British Butterflies

If you missed the one hour programme on British butterflies on BBC 2 on Thursday, " Butterflies: A Very British Obsession"  your really should have a look at BBC  I Player using this link, click here:
You've got 6 days left to view it.
Amazing photography and information about many of our favourite butterflies plus interesting stuff about people involved in butterfly conservation.
Controversial reporting about reintroduction of rare species by breeding off site for instance.  But also an account of how important it is to manage habitats to ensure their survival. Somerset Wildlife Trust is very proud of its reintroduction work for the Large Blue.
My only slightly negative comment on the  programme was  however that  I did find the background music a bit intrusive at times.
As a humble offering I'm including a photo of my own showing a pair of Small Coppers enjoying the sunshine in the grass, and a Large Blue  from the Somerset Wildlife Trust library.

Here's a brief extract from the programme notes.

"Wildlife documentary featuring the fascinating lives of Britain's beautiful butterflies filmed in exquisite detail and also a celebration of their enduring appeal to the British people. Butterfly-costumed carnival-goers dance at Notting Hill, street artist Nick Walker uses their image to brighten bare city walls, burlesque dancer Vicky Butterfly recreates butterfly dances and at Britain's biggest tattoo convention women reveal their butterfly tattoos.
Britain's butterflies have never been so threatened, three quarters are in decline. A search for butterflies leads to some of the most beautiful parts of Britain. It opens up the intriguing possibility that a passion for butterflies could help us preserve the landscapes that we love.

Two more links on the subject of moths and butterflies in Somerset.
http://www.somerset-butterflies.org.uk/

http://www.somersetmothgroup.org.uk/portal

Traditional Orchards

Been looking back at our our local involvement with orchards.

 To highlight their Biodiversity importance we held a public meeting earlier in the year and more recently got involved in supporting a one day workshop to talk about and give practical help in the care and preservation of orchards. Photos show talks in the morning, walk in the orchard pm and an unusual apple,   red  like a tomato!
This morning I have written a letter of support for a County Project for the conservation and development of our traditional orchards. As the photos show there is a lot of interest in this subject and a lot to learn as well.

Climate change.

This seems a good step in the right direction. I'm sure all the NGO's involved will take it as a big opportunity to press hard for all governments to start to take action. How will the UK respond now?

Here is part of the official press release from the UN conference.

PRESS RELEASE
UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún delivers balanced package of decisions, restores faith in multilateral process

(Cancún, 11 December 2010) – The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancún, Mexico, ended on Saturday with the adoption of a balanced package of decisions that set all governments more firmly on the path towards a low-emissions future and support enhanced action on climate change in the developing world.
The package, dubbed the “Cancún Agreements” was welcomed to repeated loud and prolonged applause and acclaim by Parties in the final plenary.
“Cancún has done its job. The beacon of hope has been reignited and faith in the multilateral climate change process to deliver results has been restored,” said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres. “Nations have shown they can work together under a common roof, to reach consensus on a common cause. They have shown that consensus in a transparent and inclusive process can create opportunity for all,” she said.
“Governments have given a clear signal that they are headed towards a low-emissions future together, they have agreed to be accountable to each other for the actions they take to get there, and they have set it out in a way which encourages countries to be more ambitious over time,” she said.
Nations launched a set of initiatives and institutions to protect the poor and the vulnerable from climate change and to deploy the money and technology that developing countries need to plan and build their own sustainable futures. And they agreed to launch concrete action to preserve forests in developing nations, which will increase going forward.
They also agreed that countries need to work to stay below a two degree temperature rise and they set a clear timetable for review, to ensure that global action is adequate to meet the emerging reality of climate change.
“This is not the end, but it is a new beginning. It is not what is ultimately required but it is the essential foundation on which to build greater, collective ambition,” said Ms. Figueres.

Richard Black on his BBC Blog gives his own view. Click here to read Blog.

Cancun: The chihuahua that roared

Richard Black | 11:29 UK time, Saturday, 11 December 2010

Comments (34)

 From the UN climate summit in Cancun, Mexico:

If Copenhagen was the Great Dane that whimpered, Cancun has been the chihuahua that roared.
And what a surprise it was.

Progress report on Cancun

The pace seems to be hotting up a bit in Cancun and Richard Black has reported on current activities.
Click here to see his Blog:

The future is not looking good if these talks fail to achieve positive results. The form of the talks is interesting as a process and the results may give hope for the future of world agreement's.

Here are some of the points Richard  covers in his Blog.:

From the UN Conference in Cancun, Mexico.

Richard Black report.    See the full report: 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/


Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, president of the UN Climate summit conference, has asked 10 ministers working in five pairs with developing country paired with rich world counterpart, to find compromise solutions to the most difficult problem areas and they have just three days to save the planet.

Sweden and Grenada are trying to find a description of what countries want this process to achieve. Currently there are at least three distinguishable visions.

Spain and Algeria are discussing adaptation.

Australia and Bangladesh are looking at finance, technology and capacity building. Areas which really deal with how rich countries help poorer ones to deal with climate change.

New Zealand and Indonesia have to debate the big issues concerning the developing countries, the US, and the long-term goals.

Finally the UK and Brazil are just left with the future of the Kyoto Agreement.
Mr Huhne and Ms Teixiera have so far talked to Japan, the G77 group of developing countries, Australia, the African group.

CBC News - Edmonton - Ad mocks Alta. oilsands at UN climate meeting

Just been checking to see what is going on in Cancun. It seems all 15,000 officials have been working hard over the week end to try to get some agreements over the last week of the conference. Here are a couple of reports in the world press.


CBC News - Edmonton - Ad mocks Alta. oil sands at UN climate meeting

An ad in a Mexican daily newspaper on Monday mocks Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner’s attendance at the United Nations conference on climate change.
A Canadian environmental group designed and paid for the ad, which features a grinning Renner wearing a sombrero. Under the photo, a fake oil association thanks the minister for keeping oil flowing from the oil sands.
Renner is in Cancun to defend the oil sands at the International Climate Conference and to talk with other countries about carbon capture and storage.
The ad appeared in Novedades de Quintana Roo, a Cancun newspaper.
“The mood going into Cancun, expectations were fairly low," said Gillian McEachern, a spokeswoman for the group Environmental Defence. "People were disappointed coming out of Copenhagen. We're trying to use a little bit of humour to lighten the mood but draw attention to a serious issue.
“It is just trying to be a bit tongue in cheek and lighten it up a bit, but coming back to the fact that this is actually a quite serious issue and we need governments in Canada to start taking it seriously and acting."
The Cancun conference is heading into its final days. About 15,000 officials are taking part.


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/12/06/edmonton-cancun-renner.html#ixzz17NOEjiIW

By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Arthur Max, Associated Press – 20 mins ago

CANCUN, Mexico – U.N. climate talks moved into their decisive week Monday with the agenda dominated by future cuts in carbon emissions and keeping countries honest about their actions to control global warming.
Government ministers arrived in force to begin applying political muscle to negotiations that in the past week have narrowed some disputes, but which are likely to leave the toughest decisions for the final hours of the 193-nation conference on Friday.
Delegates were feeling pressure to produce at least a modest agreement from the two-week U.N. meeting to restore credibility to the talks after the last summit in Copenhagen failed to agree on any binding action to rein in emissions of global-warming gases.
"We cannot leave Cancun empty-handed," warned Connie Hedegaard, the European Union's top climate official.
The conference seeks decisions on establishing a "green fund" to help poorer nations rein in greenhouse gases and to adapt their economies and infrastructure to a changing climate; an agreement making it easier for developing nations to obtain patented green technology from advanced nations; and pinning down more elements of a system for compensating developing countries for protecting their forests.
"I can see a workable result that gets decisions across all the major areas. I can't predict whether we're going to get there," said U.S. special envoy Todd Stern.
New negotiating documents put on the table over the weekend were generally well received, despite criticisms of flaws and omissions.

Archerontia atropos, Deaths Head Hawke Moth

 These two photos were taken by John Bebbington, Chair of the Somerset Moth Group. On the Moth Group web site John gave a brief introduction:

"Mon 22nd November 2010 15:22 by John Bebbington

Successful emergence of Death's Head Hawkmoth

Of the four A. atropos larvae from Somerset which were in my possession 3 produced deformed pupae which died but one pupated successfully (despite having to change foodplant from Woody Nightshade to Potato to Tomato and back to Potato!). It emerged last night and I hope to encourage it to feed so that it can be shown at the AGM on Friday night. What a superb moth!"

 Click here for a link to the Moth Group web page.

Climate change

Just in case readers think that Badgers are a big problem here is a really big problem which defies any attempt to define its scope!

Click here for an update on Cancun 2010

Or use this URL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11847084

Here is an extract:

"The main issues, though, are economic and geopolitical in nature.




Many governments are worried about losing their economic competitiveness through curbing emissions, particularly against key global or regional rivals.



Main players in the summit itself are optimistic that something worthwhile can emerge, despite these obstacles.



Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN climate convention, recently said: "At this point, everything I see tells me that there is a deal to be done.



"Cancun will be a success, if parties compromise."



The lesson of Copenhagen, though, is that this is likely to prove a very big "if". "

Badger control consultation

I've spent some time going through notes on this subject from the SWT, that includes a 13 page report by Liz Deane Chair of the SWT Council in which she reviewed a wide range of published papers and reports on the subject.( Its very comprehensive). Also notes from  the Badger Group and the NFU. Finally I've looked at the DEFRA web site and browsed the extensive set of documents which make up their consultation doc.It all confirmed my view that the proposals are based on so many assumptions based on inadequate research and lack of relevant knowledge  that they are not at all certain to achieve their intended objective. The only certainty is that a large number of animals will be killed many of which will be healthy. 

If you want to see the DEFRA docs they are all available at this link here.

If that doesn't work here is the web address: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/tb-control-measures/index.htm

I've gone through the 8 questions they invite comment on and here is my response. Qu 1, 7 and 8 are the only ones I have written much about the others are all "No".

Of course we also want to encourage individuals to respond  as they see fit, the more the better regardless of what is said. A bigger post bag means more people are concerned about the subject one way or another.  Here  are my comments with the DEFRA question shown in bold:

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Submission to DEFRA.

Qu 1.  Comments are invited on the options, costs and assumptions made in the Impact Statement.  ( that is Annex F )

The Impact Statement includes many assumptions which are unlikely to prove accurately assessed. Consequently it is not possible to predict a successful outcome and this is not an acceptable basis for killing a large number of animals.

We do not agree with a policy of culling badgers.

We consider such a policy to be unnecessary and not adequately supported by scientific evidence.

The Consultative Doc also shows many areas of uncertainty especially in the culling method statements.

Qu 2  Do you agree with the preferred option? 

No

Qu 3  Do you agree that this approach, of issuing licences to farmers/ landowners, is the most appropriate way to operate a badger control policy? 

No

Qu 4  Do you agree with the proposed licensing criteria for culling and vaccination?

No

Qu 5  Do you agree that the proposed methods of culling are effective and humane?

No

Qu 6  Do you agree with the proposed use of vaccination, particularly its focus on mitigating the perturbation effects of culling?

No , not as part of the culling process.

Qu 7  Should anything further be done to encourage the use of vaccination?

Yes. The use of vaccination should be promoted as the long term sustainable solution. Development of oral vaccine should be given greater urgency. Biosecurity should be strengthened.

Qu 8 Do you agree with the proposed monitoring?

No. We have no confidence that monitoring will be comprehensive enough  to ensure that the proposed procedures will be followed.

Signed and dated

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Support Somerset Wildlife Trust and our local volunteer group. Read our Blog at:http://heartofthelevels.blogspot.com/
and  on://twitter.com/#!/levelswildlife
and our diary of events at: http://heart-of-the-levels-diary.blogspot.com/

YouTube - What have you done today to make you feel proud?

YouTube - What have you done today to make you feel proud?

This video of a song by Heather Small is still a treat just to listen to.
While your listening you can reflect on our motto :  Do one thing!

Traditional Orchards Network

Orchard Network

Welcome to Orchard Network - website of the Habitat Action Plan (HAP) group for Traditional Orchards. We are a partnership of organisations working together for the conservation of Traditional Orchards as a wildlife habitat. We hope you find this site a useful resource for finding out about the wildlife that thrives within our orchards, the issues that surround their conservation, and ways that you can get involved.
Click on this link to go to a video about traditional orchards which I think is inspiring and motivating
http://www.orchardnetwork.org.uk/content/be-inspired