Butterfly Spotters

This invitation to members of the Trust is shown on their web site. ( see link on this blog.)

The Heart of the Levels local group is particularly interested in encouraging our local members to take up this opportunity as we see the East Poldens as very much our local patch. We know our members visit the reserves in the area and it would be a great service to the Trust if they could play some part in this activity.

WANTED: Butterfly Spotters
WANTED: keen, fit and able volunteers to walk on sunny summer days, on some hilly reserves on the eastern Polden Hills near Somerton to count butterflies.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer butterfly recorder and can identify common butterflies (how about the one above?) please go to the volunteering opportunities page on this website or contact volunteer development manager Carolynn Jureidini, 01823 652400

Somerset Wildlife Trust 2006/2007

Presentation by Simon Nash, Chief Executive Officer for the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

As reported in my last post staff and volunteers were given a presentation at Trust HQ on January 12th 2007, of the Trusts achievements in 2006, the challenges already anticipated for 2007 together with key priorities for the next 12 months. Simon kindly made this information available for publication here.


Achievements in 2006

• Reorganisation and clarification of the "People and Wildlife" (PaW) team.
• Mendip project fundraising success and set-up.
• The Badger campaign.
• Huge expansion of our education work.
• Carymoor merger.
• Dedicated Volunteer Support
• Dynamic and solid fundraising team.

2007 - key challenges

• Climate Change….
• Unsustainable development.
• Maintaining organisational momentum whilst achieving consolidation.
• Communicating in a larger/more complex organisation.
• Generating sufficient income in a challenging and changing environment – its all about people as well as wildlife.

Priorities for 2007

• Sustainability successfully integrated across the organisation.
• Improved valuing of and retention of our members.
• Measuring our performance – and reporting on results (not process) – clearly showing what difference we make.
• Creation of a Wildlife Info service.
• Continued and improved engagement with volunteers.
• Carymoor fully incorporated into the Trust’s work; FC and Carymoor Education work ‘seamless’.
• Seamless working between SWT and SERC which will include a consistent GIS system across SWT and SERC, with more people using it.
• The Mendip Habitat survey.
• Success in getting trainees into environmental jobs sooner than ever before.
• Management of Visitor Centres refined to ensure a co-ordinated and well planned approach.
• Successful access project started on our reserves.
• Advisory work and Wildlife Sites project developed/re-launched after a long absence of capacity
• Successful Mendip project well on its way
• Successful campaigns and lobbying.
• Levels and Moors project well developed by end of calendar year.
• Tone Floodplain project scoping completed and, ideally, project started.
• Parrett Sluice to become "as dead as a Parrot"! and abandoned as a bad idea.
• Web-site revamped – more accessible.
• Continue to increase our influence, profile and effective working with partners.

We hope in our local group to be able to make a contribution to some if not all these challenges and priorities in 2007.

Starting the new year. 2007

It's been an interesting week. Started off trying to organise a committee meeting by finding a date that all or most of the committee can make. Settled on 18th Jan. Still needed a venue, now getting a bit urgent. Called at a local pub to see if it had space for us and decided it was worth a try.

Then on Friday visited the Trusts offices at Wellington for what could be called a team building event. Simon Nash CEO for the Trust gave a 10 minute power point presentation in which he reviewed achievements in 2006 and then looked at priorities for action for 2007. Quite a list which I hope to be able to summarise in another post soon. Those present in a standing room only meeting room included many if not all of the Trusts staff including representatives of the newly joined Carymoor team. The volunteers included several Area Group Chairmen, Reserve Managers and representatives of various special groups.

Motivated by meeting so many people all working to protect the future of wildlife in Somerset my next step into 2007 required me to leave home at 8am on Sunday morning to join a one day course in "Immediate Temporary Care for the ill and injured." This is what used to be called a first aid course a long time ago. The web site for the course provider (linked below) showed he had experience way beyond our local expectations but he certainly ran a stimulating days course.

http://www.cory-jones.com/index.php
http://www.cory-jones.com/first_aid_Health_and_safety_advice.php

In our modern world Health and Safety legislation requires us to demonstrate a duty of care for people, for example, that we are leading on walks in reserves. It was an 8 hour course from 9am till 5pm on what turned out to be a very fine Sunday. A significant level of commitment by all concerned which resulted in us all becoming "Appointed Persons". I'll leave the stories of terrible accidents and what went wrong with the First Aid for another occasion but such accounts do drive home the importance of the training.

As if that wasn't enough for one week I must follow up a few admin matters and be ready for our committee meeting in two days time!

I recently wrote to our committee to call a meeting and as an example of how we are progressing as we go into our second year here is part of what I said:


Dear all,
Hope you have survived the Xmas/New Year celebrations!
We need to get together for what we loosely call a committee meeting soon.
I'm going to see if a local pub is suitable or there may be some other venue you might like to suggest .
I suggest one of these dates : Tue 23rd or Thur 18th or 25th January.
We need to get our next public meetings organised.

Anything for the agenda?

While you are thinking here are some related current developments which we should (IMHO) have some overview on.
There is a big UN IPCC ( Climate Change committee) report due in Feb which will get a lot of press /media coverage on climate change and will give lots of food for thought on the issue.
All political parties are joining the debate. A lot of claims and statements are being made by "everyone and his dog".
A recent enquiry by the Guardian ( Guardian 3rd Jan http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovt/story/0,,1981779,00.html ) found that most local councils have no plans to encourage residents to cut carbon emissions apart from recycling.
I would like to write to all our local parish councils to ask them if they have someone who is given a role of dealing with environmental issues and wildlife matters and how they take a view on such issues. This is related to planning to a large extent.
There will soon be big changes( I am reliably informed) in our local Gov as Somerset goes to a unitary authority status. i.e. no district councils. More power to the Parishes!
I understand our MP is quite well qualified on green issues.
So I suggest we ask our MP to come and discuss with us, either as committee or at an open meeting, some or all of these issues and to tell us how he sees the situation.
I see this as simply a way to keep ourselves as well informed as possible and of course to ask questions. I'm sure we will be asked about these matters.
I've even had a gardening club asking me for a talk on climate change and gardens!!
Or we can just meet for a beer!
Finally you may be reassured that I am doing a First Aid course on Sunday at Fyne Court organised by the SWT. Afterwards I will need to practice on someone . Any volunteers?
RSVP

Carymoor Environmental Centre

It seems a life time ago but back on Dec 8th we went to the Carymoor Environmental Centre near Castle Cary for a Christmas celebration. Good food ,a well stocked bar, live music and chance to meet up with friends from our own group as well as people from the centre and other invited guests made a very pleasant evening. The photos show Peter Keggin and Hamish Craig (see below) and the lively group providing the music.
It was a significant event following on from the merging of the Carymoor Trust with the Wildlife Trust in a way that strengthens both. It gives us a valuable educational and advisory resource within reasonable reach of our area and there will be much of interest to our local members over the coming months. It was fitting that Peter Keggin on behalf of the Somerset Wildlife Trust publicly welcomed the new partnership and thanked Hamish Craig for the work he and the Carrymoor team had undertaken over the 10 years since its formation.

Typical arguments about global warming

From time to time I get into conversation with people who have doubts about what is happening to our climate, usually based on their observations about the weather and what is happening in their garden. To come up with well thought out replies is not easy and so I've looked up such answers on the " How to talk to a Climate Sceptic Guide" blog and as an example I am copying one such answers here. If you wish to visit the blog you can use the link provided on this post or click here:
http://illconsidered.blogspot.com/

This is what you will find as a typical question and answer, using the statement: Climate change is just a natural cycle..

Thursday, February 23, 2006

This is Just a Natural Cycle

(Part of the How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic guide)

Objection:

The current warming is just a natural cycle.

I always find this one a little amusing in the sense that you might as well call it "magic", because natural cycles do in fact have causes. So this is really just trying to insist that the climate science community is as ignorant as whoever it is writing this objection.

Answer:

While it is undoubtedly true that there are some cycles and natural variations in global climate, anyone who wishes to insist that the current warming is purely or even just mostly natural has two challenges. Firstly, they need to identify just what this alleged natural mechanism is because absent a forcing of some sort, there will be no change in global energy balance. So natural or otherwise we should be able to find this mysterious cause. Secondly, a "natural cause" proponent needs to come up with some explanation for how a 30% increase in the second most important Greenhouse Gas does not itself affect the global temperature.

In other words, there is a well developed, internally consistent theory that predicts the effects we are observing, so where is the sceptic model, or theory whereby CO2 does not affect the temperature and where is the evidence of some other natural forcing?

There is a fine historical example of a very dramatic and very regular climate cycle that can be read in the ice core records taken both in Greenland and in the Antarctic. A naive reading of this cycle indicates we should be experiencing a cooling trend now, and indeed we were very gradually cooling over the length of the preindustrial Holocene, something around .5C averaged over 8000 years. It is informative to compare those fluctuations to today's changes. Leaving aside the descents into glaciation, which were much more gradual, the very sudden (geologically speaking) jumps up in temperature every ~100Kyrs actually represent a rate of change roughly ten times slower than the rate we are currently witnessing.

So could the current change be natural? Well, there is no identified natural cause (and they have been looked for), there is no theory of climate where CO2 does not drive the temperature and the natural cycle precedents do not show the same extreme reaction we are now witnessing.

(That would be a "No")


Other Guides, by Category

posted by coby @ 2/23/2006 01:07:00 PM

Nature Reserve comments

The photo shows the peaceful scene as the upper reaches of the River Cary cross a farm track alongside the Babcary Reserve. A second photo shows the information board for the reserve which as noted below you can only see after finding your way down the lane to the ford. The entrance to the reserve is just before the river.

Three members have sent me comments partly in response to the questionaire on reserves , the subject of an earlier post, which I think are probably representative of the experience of members.

The first reflects the situation for many people who are not used to spending time in woods these days espcially if they live in an urban area. The Trust magazine by coincidence has a feature on urban wildlife!

I think the general public like being nannied, they like carparks,
information boards with map of the site ,defined paths and boundaries. They
are afraid of going off paths in case its not allowed or they might damage
something. I'm aware that we as a family don't get out enough and am intending
dragging the kids to some of the trusts reserves in the coming months. I
think organised events like the fungi hunt at Aller do encourage people to
return on their own. We were intending to get to the fungi hunt but
something else took priority, maybe get there next year.

The second I suggest links the need for people to become aware of the connection between the survival of wildlife and damage to the woods and fields,caused by human activity e.g. pollution.

On climate change, an important message to get over is the individual responsibility of us all. What can I do or change? Rather than/as well as ideas and policies. In answer to that today , I am helping to explore a Greenfest in June 07 in Taunton. In the light of Gordon Browns speech, find out what SCC is doing to adress the need to monitor/regulate energy use in our schools.

I've added some photos of Orchids in Great Breach Wood taken last year and an information board for two small reserves conected to it i.e. all on the same site.

As I have posted before I use The Great Breach Wood a lot as a place to walk and enjoy at all seasons of the year. Access to this, if you dont know how to get there, presents some problems. Particularly for access by car which unless you cycle is the only practical access.

The reserve its self is some way from a road 1/4 to 1/2 mile walk in the middle of a larger wooded area.
The reserve is signposted when you get into the part of the larger woodland where the reserve is located, but from the initial access points there are no indications where the reserve is.
Pathways are mown in the reserve in the autumn and judging purely from the degree that these become muddy and apparently used quite a lot, people find the reserve. Though it must be said that one doesnt often meet up with other visitors.
The other reserves that are near to me, Green Down and Babcary Meadows have similar access issues. Unless you are aware of their existance, finding them is not easy as there is no signposting for the reserve untill you are on the boarders. In the case of both these reserves, while the signposts for the pathways that you need to travel over are in place (South Somerset District Council are to be commended). There is no linkage between these and the Trust's reserves.

Attention to human rights is needed in tackling climate change

This report is on the BBC web site and seems to me to show a significant change in attitude to global climate change. The following is an extract from the news report.


Last Updated: Monday, 11 December 2006, 01:58 GMT

Rights focus sought over climate

Poor nations are said to be most at threat from climate change

More attention to human rights is needed in tackling climate change, former Irish President Mary Robinson will say in a lecture.

Her speech at Chatham House, a think-tank in London, will argue that climate change is now an issue of global injustice.

The ex-UN high commissioner for human rights will urge policymakers to adopt "a radically different approach".

She will also urge rich nations to meet their climate change obligations.

"We can no longer think of climate change as an issue where we the rich give charity to the poor to help them cope," she is expected to say.

"Climate change has already begun to affect the fulfilment of human rights and our shared human rights framework entitles and empowers developing countries and impoverished communities to claim protection of these rights."

Ms Robinson will argue for the revival of multilateral efforts that led to the global eradication of smallpox and the phasing out of CFC gases.

Change of format for blog in process

It may take a few days to sort out the layout for this blog now that I've changed to what they call the Beta Blogger . It should be possible eventually to improve the appearance and the ease of use for visitors.




With reports of tornados and floods and colder weather to come here in the UK I am including a photograph taken from the house of a friend living in South Africa. It looks a good place to be!





And here is a wild flower seen on a walking holiday last year in Croatia








Finally a typical meadow flower popular with butterflies in the summer just to cheer us all up. (greater knapweed)

Nature reserves

The Somerset Wildlife Trust recently asked members to complete a questionnair on the subject of: "Access to the Natural Environment for All, Prioritising Reserves for Improved Access."

I thought it might show something of the behind the scenes activity by the Trust to share my response on this blog. My comments,shown below, reflect the fact that we, as a new conservation group, have limited experience of the Trusts reserves but we are learning.

Here are some of the questions.

How many visitors use your reserves?
How are reserves used currently?
What are the main age groups of visitors?
What are the main benefits to the public of reserves?
What if any are the barriers to people visiting the reserves?
Are there any disadvantages of the public visiting the reserves?
Are there other users of the countryside that have caused problems in the past?

"My comments on the reserves are limited because neither I nor most of our committee have much awareness of our reserves. That's not very good I know but now we have the Heart of the Levels Group we are conscious that we need to rectify the situation. Last summer I tried to find out where our nearest reserves were and at least find the locations from the grid references. No small task I found.
You sent me four sheets. Aller and Beer Woods, Westhay Moor, Catcott Heath, Catcott Lows.
I have been to the first two, on two or three visits only.
I have no info on how many people visit the reserves.
I can only make general comments on the benefits of reserves and possible barriers to visits.
I also will attach my listing of reserves that are either in our area or nearby which includes the last three above. There are 20 reserves listed.
All the Westhay areas are out of our local area in any event. Beer and Aller Woods is probably our largest , most accessible and scenic local reserve. The list includes info I have been given about managers which I know is out of date now as David Reid has retired.
I have taken the opportunity of checking through the new booklet and comment on the entries there.

The booklet is very neat, handy size and well produced.
It took a little while to work out the way to use it though. I started by looking at the map, finding a reserve and noted the ref number.
I eventually realised that the ref number is not the page number and you need to go to the contents page which provides the page number but not the reserve ref number. Once I'd got that straight it is fine.Perhaps the contents page could say at the top left, page number and have on the right Reserve Map Ref Number.
I find the location map very useful but now it doesn't show the "other " reserves. Some of the others are our best sites i.e. Babcary Meadows and Dundon Beacon.
The individual maps are the same as for the old booklet. As I tried to find our reserves I found the maps too restricted in area and references to local roads. Hence it took a little effort to find them from grid references and the diagrams and to tie them down on OS maps.
Some don't have notice boards i.e.Fivehead Arable fields.
Despite the references to cycle and foot access many people will approach them by car and car parking arrangements are a bit limited in most cases so people really need to be forewarned with best, nearest, places to park. In some cases this is given.
Some reserves don't have diagrams at all, e.g. Beer and Aller Wood, Green Down.
I appreciate that it seems the intention to concentrate on a limited number of reserves which covers 8 of my list of 20. We could also include West Sedgemoor RSPB site and no doubt others. Then there are private reserves which we may try to identify and seek permission for visits.
Even with the new book I think we might be able to add detail for our local members to make it easier for them to get out to the reserves. Perhaps we will end up concentrating on a few.
If you ask me again in 12 months time I hope to be better informed.

What do we members get out of reserves?
The Westhay starlings display is out of this world on a good day! It really makes you realise how amazing the natural world is and its on our doorstep.
Seeing the herons nesting at West Sedgemoor is impressive.
Going on a fungus foray in Aller and Beer Woods in remarkable and fascinating.
"Clouds" of butterflies in a wild flower meadow can be quite startling for its unexpected beauty.
Places like Westhay even on a quiet day are so peaceful and natural with occasional sighting of birds getting on with their lives.
I must get to Green Down next summer on one of the visits to see the Large Blue butterfly.

What are the barriers?
All the points I mention above might help to reduce barriers.
Area Groups and Reserve Managers could perhaps cooperate more to get members to visit. Once they have had an escorted tour they will be much more likely to visit on their own initiative. This is our aim as far as possible.
It should help to be better informed about climate change issues and farming methods and management of the countryside.
I think Carymoor should be useful for us locally as an educational resource and I hope to visit soon. ( Dec 8th in fact).
School visits arranged by Area Groups might help.
As much information as possible about the best times to visit and what to look for must be important."