for the four very generous hours that he spent with us.

Mike managed to discuss ancient woodland indicators, his new-found love of beetles and the rigours of TV filming schedules without flagging. He is a genuinely interested person and everyone who met him came away with their own version of his warm smile.

Jan Ryder and Pete Bradshaw were the two Trust staff who had spent the most time on planning and organising the event. However, another 15 staff and Trustees contributed to the smooth running of the day. Much fun, information and love of the natural world was shared on this inaugural Walk for Wildlife. I had a great time and saw my first dipper of the year (thanks to Mike’s keen eyesight). Richard Goodfellow of The Daneway Inn was also kept busy. Our hungry walkers made a significant dent in his larder and I believed his claim that he had never cooked so many chips in one day!

…. and no, I did not ask anything about Christine Blakeley!

Train spotting

I have lost my youthful enthusiasm for exotic travel and fabulous wildlife. The more I see of the British Isles, the more captivated I become. Why spend hours stuck on airport floors waiting for volcano-proof planes when there is so much to see here?

For once, I decided that I would not spend my train journey to London poring over papers and this laptop, but to watch the natural world instead. My laziness was rewarded by a terrific view of a large (probably dog) Red Fox sitting at the side of the track on the outskirts of Swindon station. Taking this as a challenge, I decided what else the London up line would provide.

Following the colour theme, my next mammal was the first of two Brown Hares that I saw lolloping through young wheat crops. The Mad March phase seemed to have given way to a leisurely amble. I failed to see any Roe Deer, possibly because bad habits broke through, and I tried and failed to speak to several colleagues by mobile phone instead of watching properly. However, at the edge of Didcot station a lovely Muntjac was enjoying a feast of trackside vegetation.

The Didcot to Reading stretch is becoming a great Red Kite zone and I saw four birds, one only feet above the railway bank, on this stretch. The Red Kite reintroduction programme has been a great success and the Chiltern colony is growing stronger every year.

The Thames beyond Maidenhead revealed two glorious Mute Swans that looked to me as if they were an ornithological item. Without straying into the dubious realms occupied by some political parties, these lovely native birds had a bigger wow factor than the raft of Canada Geese that were drifting along the Thames a few hundred yards downstream.

The irony of my morning wildlife "wows" is of course that I have spent the journey back from London typing sundry blogs about badgers, kite and muntjac! Not much to grumble about really, more a special privilege. But that is the joy of working for wildlife every day, especially in a county as beautiful as Gloucestershire.

In Memory of Nature

Ketford Banks by Peter WakleyNatural England

Over the past weeks I have found myself celebrating the achievements of four people who, in different ways, have made an impact on nature conservation. Each of them has left a different legacy that will benefit us all in subtle ways.

The most public ceremony was the memorial service for Lady Scott held at Berkeley Church. A congregation of conservation figures and modest volunteers remembered Phillipa’s enormous contributions to the Wildlfowl and Wetlands Trust and many other bodies. Lady Scott was a warm, vibrant and engaging ambassador for the natural world. Her late husband, Sir Peter Scott could not have had a better soul mate to continue his pioneering work. Phillipa was the Patron of Gloucestershire WIldife Trust and will be missed.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust’s latest nature reserve became a place of commemoration for two ardent naturalists, Sonia Holland and John Hughes. Sonia had purchased the Ketford daffodil bank to safeguard its future. John Hughes was the first Farming with Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) advisor and he used to visit sites with Sonia. They both loved Ketford and it was doubly fitting that FWAG had passed the site to the Trust for its future safekeeping. Both Sonia and John were ardent members of the Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society. All three organisations were present at the official opening. Ketford will act as a public reminded that people like John and Sonia have made a lasting impression on the farmed landscape of Glocuestershire.

Margaret and I travelled straight from Ketford to the beautiful village of Duntisbourne Abbots to attend a ceremony celebrating the life of Bill Darling. Bill was a modest man who had also dedicated his life to promoting wildlife and farming. He had won the top FWAG award for his farm in Hertfordshire before retiring. In Gloucestershire, Bill was Secretary and Treasurer of the local Royal Forestry Society branch and a dedicated Friend of Westonbirt. Bill was also Chairman of Gloucesterhire Wildlife Trust’s Daneway Banks Nature Reserve Management Committee.

These four people, whom I had the pleasure to know, work with and learn from, represent the essence of wildlife conservation. Each person was pragmatic, knowledgeable, hugely enthusiastic and very modest. Their legacy has been a nature that is richer and more enjoyable as a result of their dedication.

The natural world is all around us, and we can all make a lasting impact in our own way. Legacies for nature are long lasting and give value beyond any financial figure that could be placed on them.

A Long Road

The elusive prize for both farmers and badger lovers is the prevention of bovine TB (bTB) in cattle and badgers. The current policy of improved bTB cattle testing, tighter cattle movement regulation, on farm bio-security (separating badgers and cattle) and some farmer compensation for infected cattle is showing results. However, the development of a vaccine for badgers and cattle would make a real and lasting difference.

That prospect is beginning to become real with the Badger Vaccine Deployment Programme that DEFRA is commencing this year. Two study areas in Gloucestershire will see the first field trials of an injected vaccine for badgers. Subsequently, another four areas will be receiving badger vaccines. A skilled group of badger innoculators will be trained during the trials.

Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust has been involved with the testing phase of the badger vaccine by permitting its usage on badgers within one of its nature reserves. The Trust is now registered as part of the vaccine trials and will actively support the vaccination of badgers on selected nature reserves. Full details of this programme are still becoming available (more information on this subject is available here) but the eventual outcome should be badger social groups that have significant immunity to bTB following five consecutive years of vaccination. The fully developed vaccine will not be cheap, for farmers or wildlife conservation groups, but the results should be worthy of the outlay.

Eventually the badger vaccine may become available as an oral treatment; badgers find peanuts an irresistible treat! The development of an injectable vaccine for cattle will take longer but the first trials might be possible by 2016. This is a very big prize at the end of a long and difficult path; not quite the yellow brick road, but equally mysterious.

Badger by Wildstock