William J Sutherland

Habitat management news

The European breeding population of Redshank, Tringa totanus, has declined markedly in recent years as a result of the loss of wetland breeding sites. An estimated 32,000-40,000 pairs breed in Great Britain, and with c. 50% of these found on coastal saltmarshes the habitat is nationally and internationally important for the species.

Habitat management news

In a recent article (Views 24:16), P K Jackson in collaboration with K Hearn, S Evans and National Trust volunteers showed how different grazing regimes applied over a long period can produce different chalk-grassland communities according to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC). Sites at the National Trust property of Fontwel and Melbury Downs (Wiltshire) were selected

Habitat management news

The Pennines Dales ESA was established to maintain traditional farm landscapes, especially upland hay meadows with their distinctive submontane Anthoxanthum odoratum – Geranium sylvaticum community, the closest approach in Britain to Apline and Scandinavian meadows. These meadows had been adversely affected by a switch from traditional hay cropping to silage production, involving applications of inorganic fertiliser and

Habitat management news

In the mid 1980s a Little Tern, Sterna albifrons, colony was established at Great Yarmouth, at North Denes beach. It has been wardened by the RSPB from May to July each year from 1986 to 1996, in a project part-funded by English Nature. It is Britain's largest Little Tern colony, and has been notified as a

Habitat management news

Both over – and under-grazing can leave heather moorland in poor condition. A problem faced by land managers is to judge the state of large areas of heather moorland without using costly and time consuming studies of heather dynamics. In National Trust News 24:63, David Bullock (NT Adviser on Nature Conservation) and colleagues describe a systematic and

Habitat management news

In most decades in the life of natural and semi-natural woodland, dead standing trees of a diameter that would support woodpecker nest cavities, and the subsequent inhabitants after the woodpeckers vacate, are random and infrequent commodities. Deadwood and its supporting organisms are essential and fundamental for a healthy woodland.

Habitat management news

Many of our rarest and most attractive insects utilise deadwood habitats during some stage of their lives (see BW 7:26-37 for a discussion and photos). Some of these species are threatened not only because there is a shortage of dead wood but because they have poor dispersal abilities and need a continuous supply in the same locality.

Habitat management news

Preventing deer from eating Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, regrowth is a serious and potentially expensive problem in conservation management. At Whitecross Green Wood, owned by BBONT, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists' Trust, several acres of thicket, predominantly Blackthorn, are being managed for Black Hairstreak, Satyrium pruni, butterflies.

Habitat management news

Roadside verges are increasingly important refuges for some elements of our native flora. Where the necessities of road safety are not overriding, managers may have the choice as to how and when a verge may be cut. Frequently we may not have the knowledge to advise wisely.

Habitat management news

There is considerable interest in attempting to restore heathland vegetation on lowland sites to reverse some of the extensive loss of this habitat. Pywell, Webb & Putwain tested a range of methods on an area of South Middlebere Heath, Dorset (Journal of Applied Ecology 32:400-411). This site was converted from heathland to farmland in the early

Habitat management news

It is almost 30 years since the latest epidemic of Dutch Elm Disease began to affect out native elm trees, Ulmus spp. In that time a majority of mature hedgerow trees have been killed by the disease. Although losses of woodland elms have been less, so that in some areas woodland may be the only habitat in

Habitat management news

Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, is increasingly being seen as a problem by conservationists as it is tending to dominate certain grasslands, especially road verges. Mowing is the usual response to invaders of grassland but many Cow Parsley-dominated areas are already routinely mown, so the suppression of this species clearly needs a more considered approach.

Habitat management news

Brown Beak-sedge, Rhynchospora fusca, is a nationally scarce plant in Britain, found on acidic mires and wet heaths. Its distribution is disjunct, with records from a cluster of sites in southern England, scattered sites in west Scotland and four sites in Wales. At two of the Welsh sites (Crymlyn Bog and Tregaron Bog) it is presumed

Habitat management news

Quarrying of limestone continues to have a major impact on conservation and landscape in many areas of Britain; in 1988 approximately 14,000 hectares were affected by limestone-quarrying. Abandoned quarries are slow to revegetate naturally and for modern large-scale quarries the time involved is unacceptable; as a result, there is increasing interest in their active restoration.

Habitat Management News

Liggers (the planks across dykes) are invaluable in allowing access for management but have the disadvantage that they afford access for anyone. The techniques usually adopted to discourage others from using the liggers are either to remove them when not in use, or to make them treacherous. Both have limitations.

Habitat management news

On the Isle of Wight, goats are being used as one of several management tools in creating and maintaining tools in creating and maintaining suitable breeding habitat for the Reddish Buff moth, Acosmetia caliginosa, under the auspices of English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. Areas of former heathland which have become invaded with Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, scrub are

Habitat Management News

The Marsh Fritillary butterfly, Eurodryas aurinia, has declined considerably in abundance over the last 150 years and Martin Warren has been examining why this is (Biological Conservation 1994, 67:239-249). Their traditional habitat has been damp acid grasslands, but during the last century they established numerous new colonies on calcareous grassland.

Habitat management news

As fish are poikilothermic (i.e. 'cold-blooded'), the onset of winter leads to a dramatic slowing of metabolic processes and feeding activity. To conserve body reserves, which will see them through the winter, fish typically seek refuge from the elements (e.g. currents, wind and wave action) in deeper, slower water or around the littoral margins where

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