ILFRA-EXPO NEEDS YOU! VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED for Ilfra-Expo 2013

A brand new art event that needs your support! Ilfracombe is holding its own art event this summer. Running from July into August, Ilfra-Expo will be presenting a selection of emerging and established artists from across the UK. Artworks are created in response to Ilfracombe and will be displayed in a variety of venues throughout the town, including large-scale public artworks that will remain in place throughout the summer. You can follow the process on twitter @ilfraexpo and on www.facebook.com/ilfraexpo. This event is a pilot for future events and is relying on the communities support. Could you help by volunteering your time? Support needed from people with a good local knowledge to offer guided tours and to act as live guides in some of the venues. You need to be confident talking to other people and have a desire to positively promote the event and Ilfracombe. Can you be available between 14th July and 11th August 2013? Please contact Erin Rickard for more details: lfraexpo@gmail.com

 

Devon’s Nature in Trouble. Conservation organisations join forces to call on people to take action

OUR NATURE IS IN TROUBLE – this is the conclusion of a groundbreaking report launched today by a coalition of leading conservation and research organisations. Scientists working side-by-side from wildlife organisations across the UK, including Devon Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Buglife and Butterfly Conservation, have compiled a stock-take of our native species – the first of its kind in the UK. The report reveals that 60% of the species studied have declined over recent decades. More than one in ten of all the species assessed are under threat of disappearing. Peter Burgess, Conservation Advocacy Manager for Devon Wildlife Trust said: "Once familiar species including hedgehogs, lapwings and cuckoos, are declining in extent and numbers. Our seas too are in a fragile state as the recent death of thousands of seabirds due to pollution has shown." The report concludes that woodland, Culm grassland, heathland, upland, fresh water and wetland, coastal and marine species are all under threat in Devon. The State of Nature report will be launched by Sir David Attenborough and UK conservation charities at the Natural History Museum in London this evening. This report serves as a reminder to us all that nature needs our help and we can all do our bit to save it. Its authors are calling on people to support conservation charities and take action for wildlife. Sir David Attenborough, who wrote the foreword to the publication, said: “This groundbreaking report is a stark warning – but it is also a sign of hope. For 60 years I have travelled the world exploring the wonders of nature and sharing that wonder with the public. But as a boy my first inspiration came from discovering the UK’s own wildlife. “Our islands have a rich diversity of habitats which support some truly amazing plants and animals. We should all be proud of the beauty we find on our own doorstep; from bluebells carpeting woodland floors and delicately patterned fritillary butterflies, to the graceful basking shark and the majestic golden eagle soaring over the Scottish mountains. “This report shows that our species are in trouble, with many declining at a worrying rate. However, we have in this country a network of passionate conservation groups supported by millions of people who love wildlife. The experts have come together to highlight the amazing nature we have around us and to ensure that it remains here for generations to come.”  Dr Mark Eaton, a lead author on the report and a Senior Conservation Scientist for RSPB, said: “This report reveals that the UK’s nature is in trouble - overall we are losing wildlife at an alarming rate. “Reliable data on these species goes back just 50 years, at most, but we know that there has been a historical pattern of loss in the UK going back even further. Threats including sweeping habitat loss, changes to the way we manage our countryside, and the more recent impact of climate change, have had a major impact on our wildlife, and they are not going away." Devon Wildlife Trust’s Peter Burgess will be speaking at the event alongside Sir David Attenborough. Peter commented: “For the first time in the history of the conservation movement we have a clear picture of how Britain’s special wildlife is faring. Nowhere is this information more important than in Devon, a county that supports the country’s most biodiverse parish {Braunton] and which is home to two of the ten most-threatened species in Europe [the marsh fritillary butterfly and the freshwater pearl mussel]. It’s a great honour to be involved in launching this report by presenting alongside Sir David Attenborough – someone that has done more that anyone else in reconnecting people with the stunning wildlife that we have in this country.” Peter continued, “None of this work would have been possible without the army of volunteer wildlife enthusiasts who spend their spare time surveying species and recording their findings. Our knowledge of nature in the UK would be significantly poorer without these unsung heroes, and that knowledge is the most essential tool that conservationists have. "Peter concluded, “It is time for us to take action to save nature and we are calling on people to give their support. We can all do something for nature, whether it is volunteering on a nature reserve, surveying species, making wildlife-friendly gardens, supporting campaigns or by becoming a member of a conservation charity."

 Please go to www.devonwildlifetrust.org for details on how to support Devon Wildlife Trust. 

State of Nature national fact file:

• The total number of larger moths had fallen by 28% since the late 1960s and two-thirds of the 337 species monitored had declined, and 37% by more than half.
• 72% of butterfly species had decreased over the previous 10 years, including common garden butterflies that had declined by 24%.
• The UK has lost 44 million breeding birds since the late 1960s.
• In 16 counties, one plant species went extinct every other year.
• Britain's mammals have seen losses and gains, with decline of hedgehogs, the ongoing loss of red squirrels, and the recovery of otters.
•  In 2010, Norman Maclean's book Silent Summer summarised dramatic declines in the UK's insect populations, and concluded that 'our wildlife is clearly in for a bumpy ride'. 

State of Nature Devon fact file:

• 80% of England’s Culm grasslands can be found in Devon. A survey of Culm Grassland in the early 1990s indicated that between 1984 and 1991, some 65% of the Culm Grassland area present in 1984 and outside of protected areas was lost. 80% of this loss was due to agricultural improvement, the rest due to afforestation, neglect or development.
• 30% of the Pebblebed Heaths lowland heathland were lost in the twentieth century to plantation, arable, improved grassland and mineral development.
• Devon is thought to hold 20% of the UK’s species rich hedgerows. The implementation of the Hedgerow Regulations 1997, together with the positive influence of agri-environment schemes, is likely to have halted the net loss of species-rich hedges. However, it is also likely that the condition of a number of hedges is continuing to decline due to a lack of suitable management.
• Between 1987 and 1991, it is thought that 24% of unimproved grassland sites within Devon had deteriorated due to inappropriate management, 24% of sites had deteriorated due to neglect, 4% of sites had been partly destroyed and 2% wholly destroyed.
• In 2007, Devon was estimated as holding 4,063 hectares of parkland and wood pasture. However, it is likely that well over 50% of working wood pasture and parkland has been lost to either scrub woodland and/or to arable/improved grassland over the last 50 years.
• Devon has the first Marine Conservation Zone around Lundy. Devon Wildlife Trust has been working for over 15 years to protect the Lyme Bay Reefs resulting in the development of Britain’s largest inshore marine protected area.
• The cuckoo has declined by 80% in Devon and is now absent from much of the county’s farmland. Lapwing numbers have fallen to below 100 breeding pairs on farmland in Devon.
• Ring ouzels are nearing extinction on Dartmoor.
• Devon holds 20% of the known UK marsh fritillary butterfly colonies. Although, once widely distributed throughout the UK, marsh fritillaries have declined substantially over the last 150 years. The butterfly has recently died out over most of eastern England and eastern Scotland. Despite a quite widespread distribution in south west England colonies are estimated to be disappearing at more than 10% a decade. 
• The only remaining UK population of the rare cuckoo bee Nomada sexfasciata hangs on along a short stretch of the South Devon coast.
• England’s last remaining population of the narrow-headed ant (Formica exsecta) hangs on at a single site in Devon.
• A 99% decline has taken place in greater horseshoe bat populations throughout the UK over the last century. Devon remains one of its last strongholds.
• Freshwater pearl mussels on the rivers Taw and Torridge have not produced young for over 40 years – these represent the only remaining populations in the south of England.

Sir David Attenborough

‘The lapwing is just one of many species that a new report says is struggling in Devon.’
Photo, Neil Bygrave

North Devon Theatres Collaborate with the Biosphere for B10 Celebrations

As champions of North Devon’s Biosphere Reserve North Devon Theatres are helping to mark the 10th anniversary of the Reserve’s designation. The work of North Devon Theatres Trust reaches wider than theatre productions alone and the Theatres are joining the B10 celebrations with art, music and beer! Alan Dodd, programme director at the Theatres says “North Devon Theatres has had a close relationship with the Biosphere Reserve right from its inception by co-ordinating a huge array of cultural events throughout the region during June each year, which formed part of the North Devon Festival. Sadly this Festival no longer occurs, but we are very pleased to be part of the B10 10thAnniversary Celebrations along with many other partner organisations.”

1. Art Trek - North Devon’s open studio event, Art Trek is promoted by the Theatres and this year the event shares its 10th birthday with the Biosphere. Biosphere Coordinator Andy Bell says “"The World Biosphere Reserve in north Devon is home to many talented artists who are inspired by the area's character, produce and culture. Art Trek is a great way to explore the work of a large number of these people and reflect on what inspires them." This is an excellent opportunity to get out and about in the Biosphere to make the most of our fabulous creative and natural resources by making your way around Art Trek by foot, bike or bus. Art Trek runs for three weekends between Saturday 6 July and Sunday 21 July 2013 and sees local artists throwing open the doors to their homes and studios and inviting people in to see their work in progress. The studios include galleries, village halls, cafés and homes within the beautiful North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. So get on your bike, lace up your boots or check out the local bus time tables and make this year's Art Trek a 'greener' one forB10, the tenth anniversary of North Devon's Biosphere Reserve! Art Trek locations and details are listed on the North Devon Theatres website and you can visit the North Devon Coast AONB's website Explore The Coast to match up a walking trail with Art Trek venues or if you prefer to take the bus you find links to local bus services on the North Devon Council website.
2. North Devon Theatres Classical Music Season. North Devon Theatres have themed their 2013/14 classical music season In Tune with Nature to celebrate B10, the tenth anniversary of the North Devon UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Classical Music Consultant and Series Curator, Ambrose Miller says “2013 celebrates the 10th anniversary of North Devon’s Biosphere Reserve designation and with the B10 celebration in mind, we chose as the theme for our series, ‘In Tune with Nature’. Each performance will either include pieces of music which have, over the years, been associated with the countryside or show how nature directly inspired composers.” The series of concerts starts in September 2013 with one of the country’s leading orchestras, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxine Tortelier. They will perform Mendelssohn, Bruch and Beethoven.
3. The B10 Beer. So if you are trekking around Art Trek or making a visit to the Theatre B10 beer will quench your thirst! The North Devon Biosphere launched its limited edition B10 beer on Friday 3 May 2013 at The Landmark Beer Festival in Ilfracombe. Actors Liza Goddard and Gary Mavers who were starring in Agatha Christie's Go Back for Murder at The Queen's Theatre in Barnstaple toasted the Biosphere and the B10 celebrations with the tasty real ale. B10 beer has been brewed by Simon Lacey of Country Life Brewery in Abbotsham near Bideford. Simon uses natural ingredients and traditional brewing methods and is a perfect example of a Biosphere Business supporter. Here's what the Landmark beer festival goers said:
Charmain Lovett "The B10 is my favourite."
Oliver Tooley "I have a pint of it in front of me now. Delightful dark honey colour, well balanced between sweetness and hops. Fruity finish."
Keep an eye out for B10 beer on sale at North Devon Theatres, local festivals and pubs in North Devon and take a look at the B10 beer mats too as they have details of how to enter our fabulous prize draw!



B10 beer at Landmark beer festival - photo copyright North Devon Biosphere