Saving Armenia’s leopard wins £25,000 grant

The World Land Trust’s project, Saving Armenia’s Leopard- has won a grant of £25,000 from National Geographic Germany. In an online poll organised by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) during the second half of March 2014, more than 52,000 votes were cast for 17 conservation projects all vying for funding.

WLT’s conservation partner in Armenia, Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets (FPWC) will use the grant (approximately £25,000) to preserve habitat for the endangered caucasian leopard. 

This sub species of leopard is registered as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and has a total population of no more than 1,300. The caucasian leopard’s stronghold is in Iran, where it is known as the Persian Leopard, but in Armenia there may be as few as 15 individuals remaining.

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Important wildlife sites secured thanks to a two million pound grant

February 2014: A grant of £2.7 million has been awarded to The Great Heath Living Landscape project, one of the largest conservation projects in the UK.

The Great Heath is a historical name for the vast heath that used to stretch from Purbeck to the New Forest has been described by Natural England as one of the most important areas for wildlife in the country.

Running across across Poole, Bournemouth, Christchurch and East Dorset the project aims to link two outstanding areas of natural heritage – the New Forest National Park and the Wild Purbeck Nature Improvement Area and connecting dozens of wildlife sites across the area.

It is anticipated that the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will enable the purchase of nationally and internationally important habitats at Holes Bay and Lytchett Bay in Poole Harbour and heathlands at Parley Common, Ferndown Common, Dunyeats Hill and Upton Heath.


http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Living-Landscape-project-grant.html

UGA researchers get $1.3 million grant for loggerhead research – via Herp Digest

Nov 24, 2013 ATHENS, GA (WTOC) - Researchers at the University of Georgia have received a grant to continue genetically "fingerprinting" loggerhead sea turtles.

UGA says that the $1.3 million grant will allow researchers to continue their work with the threatened loggerhead sea turtles in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

The DNA fingerprinting of the turtles allows researchers to identify turtle mothers and their offspring. That helps the researchers to gauge how well the loggerheads are recovering after decades of population decline.

Researchers don't know how many loggerhead sea turtles are nesting in these three states. With research efforts of the Northern Recovery Unit Loggerhead DNA project, they can use genetic techniques to identify nesting females and come up with population numbers.

The project has been in place in Georgia since 2008. The latest grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration allows UGA researchers to continue the sampling effort for another three years.

The research also includes partners at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Loggerhead sea turtles were put on the endangered species list in the 1970s.

UGA says that during the 2013 nesting season, the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative counted a new record of nearly 2,300 loggerhead nests, up from a low of 358 in 2004.

Worcestershire Bechstein's bat research awarded grant

Research into colonies of rare bats in Worcestershire has been given a grant by a conservation charity.

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust has found populations of the Bechstein's bat in woodlands it manages.

The grant from the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) will allow them to study more about the colonies.

James Hitchcock from the trust said: "We'll be able to work out how to manage similar woods to help secure the future of Bechstein's in the county."

The trust has been working with volunteers from the Worcestershire Bat Group for the past two years on a national project, organised by the Bat Conservation Trust.

The award will help the trust study the population size, foraging range and roosting ecology of the bats at Grafton Wood.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-17429885