The Breeding Birds of The Avon Region 2008 Report

Members of the Avon Branch of the Bristish Trust for Ornithology,Bristol Naturalists Society and the British Ornithological Club have published their breeding birds report for 2008. The 120 suveyors spent over 480 hours checking out breeding birds. Four new species were recorded breeding in the Avon area including Mediterranean Gull,Black Tern, Short-eared Owl and Ring Ouzel .Worringly common birds including Starlings and Green finches continue to decline but Little Egrets, Hobby and Peregrine continue to to well.See below, 1200 pairs of sky larks were recorded.Skylark For more info contact authors John Tully or Richard Bland of the Avon BTO.


Silver Street Nature Reserve

LNR website launched

A new website has been launched which gives details on Local Nature Reserves (LNRs) throughout Bath & North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire Council, Bristol and North Somerset.

There are many different sites to visit ranging from a 100 hectare farm to a tiny reserve atop an old railway viaduct. The website also features a forum which can be used by community groups involved with LNRs to advertise events, trade good practice and other general networking.

Find out more about WILDthings and Local Nature Reserves

Tracking field boundaries

Mendip Hills AONB Field Maps

A set of three attractive full colour A3 maps are available, illustrating the field boundaries, wild life and management ideas for the parishes of Bath & North East Somerset Council which are situated in the Mendip Hills AONB. The information for these maps has been collected by field boundaries volunteers and interpreted by the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre.

The project was supported by the Mendip Hills Sustainability Fund. Sets of these Parish Maps are available for a price of �10. Please contact Jane Briggs, Community Landscape Projects Officer, 01225 477579.

UK BAP List Amended

The list of priority habitats and species for the UK Biodiversity Action Plan has recently been nationally reviewed and updated. The original list of 10 years ago contained 577 species and 49 habitats. The new list identifies 1149 species and 65 habitats, and is currently out for consultation. The increase in number has been attributed to recent advances in our understanding, a greater thoroughness in the review and a number of new declines and threats. 123 of the original 577 species have been removed from the list.

Following adoption of the new list it will form the basis for BAP work across the UK. Locally this is most likely to be first seen in moving towards prioritising orchards (one of the new priority habitats) in biodiversity work. View the report together with the updated list of species and habitats

Hawk and Owl Trust launch new web site. Find your nearest group and check out this web site to see their events and lectures. www.hawkandowl.org

More news on The White Clawed Crayfish

White Clawed Crayfish are a key species in the Bath & North East Somerset Council Distict and the Wildthings Partnership have have their very own Biodiversity Action Plan. White Clawed Crayfish are native to clean ,clear, stoney water courses and older residents may remember finding them as children when they played in streams. However they are no longer commonly found.

Introduced Signal Crayfish and other non native crayfish which have escaped from fish farms where they were reared for the catering trade are a serious threat to the smaller native species. The non native crayfish compete for food and territory but more importantly carry a disease "crayfish plague" which is lethal to the White Clawed Crayfish.
The good news is that a small population has been found in the district but unfortunately Signal Crayfish have been found in the same water catchment.In an effort to save our native form from certain death, it is proposed to catch the remaining native population and move them to a refuge, in this case a water course safe from any alien species. It is hoped that they will settle and breed and may perhaps be reintroduced back into local streams in the future if the non native crayfish species can be eradicated.
Focus on ...

Gardens

Is your garden good for amphibians, snakes, and lizards.?
These groups of animals need all the friends that they can get if they are to survive the perils and challenges of modern life. Gardens can be safe refuges for these animals and can be made even better with a little fine tuning of your gardening practice.
Make room for a compost heap. This will allow you to turn garden waste into rich compost as well as providing warm breeding grounds for slow worms and grass snakes. These animals will help you control slugs and snails organically.

Piles of woody waste from shrub pruning in a quiet corner are excellent cover for newts, toads and lizards in the summer and will eventually rot down into manageable compost, which can be used for your roses.

Piles of stones and rocks and dry stone walls will encourage amphibians and reptiles such as toads, newts, slow worms and frogs to over winter and in the summer linger to eat garden pests which could attack seedlings and vegetables.

If you are lucky your pond could be visited by grass snakes, attractive brown snakes with a yellow collar. Grass snakes are harmless to pets and people but will hunt garden pests and small pond creatures. Toads, frogs and newts may well breed in a garden ponds provided they do not contain goldfish which will predate them.