Mammal talk and eco-technology

Gareth will be giving a talk on "The Mammals of Rectory Park, Thornhill" after being invited back by the local friends group following a well received talk on amphibians and reptiles last year. The venue is the local church which is a great venue for speaking in, which is what it's designed for after all!

Speaking of mammals we came across this unfortunate weasel whilst working at Denby Delf for the Garganey Trust a couple of weeks ago..

No obvious signs of injury or predation - probably just a victim of the recent icy weather

Tomorrow we'll be heading down to the CIEEM East Midlands Section conference which is on the theme of "Technological Advances in Ecology and Environmental Management"; an opportunity to learn about some of the latest and most innovative methods and gadgets in ecological surveying. There are sessions on everything from eDNA testing for newts to infrared cameras for watching bats in the dark. There'll even be a demonstration of an aerial drone that can be used for habitat mapping (weather permitting!).

We like to think that we haven't been around that long, but even during the time we've been involved in the profession, ecological survey technology has come on leaps and bounds.  Remote bat detectors and trail cameras either didn't exist or were prohibitively expensive when we first started out. Now they're in regular use. Who knows what we'll be using to survey with in 10 years time?

Technological Advances in Ecology and Environmental Management - See more at: http://www.cieem.net/east-midlands-section-conference-and-agm-2015#sthash.JwzuPEHs.dpuf

Technological Advances in Ecology and Environmental Management - See more at: http://www.cieem.net/east-midlands-section-conference-and-agm-2015#sthash.JwzuPEHs.dpuf

PAWs for thought

Gareth will be attending a Woodland Trust event tomorrow about Ancient Woodland Restoration, with a particular focus on Plantation on Ancient Woodland sites (PAWs). The event is being held at Northern College with a site visit to Bagger Wood; a nearby woodland being managed by the Woodland Trust. It should be a good opportunity to learn more about work being done locally to restore woodlands and meet some like-minded folk.

We spent some time at the weekend with the wildlife of Lincolnshire culminating in an excellent showing of grey seals at Donna Nook - a military firing range and nature reserve which provides a massive nursery site for these magnificent mammals. Over 800 pups born so far this year, last years count was 1528! Well worth a visit before early December if you can fit it in.

Just one of this year's pups

It's September already!

As you can probably guess from the absence of recent posts; we've been absolutely flat out for the past few months!

Amongst many other things we've been doing some more hay cutting for Garganey Trust as well as undertaking lots of ecological surveys for bats, dormice, badgers and reptiles - travelling the length and breadth of the UK to do so!

One site we're working on has quite a healthy reptile population, particularly common lizard, which has given Gareth the opportunity to practice his reptile photography skills;

A female common lizard basking in the dappled afternoon sunshine - pity the shed felt she's sat on isn't a little more photogenic!

We were sad to read of the passing of Rob Strachan in the most recent edition of CIEEM's Inpractice. Gareth was lucky enough to have met Rob a couple of years ago during his "Understanding British Mammals" courses for the University of Aberystwith, just one of Rob's many contributions in furthering the study and conservation of British mammals. A genuinely nice guy and a true conservationist.

Have we got newts for you!

Freshly emerged from the 2014 great crested newt survey season we took some time recently to sit down and fill out our Natural England survey licence returns. In total we recorded 1027 great crested newts by bottle trapping or torchlight during our surveys this year. These were mostly in Cheshire (the GCN capital of the UK, if not Europe!), with a few in the midlands as well.

Spot the newt - This wheelie bin provides a perfect refuge for newts making their way to a nearby breeding pond!

In other news Gareth and several other local volunteers helped out Wakefield Tree Wardens yesterday at a Rhododendron removal event in Newmillerdam Country Park. The purpose of the control of this non-native species is two-fold; not only does this plant out-compete and suppress native woodland flora but it is known to host the fungal disease Phytopthora ramorum which has already had a significant impact on larch plantations in other parts of the country. Its removal now is therefore a pro-active measure to reduce the risk of the disease taking hold on this woodland site. 

The task was made much easier thanks to enthusiastic assistance of 5 Regiment of The Royal Artillery who came to help for the day, they made short work of what must have been several acres of Rhododendron.

Happy families

Just had this photo through from our favourite Chapel Allerton based funky gift shop; Chirpy!
 

We're very impressed with artistic skills of these Chirpy customers.

Why not pop along there and get your own hand crafted wooden figures to paint up? An ideal rainy day pass-time!

We'll be doing another workshop at Chirpy later in the summer with a "paint your own family" theme, so watch this space..........

In the meantime we're getting stuck into some great crested newt surveys (yes it's that time of year again!).

Here's a photo we took during a survey last week of a relatively small great crested newt along side an adult smooth newt (both male):

It's pretty difficult to get the two confused when you have them both side by side!