Rare wildlife discovered in biggest nature survey along Britain's coast

 Wildlife ‘firsts’ include Norfolk’s only sighting of a Balearic shearwater and a beetle not seen in Northern Ireland for more than 100 years

Jessica Aldred

Friday 11 March 2016 06.01 GMTLast modified on Friday 11 March 201606.05 GMT

The biggest survey to date of nature along Britain’s coastline has uncovered a host of “wildlife firsts”.

More than 3,400 species were recorded at 25 National Trust locations along the coastline of England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the charity’s largest ever wildlife survey. A handful have either been seen in a new habitat for the first time or “rediscovered” after going unseen for many years. 

Results included the first ever recorded sighting of the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) at Blakeney on the Norfolk coast. This bird is normally seen far out to sea off the coast of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and west Wales, but a sighting off the east coast is more unusual, rangers said.

At Freshwater West in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, a slow worm (Anguis fragilis), was found for the first time since 1966 and a rare forest cockchafer beetle (Melolontha hippocastani), was found in the dunes of White Park Bay, Co Antrim for the first time in Northern Ireland in more than a century.

Four thousand nature lovers and expert volunteers helped survey 25 National Trust coastal properties. Photograph: Zoe Frank/National Trust

Over six months last year, 4,000 people took part in “bio blitz” surveys, with the aim of recording as many species as possible over either 12 or 24 hours. 

Some 53 species “red listed” by the IUCNwere recorded, including the Dartford warbler, spotted on Brownsea Island in Dorset for only the second time since the 1980s. The surveys also recorded 95 of the UK’s most threatened species – among them water vole, found at Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast for only the second time in more than 40 years, and the red-shanked carder bee (Bombus ruderarius), seen at Birling Gap in East Sussex for the first time.

Dr David Bullock, the trust’s head of conservation, said the results would help provide the trust with a greater understanding of the species that live along Britain’s coastline.

Read on ...

Development plans on Wrexham industrial estate will protect rare wildlife in Wales

January 2014: A pioneering new way of working has helped developers of a prison in Wrexham, north Wales, and at the same time protect wildlife in the area.

The great-crested newt is one of the rare 

species that will benefit from the new 

development plans

Derelict industrial land at the former Firestone tyre factory on a Wrexham industrial estate was always earmarked for redevelopment but, in the meantime, it has also become a haven for certain types of rare wildlife since the land was cleared of contaminated material in the early 1990s.

As part of the plans to build the new prison, one third of the 108-acre site will be set aside as a haven for wildlife and for local people to enjoy. This 37 acres (15 hectares), is roughly the size of 20 football pitches.

Continued

Sundarbans wildlife under threat from Coal fired power plant

Last refuge of rare wildlife under threat

October 2013. Conservation organisations worldwide have expressed deep concern over plans to build a coal-powered power station (or perhaps two). 

The Sundarbans is one of the largest mangrove forest in the world covering 140,000 hectares of the the deltas of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers on the Bay of Bengal.

The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Royal Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

A memorandum jointly signed by the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India contained a plan to build a power generation plant on the edge of the Sunderbans in Rampal; The treaty proposes to establish two 660 megawatt unit power plants in Rampal. The proposed spot for the plant is only 7.5 miles away from the Sundarbans mangrove forest.

Rare bird endangered

The Sundarbans of Bangladesh holds one of the last populations of the Endangered Masked Finfoot and is considered as a safe stronghold of this highly threatened species. Conservationists are now concerned about the future of this bird in the Sundarbans, where a coal-based power plant has been given the green light to go ahead.

Continued

The dangers of working in conservation - And how vital it is to carry on in times of danger

The Sahara Conservation Fund continues its work across the Sahara despite the dangers

April 2013. Working in one of the world's harshest environments to save some of the world's rarest wildlife in the world's largest desert is a challenge at the best of times, and one that the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) has undertaken since its launch in 2004. Now however, with wars, uprisings and the influence of Al Qaeda spreading across much of the Sahara and bordering areas, the challenge for the SCF has added dimensions. 

Niger

When SCF first began its signature project in eastern Niger to establish the Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve and to protect some of the world's rarest species, like the addax, dama gazelle and desert cheetah, security was not an issue and one could work safely almost everywhere. 

After a spate of kidnappings in Niger and Mali, however, and then the war in Libya and its aftermath, armed military escorts were deemed a sensible precaution when travelling in the desert and carrying out regular wildlife research, protection and monitoring work. Unfortunately, since the war in Mali began earlier this year, security has further deteriorated and the vast desert area we work in is now strictly forbidden to westerners, with access severely regulated for national staff. 

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/scf-sahel.html

New prehistoric shrimp colonies found at Caerlaverock

Two new colonies of one of the UK's most ancient creatures have been discovered in south west Scotland.

The tadpole shrimps - which date back at least 220 million years - have been found at the Caerlaverock reserve in Dumfries and Galloway.

Researchers from Glasgow University said it was a "positive early result" from their exploratory project.

Scottish Natural Heritage described the discoveries as a "real boost for Scottish wildlife".

The creature had been thought to be extinct in Scotland until it was found at Caerlaverock on the Solway Firth in 2004.

Heavy rains in 2008 led to it being spotted again.

The discovery prompted the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Glasgow University and SNH to team up to investigate how widely the species was distributed.

Masters student Elaine Benzies discovered the two new colonies.

Having taken mud samples from pools in the area, she dried and then re-wetted them in small aquaria.

Ancient survivor

She was "absolutely amazed" to find the creature in one of the tanks within a couple of weeks.

She said: "I hadn't expected to find it and was just going in to check on the heat and lights.

"It was great to see everyone in the lab, including the cook from the canteen, gathering round and peering into the tank to look at this ancient survivor from the past."

The only other known UK population before the Caerlaverock discovery in 2004 was at the New Forest in England.

Prof Colin Adams of Glasgow University said: "It's encouraging to get such a positive early result from this exploratory project.

"We must now extend its scope to widen the area of search for this rare and charismatic freshwater animal."

Dr Colin Bean of SNH said it was "thrilling" to find such a stronghold for the creature.

"Clearly there is more work to do if we are to discover how widely it is distributed, but these new findings are a real boost for Scottish wildlife - especially in this, the International Year of Biodiversity," he said.

Fossilised remains prove tadpole shrimps were around 220 million years ago in the Triassic period - pre-dating the dinosaurs.

Experts say they do not appear to have changed in appearance since that time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-10801707

Solenodon hunt: On the trail of a 'living fossil'

The solenodon is one of just a handful of venomous mammals

Sunday, 30 May 2010
By Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News, Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic

It is swelteringly hot and unbearably humid as we set off on our journey deep into the heart of the Dominican Republic's tropical forests.

And as we drive along the bone-joltingly bumpy track, crammed into a truck loaded with enough supplies for our week in the wilderness, the excitement amongst the researchers grows.

We are on our way to see if we can track down one of the most strange and ancient mammals in the world - the Hispaniolan solenodon.

But finding one will not be easy: naturalists once thought that you would be more likely to see a ghost than this elusive creature. And, indeed, few have ever come face-to-face with one.

The nocturnal solenodon, which is only found in the Dominican Republic and in one of the last forested patches of Haiti, is often described as a "living fossil", thanks to the fact that it has been around, virtually unchanged, for the past 76 million years.

Remarkably, this means it would have once scuttled amongst the giant feet of the dinosaurs, in the days when they roamed the Earth.

And it is an odd-looking animal.

It is the size of a rabbit, with a ginger-brown coat. It has disproportionately large, clawed feet, beady little eyes and a very long, thin nose.

But perhaps its most bizarre - and prehistoric - feature is that it is the only mammal that can inject venom through its teeth, the same way a snake does.

The poison, while not deadly to humans, is the perfect tool for the insectivore, allowing it to dine on bugs as it moves around the forest at night.

Last survivors

But this unique creature is now under threat.

The Dominican Republic and Haiti, which together make up the island of Hispaniola, used to have a diverse mix of monkeys, shrews, sloths and rodents, but these have died out one by one.

This has left the solenodon and a tree-dwelling rodent called the hutia as the only native mammals that remain.

Now, researchers from the UK and the Dominican Republic, with the help of a grant from the UK government's Darwin Initiative, have embarked on a project called The Last Survivors, which they say could be our last chance to save the solenodon and hutia before they vanish from the forests forever.

The programme involves the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Hispaniolan Ornithological Society (SOH) and the Dominican Republic's national zoo and environment ministry.

Dr Richard Young, head of conservation science at Durrell, explains: "The problem is that we really don't know anything about these animals - we don't know where they are, how many there are and how this relates to their habitats.

"And before you can start to conserve them, you need to answer some really basic questions."

But, given the suggestion that a supernatural sighting might be more likely than snatching a glance of a solenodon, finding these creatures to uncover the answers is not going to be easy.

And in fact, says Jorge Brocca, SOH's director, few people in the Dominican Republic have ever seen one, and many have never heard of them.

He explains: "We've been showing local people photographs, and most of them do not know what these animals are."

We head for the Sierra de Bahoruco, a mountain range in the south-west of the Dominican Republic, which straddles the border with Haiti. At its highest point it reaches an elevation of 2,200m (7,200ft).

As we negotiate the steep incline, we see a spectacular range of habitats - from dry, cactus-studded forests in the lowlands, up to vibrant, cloud forests dotted with giant trees, ferns and mosses, and finally, at the peak, a pine forest, that looks something like a tropical version of Scandinavia.

Here, the team is surveying patches of forest for solenodons - the start of an attempt to get a comprehensive grasp of the mammal's spread across the country.

Much of this work takes place during the day, while the animals are sound asleep in their burrows.

As we trek ever deeper into the forest, Durrell's Joe Nunez-Mino, who is working in the field with the SOH's Pedro Martinez and local research assistants Nicolas Corona and Lleyo Espinal, tells me that trying to find them feels a bit like being a detective.

The first clue, he says, is the "nose poke" - he points to one as we tramp through the dense vegetation.

He explains: "These are holes that the creatures make in the ground as they use their long noses to probe the earth as they look for insects."

Nearby, we find what might be the entrance of a burrow.

He bends down and takes a deep sniff inside the cave.

Solenodons, he says, have a really musty smell, a bit like a goat. And sure enough, a pungent odour seeps out of the cave - an exciting sign that one might be in there.
Long wait

But until night falls, the solenodon will remain asleep in its subterranean den, and there is little more we can do here.

So we return to our wooden cabin, set in a small clearing, and feast upon our campfire-cooked meal, waiting for darkness to descend over the forest.

For the ZSL's Dr Sam Turvey, who works on the Edge of Existence Programme, the prospect of spotting a solenodon is thrilling.

"I cannot tell you how excited I am about seeing one. Being in the middle of the forest, in the middle of nowhere, in the night, is going to be amazing," he says.

"It's going to be one of those life-defining moments to see one in the wild."

We know our chances of finding one might be slim, but with good weather, the expert skills of our local research assistants and a huge pinch of luck, we grow ever more hopeful that we might soon become some of the fortunate few to have come face-to-face with this elusive forest "ghost".

See video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10146397.stm

Scientists go on 'mammal hunt'

Scientists from Chester Zoo are looking for rare wildlife in a Cheshire park as part of a two-day mammal hunt.


Naturalists from the zoo and Cheshire Mammal Group are undertaking the survey in 100-acres around Nunsmere Hall Hotel at Oakmere, near Northwich.

Experts believe the mere is one of the last oases of the Mersey Forest and hope it provides habitat for a wide diversity of animals.

It is hoped they will find signs of water voles, stoats and polecats.

Polecats were once hunted because they preyed on game but now their numbers are increasing, experts said.

They are more usually found in north Wales.

Sarah Bird, Chester Zoo's biodiversity officer, said: "Apart from the mammals the naturalist in the group will also be taking a look at the general wildlife including plants, insects and birds.

"There may be lots of interesting wildlife we will certainly be looking out anything exciting and unusual."

Ms Bird and her team are involved in a wide range of local wildlife conservation projects, including work with dormice, and a project in Denbighshire studying the colony of 160 rare lesser horseshoe bats.

Humane small mammal traps will be placed in the grounds at night and checked each morning and evening during two days. Once the animals have been logged they will be released back into their natural environment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8657095.stm