Devon heathland saved for native wildlife

Clayhidon Turbary nature reserve that sits in the heart of the Blackdown Hills in East Devon is being nursed back to health thanks to the work of a leading local wildlife charity.

This area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers 34 acres and is made up of heathland, marshy areas and wet woodland – a series of landscape types that were once common but which have disappeared from much of the English countryside in recent decades.

Clayhidon Turbary was once used by local people who grazed their cattle there and who also cut peat from the site to use as fuel to heat their homes.

However, in recent years these uses have declined and the heathland has begun to lose its special character with scrub and young woodland colonising its once open areas.

If this situation had been allowed to continue then the area’s special character and wildlife would soon have been lost.

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Online backlash as farm shop sells shark meat from 'vulnerable' animal

An impassioned debate has broken out after the owner of a well known East Devon farm shop decided to sell-off a rare shark which has been identified as being at risk of extinction.

Mat Carter of Greendale Farm Shop at Farringdon near Exeter, has made a remorseful defence of his decision to sell the 250kg, 15ft Thresher Shark after it was landed at Brixham Fish Market as “bycatch” and has apologised for causing offence.

The Common Thresher Shark is registered as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List and noted as a declining species.

The classification falls under the “threatened” banner.

Read more: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Online-backlash-farm-shop-sells-shark-meat/story-19933008-detail/story.html#ixzz2hpvRwnUt

Happy ending for Boris the cat

A mystery moggy who turned up in East Devon – 200 miles away from his Essex home – is finally enjoying the goodlife again with a new owner.

Experts were baffled as to how Boris managed to find his way from his house in Basildon to Upottery.

He weighed just two-and-a-half kilos when he was found, in July, and was covered in fleas. He also had to have 30 ticks remove.

Honiton branch of the Cats Protection League Boris in and during treatment, at the vets, a microchip was discovered showing where he had originally been registered.

But attempts to contact his owners failed as they had moved home, leaving no forwarding address.

Then just as rescuers thought they had found someone to take Boris in he was diagnosed with a heart condition which the new owner felt unable to cope with.

After reading about his on-going troubles Musbury resident Christine Pearce, finally came to the rescue and has given the loving cat a permanent home.

Continued:  http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/happy_ending_for_boris_the_cat_1_1660508

Lost ladybird found in Devon

The 13-spot ladybird, long thought to be extinct in Britain, has turned up in a sleepy corner of the south-west.

Always considered rare, the insect Hippodamia 13-punctata was thought to have died out from the British Isles around 1952.

There have been occasional sightings since, but they've tended to be written off as strays that have managed to cross the channel. But now the discovery of a young ladybird, coming after several more sightings of adults over the least decade, proves there's a breeding population deep in the West Country.

13-spot ladybird larva.

Richard Comont, a PhD student at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and part of the UK Ladybird Survey, made the find while taking part in a recent BioBlitz on the Axe Estuary Wetlands. The insect was still in its immature larval form, so it couldn't have hatched far away.

'As soon as I saw the larva I was fairly sure it was a 13-spot - it's something I've dreamt of finding,' he says. 'It's such a significant discovery that I took it back to rear to adulthood to make absolutely sure, and when it finally hatched into an adult I could confirm it as the first native 13-spot for 60 years.'
The 13-spot ladybird, which can have anything between 7 and 15 spots, is slimmer than its better-known 7-spot cousin. It's longer and slimmer than its famous relation, with more of a teardrop shape than a rounded one.

'How exciting to rediscover this ladybird breeding in Devon after being declared extinct in the 1950s - it makes you wonder what else is out there waiting to be rediscovered,' comments Andrew Whitehouse, a conservation officer for Buglife in south-west England. 'Many of Britain's invertebrate populations are declining at a drastic rate, so it is great to have some good news.'

'With the experts we had on the day I knew that we would find loads of really interesting and unusual creatures, but never for a second did I think we'd make a discovery of this magnitude,' adds James Chubb, an education ranger for East Devon County Council.

A BioBlitz is an event at which members of the public try to find as many species as possible in a small area of land, under the guidance of experts. These events have turned up some rare and unexpected creatures in the past, but few as much so as this 'extinct' insect. This one was organised by East Devon District Council to showcase the variety of wildlife found in the Axe Estuary Woodlands.

Return for damselfly in distress

An endangered insect has been reintroduced to a nature reserve in Devon in a bid to secure its future.

The number of southern damselfly (Coenagrion mercuriale) in the UK has fallen by about 30% since 1960, and it is now considered globally threatened.
The iridescent-blue insect breeds in heathland streams and has been hit by pollution and drainage of waterways.

Now Devon Wildlife Trust has released about 500 damselflies at Venn Ottery Nature Reserve in east Devon.

The project, funded by the British Dragonfly Society, was the brainchild of David Thompson, professor of conservation biology at Liverpool University's school of biological sciences.

"Southern damselflies are a very localised species and find it difficult to disperse to other sites, so reintroductions of this kind are essential to help secure the future of the species," he said.
Butterfly rearing cages were used to transfer the insects from a site in Dorset.
They were released into a 400m (1,312ft) stretch of watercourse at Venn Ottery, where they have not been seen for more than 20 years.

Work was carried out at the site ahead of the reintroduction to make it fit for the insects, including introducing grazing, reducing scrub levels and installing small dams to slow the movement of water through the reserve.

Devon Wildlife Trust's reserves officer Ian Chadwick said more than 95% of the southern damselfly's two-year life cycle was spent as larvae in submerged stream vegetation.

"A permanent supply of unpolluted, slow-moving running water is essential for their survival," he said.

"This work has enabled us to create the right conditions for the reintroduction and we are confident that it will succeed."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8119924.stm