Climate Change

After lunch today I logged onto the web site set up to promote and explain the film called, "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" in which Al Gore the US politician explains his campaign to wake the world to the consequences of global warming.
Its worth looking at for no other reason than that Al Gore is a major US politician and the US is a major player in global warming. It is useful background to our next public meeting in September.
From the web site you can see a 47 minute interview with Al Gore about his views on the subject and you can also see a trailer for the film itself which is being seen in cinemas across the US. Both are good at getting the message clear.

Here are a few quotes from the web site:


http://www.climatecrisis.net/

"AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH "



"Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced. "

"The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is real, it is already happening and that it is the result of our activities and not a natural occurrence. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable."

"There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. Small changes to your daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. The time to come together to solve this problem is now. "
Go to : http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/

Sea birds!

Photographs by David LeClercq

Two beautiful photographs of sea birds on the south coast near Bournemouth. Not in our area but as they were sent to me by a friend and such good images I am including them. We do of course have a variety of similar birds to be found on the levels and moors and coastline of Somerset. If there is anyone reading this with good local shots please send them to me. Perhaps a heron from West Sedgemoor.

How to fight diversity loss

My last post on Aug 20th identified loss of habitat as an important cause of diversity loss.
One of a series of publications by English Nature called "Garden Ponds and boggy areas: havens for wildlife" shows how the numbers of ponds has decreased from about 1,250,000 in 1890 to about 400,000 in 2005.
The loss is said to be due to intensive agriculture and land drainage, neglect and lack of management. Clearly urban growth is also a factor.
The aim of the booklet is to inspire anyone without a garden pond to create one and to advise on how to do it.
It gives good reasons to take this advice. For example.
Garden ponds help compensate for the general loss of ponds.
They are a haven for freshwater plants and animals.
They provide a drinking place for birds and insects which are food for bats.
They provide an educational resource for children and adults through out the seasons.
In short, English Nature claim that "If you want to see plenty of wildlife close to home, put in a garden pond."
The booklet can be obtained either by post or by downloading a copy from their web site.

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/access/

I should add that there are two other booklets in the same series which show how important even small ponds are in any garden.They are:"Dragonflies and Damseflies in your garden."and"Minibeasts in your garden"

Biodiversity

Continuing to look at biodiversity it is worth looking at what the Natural History Museum in London has to say about the subject. All the quotes and extracts are from their web site today.

Natural History Museum , London

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/biodiversity/index.html

They introduce the subject as:

"The term biodiversity describes the variety of life on Earth, from
micro-organisms to mighty whales, along with the habitats they depend upon.
Discover why the world’s biodiversity is under threat and what will happen to us
as biodiversity decreases. Also, find out about the problems that come with
trying to measure it, and how the Museum’s work is helping in the study and
conservation of biodiversity."

They go on to ask the question which is of interest to wildlife supporters and which not surprisingly echos the quotes in my earlier post on conservation in New Zealand ( post dated July 22nd):

"Why conserve biodiversity?

Biodiversity is a fundamental part of the Earth's life support system.
It supports many basic natural services for humans, such as fresh water,
fertile soil and clean air. Biodiversity helps pollinate our flowers and crops,
clean up our waste and put food on the table. Without it we would not be
able to survive.
The term biodiversity should also remind us that no one
organism lives in isolation. The many different ways that the millions of
organisms on the Earth interact with each other contributes to the balance of
the global ecosystem and the survival of the planet. Biodiversity plays a role
in regulating natural processes such as the growth cycles of plants, the mating
seasons of animals, and even weather systems."

The web site goes on to explain the threat and describes six factors under the headings given below:

"What threatens our biodiversity?

• Habitat loss and fragmentation
• Invasive alien species
• Pollution
• Climate change
• Over exploitation
• Human populations"

There is plenty here to give background to our next public meeting on Climate Change in September.

General news update

In a small change to this Blog I have added a link to the web site for the Somerset Wildlife Trust at the bottom of this template.

Although August is a quiet month with holidays etc, we have progressed a press release to local parish news sheets for our Sept 28th meeting on Climate Change. We must let the local papers know soon.
The Trust summer Magazine is due out any day now and that will carry full details of the meeting and information about our group.

There may be progress on the subject of my last post. I hope a meeting can be set up with the councils Ecology unit to talk about conservation of a grass meadow and I hope to ask about local action on the UK Biodiversity Plan.
I found a web site concerned with the definition of biodiversity which highlighted the need to be clear about the terms used. The web address is: http://bcb706.blogspot.com/2006/08/biodiversity-and-conservation-biology.html

My self imposed task of visiting all our local nature reserves has progressed a little . There are still 3 to go out of 14. My impressions are as I noted on July 21st. Some are more interesting than others for lay persons and in all cases a first visit with a reserve manager is desirable. Details like access and parking or other means of reaching the reserves can all be research by ourselves but the flora and fauna to be seen needs an experienced eye to give a satisfactory experience of the visit. We also need a list of reserve managers and contact details.

biodiversity

To see what our local district council says about biodiversity you can go to their web site and search for the documents shown below. For a subject as important as this finding your way through their web site to these documents is not easy.
The overall government view is given in the ukbap web site.
Then the SSDC site has an index page for the countryside issues and from there you can search for the two documents which are quite interesting. It will probably need us to ask for a meeting with someone in this part of SSDC in order to find out what it all means on the ground now and over the next few years.
Good luck with the browsing.

http://www.ukbap.org.uk/default.aspx

http://www.southsomerset.gov.uk/index.jsp?articleid=741

Countryside Action Plan 2005-2006 [2Mb]

Strategy for Nature Conservation in South Somerset [136kb]

Public meeting on Climate Change

As our next public meeting on Sept 28th is on the subject of climate change I have started looking to see what the internet can provide to help see the wood from the trees. This is a very apt saying in the circumstances highlighted by recent newspaper reports about drought in the Amazon rain forest. The web site shown below is relevant to any consideration of climate change.
http://www.realclimate.org/

Nature reserve visits

Close to Babcary Meadows is Perry Meade. The map on the SWT web site is very good but I think the grid reference for limited parking at the side of the lane should be 563303
Find the lane to Foddington from the B3153 and head south to the little bridge over the River Cary shown below.The river is a very small stream at this point. Park nearby and find the signpost to Lovington by the side of the lane. One field away is the reserve. If anybody has explored the reserve please share your observations with us.









I didnt have time to do more than find the reserve before going on to Green Down. There are two access points and the western end close to the main line railway bridge is shown on the photo below.









More details on the SWT web site. The reserve has been closed to all visitors from June 3rd till July 16th because of the prescence of the rare Large Blue butterfly.







See SWT web site for details:
http://www.somersetwildlife.org/reserve_49.php
Another site which deserves a longer visit!

On 23rd July I joined an organised walk in Breech Wood near High Ham for a very successful sighting of vaious species of butterflies including the quite special Silver-washed Fritillary and its even rarer form known as Valezina. My photo is not very good but can be recognised I think.

A global view.

Our new group is primarily interested in a small part of Somerset about 15 miles by 7 miles in size and contains an interesting mix of wildlife, geographical features recreational and employment opportunities.

However it is stimulating to see what other conservation groups are doing around the world. Here are some extracts from a study carried out by the New Zealand Government Department of Conservation.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Conservation/Economic-Impacts/010~New-Zealand-studies-and-reports/The-value-of-conservation/009~Ecosystem-services.asp

The value of conservation
Background on "ecosystem services"
The air we breathe, the water we drink, the soils that sustain our pastures, forestry, orchards and crops are examples of environmental goods that benefit humans. Without them, life on Earth would be impossible.
These goods – air, water and soil – arise from interactions between living things, such as chemical reactions and mechanical processes. Ecosystem processes that benefit humans are called “ecosystem services”.

Ecosystem services are often taken for granted, because they are “free”, that is, not traded directly in markets – unlike fish, vegetables and timber.

The report identifies four areas of benefit to human society provided by ecosystem services.

Provisioning services.
Regulating services.
Supporting services.
Cultural services.

The examples given are similar to those enjoyed in Somerset!
In the reports conclusion it states:

The first steps in preventing further decline in ecosystems (and the services they provide) are to recognise that they have economic values, and to attempt to measure at least some of them. Armed with this information, the Department hopes to make better-informed conservation decisions, and increase public awareness of what is at stake in our national parks and, generally, on public conservation land.

Visit the DOC web site to see the full report.

Nature Reserve visits

Photo of Babcary Meadows taken by Emma Daniel. The grass was cut recently in the meadows so all I could see yesterday was neatly rolled up bales of hay. I must get there in June next year.

For anybody not familiar with the location of the Trust Reserves, finding them and the access to them is sometimes a bit frustrating. At the moment it feels a bit like train spotting as I am making good progress in my task of visiting the 14 reserves which are within reasonable reach of our local area. All the Somerset Trust reserves can be found listed at: http://www.somersetwildlife.org/reserves.php
I am visiting 14 of them: Aller & Beer Woods;Babcary Meadows;Boon's Copse;Dundon Beacon;Gilling Down;Fivehead Arable Fields; Great Breach Wood; New Hill & Tannager;Perry Meade;Prospect Field;South Hill; Thurbear Wood; Green Down and Catcott Heath.
This week my total has reached 10 but mostly with only enough time to check out general location and extent, access and parking.
Many of them are also SSSI's and so the English Nature web site is helpful as well. Their web site is: http://www.english-nature.org.uk/special/sssi/
The experience has made me realise that there are many issues to be considered before we, as a local group of enthusiastic amateurs, can hope to run successful walks and visits to these reserves. Joining an escorted visit led by a reserve manager is probably the best option in the short term.