Greater Horseshoe Bat Project wins Heritage Lottery Fund support

Devon Wildlife Trust has received initial support, including £65,600 development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Greater Horseshoe Bat Project. The money will be spent over twelve months developing a longer term project which aims at securing a future for the rare bats, in their last remaining stronghold in northern Europe. Devon Wildlife Trust is leading the project's development which involves twelve other partner organisations. The charity's Conservation Advocacy Manager Peter Burgess said: "Recent decades have not been kind to the greater horseshoe bat. They have struggled to cope with a changing landscape and insensitive building developments. British populations have fallen by 90% in the last century, leaving Devon as a last remaining stronghold." Peter continued: "But this project is offering hope. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund will allow us to plan the first stages of the Greater Horseshoe Bat Project. It will allow us to support local farmers to farm in more 'bat friendly' ways, helping to maintain vital bat feeding areas and flight corridors." Greater horseshoe bats are one of 16 bat species found in Britain. With wingspans of up to 40cm they are also one of the largest. They get their name from the remarkable horseshoe-shaped organ on their noses, which the bat's use to navigate and find prey. Female greater horseshoe bats are highly sociable and gather in large maternity roosts where they bring up their offspring. Devon has 11 of these roosts making it the most important place for the bat in northern Europe. The roosts are located in man-made structures including quarry caves, barns and mines at locations including Braunton, Buckfastleigh and the Tamar Valley. One of the most exciting elements of the Project will be the central role to be played by local people. Peter explained: "It's going to allow us to work with local communities, to help everyone to find out more about the bats, and enable them to contribute to the project and gain a sense of pride in their local bats. A number of 'bat beacons' will be set-up that will be a focus for guided walks and trails, while new camera technologies will give everyone an insight into the daily lives of the bats. With hundreds of local people involved, bats - indeed all wildlife - stand a better chance of thriving." Nerys Watts, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said: "Whilst not always considered to be cute or cuddly, bats are essential to our ecosystem and their dramatic decline in numbers clearly demonstrates the urgent need to protect and understand them. We're sure the Devon Wildlife Trust run project will be a great success and we look forward to seeing these initial plans progress over the coming months." Peter added: "Devon already has Europe's largest maternity roost of greater horseshoe bats. With this project, Devon could in future boast Europe's largest population of bat enthusiasts too." 

Greater Horseshoe Bat. Photo copyright Hugh Clark. (All Rights Reserved)

About the Heritage Lottery Fund Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported almost 36,000 projects with more than £5.9bn across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk.

National Trust Commission “Tweet Music” : Celebrating the sounds of Spring

A leading UK beatboxer has vocally recreated the nation’s best-known songbirds to celebrate the sounds of spring and encourage the nation to get outdoors and experience nature first hand. The album of Tweet Music was commissioned by the National Trust after academic research found that listening to birdsong, one of the Trust’s 50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾, not only makes people calmer but boosts positivity. Despite this, almost one in five (19 per cent) rarely hear birdsong with 19 per cent of city dwellers regularly woken up by the noise of cars or planes. Beatboxer and vocal sculptor Jason Singh visited National Trust places for inspiration before creating the album, which features birds and wildlife including Blackbirds, Robins, Woodpeckers, Crows, Skylarks, Owls, Warblers, Buzzards, Frogs and Crickets. Singh explained, “I love the magic of spring, particularly at Tatton Park which I have been going to for years. When the silence of winter comes to an end, you can feel a real sense of change as the parkland erupts with noise, bursts of colour and new life. This is what makes spring so special for me and it’s this that I really wanted to capture in this project. “It was important to me that the bird calls and environments I recreated were as life like and authentic as possible, so it was great to work with the National Trust’s nature experts to better understand the flora and fauna of spring.” Listeners are set to find the new National Trust soundtrack a soothing experience after a recent psychological study found that natural sounds have restorative qualities. The study found the that birdsong and other sounds of nature like a running stream help people recover much quicker from stressful scenarios compared with the noise of urban living.

 Celebrate the Sounds of spring

Leading UK beatboxer, Jason Singh - Photo copyright National Trust (All Rights Reserved)

• Click here to download the free “Tweet Music” tracks, 
• Click here for 50 things to do before you’re 11 ¾
• Find a Place to Visit with the National Trust

New evidence of vanishing grasslands

Call on Government to save remaining wildlife-rich grasslands and help farmers halt 'catastrophic' decline A dramatic decline in our remaining wildlife-rich grasslands is highlighted by The Wildlife Trusts today. Reports collated across the country tell a story of devastating losses. Wildlife-rich grasslands provide great benefits to society and are vital resources: for bees and other pollinators which we all rely on; for the abundance of nature which depends on wild grasses and flowers, from butterflies to barn owls; for securing soils and enabling landscapes to hold and filter water, preventing flooding and pollution; for carbon storage, and as living museums which have evolved over millennia. These beautiful and valuable habitats are vanishing - and the dazzling array of species that depend on them are under threat. Stephen Trotter, The Wildlife Trusts' Director, England, says: "Wildlife-rich grasslands have been in trouble for decades, but our newly collated information shows that the remaining hay meadows and flower-rich pastures are still at risk. We're seeing an insidious yet catastrophic decline. The pressures are enormous: from development and changes in agricultural practices, to neglect. The Government is currently making decisions on how it will implement the greening measures of the Common Agricultural Policy and how it will target grants to farmers in the future. We are calling on Ministers to take full account of the value of our remaining wildlife-rich grasslands and the threats they face as they make these decisions." The Wildlife Trusts are also calling for a review of protection for environmentally important grasslands - more must be done to strengthen policy and regulations to prevent further losses. Stephen Trotter explains: "If we don't act fast we'll lose the natural heritage that has inspired writers and artists through generations - from Shakespeare to Hockney. If we don't act now we'll lose an important natural resource that benefits farming, wildlife and people. The shocking examples of our best sites in decline should be a wake-up call for Government to start working now with farmers, local authorities and nature organisations to halt the loss." In Devon the picture reflects the national story of decline. Peter Burgess, Conservation Advocacy Manager of the Devon Wildlife Trust says: "Many of our most treasured grassland sites have been lost as they become increasingly difficult to farm. If we were to look at North Devon's Culm grasslands as just one example, only 10% of those that existed in 1900 are still around today." However, Peter believes that all is not necessarily lost: "Over the past 20 years Devon Wildlife Trust has worked alongside hundreds of farmers in Devon to restore and re-create wildlife rich grasslands. DWT helps provide solutions to these problems by connecting farmers to environmental grants and through the provision of specialist equipment and hardy grazing livestock." The results of this kind of work have been impressive. Peter continues: "More than 3,500 hectares of the county's most important habitats, Culm grasslands, have been restored in this way. In the most important locations radical techniques have been employed such as felling of conifers to bring back and reconnect our treasured grassland wildlife. By working in close partnership we know that amazing results can be achieved, however, across the county the picture remains worrying with continued, dramatic losses still being recorded." Because of the continued loss of the nation's precious grasslands The Wildlife Trusts are calling for a full review of existing protection for environmentally important grasslands and asking the Government to:
1) Improve existing laws and policies and effectively enforce them - Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) Regulations strengthened and grasslands given better protection through planning policy.
2) Support wildlife-rich grasslands on farmland - Farmers should be fully rewarded for managing important grasslands (e.g. through farmland conservation schemes) and attach stronger requirements for protection to the direct payments farmers receive for managing land.
3) Award statutory protection to more grassland sites that deserve it - Species-rich grassland sites that qualify should become protected SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) as quickly as possible.
4) Set up a national grassland inventory - A new national inventory of important grasslands in England (similar to that for ancient woodland) should be established with sustained monitoring of sites in the future.
5) Restore more wildlife-rich grasslands - Grassland restoration projects delivered in partnership with landowners by local Wildlife Trusts and others should be encouraged and sustained.
The Wildlife Trusts will launch an e-petition aimed at Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, from Thursday 3rd April for five weeks - see wildlifetrusts.org
 

Photo: Devon Wildlife Trust's Meshaw Moor nature reserve north Devon. 

Copyright David Chamberlain (All rights reserved)