Wild Warwickshire Edition 166 Winter 2020

The member magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust | Winter 2020 Celebrating Warwickshire Years CELEBRATING 50 YEARS A look at some highlights Bringing wildlife back 1 AmbitiousMagazine Name | Summer 2019 plans to put nature into recovery by 2030

WELCOME 30 To the winter edition of your member magazine On 27th September the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, committed the government to restoring nature in 30% of the UK by 2030, and promptly declared that this was already happening in 26% of our land. Though this landmark announcement was devalued by the inclusion of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the government’s calculation, because these designations do nothing for wildlife (page 13), nevertheless it was an eye-catching promise at exactly the right scale to meet the climate and ecological crisis (page 4). Coincidentally it was 50 years ago that 8 local people set up the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, something we celebrated in the summer edition. Initially, with no money and no staff, we don’t know how daunted those pioneers felt but we can see now how commitment, persistence and the support of thousands of people helped meet the challenges of their time. It took the Trust four years to secure its first nature reserve but within 50 years many of the special places in Warwickshire had been saved. Now as the UK struggles to emerge from a health and economic crisis we have to fix our relationship with the natural world and deliver a V-shaped recovery for wildlife. As before this Trust is going to be one way which local people can choose to play a part in meeting a global challenge. In the future we are going to place less emphasis on saving special places and more on creating them. You can help us. Can we do enough to make a real difference? Yes we can. Compared to the resources which our founders had at their disposal 50 years ago, the Trust is an entirely different organisation today, though we are still as dependent on your support as ever. This Trust will do its part in the national effort to bring wildlife back, so that nature is recovering in 30% of Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. And that the people who live here do not have to travel to distant National Parks or AONBs to enjoy wildlife. Or worse, miss out altogether. It will be a group effort over a decade. Early next year we will outline our plans in detail but until then may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas, a much happier New Year and thank you for your ongoing support. Ed Green, Chief Executive Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Get in touch Cover: Montage Wild Warwickshire is the membership Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is the leading WildWarwickshire MagazineTeam by Simon magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust local charity dedicated to conserving, Editor Douglas Nairn Watts WILD! protecting and enhancing your local wildlife. Design Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Design Studio Presentations Email [email protected] We manage over 65 nature reserves in Consultant Editor: Sophie Stafford Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. We Consultant Designer: Tina Smith Hobson Wild Warwickshire magazine was printed by Telephone 024 7630 2912 are supported by over 24,000 members and Seacourt Printers on 100% recycled materials at a over 500 volunteers. factory powered by 100% renewables, using zero Address Brandon Marsh Nature Centre, water and chemicals, and generating zero landfill. Brandon Lane, Coventry, CV3 3GW facebook.com/WarwickshireWT/ Seacourt is a Net Positive printer that makes a positive contribution to the environment and society. Website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk twitter.com/wkwt Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is a company instagram.com/warwickshirewt/ limited by guarantee. Registered in England, number 00585247. Registered charity, number 209200. VAT Number 670318740. 2 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

INSIDE... 4 A local response to a global crisis 7 I n Loving Memory 8 Tales from the frontline 12 E verything we do is thanks to you! 13 Protecting landscapes is not the same as protecting nature 14 River Sherbourne Valley secures National Lottery support 15 Health & wellbeing 16 Tough love 18 Annual report 24 Big gains in small spaces 26 Remembering the Incomparable 29th 28 Living on the hedge 30 6 places to see... 32 What’s in a name? 35 Wild news 3 ways to get involved with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Volunteer Could you donate your Donate Your generous donations will Leave a legacyIf you’ve had skills and time to look after wildlife? You go towards our conservation work in your a lifetime’s pleasure from nature, help local area warwickshirewildlifetrust. can choose from indoor and outdoor org.uk/donate ensure its future by leaving us a gift in tasks warwickshirewildlifetrust.org. your will warwickshirewildlifetrust. uk/volunteer org.uk/legacy Warwickshire Wildlife Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 3 Trust thanks the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

NATURE RECOVERY NETWORKS A local response to a global crisis Globally the decline of various animal populations and species extinctions are occurring at alarming rates, contributing to what could be the world’s sixth mass extinction, the last of which was the dinosaurs. Distressingly, the UK is now cited as one of the most nature depleted countries on earth with 1 in 10 species under threat from extinction T he UK Government’s own assessment indicates that, although progress has been made, the UK will not meet most of the global targets to reverse these declines. Sadly, the situation across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull is an accurate reflection of what is happening across the rest of the UK. In areas where there is little semi-natural habitat left, research shows that Nature Recovery Networks (where wildlife habitats are joined up to increase the overall area and enable species to move) can provide the conditions needed for species to survive. This is because bigger, better, more connected areas provide more room for populations of a species to find food, a home, and a mate. These areas are more resilient to negative impact such as disease, climate change or invasive non-native species because the size of the area creates more space so that any single issue does not impact on the whole species population. This is the science behind Nature Recovery Networks. So, if the solution to species loss is bigger, better and more joined up Nature Recovery Networks – then how much of an area do we need to reverse the declines? The Wildlife Trusts believe that as a rough guide there needs to be at least 30% of land and sea enabling nature’s recovery. The 30% threshold of wildlife habitat in a landscape has been worked out by looking at a range of different species and their requirements. 4 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

NATURE RECOVERY NETWORKS NASA At less than 30% cover habitat patches become small and isolated, and species richness (the number of species in any one area), abundance and survival rates decline. Where habitat cover is greater than 30% habitat patches will, on average, be larger and the distance between patches will typically be less, resulting in greater connectivity. This means that if local extinctions do occur other populations of the same species can move into the area easily. It’s also really important that the wildlife habitat is well managed and in good condition. Wildlife habitat that is in poor condition does not provide the right conditions many species need to survive. If we take those principles we can reflect on the current position across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. The table on the next page shows the breakdown of wildlife habitats across our area, broken down by each local authority. We have calculated ‘wildlife habitat’ by taking data from our Habitat Biodiversity Audit Team. We have looked at the total area of nature reserves, Local Wildlife Sites and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. What the data shows us is that, despite the hard work of the Trust, other conservation organisations and farmers through stewardship schemes, we are still way short of the area we need to reverse wildlife decline. We have then obtained data relating to agri- environment schemes and forestry schemes and lastly identified any further wildlife habitat which is not formally recorded (using phase 1 mapping data). Where a site falls into more than one category (e.g. it’s a Trust nature reserve and a SSSI) we have tried to remove duplication. Where some small amount of duplication may occur, this is offset by other data such as wildlife gardens which we have not been able to accurately record the area of. What the data shows us is that, despite the hard work of the Trust, other conservation organisations and farmers through stewardship schemes, we are still way short of the area we need to reverse wildlife decline. The figures for each local authority area differ slightly but even the best performing area is just over half way towards the target. Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 5

NATURE RECOVERY NETWORKS Percentage of land contributing towards nature’s recovery ZOE BELL AUTHORITY PERCENTAGE Coventry City Council 11% North Warwickshire Borough Council 14% Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council 10% Rugby Borough Council 10% Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council 6% Stratford on Avon District Council 16% Warwick District Council 14% Warwickshire, Coventry & Solihull 13% Floristically enhanced field corner The collective total of Warwickshire, Coventry and landowners, communities, and local businesses, to Solihull falls short of even half way towards the target, inspire and support them to make space for nature on coming in at only roughly 13%. their land. We believe that 1 in 4 people need to take action for wildlife to enable nature’s recovery and we Whilst those figures make stark reading, there is strive to achieve that. room for optimism and we have a plan. As we reflect on our 50th anniversary in 2020 it is humbling to see As we reflect on our 50th anniversary what has been achieved. Back in 1970 local people in 2020 it is humbling to see what came together to establish our charity in response to has been achieved. a crisis. At that time, precious sites for nature were under threat from human development. There was an If we can achieve that level of action then a behavioural urgent need to identify, safeguard and protect the best shift will occur within our society that will enable the sites for wildlife. Over the last 5 decades, alongside our environment to become integral to decision making in passionate members and volunteers, we have secured our daily lives, from the things we buy, how we live these sites for rare and vulnerable wildlife across and the decisions we make in business and politics.   Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull, establishing 65 magnificent nature reserves covering over 1,000 ha. In 2021 as a supporter of our work you can be However, in order to help reverse species decline in the part of a once in a life time campaign to kick wider landscape, and to act as a catalyst to put nature start our ambitious new approach. Watch this space into recovery, we need to look forward to the next 50 for more information… years and be even more ambitious. Wildflower mix at Moving forward we are going to change the way Stratford Oaks Golf Club we acquire new nature reserves. We will give highest priority to acquiring land with low existing wildlife value because the potential for biodiversity gain is greatest at such sites. We will secure land through purchase, donation or long-term agreements, in the right areas to create bigger, better and more joined up areas for wildlife. We will then look to improve these sites for wildlife, increasing the overall land area which has high wildlife value across our region and contributing towards Nature Recovery Networks and the 30% target. This approach also creates more publicly accessible sites to bring you closer to nature on your doorstep. Making space for nature helps to create healthy soils for growing more food, clean air to breathe, clean water and greenspace for exercise, not to mention flood management, carbon capture and mitigating climate change. Alongside this ambitious strategy we will continue to work in partnership with local councils, farmers and 6 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

LEGACIES In Loving Memory We rely on many different forms of support to protect wildlife and wild places, and one of the most important ways you can support the charity is through in memory donations A donation in memory John Clarke, Harry David Hunter, Power of Attorney can be a fitting way to Dr Peter Price, Colin McDonagh, remember someone Judith Guyver, Lorna Cowley, Every adult, especially everyone over 50, special. Many people Julia Rodex, Ivy Ward, now choose to remember a loved Kenneth Hornby, Frances Sabin, should have a Power of Attorney. one by donating in their memory to Margaret Lishman a charity close to their hearts. *Jane Mitchell, *Tony Pratley, In England and *Maureen White-Kennedy, Wales, you need The Trust was honoured to receive *Richard Charles Mays two Lasting such kind donations and would like Powers of to thank the families and friends of *Celebrated their life by purchasing a memory Attorney (LPA), their loved ones for thinking of our leaf on the Brandon Marsh memorial tree one for your charity at such a sad time. assets and one for your welfare. For further information on purchasing a memory leaf please Without An LPA, if visit www.warwickshire wildlifetrust.org.uk/legacy/ you lose capacity memory-leaves or contact Donna Hook, Membership Services to deal with your affairs, someone else will Manager on 024 7630 8972 or on [email protected] need to apply to the Court of Protection for a Deputyship. It is expensive, takes lots of time, and embroils the Deputy in paperwork and responsibility. An LPA avoids all of this; it’s like house insurance - you hope to never need it, but you’ll be glad you took it out if the worst happens. The good news is that our partners McClure will prepare your Power of Attorney for £199 and donate £30 of their fee to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. They also include the Welfare Power free of charge, and let you decide whether and when you want to register the Power of Attorney, which can save you further money in disbursements. McClure Power of Attorney lets you keep control if you are able. You can also change your Power of Attorney or cancel it at any time. There are many good reasons for having a Power of Attorney and no good reason not to! When you get in contact with McClure make sure to get a free Will review. If you don’t have one yet, then take advantage of their Free Will Service. All McClure ask is that you consider a donation to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. BEN HALL/2020VISION Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 7

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS Tales from the frontline In our Summer edition of Wild Warwickshire we created a time line to showcase some of the key moments in the Trust’s history over the last 5 decades. Now we take the opportunity to delve deeper into some of those stories. Told by the people behind these moments, who have helped shape our work, increase our impact and create a legacy for future generations to enjoy… How we moved Shelley Green Meadow Long-serving Trust member and volunteer Ron Hill talks about his work to translocate this important wildlife habitat with a select crew of helpers... I first became a member of the had to literally pick this meadow Trust many, many years ago in the up, move it somewhere else, seventies. There was a conservation somewhere safe and transplant fair in Solihull, which I went along it. We dug it up and moved it to and that’s where I got recruited. over to a farm in Temple Balsall The Trust was just starting up then - quite incredible really when and that was the first event they’d you think about it. It was a lot of attended to get new people to join. work, but we managed to find a Down the years I’ve been a volunteer, contractor who lifted lawn turf a warden at Clowes Wood and, until and had a machine to do the this year, a Trustee but I got started cutting and lifting, and we used at Shelley Green Meadow. Back in that. He was a bit surprised when 1987, there was a new supermarket I asked if we could cut the turf being built on the land and so we nine inches deep, but we had a go at it, and it worked. it into its new home. Of course, the We cut it into strips that turf we moved to accommodate the were big enough so we meadow was made into a great big could lift them. We didn’t mound somewhere, and if memory have health and safety in serves, it was turned into topsoil and those days, and so two of sold off. I expect someone has a really us stuck a fork in each end lovely garden because of that! and lifted it between us. Of course, if it had slipped I haven’t been there for some time we would have been in now, but I’d like to go again. I just hope people appreciate it. Now I’m I’ve been a volunteer, a warden at Clowes Wood and, until this year, a Trustee trouble! There weren’t eyeing up the green desert behind our many of us - the contractor house in Solihull and wondering how plus two or three of us we can make it a bit more biodiverse loading it onto a lorry, and wildlife-friendly. My family let me driving it to the new get on with it, and maintaining my location and unloading wildlife garden keeps me busy. 8 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS From Little Acorns do Mighty Oaks Grow Swift Valley Nature Reserve was created as the result of a collaboration between Kingspark (the developers of the Swift Valley Industrial Estate), Rugby Borough Council, the Trust and Middlemarch Environmental Ltd (the Trust’s wholly owned subsidiary company). Here Dave Smith explains the work involved creating a new nature reserve… In 1996, Kingspark planned to develop The Benefits Environmental had delivered the an industrial estate in the Swift Valley Swift Valley Nature Reserve creation in Rugby. However, there were flood For the Trust: project that he decided to support our risk and ecological concerns. Those n S aving a potentially threatened wider work. concerns led to them approaching the Trust and the Council to develop wildlife site For Middlemarch Environmental the plans for the area. This in turn n Further biodiversity enhancement it was the start of a long association led to Middlemarch Environmental with Birse Civils (and subsequently being commissioned to undertake the by creation of wetland habitats Balfour Beatty who bought them). ecological surveys and to design and n L ong term protection & They realised we could offer a subsequently create the establishment professional range of services from of a new nature reserve that would conservation management of the habitat design to site supervision and also act as a country park for the local land saw the benefits of this in any tender community. n Creating another site that enabled bids. As the Trust’s wholly owned local people to get closer to nature subsidiary, Middlemarch donates a The achievement of this partnership percentage of its profits each year to was a new 37 hectare nature reserve For Rugby Borough Council: support our vital work through gift aid. incorporating; n A new country park, open to the Fast forward twenty years and the n Wetland habitats in the flood public but at no cost to local council nature reserve has matured into an storage area taxpayers. excellent site for wildlife and people. The wetland area provides a vital n A re-profiled river course For Kingspark: function as natural flood storage n Access enhancement through new n D evelopment of the site without during excessive rain. The hedgerows which were planted and restored have footpaths local opposition and with the matured and been laid over the years n Habitat enhancement of the existing support of the Council thus saving to improve their structure for nesting significant time and effort. birds and to aid grazing management. parkland, woodland and ridge and The newly planted woodland has furrow grassland There were other unexpected established and now complements benefits from the scheme. The Trust the mature oak trees which remain on The highlight for myself in 1997 was received a substantial donation from the site and the floristic diversity of accompanying David Attenborough on Parkridge (a logistics warehousing the grassland has improved over the a helicopter ride to the site to review company) for the Brueton Park Visitor years thanks to careful management. progress and meet the developer and Centre, now known as the Parkridge Swift Valley now forms one of a contractors. Unfortunately, due to Centre. The company Parkridge, who number of key sites which contribute delays with the legal transfer of land, it made the donation, were founded by to a Nature Recovery Network across was not until October 2003 that David one of the former Kingspark directors Rugby and the surrounding area. Bellamy officially opened the park. (who built Swift Valley Industrial Estate). He was so impressed with how the Trust and Middlemarch DEBBIE WRIGHT Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 9

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS Ufton for Starters! John Roberts explains how volunteering at a nature reserve led to involvement with the wider Trust for 50 years... My wife Val and I have had a terrific what went on at Ufton generally. Landscapes project, together looking time with WWT over its 50 years, We attended AGMs in the village to identify, link and increase biological joining by happenstance at its birth and John joined the Reserve diversity. Our commercial wing in 1970. The Trust completed its first Management team. Middlemarch was nationally acclaimed. year with 200 members, two reserves Protecting most of the county’s prime and a cupboard at the Warwickshire These early efforts captured our wildlife sites, our nature reserves Museum. hearts and minds, inviting deeper expanded beyond seventy: members involvement. Steadily we graduated requested a Reserves Guide, which As keen newcomers in 1971 we through the WWT committees, John gladly wrote in 2007. elected to work at our local Ufton Fields John for Conservation and Val for SSSI. We scrub-bashed that winter with Education, eventually both becoming How better to invest half a century! our young children to conserve the Chairs of Council. John was a glorious botany developing amongst Trustee for 38 years and Val for 34. the abandoned, limestone rubble of a 1950s cement quarry. Duncan Jeffray Looking back we seem, always researched this site, discovering Man with others, to have participated Orchid at its most NW point in Britain. positively in shaping directions Val and I later took on the specific and policies for the Trust, widely monitoring of this intriguing plant. advertising our conservation presence Annually we counted the precious, through illustrated, public lectures, flowering spikes for five years, even starting an Area Group in confirming by 1979 a stable population Leamington. We joined in discussions of over a hundred plants. with major land users, addressing many wildlife-negative pressures From summer 1972, and gaining in our county. Over time, we met a confidence in natural history, we growing range of committed staff spent many weekends at the entrance and volunteers, and witnessed a welcoming visitors and leading walks. remarkable surge to 23,500 members, a We gave talks about the reserve, powerful acknowledgement of WWT’s its botany and wildlife, excitedly wanted influence in Warwickshire. promoting the Trust and gaining new members. We assembled a handful We warmly applauded the of enthusiasts as guides, with a remarkable growth of two Centres with larger band of 20+ to visit and notice strong, educational roles, the UK’s first Habitat Biodiversity Audit and a Living JOHN ROBERTS 10 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS Otter dedication Pete Sanders has been surveying the otters of Warwickshire for over 20 years. He told us how he got involved and what’s changed since the beginning... I became a member in the early nineties He asked me to get involved, and the are made from reconstructed plastic. to feed my interest in wildlife and nature, rest is history. Staff members including Luckily, we’re in such a strong position and as I live in Coventry I had visited Matt have done crucial work and then now that we are reluctant to build many, Brandon Marsh once or twice. Having moved on, but we like to think that as we prefer to leave the otters to do been brought up in the Peak District, the volunteers are the constant thread their own thing. I was always out in the wild, and was running through the project and knitting nicknamed ‘Nature Boy’ as a child. When it all together through the years. Now we can say with pride that these I started working with otters in 1999, incredible creatures are back on every there were about 20 of us volunteers going out all across the region looking Now we can say with pride that for footprints along river catchments these incredible creatures are back and calling ourselves the Otter Task on every river in Warwickshire, and Force. It really was like looking for a populations are rising needle in a haystack, and we often met back at the pub to compare notes We researched the behaviours of river in Warwickshire, and populations and even the odd otter spraint! It was otters and the historical data available are rising. That’s been a result of important work and we were happy to to us. That encouraged us to restore the improvements to their habitat and water do it. natural habitat that had been gradually quality, rather than a reintroduction. One destroyed. That meant building a impact of all our work on otter recovery At the time, otters hadn’t recolonised complex system of over 30 otter holts, has been to keep local mink at bay, and Warwickshire, and as nature abhors and ironically we based the design on give water voles a chance to recover. a vacuum, local mink were rampant the traps used by otter huntsmen. There We’ve now started putting in water vole and wiping out our water voles. The were even a few floating ones, but we’ll motels along rivers, which have further Environment Agency, along with Severn keep their locations secret! Last time aided the species’ recovery. With 2020 Trent and a few other organisations I checked, there was one you could being the Trust’s 50th anniversary, employed Otters and Wetlands Officers see from Google Earth. One holt takes I’m excited to see how the charity can across the Midlands, and Warwickshire’s anything from a day to three days to continue to support wildlife and wild was Matt Jones. The task was to hasten build and install, and the modern ones places in the future. the natural recolonisation of otters in the Midlands, and I first volunteered with the Trust in the same month Matt started. ANDY ROUSE/2020VISION Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 11

MEMBERSHIP Everything we do is thanks to you! As this extraordinary year draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on a challenging year for us all With your invaluable help, the Trust has worked hard to continue Calling all Family Members our work to protect local wildlife and wild places, and we were only able to achieve our goals because of you – our outstanding As part of your family membership your members. Thank you to each and every one of our members for children receive one free, educational your support in tough times. You are amazing! activity per season Adopt a species for just £25 In line with government guidelines, all of these activities were sadly cancelled from late March, due to the The perfect gift for wildlife lovers of any age pandemic. Many iconic birds and mammals are under anEgydaieofcnmtuhtfnahopkguraeswocsikraialosidstlloldsi£v,f.2ee5ly It is crucial, now more than ever, that your children canMICHELLE TENNISON threat and need your help. Our ‘Adopt a discover the delights of nature and explore the great Species’ scheme raises awareness of the outdoors once again. So, we will honour the sessions plight of local wildlife and funds our work your children missed in 2020 by allowing you to book to protect threatened wildlife. three extra sessions at any time during 2021. Please find your 2021 free activity card enclosed. Follow your chosen species over a year and discover fascinating facts and information along the way. Follow the instructions on the card to book your free You can adopt a badger, hedgehog, peregrine, owl or bat. children’s activity, and choose from Nature families, Nature Tots, Holiday Workshops or After School Club. Booking of Wildness Wednesdays incur a £1.50 surcharge when booking as a free activity. If you have any questions, please call us on 024 7630 8972 or email membership@ wkwt.org.uk. This offer is open to existing members only. Further conditions can be found on the card. Buy online at Enclosed eco-friendly car sticker warwickshirewildlifetrust. org.uk/adopt, pop into one of our visitor centres or call the Enclosed with your winter Wild Warwickshire magazine you will find your 2021 members car sticker. This year’s membership team on 024 7630 8972 sticker is a new product – Natureflex Clear, which is produced from wood pulp sourced from managed plantations, the material is fully biodegradable and compostable. If you’re missing your car sticker from your mailing, please contact the membership team on 024 7630 2972 or email [email protected] 12 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

30 BY 30 Protecting landscapes is not the same as protecting nature Jo Smith, CEO of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Kate Jennings, Head of Site Conservation Policy at the RSPB W e welcome the prime should do more for nature”, and that diverse coalition of other NGOs, wrote to minister’s recent promise both National Parks and AONBs should Environment Secretary George Eustice to protect 30% of UK’s spearhead our national response to the requesting more action to transform land by 2030 as a crucial nature and climate crises. It concluded England’s National Parks and AONBs contribution to reversing the loss of that “the way we protect and improve our for the benefit of wildlife, climate and biodiversity and tackling the nature and landscapes needs to change radically […] people. Fundamental change requires climate crises, although a few eyebrows if their natural beauty is to be in a better new legislation, but simple, low-cost must have been raised in the devolved condition 70 years from today, even better interventions can be delivered now to administrations as he can only make this to look at, far more biodiverse, and alive reflect the urgent need for action and to commitment for England. with people from all backgrounds and capitalise on widespread support for a parts of the country, they cannot carry on green recovery. Even more surprising was his claim that as they do now”. “National Parks, Areas of Outstanding “The way we protect Natural Beauty and other protected areas A gift to government and improve our currently comprise approximately 26% With broad stakeholder support for its landscapes needs to of land in England”. This view, which conclusions, this report should have change radically” assumes that protected landscapes are been a gift to government and acting protected for nature, was also adopted on it an urgent priority in advance of Put simply - we cannot afford not to in the UK government’s final report on the forthcoming global conferences on act on the findings of the landscapes its performance against the Aichi targets climate and biodiversity. The pandemic review. Our natural world, climate and under the Convention on Biological has emphasised how important our wellbeing are all at stake. It is time for Diversity. However, as the RSPB’s A Lost connection to a healthy environment is the government and those running our Decade for Nature report and the Wildlife for our physical and mental health, and protected landscapes to step up. Until and Trusts have recently made clear this indeed our very survival. unless they do, our protected landscapes assumption is, at best, disingenuous. cannot be counted towards the ‘30% by Protected landscapes can’t be in the 2030’ target. But, without them, achieving National Parks and AONBs offer no 30% target without reform it looks impossible. extra protection That’s why, on 6th October, the Wildlife Whilst National Parks promote wildlife Trusts and the RSPB, along with a conservation and AONBs conserve and enhance natural beauty, neither designation confers any additional legal protection for wildlife.* The much less extensive Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Ramsar sites do give such protection, but the true extent of land protected and well managed for nature in the UK is currently only around 5%. In 2018, the government commissioned a review of protected landscapes in England, conducted by an independent panel headed by the journalist Julian Glover. Published in September 2019, its message was clear that “people and organisations agreed that our landscapes * no part of Warwickshire is in a National Park and only 5% (40 sq m iles ) is in the Cotswolds AONB Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 13

LIVING LANDSCAPES River Sherbourne Valley secures National Lottery support The Trust has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the River Sherbourne Valley Living Landscape M ade possible by National Lottery River Sherbourne ANNA SQUIRES players, the scheme aims to reconnect the people of Coventry with the city’s and other innovative techniques to allow people to river, restore the river for wildlife and better understand where the river is beneath their complement the growing City of Culture programme feet, enabling them to reconnect with their river and linked to nature. celebrate its importance. Development funding of £253,600 has been A key element of the scheme is to raise awareness awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help of the existing natural and built heritage already the Trust progress our plans to apply for a full National present on the river. Two Grade 2 listed bridges, one Lottery grant at a later date. scheduled monument (a single span bridge), and two locally listed sluice gates span the river. The ruins of The scheme aims to restore and celebrate the an old chapel sit adjacent to it in Spon End. These, natural, built and cultural heritage of the river, which and other features go largely un-noticed by people starts near Corley Moor to the west of the city and going about their busy lives. The scheme aims to travels through a number of greenspaces like Coundon safeguard and interpret these features to restore local Wedge and Lakeview Park, before disappearing in a pride in the river. large pipe underground. The scheme will also develop extensive Match funding has been provided by Coventry volunteering and events programmes, enabling local City Council, the Environment Agency, Severn Trent, people to develop a sense of ownership for their Citizen Housing and Diocese of Coventry. Collaborating river. Working with community groups and schools, with those partners and others, including Historic people from across Coventry and further afield will Coventry and City of Culture, the Trust will work with benefit from a revitalised River Sherbourne, which will change lives forever. “The Trust will work with locals to enhance the area This is really exciting news and could lead on to a for wildlife and people” £1.8million Delivery Phase to create a lasting legacy for people and wildlife in Coventry! locals to enhance the area for wildlife and people - helping communities to improve, interpret, share and celebrate all aspects of the river’s heritage. The scheme will investigate the use of virtual reality ANNA SQUIRES If you’re interested in learning more about the scheme and how you can get involved on the ground then contact us on 024 7630 2912 or [email protected] 14 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

HEALTH & WELLBEING Health & Wellbeing Daily contact with nature is linked to being more active, reducing stress, being mentally resilient and having better physical and mental health. Every day, we bring more wildlife to people, and more people to wildlife Regular walks in local green Leamington’s Green Connections MARTIN FELSTEAD spaces have helped many of KAT REAY us to maintain our health and The team paused our National Lottery wellbeing during the pandemic. Community Fund project Leamington’s Nature provides tranquillity, in juxtaposition Green Connections back in March, and to the chaos of our current situation. We’re now we’re looking forward to delivering pleased to highlight a number of projects more activities at Leam Valley and Oakley that enable you to manage your health and Wood, like the Wellbeing in the Woods wellbeing by connecting with nature. courses. If you live locally and are keen to try something new, these hands-on Wilder Wellbeing in the Woods conservation sessions are ideal. Everyone is welcome, all tools and training are In partnership with Achieving Results provided and you can attend just once, in Communities, we’re offering monthly or weekly. There is no minimum armed forces veterans in Coventry commitment, and if you’re interested and Warwickshire a free, eight-week then we would love to hear from you. woodland wellbeing course. To find out more, please email Funded by The Armed Forces [email protected] Covenant Fund Trust, these courses are exclusively for armed forces Woodland Wellbeing veterans. We have a range of activities to accommodate different Funded by the European Social Fund and the Education and experience and skill levels, from fire- Skills Funding Agency, and supported by the Local Enterprise lighting and greenwood working to Partnership, these woodland wellbeing courses are aimed at natural navigation and conservation. unemployed or economically inactive people in North Warwickshire. Sessions take Veterans will spend one day a week place outside at Hams Hall and aim to improve mental wellbeing, increase confidence, in the woods, learning new skills and ingrain new skills, build routine and provide experience of working in a team. practicing existing ones in a safe, non-judgemental, natural space in Over eight weeks, participants will be involved the company of other veterans and in activities including: supportive staff. n nature conservation using hand tools n natural crafts To find out more, please email n lighting and managing fires [email protected] n cooking outdoors n shelter and hammock building MARTIN FELSTEAD Participants will meet and work with new people, reducing social isolation and developing skills in team working, leadership and communication. To find out more, please email [email protected] Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 15

RESERVES Tough love Managing our woodlands can look destructive, but doing this work now protects wildlife for future generations Amanaged oak can live well Open Spaces MARGARET HOLLAND over a thousand years, with Open spaces provide the quickest and the existence of a woodland most obvious results from woodland Grass snake measured in centuries and management. Regular visitors will notice millenia, rather than the years and decades new glades, scalloped path edges and creating one long linear glade. This also with which we measure our own lifetimes. other gaps in the canopy, which the brings wildlife closer to our visitors, as the Trust creates and then maintains through transition area from an open space into The woodlands we manage work regular cutting. Their purpose is to woodland is a real wildlife hotspot. on incredibly long-term timescales, allow enough light onto the woodland which means protecting them for future floor to stimulate the seed bank and Scrub and Coppice generations requires patience and foresight encourage the growth of a diverse array Smaller trees and scrub are cut or in the present day. The Trust is making of wildflowers and plants. This growth coppiced less frequently (roughly once changes right now to the structure of our provides nectar and pollen for many of every ten years) to encourage thick, woodlands, the benefits of which won’t the woodland’s invertebrates, and the branchy structures that provide cover and be seen for generations. In the short-term, vegetation structure itself will be used by that can make our work seem destructive, mini-predators in search of a meal. but it’s clear that where woodlands have been well managed in the past, we are Open spaces are also great spots reaping those benefits now. for cold-blooded reptiles to bask in the warmth, such as grass snakes, slow At this time of year our woodland worms and lizards. Where access tracks management is clear for our members to or rides exist, we sometimes manage see, so we wanted to explain the method the edges as open space - effectively behind our actions. Woodland edges are wildlife hotspots (Bubbenhall Wood and Meadow) 16 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2020 16

RESERVES Dead wood appears Brandon Reach messy, but it is full of life (Ryton Wood) Reaching out to communities NICK FELEDZIAK In 2017 the Trust took on two additional areas of land to the north of nesting habitat for many species. This is Canopies without gaps close over and Brandon Marsh – taking our footprint where you’re likely to hear birds such as prevent light from reaching the woodland right up to Coventry’s doorstep. whitethroats and garden warblers, which floor, which hinders the survival of the The FCC Communities Foundation nest in the sheltered, protected structure. next generation of trees. Fewer, weaker recently gave us over £47,000 to The interconnecting branches are also young trees then struggle to replace older improve accessibility, increase heavily used by dormice to travel and feed trees when they reach the end of their engagement and enhance the reserve out of sight from predators. Trees are through sensitive management. regularly coppiced on the edge of open Around 40% of spaces to provide a soft graded edge that woodland wildlife is This funding focuses on improving extends the size of this crucial woodland dependent on dead gateways and interpretation panels, edge habitat. or decaying wood. as well as facilitating easier access and connecting to the neighbouring Thinning natural life expectancy. As larger trees Brandon Woods. One of our first In woodlands made of relatively similar- support much more wildlife than young steps was to install this impressive aged trees, the biggest threat to their trees, this sudden disappearance of gate at the Brandon Lane entrance to long-term health is lack of management. habitat and wildlife would be a devastating the reserve. loss for the woodland. This is why we thin NICK FELEDZIAK our woodlands out to encourage an overall The current pandemic has diversity of age and tree species. It also highlighted the need for accessible allows us to open up and protect high- green space that is so vital to our value trees with wildlife features, such health and wellbeing. Part of our as old veteran oaks, providing habitat to wider plan for Brandon Reach is hundreds of species. to make it a rich, resilient place for wildlife and people. To explore Creating gaps provides a layer of this well-connected reserve and vegetation underneath the canopy – cover see how we’re reaching out to for wildlife to forage under. Thinning communities, visit our website benefits wildlife and creates long-term warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ resilience in the woodland. BrandonReach For more information on the FCC Communities Foundation visit: https://fcccommunities foundation.org.uk NICK FELEDZIAK Dead and decaying wood Brandon Reach gates We like our woodlands natural and messy. Around 40% of woodland wildlife is Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 17 dependent on dead or decaying wood. It provides roosts for bats, cavities for hole-nesting birds, food for wood-boring insects and the wildlife that eats them, and sustenance for fungi and other decomposers that turn dead wood into soil. During management we leave a range of standing, hanging and fallen dead wood to keep our woodland ecosystems functional and healthy.

ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL REPORT OUR IMPACT 2019 was a fantastic year for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Together with our trading subsidiary, Middlemarch Environmental we achieved more than we ever have in our history. Raising more funds to support our vital work and investing more to bring people closer to nature and create a land rich in wildlife. Social media followers: Arden Farm Hedgehogs Network 10,200 8,295 2,655 20 more hogs tagged 30 farmers for monitoring at our two are members “hedgehog hub” of the sites in Solihull network. and Rugby Farming Volunteering Over 35,000 hours 569 Active volunteers volunteered in Warwickshire Engaged 129 farmers, covering over 10,500ha, Dunsmore through our partnership with Severn Trent. 5.5km of Green and Healthy Ufton hedgerows Advised local farmers on restored conserving over 100ha Fortnightly of species rich or semi- Two straight-tusked sessions have improved riverside grassland. elephant sculptures welcomed installed at Ryton Pools Country Park 15 new Bubbenhall Wood volunteers who have and Meadow Three sculptures & two donated 228 hours and carved benches installed at One Oral History project reported an improvement in both physical and mental wellbeing as a result. film released. Brandon Marsh 12 events delivered Education Habitat Biodiversity Audit to 241 people. Over 150 really There are 624 Local Wildlife sites Wild Work Days with an area of 7,122 hectares wild parties 50 Days delivered Over 20,000 to over 500 employees interactions with 18 Local Neighbourhood from 11 businesses children and families Parish Plan ecological surveys completed Over 2500 Close to 200 Seven volunteer plant children enjoying corporate identification and wildlife volunteer our really wild habitats training courses hours donated workshops delivered 18 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

ANNUAL REPORT These next few pages explain the financial performance of our charity, how your donations are so important in supporting our vital work, and what we are spending our money on. We’ve picked out some of the key figures and provided a bit of an explanation of the detail behind them to help you understand how our charity is run. Overall financial pe  rformance In 1958 the West Midlands Nature   Charitable 2019 Total Conservation Trust (the forerunner £2,888,000 Trading £7,837,000 to our charity) recorded that they Total Income £2,790,000 (Middlemarch £7,639,000 were in debt by £39. Over 5 Total Environmental) £197,000 decades later, and thanks to the £98,000 generosity of your support and Expenditure £4,949,000 the hard work of our staff and Net Income volunteers in 2019 we generated (Expenditure) £4,849,000 a surplus of £197,000 which can now be invested in helping to £99,000 achieve more in the years to come. We are extremely grateful to the following organisations who awarded us grant funding in 2019 n 29th May Charitable Trust FAYE IRVINEn Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) n Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) n S outh Warwickshire Health and n British Hedgehog Preservation Society n Children in Need Wellbeing Partnership n Coventry City Council n Tesco n DS Smith n Warwick District Council n Environment Agency n Warwickshire County Council n European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) n WH Smith n FCC Communities Foundation n Millies Watch Charitable Trust Green and Healthy n National Lottery Heritage Fund Ufton volunteers n National Lottery Communities Fund n Natural England n North Warwickshire Borough Council n Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council n People’s Postcode Lottery n Rugby Borough Council n Ratcliff Foundation n Severn Trent n Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council n Stratford Upon Avon District Council Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 19

ANNUAL REPORT INCOME 2019 Charitable activities £1,330,000 Income (e.g. grants & contracts) £588,000 Membership subscriptions £267,000 For every £1 our members donated we £459,000 raised another £5 from other sources to Visitor centres £134,000 make your money go further. Legacies £48,000 Like a lot of charities we apply for £35,000 grants from a variety of organisations Income tax recovered under gift aid £15,000 in a competitive process which involves £12,000 us having to demonstrate the importance of our Fundraising £2,888,000 vital work. Donations and gifts The lifeblood of our organisation is our membership. Membership subscriptions Investment income provide us with vital income free from Corporate membership conditions set by funders which allows us to invest in the areas that matter most. Without your support our subscriptions charity would not be able to function. Thank you! Total Another key income source for our charity is legacies. We are humbled and truly grateful to the generous donations of our legators; Robert William Sallis, Joan Lerston, Harry David Hunter, Susan Mary Preedy, William Thomas Skinner, Christine Mary Kitchen, Herbert Haywood Fundraising 2% Corporate membership subscriptions 0.42% Income tax recovered under Donations & gifts 1% Gift Aid 5% Investment income 1% Legacies 16% Visitor centres 9% Charitable activities (eg grants Membership subscriptions 20% & contracts) 46% 20 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

Expenditure EXPENDITURE ANNUAL REPORT Charitable expenditure 88p in every pound we spend aims to bring 2019 people closer to nature and create a land rich Visitor centres £1,763,000 in wildlife. The remaining 12p helps to Membership services £413,000 raise the next pound to keep our vital work going. £341,000 Communications £227,000 Our charitable expenditure within the annual Volunteers report includes the management of our Governance £31,000 nature reserves, our Living Landscapes Total £15,000 work in partnership with farmers, landowners, £2,790,000 businesses and councils, as well as our health and wellbeing, planning policy and education work. The increased expenditure linked with our visitor centres is associated with developing the Parkridge Café following the decision to bring it in house, restructuring our staffing in visitor centres to ensure we continue to deliver a high standard of service, and improving the visitor experience through enhanced signage and information. Communications 8% Volunteers 1% Membership services 12% Governance 1% Charitable expenditure 63% Visitor centres 15% Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 21

ANNUAL REPORT 2019 2018 £1,000,000 £1,000,000 Designated Funds £946,000 £105,000 DESIGNATED FUNDS Nature Recovery Fund £0 £730,000 Charity Projects Fund £946,000 £2,781,000 Infrastructure Investment Fund £25,000 Brandon Reach Covid-19 Recovery Fund £315,000 Contingency £730,000 Total £3,016,000 In 2019 we used some of our designated DANIEL LOVEARD funds to improve our charity’s organisational resilience. With over 70 staff based across 4 different offices we took the decision to upgrade some of our IT infrastructure to ensure we are fit for the future, GDPR compliant and secure. This proved vital in ensuring we were able to adapt our working practices to base staff at home in response to the COVID-19 outbreak as the majority of staff had laptops. Our new online finance and membership database also enabled us to maintain the vital functions of our charity whilst working remotely. Following generous donations from our supporters, legacies and gift aid provided by Middlemarch Environmental we have continued to allocate £1m to our Nature Recovery Fund. Careful financial management through the COVID-19 outbreak has enabled us to preserve this fund and we have exciting plans developing to invest this to help support nature’s recovery in 2020 and beyond. We have decided to designate some of our funds to enable the charity to recover from the impact of COVID-19 and to try and minimise the impact of a potential economic recession which may result. 22 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

ANNUAL REPORT How far we have come 2020 1970 Nature reserves: 65 Nature reserves: 0 Members: 24,000 Members: 8 Wildlife engagement Wildlife engagement experiences: 23,500 Area of farmland given experiences: 100 environmental advice: Area of farmland 10,000 hectares given environmental Planning & policy advice: 100 hectares consultations Planning & policy responded to: 250 Staff: 70 consultations responded to: 12 Volunteers: 500+ Staff: 0 Expenditure on nature conservation: £2,790,000 Volunteers: 30 Vehicles: 8 23 Expenditure on nature conservation: £100 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 Vehicles: 0

Big gains in Home sweet home ILLUSTRATION: HANNAH BAILEY, PHOTO: SARAH CUTTLE small spaces You don’t need a large garden to hang a bee hotel, A garden that might seem small to us can be a only a wall or fence. Erect huge space for wildlife. Kate Bradbury reveals bird boxes in the eaves for how you can optimise your space for wildlife sparrows or swifts, or place a tit box 1-2m from the ground. Layer bulbs in pot Layer alliums and crocus in the same pot. Crocuses flower in March, then the alliums will grow and the crocuses die down, creating food for bees for longer in the same pot. Grow climbing plants Clothe every inch of your space with plants to provide shelter for insects. You might find night-flying moths resting here during the day! Feed the birds Hanging feeders of sunflower hearts, mixed seed and fat balls can save the lives of birds in winter and also help in the breeding season. 24 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

Wildlife gardening needn’t just be for those with These corridors are important because they enable Kate Bradbury large gardens. Any space, no matter how small, can wildlife to increase their populations and adapt more is passionate be used to create habitats for wildlife. Put together, easily to climate change. Some species are already about wildlife- our gardens take up more land than all of our nature shifting in a northerly direction — if there are no friendly gardening reserves combined. So you might not think your corridors or stepping stones to help them on their way, and the author of garden has much potential as a wildlife habitat, but they’ll have less chance of surviving. Wildlife Gardening taken as part of a much wider network of linked for Everyone and spaces, yours could be one small but vital piece in a You can tailor your garden to meet your needs as Everything in vast jigsaw of connected habitats. much as those of wildlife. No room for a pond? Try association with a little container pond, instead. Worried trees will grow The Wildlife Small spaces add up for wildlife because they too big for your space? Consider shrubs such Trusts. contribute to ‘wildlife corridors’, which enable wildlife as hazel, guelder rose and spindle. You can grow plants to travel, often between other habitats. You might that flower over a long period to provide as much nectar have a small garden close to a park. By digging holes and pollen as possible, such as perennial wallflower, beneath your fences on either side you will be creating catmint and salvias. Even just letting the grass grow in a corridor for hedgehogs to reach the park, potentially one patch. Anything you do will make a difference. opening up huge new spaces for them (especially if your neighbours do the same). You might grow a few Gardens of all sizes can help save flowering plants on a balcony. These could provide a our struggling insects. For ideas on stepping stone of nectar, enabling butterflies and other what you can do in your garden visit insects to travel greater distances in search of a mate. warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/actions Add water Let long grass grow Container ponds and birdbaths Even the smallest patch of long are great for bringing wildlife grass will provide shelter and food into small spaces. for a range of species. You should get wildflowers popping up, too. Wild highways Hedges shelter wildlife and offer access to your garden, but if you have fences, a hole in, or beneath, them on either side provides a lifeline to mammals and amphibians. Grow caterpillar food plants Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 25 Even small gardens have room for a few caterpillar foodplants. Try foxgove, primrose, hops, honeysuckle and red campion, or nettles in larger spaces.

LIVING LANDSCAPES Remembering the Incomparable 29th Restoration works to the 29th Division Monument roundabout and Lime Avenue completed ready for the 2021 centenary of its unveiling Works were recently completed on L-R: Sophie Gambling, Mark improvements to the 29th Division Pawsey MP, Jessica Scuffle, Memorial. The monument, which Lucy Hawker, Rugby Mayor/ is located on the A45 in Stretton on Cllr Bill Lewis, Ian Binnie Dunsmore commemorates where King George V saluted servicemen billeted in the area before they self-set tree species that were detracting from the embarked on armed service in World War One, avenue visually. To help improve the avenue aesthetic beginning in Gallipoli. 23 new Lime trees were planted where gaps had formed, as well as two extra to replace the felled trees A collaboration between Kier Highways and on the roundabout. Dunsmore Living Landscape with funding from Highways England Environmental Designated Following the tree works and hard landscaping, Funds has enabled improvements to the monument poppies have been sown in a ring surrounding the and the surrounding landscape. The loose-gravel monument and native wildflower seeds sown in the surface surrounding the monument where annual verges surrounding the roundabout. These verges commemorations are held has been upgraded to resin- will be maintained in a manner sympathetic to wildlife bound gravel and new up-lighting of the monolith has and a cut and collect system will be implemented to emphasised the importance of the monument as part help encourage wildflower development and enhance of the landscape. local biodiversity. A new interpretation board has been designed and installed in partnership with the A tree avenue has been a landscape feature in this Gallipoli Association to help explain the significance area since the early 18th century. Today over one of this monument and what it represents within the hundred mature lime trees line the A45 and as part of Dunsmore Living Landscape. their restoration each tree was visually inspected and PiCUS scanned to determine the current health of the trees. From the 136 trees scanned, two were deemed unsafe on the roundabout and have been felled and replaced. Other works to help restore the avenue included pruning overhanging deadwood and removing Lime tree and the Following the tree works and hard monument landscaping, poppies have been sown in a ring surrounding the monument This project was a great example of partnership working between the Trust, Rugby Borough Council, the Environment and Construction Teams of Kier Highways, Kier Design Services Lighting Team, Highways England Designated Funds Team and landscape contractors AC Landscapes & Treeworks. 26 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

WILD THOUGHTS Melissa Harrison The home patch When you look back at the spring I’ve written before, in these pages and A LITTLE BIT WILD and summer of 2020, what will you elsewhere, of the importance of having a remember? The challenge of home- schooling? The frustrations of domestic ‘home patch’ that we care for and connect It may have seemed as confinement? Fear of illness, or perhaps illness itself? Our shared period of lockdown was a long, to, physically, mentally and emotionally. though the birds were strange time, yet for many of us it came with an unexpected silver lining: the opportunity to Knowing where the swifts nest on your singing more loudly rediscover (or discover for the first time) the overlooked green spaces around our homes. street, which oak in the park is always the during lockdown, Especially in the early weeks, when restrictions were at their strictest, all many of us saw of the last into leaf, why the mason bees nest but in fact, it’s likely outside world was during a brief walk each day. As one of the sunniest springs on record unfolded, we on one side of a nearby building and not they were able to sought out parks, nature reserves and urban green spaces, hungry for contact with the natural world. the other – these things root us in place lower their volume For some time now we’ve been reading about the benefits of contact with nature to our mental and and time, in ways that often prove deeply as they had physical health, but this year it was really brought home to us, as our deepest instincts drove us to listen beneficial both to the world around us, and far less noise out for birdsong, plant windowboxes, cherish humble pavement weeds and take daily note of spring’s to ourselves. pollution to compete progress, drawing deep comfort, amid frightening changes, from one of the eternal verities. If, during lockdown, you found yourself with. This will have saved So what happens now that many of us are back at work each day, and car trips for leisure are once seeing your local area with new eyes, don’t them precious energy, again allowed? Do we consign the local discoveries we made to the dustbin of memory, filing our turn away from it now. Consider becoming and may also have wonder-filled walks under ‘strange things we did in lockdown’? Or can we take something crucial from a Friend of your nearest park, or supporting boosted their chances of the weeks we spent close to home, using what we learned to transform the post-Covid world? The Wildlife Trusts; look online for Forest reproductive success. Schools who want help connecting kids in your area to nature, or other charities that have been doing unsung work to protect and preserve green spaces where you are. At the very least, please don’t stop visiting the Melissa places you discovered in lockdown, no matter how Harrison is tempting it is to forget them in favour of a nature writer somewhere further afield. We need them, and novelist, just as wildlife needs them: not just grand and editor of National Parks, but nearby nature, too. the anthologies ILLUSTRATION: ROBIN MACKENZIE Spring, Summer, There could still be a new local Autumn and gem to discover. Find out if there’s Winter, produced a Wildlife Trust reserve near you: in support of The warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves Wildlife Trusts. Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 27

LIVING ON THE HEDGE Living on the hedge By Andrew Jamieson, Surrey Wildlife Trust ILLUSTRATION BY BETH KNIGHT F irst light and an early winter Brimstone mist lies softly on the fields. Along the track the low sun One of a handful of UK is backlighting frosted cobwebs and the butterflies that overwinter frozen stalks of last summer’s hogweed. Redwings and as adults, tucked away fieldfares, as well as our resident thrushes, take flight in ivy. They can even be from the hedges as I approach. I have interrupted their seen flying on sunny days gorging on a bounty of berries. Sloe, haw, hip and holly in winter. The caterpillars are all on the menu, these thorny thickets providing feed on alder buckthorn. a rich larder for birds that have flocked from harsher climes to spend their winter with us. Hedgehog Other birds take advantage of these hedges at this Hedgehogs will often choose the time of year, too. At sunset, hundreds of chattering base of a thick hedgerow to site starlings will take up their roosting stations deep within their hibernaculum to sleep away the intricate tangle of shrubs and climbers. Here they the colder months. In milder are protected from whatever the elements have in winters they may be seen out store over the long winter nights. Insects in various and about as late as December. life stages are also holed-up. Some careful exploration and you may find dormant ladybirds tucked deep into Stoat bark crevices or the tiny eggs of the brown hairstreak butterfly lodged in the fork of a blackthorn branch. These fierce predators are Meanwhile hidden away at ground level hedgehogs, active all year round. They toads, and newts are using the security of the dense use hedge lines to hunt vegetation for their seasonal slumber. small rodents and rabbits, although when food is Later in the year our hedge will become a riot of scarce may resort to colour, movement and aromatic scents with bees foraging for earthworms. and butterflies visiting the flowers of campion, bramble and honeysuckle. Long-tailed tits, wrens and yellowhammers will be busily raising their broods; shrews and voles will be feeding, sheltering and defending their territories. But all that has yet to unfold, and for now much of life lies waiting. Thousands of miles of hedgerows such as this criss- cross our country in a familiar and historical patchwork landscape. Rich in wildlife, this network of green highways links the habitats and populations of so many species, all living ‘on the hedge’. Farming on the hedge Hedgerows are a vital part of the farming landscape, providing food and shelter to countless birds, mammals and insects. Bird food supplier and Wildlife Trust partner, Vine House Farm, provide a haven for tree sparrows and other wildlife in their hedges. Plus, with every purchase made supporting The Wildlife Trusts, the farm is helping wildlife beyond the farm gate. Find out more here: warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ VineHouseFarm 28 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

LIVING ON THE HEDGE Fieldfare Winter visitors from the semi-arctic regions where they breed, these grey-blue thrushes will often arrive in mixed flocks along with redwings to feed on berries. House sparrow Ivy Both house sparrows and tree This late-flowering evergreen sparrows use dense hedges has much to offer wildlife in for roosting spots, protection autumn and winter. Autumn from predators and even as nectar sustains bees, juicy nest sites when favoured holes berries feed birds long and crevices aren’t available. after other fruits have been snapped up, and dense Dormouse foliage provides a home for hibernating bats and insects. Well-managed hedgerows are vital corridors for many Orange ladybird species and none more so than the dormouse. As well This distinctive ladybird is among as a secure hibernation site, the many insects that hibernate the hedge will provide them in leaf litter at the base of with many of the fruits, nuts hedges. Other species of ladybird and insects in their diet. will be under bark or nestled within thick beds of lichen. Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 29

6 places to see Hidden forests A cross the UK, hidden forests of lichen are waiting to be discovered. They thrive in almost any environment with enough light, from the rocky mosaics of dry stone walls to the gnarled bark of ancient woodlands. Lichens are fascinating things — not one organism, but a symbiotic coupling of one or more fungus species and an alga or cyanobacterium (or occasionally both). They live in harmony, the fungus providing structure and the other organism making food through photosynthesis. They’re often overlooked, but closer inspection reveals a world in miniature, with lichens growing in sprawling shapes like the trunks, branches and leaves of the forests in which many of them grow. It seems as if no two lichens are alike, each patch a work of chaotic art, from moss-green cups to rust-coloured mats. With a searching eye and an open mind, lichens can brighten any walk in the wild. Usnea florida, a beard-lichen also known as witches’ whiskers, is a declining species found mainly on trees in Wales and south-west England 30 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

WITCHES’ WHISKERS LICHEN © ADRIAN DAVIES/NATURE PL 1 23 See the spectacle 4 5 for yourself 6 1 Ballachuan Hazelwood, Scottish Wildlife Trust One of Scotland’s most ancient woodlands, where the hazels and rocks are dripping with lichens and mosses. It’s home to over 372 different lichens, including Norwegian specklebelly, octopus suckers and elf-ears lichens. Where: Near Oban, PA34 4RJ 2 Glenarm Nature Reserve, Ulster Wildlife Trust This beautiful river valley is home to lichens found nowhere else in Ireland. Look for them decorating the branches of ancient oaks or coating rocks along the Glenarm River, where the rare river jelly lichen is found.Where: Glenarm, BT44 0BD 3 Eycott Hill, Cumbria Wildlife Trust Admire the collage of lichens along the dry stone walls, or scour the rocky outcrops to find those orange, leafy lichens that grow best on a bird’s favourite perch as they thrive on the extra nitrates from droppings of meadow pipits and wheaters. Where: Penrith, CA11 0XD 4 Whitacre Heath, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Whitacre Heath Nature Reserve is a good example of vegetation succession, from open water through marsh into willow carr and woodland. Where: Lea Marston, B46 2EH 5 Roydon Woods Nature Reserve, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust This enchanting ancient woodland is known for its wildflowers, but the lichens draping the ageing trees are just as impressive. Where: Brockenhurst, SO42 7UF 6 Isles of Scilly, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust One of the best places for lichens in the UK. The granite cairns of Peninnis Head offer a good selection, with a backdrop of spectacular sea views. The islands are also home to rare species like gilt- edged lichen. Did you discover any lichen? We’d love to know how your search went. Please tweet us your best photos of the lichens that take your liking! @wildlifetrusts

SPECIES What’s in a name? Words have the power to change the way we view the world. Author Horatio Clare explores the connection between language and nature R ecently a family passed my been vital to us, this hard and awful year; they have been home to — and will, with house, which overlooks a there seems real hope that the change we luck, support again. meadow near Hebden Bridge, have been praying for is afoot: with any Yorkshire. ‘Look!’ said the luck, renewed relationships with nature The precise nature of that relationship mother, ‘A peacock!’. ‘It’s a pheasant and language are being born. Sales of field is found in our vernacular and demotic mum,’ her teenaged daughter replied. ‘It’s guides are up, according to Emma Corfield- terms for animals and birds: humour, close a peacock,’ repeated the mother, looking Walters who runs Bookish in Crickhowell. observation, accuracy and a poetic sense hard at the cock pheasant. It was a joyful of the country characterise these terms, a exchange to witness. Is this not how we all begin with nature, with anything — 30% of 8-to-11-year-olds cannot identify a naming and misnaming, feeling our way magpie, but 90% of them can spot a Dalek towards understanding? Emma has been running a mail-order cornucopia of words for everything from There must have been a great deal of service throughout the pandemic: ‘I’m moles to herons. It makes sense that the new naming of nature, recently. On a visit selling a lot of foraging and identification creatures we see most often have the to Scotland, our seven-year-old named books, so people are taking this time to most names. The humble woodlouse is a what might well have been a buzzard a learn,’ she says. peabug or a nutbug in Liverpool, a ticktock golden eagle. He still confuses carrion in Bedfordshire, a flump in Southampton, a crows and jackdaws, but like many of us The depth and richness of all there is parson pig on the Isle of Man, a sow-pig in this year, he is making a start, delighted to learn will strike the readers of these Norfolk and a billybutton in Yorkshire. with collective nouns for the unkindness of books the way those of us who love fauna ravens we see occasionally, the exaltations and flora were struck when our passions Shakespearean England is alive in our of larks on our moors and the murder of began. The multitudes of dialects and the local names for species, with the great crows that patrol the valley. varieties of ancient languages of which dukedoms and earldoms of Cornwall, modern English is comprised speak of Norfolk, and Yorkshire reliably providing For months now, teenagers, students an extraordinary cultural and historical their own takes on the world. When and family groups have been appearing in relationship between the inhabitants of our Hamlet announces he knows a hawk from the local woods and fields, absorbing their isles and the glittering diversity of species a handsaw he is using East Anglian dialect: calm, beauty and perspective. Nature has Horatio Clare’s award-winning books include Running for the Hills, Down to the Sea in Ships and Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot. 32 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

SPECIES Our language is full of magical words for wildlife, like ‘ammil’ for the fiery light of sun on hoar frost a handsaw or hanser is a grey heron on the suddenly from cover’, and Broads. If the traditional English summer involves standing heron-still at a window ‘summer geese’ (steam watching water falling from the sky, the national thesaurus has every kind covered, rising in sunlight from a wet from mizzle in Devon, to picking in Wales, smirr in Scotland (fine, drifting rain), letty Yorkshire moor). Reading in Somerset (the kind of rain that is a let or hindrance to working outside); the heavier it, I resolved to remember stuff is plothering in the Midlands and the northeast, stoating in Scotland (rain so and use the lovely Devonian hard it bounces off the ground) and ‘raining forks ’tiyunsdown’ards’ in Lincolnshire: word ‘ammil’ — the fiery raining pitchforks. light produced by sun on Many of these terms have fallen out of general use; they form a corps of hoar frost. To have a new oaSWfnhitdaladkwhleiefnserpyofeneoasawrtetulos’rsethwdeore‘rTkgusu,-lwfarrholyimt;inThua-wwkhso’ specialised knowledge, retained in the name for a thing is to have vocabularies of older people, and in sharper and brighter eyes, little-read books. There have been efforts to have your internal and to collect and revive them, notably by Robert Macfarlane in Landmarks, which external worlds enriched assembled a trove of glossaries of dialect words for landscapes and nature. It When Hamlet announces he knows delights in terms like ‘zwer’, an Exmoor a hawk from a handsaw he is using word describing ‘the whizzing noise East Anglian dialect made by a covey of partridges (Macfarlane himself loves ‘smeuse’, a artist Jackie Morris had a mighty success as they break word for a gap in a hedge made by the with The Lost Words, a book of poems repeated passage of small animals). and pictures featuring wrens, bluebells, kingfishers and acorns, designed to Try as one might, though, without a reverse a disconnection between children community of people who also need and and nature which came to light with the use these words, they remain idiosyncratic removal of these words from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. Although the passionate and obscure, and the objects and effects response to the book proves that parents to which they refer remain marginal or and children still mind about these things, unconsidered. We can still teach them the territory which the book describes, with its collection of formerly numerous to each other and our children ­— who birds and common trees, reflects a could not love the Yorkshire ‘mowdiwarp’ terrifying decline in wild species, and a for a mole? — but language is an organic, concomitant retreat in human interest and natural force. Apart from the revival of understanding of them. What chance does Welsh, the result of huge effort and ammil have, if, as one recent survey found, investment, there are few examples of any 30 percent of eight-to-eleven-year-olds tongue or dialect being brought back to prosperity from impoverishment. In 2017, Robert Macfarlane and the Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 33

SPECIES Wildlife around the UK A recent survey has revealed at least The Welsh name for the jay is 250 names for the sgrech y coed, which broadly woodlouse translates as ‘screecher of the woods’. A fitting name for this forest-dwelling cousin of the crow, so often heard before it’s seen. In Scots, the mountain hare has been known by many names including whiddie baudrons, fuddie, maukin, cuttie, and lang lugs — a reference to its large ears. The eider, a sturdy sea duck, is known as the Cuddy duck in Northumberland. Cuddy is short for Saint Cuthbert, a seventh-century monk that lived on the Farne Islands and bestowed his protection on the eiders that nested there. In Northern Ireland you might harried and time-hurrying checklist of many who went before them could not. hear a yellowhammer referred to events and journeys, commutes and re- My words of the year have been as a yella yorlin, a meadow pipit called schedulings, this year has been charted a moss-cheeper, a cranefly known as a by the appearance of the first red admiral ‘essential’ and ‘inessential’ — how much granny-needle or a black ant as a butterfly, the return of the swallows, the of our former lives was taken up with the pishmire. dive and drifts of flocks of swifts, the latter, and what new and old things, and herons’ daily journeys up and down the what new and old words, will the changed cannot identify a magpie, but 90 percent of beck, the appearance of the bats and the world decide it cannot do without? them can spot a Dalek? evensong of tawny owls. Most wonderfully, it seems certain that Instead of the miracle it would have Human time, which was post-industrial one casualty of the coronavirus will be taken to fix our disconnection from time, dictated by the clock and fought the pernicious capitalist cliché that time is nature, there came the terrible affliction over by apps and notifications, seems to money. There is going to be less money of coronavirus. But the effect may be around, it seems certain, but more time. the same. As traffic decreased, towns and cities fell silent and millions of us 30% of 8-to-11-year-olds cannot identify a worked from home, we began to repair magpie, but 90% of them can spot a Dalek relationships with place, the local and with time that have been broken for decades. I have slipped sideways towards something And time is not money: time is life, time is thought I knew this valley in Yorkshire, but much more natural, seasonal and slower. beauty, time is the one true currency we it took lockdown for me to really see it. In response, the internet has flooded with have to spend in this world. the thoughts and observations of people Day by day, I watched the wrens noticing birds and animals, remarking on We cannot hothouse a return of the nesting, the kestrel hunting, and that the dawn chorus, and taking action. terms and languages we once had for peacock-pheasant. He established his nature, but as we relearn how deeply we territory, then crowed and thrummed, Mary Colwell, a naturalist, author need the natural world, our words and broadcasting its potential, drawing in and producer of David Attenborough’s phrases for it will return and grow anew. two hen pheasants, one of which then programmes, has begun a campaign to Peacock-pheasant for cock pheasant laid eggs, from which hatched chicks, introduce a GCSE in Natural History into seems a fine place to start, at least in over which the father crooned in a most the school syllabus. The campaign is Hebden Bridge. beguiling manner until the day when they attracting widespread support: if and when took their first flights, like large drunk bees. it is successful, our relationship with nature A GCSE in Natural History could will have taken a crucial step forward. bring young people closer to nature. Intrigued, I looked the bird up. ‘Pheasant’ Coming generations will be able to see and Discover more about the campaign comes from the Greek ‘phasianos’, name the world around them in the way to make this a reality. meaning a bird from the land of the river Phasis, which is in present-day Armenia. Well I never! Instead of my diary’s usual 34 Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020

NEWS UK NEWS UK UPDATE UK HIGHLIGHTS New ambassadors for nature Discover how 12 The Wildlife Trusts 3 Award-winning actor Alison Steadman, recovery, and encourage more people to are helping Bradford-based GP and TV presenter take action. wildlife Dr Amir Khan, presenter and filmmaker across the UK Hannah Stitfall, science communicator Speaking about her new role, Alison Sophie Pavelle and Iceland managing Steadman said, “I’m extremely proud of 1 Hip hip hoor-hay! all the work the Wildlife Trusts do with the director Richard Walker local communities in which they work, but Cumbria Wildlife Trust are taking up the new have come to see that collectively, they’re have recently taken ownership role of Ambassadors a force to be reckoned with. Their work of Bowberhead Farm, home to for The Wildlife is important, from big picture landscape internationally important flower-rich Trusts. The nature restoration, to encouraging and supporting northern hay meadows — enthusiasts will use people like you and I to do our bit for a rare habitat with only 900 hectares left their voices, influence wildlife, whether it’s in our garden, or in existence. In time these meadows and audiences to campaigning on issues close to our heart.” could help create a joined-up network help us raise of restored, wildflower-rich grasslands awareness You can learn more about our new across Cumbria and northern England. of the urgent ambassadors and hear their views on cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/ need for The Wildlife Trusts’ website: bowberhead nature’s wildlifetrusts.org/ambassadors ALISON STEADMAN © CLEARWATER PHOTOGRAPHY, SPINY STARFISH © LINDA PITKIN/2020VISION, CRANES © NIKKI WILLIAMS 2 Crane comeback A pair of common cranes has bred at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s Willow Tree Fen. This is the first pair to breed in Lincolnshire in over 400 years. Crane’s were driven to extinction in the UK in the sixteenth century, but a small number returned in 1978 and eventually started breeding. The population has slowly grown and spread, with 56 pairs attempting to nest in the UK in 2019. lincstrust.org.uk/willow-tree-fen Safer areas at sea protections for the marine environment, 3 Duke’s reprieve giving nature the best chance of In 2019 an independent panel was tasked recovery. By removing all pressure, from Hampshire & Isle of Wight by the Government to review whether fishing to construction, our shallow seas, Wildlife Trust purchased Deacon Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) shores and diverse seabeds can become Hill, Winchester’s only remaining could be introduced to English waters. healthier, more productive and full of stronghold for the endangered Duke Over 3,000 Wildlife Trust supporters life once more. of Burgundy butterfly. This is a crucial responded to the panel’s consultation, wtru.st/help-our-seas piece of land in a network of sites backing our call for HPMA introduction. around Winchester that are managed HPMAs would offer the strictest possible by the Trust with wildlife in mind. hiwwt.org.uk/deaconhill Wild Warwickshire | Winter 2020 35

Really Wild Christmas Presents Gift membership Adopt a Species Encourage your loved ones Many iconic birds and mammals are to reconnect with under threat and need your help. nature by gifting Our ‘Adopt a Species’ scheme raises Warwickshire awareness of the plight of local wildlife Wildlife Trust and funds for our work to protect membership this threatened wildlife and wild places. Christmas. With individual, joint, family and new to 2020 student Follow the journey of your chosen memberships, this is the perfect gift species over a year and discover for the active nature lover in your life. fascinating facts and information - you can adopt a badger, hedgehog, To give the gift of nature, visit our peregrine, owl or bat. website at warwickshirewildlifetrust. org.uk/membership, pop in to one Each pack is £25 and makes a lovely of our visitor centres or call the gift for wildlife enthusiasts, membership team on 024 7630 8972. young or old! Last order date for Christmas is Monday 14th warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ December for delivery in time for Christmas. online-shop sjupseAtcdi£eo2sp5ft!oar See our website, visit Brandon Marsh Visitor Centre or call the membership team to give the gift of nature this year! warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/membership 024 7630 8972 Brandon Marsh, Coventry, CV3 3GW