Special Area of Conservation- SAC

Worth a read.

https://secure.gov.wales/consultations/forms/proposed-new-management-measures-for-the-scallop-fishery-in-cardigan-bay-questions/?lang=en

I've just sent my comments on this consultation document.  SWT is justly proud of its activities to publicise and protect the wildlife in the seas around our coast . I am amazed the Welsh Government seems to be only interested in the destruction of wildlife in its own "Special Areas of Conservation".


You can see George Monbiot's thoughts on the subject here:

http://www.monbiot.com


Here is a brief extract!

"Whatever the reason may be, the government is doing all it can to ensure that these “strictly protected areas” remain worthless paper parks, no more than lines on the map, that offer no protection to the wildlife they are meant to support.

It’s not just scallop dredging that is inherently incompatible with the protection of the life of the sea. It is trawling of all kinds. A special area of conservation should be just that: a place in which wildlife is allowed to proliferate, rather than being smashed and dragged and sieved to destruction.

So please respond to the consultation the Welsh government has launched. It takes only a couple of minutes. And where it asks for extra comments, you might recommend that there should be no scallop dredging at all in protected areas and that other destructive fishing techniques (those involving towed gear in other words) should also be excluded from the SACs.

This is your chance to intervene against the blatant and pointless destruction of what is supposed to be a strict conservation zone. If the response is big enough, the Welsh government will have to back down. If we can’t protect our own threatened megafauna, how can we expect any other nations to do so?"

Greenpeace Gazprom banner at Real Madrid press conference

Greenpeace in Denmark did this neat trick shown below in the video clip.





Extracts from The Guardian.

Arctic oil spill is certain if drilling goes ahead, says top scientist

Russia's push for exploration will devastate pristine Arctic, warns expert analyst of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill

• Fiona Harvey in London and Shaun Walker in Moscow
• theguardian.com, Tuesday 19 November 2013 11.45 GMT

Greenpeace pointed out that the Arctic is the habitat for "a diverse range of unique wildlife", including 17 species of whale – such as the endangered narwhal, 90% of the remaining population of which lives in Baffin Bay – as well as polar bears, Arctic foxes, seals, hundreds of species of seabirds and millions of migrating birds. There are also 4m people who live in the Arctic, descendants of indigenous communities who have lived there for thousands of years. "The impact of a spill on these communities and already vulnerable animal species would be devastating and long-lasting," the group said.

Our friendly wildlife group has two important events lined up for July and August.

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 Thursday July 7th at 7.30 pm in the United Reformed Church in Somerton.

Wildlife on the Shores of Somerset ( yes we do have an extensive coastline!)

 An illustrated talk by Nigel Phillips.  

By way of introduction Nigel has written a book on the subject.  This is a stunning book which describes the huge diversity of landscapes and wildlife found along this wonderful coast. It is packed with photographs of coastal habitats and the wildlife that can be found. It has maps and appendices helping to point out what might be seen, and where and when things occur. It includes lists of all the plants, seaweeds, birds, marine creatures, butterflies, grasshoppers and crickets and dragonflies you might find along the shore and on the cliffs and cliff tops.

This is a 120 - page softback flexibound book in full colour.
Move your mouse over the text "Look inside this book!" on the book image (left) to view the contents. For a more detailed look, one extract has been included here - click here to view!

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The price is £19.50 plus £3.50 post and packing (within the UK). Books can be picked up from Nether Stowey, Somerset by arrangement. Natural Time Out publications 37 Castle Street Nether Stowey, Somerset Somerset TA5 1LN.

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Saturday August 17 th at 8 pm,

 at Playses Orchard Farm , Hambridge, TA10 0AP

A Bat Walk and Talk led by the SWT Bat Group.

Somerset Bat Group was formed in 1985 to help protect bats in Somerset
We are affiliated to the Bat Conservation Trust (the national organisation for bat protection) and Somerset Wildlife Trust

Somerset has 15 of the 16 species of British Bats and we still haven’t given up on the 16th. Some species are more common than others and some are endangered. The Bat Group is actively engaged in varied activities to help preserve these fascinating creatures.

Several of our members run Bat Walks in the Summer. We give talks to local groups, install and check bat boxes and during the Winter hold workshops and courses in Bat Care, Analysing Bat Sound, and Bat Identification.

If you are interested in joining us the please contact secretary Adel Avery, 
phone 01749 840240, or send £5 subs to Adel at The Cottage, Nettlebridge, Oakhill, Bath BA3 5AA.

Marine Life in Lyme Bay.

Our next public meeting is on thursday September 20th in Somerton at 7.30 pm till about 9 .00 pm
United Reform Church Hall.

Title:

Marine Life in Lyme Bay.

Peter Glanville shares some of his images of and observations on the marine life in this area.

Tea and coffee available.

All welcome;

£2.50 contribution to cost of hire of the hall.

Anger over plans to weaken EU wildlife protection | The Wildlife Trusts

Anger over plans to weaken EU wildlife protection | The Wildlife Trusts

The national organisation supporting the Wildlife Trusts around the counties has a web page( see above link) to communicate its views on important national issues. Somerset Wildlife Trust is very involved and we want to keep our MP's informed of our views. Please visit this web site to keep up to date on development

News update from Somerset Wildlife Trust

Been seeing a few regular specimens of this lovely Brimstone butterfly. Plus Small Tortoiseshell and the Peacock


A regular feature of running our local Wildlife Group is to take part in meetings with SWT officers to review and comment on issues, plans and choices for future action.
Today's meeting looked at Business plans for 2012 and beyond and big hopes for a living landscape project to cover our Somerset urban area of Taunton.This is a new challenge for us and the local area group.The emphasis this time is to get the community fully involved at the start rather than work up a scheme and hope to implement it. Funding for such a project will be a major aspect of any plans and it will all take some time, probably years, to fully implement.
The Trust also has been working up schemes to get more involved with a living sea project on our northern coastline. Hinkly Point nuclear power station replacement must feature in any plans.
Amongst other matters was the Plantlife International project to "save our meadows" which is important for Somerset
As if that wasn't enough we also reviewed the Trusts understanding of the Big Society.

Energy recovery from the Severn Estuary, The Severn Barrage and other schemes.

A Large Elephant Hawk Moth on honeysuckle. Photo by John Bebbington 

The effect of development projects on wildlife is a major concern.

Following on from our public meeting recently  on the subject of renewable energy and the Severn Estuary, it is of interest to see that the Carbon Trust has announced funding to what it describes as the 6 most promising technologies some of which might be suitable to use in the Estuary instead of the Barrage.
Here is an extract from their web site. Click here to go to their web site.

The Carbon Trust.
Press release 2nd Feb 2010.

Six most promising technologies selected and funded to spearhead UK’s marine drive

Marine energy will be ready for mass scale deployment and an important new commercial UK industry by 2020 says the Carbon Trust, as it announces the six most promising technologies that will today receive new funding to speed up the deployment of full scale prototypes of their leading designs.
Marine energy is currently ten years behind offshore wind energy in its development, but according to the Carbon Trust costs can be dramatically reduced over the next ten years, which could see up to a thousand devices operating in the water by 2020. Today the Carbon Trust announced the six most promising technologies that will be supported with £22m of new funding.  Designed and managed by the Carbon Trust, the Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) uses new funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The MRPF marks a new level of commitment to developing wave and tidal technologies by helping the UK’s most promising technologies to progress towards early stage deployment and accelerating the first commercial projects in UK waters.
Following a rigorous assessment process, the Carbon Trust has selected Atlantis Resources, Aquamarine Power,Hammerfest Strom UK, Marine Current Turbines, Pelanis Wave Power and Voith Hydro to receive support.  Set against a shortage of funding in the sector, the new finance will bridge a funding-gap that was stifling progress, creating more certainly around the technical performance of each technology which will trigger increased confidence in the sector.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, said:
"The UK must urgently diversify, decarbonise and secure its energy sources and marine energy could over time provide up to 20% of the UK’s electricity. Generating electricity from the UK’s powerful wave and tidal resource not only plays a crucial role in meeting our climate change targets but also presents a significant economic opportunity for the UK. Wave alone presents a £2 billion economic opportunity for the UK.”
The demonstration of full scale devices at sea is central to realising the full potential of marine energy and getting the first commercial projects in the water is critical to ‘de-risk’ the technology and attract the necessary private sector investment. This is the start of major new industry that will generate jobs and wealth across the UK.”

 

The Severn Estuary and Hinkley Point Power Station

The Severn Estuary and Hinkley Point Power Station.

Our public meeting last Thursday ,on a very cold night, was very well received by around 40 members and the presentations by Officers of the Somerset Wildlife Trust were excellent.
Lisa Schneidau talked first about the Severn Estuary  and gave a very clear account of the several options being considered by the UK Government. She explained that Somerset was working with the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts ( RSWT) as well as with other county trusts and groups such as RSPB.The Trusts position is in essence:

•  to oppose 100% the large Cardiff- Weston barrage because it would cause unacceptable damage to the Estuary, and it should be dropped from the list of options.
• The several alternative schemes should be  given more support for development work.
• All development work should be carried out in a transparent manner. The EU Habitats and Birds Directive must be observed.

The national Society ( RSWT) is leading the campaign and more information is available on their web site. Click here
Both speakers were very clear in keeping to the position taken by the Trust. SWT had to be focused on the effect of the proposals on wildlife and could not,  for instance, discuss views about the nature of nuclear power, nor was it possible to simply say that no attempt to  recover energy from the tidal flows should be made.

 
Michelle Osbourne, followed by describing her work to influence  EDF in their consultation phase. This was not easy and it had proved difficult to  deal with a company who had often worked in a very different situation in France and under different planning rules. By using projections of the planned site layout she highlighted areas where allowances for wildlife could be made given a willingness to discuss and agree modifications. The enormous scale of the work proposed and its impact on an area much larger than the basic footprint for the power plant was well made. The likely effect on the estuary due to the much increased cooling water supply required by the power station was shown and described. Despite the fact that this project was being developed under the UK Government's new planning rules it is to be hoped that public opinion will continue to be important and SWT hopes to continue the debate.EDF have a web site with descriptions of the project. Click here.

For both these two projects SWT hopes that all members will give  their support in the ongoing discussions and negotiations for the future of wildlife in a large part of North Somerset.
There was a very good discussion after the talks with questions and answers form the speakers.
Without any hesitation I would recommend all Members of the Trust and anyone else concerned about wildlife in Somerset, to give their full support to Somerset Wildlife Trust where Lisa and Michelle are giving a very balanced and professional approach to these complicated challenges.

Severn babies in bathwater risk

Severn babies in bathwater risk

Here is a new venture for me!!!

Looking at the RSPB web site for news about the Severn Estuary energy proposals I came across a Blog they run and a post on the subject.

There were all sorts of links on the page including Blogger, and clicking on the symbol comes up with "Blog this" which I did ( bravely) and lo and behold it appears on my own Blog ( I had to sign in with my Google pass word etc).

So if you are still with me, and interested in what the RSPB thinks about flooding the Severn Estuary than click on the link above.  Then don't forget to come to our next public meeting . See previous posts.

Marine wildlife is a local matter to us in Somerset

In my last posts I've made reference to our Fungi Foray and climate change. Now here is an issue of growing concern to us not least because of the announcement of a proposal for a Severn Estuary barrage.

I am posting the Trusts press release dated today as a small way of helping to spread the word on this issue.

I feel involved with this because I signed the petition for a Marine Bill.

300,000-strong petition calls for a Marine Bill now!

17th October, 2007

The call for a Marine Act - giving greater protection to the UK’s marine wildlife - will go to London later today when a 300,000-strong petition - comprising supporters from four conservation organisations - will be delivered to Downing Street by four children representing our future generations.

The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Marine Conservation Society and WWF are campaigning for a full Marine Bill in next month’s Queen’s Speech. They have long been campaigning for new and improved marine nature conservation legislation. Currently, the groups regard existing marine legislation as ineffective, inadequate or even non-existent.

The petition has attracted widespread support, including a pledge from Kate Humble, the RSPB’s newest vice president and a big fan of the marine environment. Kate said:

“As a diver I know what an amazing wealth of wildlife we have in the seas around the UK. But, I'm also aware of the pressures the marine environment is under. That's why I'm supporting the call for a Marine Bill now to introduce marine reserves to give our wonderful sealife the protection it deserves.”

The marine campaign coalition is calling on the Prime Minister to include a full Marine Bill in the Queen’s Speech in November – not the draft Bill that was mentioned in Gordon Brown’s draft legislative programme. Putting marine planning at its heart and giving much stronger protection to marine wildlife, the groups says it is vital the Bill includes measures to designate and conserve nationally-important marine wildlife sites, including highly-protected marine reserves.

Joan Edwards, head of marine policy for The Wildlife Trusts, said:

“The UK public clearly places great value on our seas and believes they should be properly protected. We urgently need new laws to protect our seas and marine life. The number of signatures handed in today shows how public support is growing - as is awareness of how we treat our life support system. But our campaign cannot stop until there’s renewed commitment from Gordon Brown to improve the protection and management of the UK’s marine environment.”

Melissa Moore, Marine Conservation Society senior policy officer, said:

“We need a full Marine Bill in November’s Queen’s Speech. A draft Marine Bill next year would be just another consultation and we have had two of those already. The shocking adverts the coalition has placed in today’s national papers reflect the urgent need for a Marine Act to halt the demise of a range of UK marine species and habitats while we are on watch.”

Jan Brown, senior marine policy officer at WWF says:

“Our seas have been in decline for some time and it is imperative that the Government addresses the urgency of the situation and introduces a Marine Bill now. The facts are inescapable, our seas are in crisis. We need to act and cannot afford another year of delay by the Government.”

Dr Sharon Thompson, a senior marine policy officer with the RSPB, said:

“Seabirds provide one of the greatest wildlife spectacles the UK has to offer. The UK hosts the majority of the global breeding populations of Manx shearwater, gannet and great skua and the UK coasts throng with millions of individual seabirds, a testament to the richness of our seas. Although these birds are protected on land, at sea they have little protection – a Marine Bill would pave the way for giving them, and the seas they depend upon, the protection they need.”

Preliminary work by the RSPB has identified at least 23 examples of sites of national importance for nesting seabirds that could benefit from further protection from a Marine Bill. Although many of the actual nesting colonies are already protected on land, the foraging areas these seabirds need at sea are not protected at all.

The list includes St Bees Head, in Cumbria, the only English nesting site for the black guillemot; England’s rarest nesting seabird.
The call for a Marine Bill has also attracted widespread cross-party support with 117 MPs signing the Early Day Motion (EDM 1833) calling for its introduction in the Queen’s Speech.

Four children representing the four organisations will hand in the Marine Bill petition to Downing Street at 9am on Wednesday 17 October.

Story by RSWT