Wild Warwickshire Summer 2019

The member magazine for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust | Summer 2019 WILDER FUTURE Protecting nature for future generations ANNUAL REPORT A summary of 2018 BRANDON REACH Discover our newest reserve on Coventry’s doorstep! Water voles 1 Where to find these wat er -loving mammals Magazine Name | Summer 2019 1 aMnagadzinwe Nhamye |tSuhmemyer’2r01e9 on the comeback trail

WELCOME 30 To the summer edition of your membership magazine Since our last magazine, the Intergovernmental Science- Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services global assessment has been published – confirming that roughly 1 million species are at risk of extinction at this very moment. Delve into the detail with us on page 26. In step with global conversations on the environment, our Wilder Future campaign gathered momentum with an event at Warwick University attended by more than 200 people, and featuring talks from Sir John Lawton and Baroness Kate Parminter. At the end of June, The Wildlife Trusts and other environmental organisations partnered with The Climate Coalition on a mass environmental lobby that was reported as the biggest in Parliament’s history. With the aim of impelling MPs to act on nature’s behalf and secure a sustainable future, the Trust took staff, trustees and members to Westminster and joined 12,000 fellow lobbyists to discuss the environment with over 300 MPs. Head to page 10 to see how you can get involved in securing a Wilder Future for future generations. Earlier this year, the Trust was delighted to expand Brandon Marsh by adding Brandon Reach – an area of land that increases the potential for habitat creation as part of our largest reserve and increases our local footprint to 165 ha. Work with local land owners and stakeholders continues apace, as evidenced by our flourishing relationship with Coventry Golf Club on page 8 and our work on the River Sherbourne on page 35. Official statistics show that 94% of the places where water voles once lived are now uninhabitable, and predation, pollution and habitat loss mean they are becoming harder and harder to spot. However, The Wildlife Trusts are pulling together to facilitate their comeback, and we share some of the best places to find them near you and around the country on page 14. The Trust continues to engage with members across Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull in many other ways – including a fantastic AGM and talk from Sophie Pavelle, The Wildlife Trust’s Youth Ambassador. Those of you with eagle eyes will notice some changes to the magazine’s layout, which is part of our ongoing strategy to bring Trusts closer together and engender a continuity that extends from publications to campaigning and land management. I hope you enjoy reading our news and thank you, as always, for your support. Ed Green, Chief Executive Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Get in touch Cover: Water vole by Terry Wild Warwickshire is the membership Warwickshire WildlifeTrust is the only charity WildWarwickshire MagazineTeam magazine for Warwickshire WildlifeTrust dedicated to conserving, protecting and Editor Douglas Nairn Whittaker/ enhancing your local wildlife. We manage over Design Yorkshire WildlifeTrust Design Studio Email [email protected] 65 nature reserves and are supported by over facebook.com/WarwickshireWT/ 2020 Vision 23,000 members and 1,000 volunteers. twitter.com/wkwt Telephone 024 7630 2912 instagram.com/warwickshirewt/ 2016 Address Brandon Marsh Nature Centre, Brandon Lane, Coventry, CV3 3GW Registered charity number 209200 Website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk 2 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

INSIDE... 4 Brandon Reach 6 Sowe & TEaM 7 Events 8 Coventry Golf Club 10 Wilder Future 11 Wild Thoughts 12 Climate Change 14 Water Voles 16 Annual Report Summary 21 Mike Dilger 22 Wildlife Ponds 24 With Your Support 26 Global Assessment 28 Woodlands 30 Space For Nature 34 Rivers & Wetlands 35 Flood Management 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 Trust thanks the players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 3

Reaching into the future We launched our two newest nature reserves at this year’s AGM; Brandon Reach and Piles Coppice. 440 acres TBhrBearncadonomdnobnMinReaerdsahscihza!endof 4 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

NATURE RESERVES Bluebells at Brandon Reach S ituated directly North of Brandon Marsh, GILLIAN DAY they will help the Trust achieve its vision of a more joined-up landscape for wildlife and Listen out for great people to thrive in. These new acquisitions spotted woodpecker complete a near five kilometre green corridor of in the woodland nature reserves that reach out from Coventry and into Warwickshire and doubles the existing footprint woodland canopies are slowly closing over; limiting of Trust managed land on the door step of Coventry. the potential of the habitat beneath. By monitoring From Claybrooks Marsh in Binley, to the banks of wildlife this year we can better understand what to Shakespeare’s Avon, the Trust now has the exciting prioritise. Whilst the official plan is as yet unwritten, challenge of managing this landscape in a way that it is likely the Trust will aim to retain a dynamic mix of safeguards our natural heritage for future generations. scrub and sunny open areas, whilst enhancing and reconnecting the larger blocks of woodland. Visiting Brandon Reach (a name chosen to link it This will help protect and increase the diversity of to Brandon Marsh but also to demonstrate its reach wildlife that depends on these habitats. out into the wider landscape) and Piles Coppice provides many clues about the history of the area. An Co-existing with nature intricate mosaic of woodland, grassland and scrub, each habitat has been shaped by human activity. We are also excited about what we can achieve at The carpets of bluebells in the remaining woodlands Brandon Reach in terms of encouraging people to suggest they have been wooded for a long period of engage with wildlife. The area has historically been time; however, it is clear that these are historically used as a playground and somewhere to explore for managed woodlands. This is particularly obvious in local people. Its proximity to densely populated urban Piles Coppice where large oak standards have been areas presents both a challenge and an opportunity in planted over coppiced hazel, and where pockets of getting local people to use the site in a positive way. small-leaved lime coppice are now at such a size that In the immediate future, improvements can be the stools are becoming cathedral like. made to fences, gates and navigation around the site. In the long term, the Trust is also considering how to A map from 1630 confirms that Brandon Reach deliver opportunities to get close with nature through (then known as Spyers Park) was also once completely a range of activities focussing on areas such as wooded. Around two thirds of it was cleared to make education, health and outdoor fitness, volunteering, way for farmland and a train line and in the 20th and wildlife watching. century some of the site was used for landfill. How the Trust matches the needs of wildlife and the By monitoring wildlife needs of people will be a bit of a balancing act. These this year we can better two new reserves present an exciting challenge to understand what to demonstrate how humans can co-exist with nature on prioritise. a landscape scale. Watch this space to see how our plans develop in the coming years. This year the Trust is conducting ecological surveys across Brandon Reach and Piles Coppice to steer our future management of the reserves. It is clear that some intervention will be needed to protect the remaining wildlife features, following many years without management. The flower rich grasslands are slowly being lost to bramble and scrub, and the KARL CURTIS Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 5

WILD WELLBEING Making friends from seven different cohorts and discuss whether they were still connecting with Providing positive outdoor experiences for people nature, using the skills they’d gained experiencing poor mental health in Coventry. on the course, maintaining friendships and feeling well. The National Lottery O ne cool March day in the from its six-week bushcraft course in Community Fund and other current and Willow Wood at Brandon a tranquil setting for a day of willow potential funders were also invited to Marsh, we reunited with an weaving, making dreamcatchers, lighting witness the project’s impact. amazing group of people to fires and Viking knitting. The course has share stories, eat food and do crafts. By been running for over a year as part of the At the end of each six-week course the the end of the day, our staff were crying Coventry and Warwickshire Recovery and students felt better, were more connected tears of joy, participants were smiling Wellbeing Academy. with nature and had gained new skills. ear-to-ear and new friendships had been What surprised us was the lasting impact forged. TEaM gathered 20 ex-students The reunion enabled project staff to the course had in the following weeks and catch up with students months. In fact, the majority of participants said the course had changed their lives. The bushcraft graduates are maintaining friendships forged on the course, visiting local green spaces, volunteering with the Trust, training as walk leaders and adopting healthier lifestyles. Some are even acting in amateur dramatics with their new friends! What really warmed our hearts was people saying that returning to Brandon Marsh was like coming home to friends and family. We will soon share the stories of these amazing people and this powerful course in a short film. MARTIN FELSTEAD If you live in Coventry and are experiencing low well-being or know someone who is, find out more about TEaM and sign up for the course online here warwickshirewildlifetrust. org.uk/TEaM Putting down roots After ten years of volunteering, we revisit our first Living Landscapes project. O n Saturday May 4th a beautiful SYLVIA JACKSON wild cherry tree was planted near the banks of the River Sowe by Friends of Sowe Valley with support from Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and Coventry City Council. The planting marks ten years since the Sowe Valley Project started in 2009. Anna Squires, our Coventry Projects Manager met up with some familiar faces and celebrated with this inspiring group who have run volunteer sessions by the River Sowe for over 5 years. The sessions are a legacy from our first Living Landscapes project all those years ago and a great outcome for wildlife and communities along the Sowe. 6 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

EVENTS DIARY WHAT’S ON For up to date event listings, visit our website warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/events Our Wonders of Wildlife ID courses continue to be popular with members, and the months ahead bring workshops, hand-on experiences and fun for all ages in the great outdoors! SEPTEMBER Wonders of Wildlife ID: Apple Day at Brandon PAULA IRISH Moths and Butterflies Marsh Wilderness Wednesday Ultimate Den Building (5+) 3rd September. 10am – 4pm 6th October. 10am – 2.30pm 23rd and 30th October. 30th October. 10:30am – 12pm Join David Brown for a Taste fresh apple juice and 10.30am – 12pm. 1.30pm – 3pm journey into the wonderful press your own apples into Learn about shelter and world of moths and juice for a donation. Get stuck into den building survival in the wild and build a butterflies. and eating campfire toffee den in the woods to stay safe! Winged Splendour apples! Family Bat Night NOVEMBER 7th October – 2nd December. Wonders of Wildlife ID: 26th September. 6pm – 7.30pm 7pm – 9pm Autumn Birds Nature Tots- Halloween Spooks at Parkridge Come to Ufton Fields and A nine-week series 29th October. 10am – 4pm 1st November. 10.30am – 12pm. use bat detectors to hear of illustrated talks on ultrasonic calls and spot bats magnificent moths and Both indoor and outdoor 1.30pm – 3pm flying around. beautiful butterflies. tuition on a variety of birds at Brandon Marsh in the autumn. Dress up, play spooky games, Moth Trapping Night Fungi Foray make magic potions and learn which is the bravest animal. 27th September. 6pm – 11pm 16th October. 10am – 12pm Join the team at Wappenbury Our fungi expert guides you Wood to capture and release around Bubbenhall Woods our winged friends. finding fungi and sharing fun facts. OCTOBER Wonders of Wildlife ID: JANE LANE SHUTTERSTOCK Wilder Wellbeing Walk Mammals 2nd October. 8.45am – 11.45pm 28th November. 11am – 1pm A specialist talk on small Come and join us on a scenic walk along the River mammal ecology, mammal ID Sherbourne. and the threats they face. Charcoal Making DECEMBER 5th October. 9.45am – 4.30pm Christmas Craft Fair We show you how to make 7th December. 10am – 3pm your own charcoal at Feldon Forest Farm. Festive, guilt-free shopping from local independent businesses! Don’t miss out! Follow us on social media wkwt WarwickshireWT/ warwickshirewt/ Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 7

LIVING LANDSCAPES IAN JELLEY How golf courses are helping nature’s recovery Creating a Living Landscape means constructing bigger, better, more joined up areas for the benefit of wildlife and people. Veteran oak tree at Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club 8 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

LIVING LANDSCAPES T o achieve this we need to work with others There are 2,500 Wildlife to influence their land management in a Trust nature reserves across positive way for wildlife and create stepping the UK, and the same number stones in the landscape. These areas act as refuges and feeding stations for wildlife, enabling of golf courses. it to live beyond the borders of our nature reserves. Golf courses cover huge areas and can play a crucial landscapes. Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club contains role in nature’s recovery, so we are now advising more than 100 veteran trees that are over 400 years and guiding several courses across Warwickshire, old. The trees are scattered around the golf course Coventry and Solihull. creating a rare parkland landscape. One oak tree can host 1,000 species, so there’s clearly a huge variety Coventry Golf Club have been one of our of wildlife across that course alone! corporate members for several years now. We recently supported them to achieve the Reviewing how grass is cut provides prestigious GEO Foundation Award, which an opportunity to create habitats for recognises golf clubs’ positive impact on people small mammals, which then provides and nature. food for barn owls and kestrels. ‘We are proud of being the first golf club When advising courses, we look at how they fit in England to achieve the Golf Environment into the wider landscape. For instance, it would be Organisation Award. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust beneficial for a golf course in the Tame Valley to create played a key role, enabling us to understand ponds and wetland habitats to complement existing, the wide-ranging habitats on the course and the local, high-value wildlife areas. simple, pragmatic steps we could take to protect and enhance those habitats in a way that added to If you’re a golfer, please ask your course what the playing experience of golfers and made good they’re doing to make space for nature, and if business sense. Our corporate membership is paying your course wants to learn more, please contact us on great dividends for the golf club and nature.’ [email protected] Paul Quinn, Chair, Coventry Golf Clubs Environment Group. Following this success, Warwickshire, Stoneleigh Deer Park and Stratford Oaks Golf Clubs contacted us to request our support. The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association Conference in Harrogate also invited us to showcase our approach. Grass roots golf We believe that the primary function of a golf course is golf, but that simple measures to make space for nature are mostly low-cost or cost-neutral. Our approach outlines the benefits of more wildlife on golf courses and explains the business case too. Reviewing how grass is cut provides an opportunity to create habitats for small mammals, which then provides food for barn owls and kestrels. Increasing the amount of long grass reduces the impact of pollutants on nearby watercourses, and traps rainwater run-off before it enters rivers and streams. Cutting the grass less reduces machinery and labour costs and allows staff to focus their time elsewhere. Legislation around using chemicals on golf courses recently tightened, increasing the popularity of organic methods and making our advice on how wildlife benefits courses very timely. Importantly, our research also highlighted the outstanding work already being carried out by greenkeepers who are hugely knowledgeable about their courses and the wildlife on them. Several of our local courses are located in ancient Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 9

FOCUS ON... WE VALUE YOUR SUPPORT A Wilder Warwickshire Thank you for pledging to make space for nature, contacting your MPs, volunteering and helping nature to recover LINDSAY BUTLER AND DOUG NAIRN O ver 200 people attended breathe, clean water to drink, and green “This was a fantastic opportunity our Wilder Future evening, space for exercise and relaxation. No one to bring together a plethora of run in partnership with disputes this, yet our farming, planning and different perspectives to consider Warwick University, Coventry economic systems have often taken us a topical theme. With today’s University and the NUS, to hear from in the opposite direction. Our wild places youth driving a seismic shift in leading conservationists and academics on are becoming disconnected – and people public awareness and action on the state of nature. The Question Time style disconnected from them too. environmental problems, it is event aimed to inform students and the critical that we work together to public on the best ways to engage with their We heard about the need for a strong harness this energy to produce local MP on new laws for the environment. Environment Act and why campaigning a society that works for our matters from speakers Baroness Kate entire world in a sustainable way. Raising awareness through these events Parminter, Lib Dem Lords Spokesperson As part of this, it is incredibly is vital. Our natural world is in a critical (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and important that young people condition and the laws and systems to Sir John Lawton, author of 2010 white understand and help shape keep it healthy are failing. More than paper ‘Making Space for Nature’. A panel decision-making, to foster a 60% of the UK’s plants and animals of conservationists, politicians, academics, lasting culture of inclusiveness are under threat and one in eight face students, and business leaders then and embed responsible choices extinction. Nature is vital for our physical fielded questions from the audience. into the public consciousness.” and mental health, yet plastic, pesticides and dirty air are a fact of life. We need The Government is currently shaping Todd Olive, University of Warwick healthy soil to grow food in, fresh air to a new Environment Bill, the first in more student, Editor-in-Chief of student than twenty years, which should set out a sustainability journal GLOBUS and legal framework to leave the environment panel member in a better state over the next twenty- five. It must be robust enough to protect our wildlife and wild spaces, so we are encouraging the public to meet with MPs and set us on a path to restoring nature and securing a sustainable future. 10 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

WILD THOUGHTS Melissa Harrison We’re all nature’s guardians How did you first learn to look after but also makes us more likely to step A LITTLE BIT WILD nature? Moving to a flat with a garden did it for me. Not only was it the first in and act when it’s threatened: when Let them grow bit of habitat I felt responsible for, but builders block off the eaves of our local it also meant that I could get a dog. Going out on twice-daily walks in all weathers, year after year, supermarket so returning swallows can’t Nettles are an important broadened my sense of custodianship to take in food source for many two urban parks and a common near my house; so nest, or an avenue of much-loved trees as well as feeding my garden birds, planting pots up with nectar-rich species and fitting nestboxes, is in danger of being felled. moths and butterflies, I found myself discovering which of my local parks’ nettle patches always had the most small It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the and they make great tortoiseshell caterpillars, where on the common the fox den was, and which hollow trees were scale of the issues we’re dealing with, fertiliser. Leave a hibernacula for bats. Before long, I found that if any of those green spaces had been threatened and helpless in the face of structures patch to grow, if you with development, I would have fought for them tooth and nail; not for the theoretical ‘ecosystem so large as to seem unassailable. But can, then harvest services’ they provided, but because I loved them and knew them, every inch. caring for a home patch is a win-win it for compost just Cultivating a localised sense of custodianship could prove key to preserving and connecting our thing: not only can you achieve tangible before it sets seed. threatened natural environment – and going by the way people have spoken up for nature recently, results that benefit nature, but the from protesting against anti-bird nets to protecting wildflower verges from being mown, I think it’s sense of connection and fulfilment you already happening, right across the UK. We all have a ‘home patch’ we care about, whether can derive from protecting local habitats so it’s a single street tree, a garden, park, village green or other open space. Getting to know what they remain rich in life is huge. happens in it year-in, year-out not only grounds us in nature and the seasons in a way that’s proven Imagine if, instead of waiting for someone or to have deep physical and psychological benefits, something else to turn things around, we did it ourselves: an army of parents and park runners, ILLUSTRATION: JADE THEY, NETTLE: KATRINA MARTIN/2020VISION nature fans and dog-walkers looking after our nearby ponds and hedgerows, verges and bramble thickets and scrappy little woods. Melissa We’ve been taught to think that if we Harrison is a don’t own the land, we don’t own the nature writer problem. But a world rich in wildlife and novelist, is everyone’s right – and everyone’s and editor of responsibility, too. the anthologies Show your support People taking action in Spring, Summer, Autumn the places closest to them is the foundation of the and Winter, grassroots movement that is The Wildlife Trusts. Join our produced in campaign for a Wilder Future and help nature recover. support of The warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/WilderFuture Wildlife Trusts. Wildlife Warwickshire | Summer 2019 11

SHUUTERSTOCK WILD PLACES Global problem, local consequences Dr Rhosanna Jenkins looks in more detail at the potential impact of climate change on local Warwickshire species 12 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

WILD PLACES T oday, the world is around 1°C warmer than pre- Dr Rhosanna industrial times and the rate of this warming is Jenkins recently speeding up. Just one more degree could make finished a PhD Warwickshire climatically unsuitable for some on the effects of of its most iconic protected mammals. 1°C is the same as climate change on the difference between the average annual temperature Kenya’s wildlife. of Birmingham and Southampton today. For humans, this She’s now working is a barely noticeable difference but for some animals, this with Warwickshire means life or death. Wildlife Trust; funded through a Among the most at risk are badgers, water voles, NERC Innovation soprano pipistrelle bats and dormice, and the climate Placement and can become less suitable for so many other species. is making use of Common shrews, great crested newts and even grey Wallace Initiative squirrels in Warwickshire will be left right on the edge database. She grew of their suitable climate area; meaning that any further up in Warwickshire increases in temperature could push them out of the and even did her county too. work experience with the Trust! As a group, insects are also particularly sensitive. From pollination to breaking down detritus and from aplobaaonotgfeuteJnshtut2aetm6trhusetpetproaeUtotroreeNta’ds food sources to pest control, insects are vital to maintaining healthy ecosystems. Even when warming is limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, 25% of Warwickshire’s insects may be lost from the area. Among the worst affected insects are mayflies and stoneflies; both of which are important food sources for fish. When the climate warms, some animals and plants may start to move northwards to track the cooler conditions they are more suited to. Maintaining habitat connectivity is essential in protecting those that are able to keep up with the rate of warming. As with any journey, they will need somewhere to rest and something to eat along the way. This also means other species could find themselves new homes in Warwickshire. Unfortunately, the current trajectory for warming is actually still higher than either of these thresholds and more warming leads to more risks for our wildlife. Warwickshire species at risk with 2°C warming 15% 17% 20% Mammals Birds Plants 30% 31% Amphibians Arachnids 33% Reptiles 49% 37% 37% Insects Centipedes Great Crested Newt Millipedes Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 13

WATER VOLE: TERRY WHITTAKER/2020VISION 6 places to see Water voles W ater voles once thrived across the UK, but in the last 30 years they’ve declined by 90% due to habitat loss, pollution and predation by mink. However, thanks to the hard work of WildlifeTrusts, water voles are making a comeback in some areas. We’ve pulled together a list of some of our top places to spot them. Water voles can be secretive, but tell-tale signs can signal their presence. Look out for burrows in the riverbank, piles of nibbled grass and latrines of small, cigar-shaped droppings. If you’re quiet, you might hear the distinctive ‘plop’ of a vole dropping into the water. With a bit of patience, you can enjoy wonderful views of this water-loving mammal. 14 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

1 Thank you 3 5 4 2 twoYewor’earWueibclcodwoihtavulheainetflteyproefotiianurnru-cugrdvrrswooswotslusoueasp.rtstokptemrhorageortv/troU,eleKs. See the spectacle 6 for yourself 1 Ben Mor Coigach, Scottish Wildlife Trust The water voles on this large highland reserve have black fur, noticeably darker than those found further south in the UK. Where: 10 miles from Ullapool, IV26 2YJ 2 Tame Valley Wetlands, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Water voles have been brought back from the brink of extinction in this unique, watery landscape, rich in wildlife and accessible to all. Where: Coleshill, B46 1GA 3 Cromford Canal, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Water voles are regularly spotted on this former working waterway, now a haven for wetland wildlife. Where: Cromford, DE4 3RQ 4 Upton Broad and Marshes Norfolk Wildlife Trust A network of pristine dykes crisscrossing swathes of reedbed and fen creates the perfect home for water voles. Where: 2.2 miles northwest of Acle, NR13 6EQ 5 Thorley Wash Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Water voles are thriving on this reserve following a successful reintroduction programme by the Wildlife Trust in 2015. Where: Spellbrook, CM22 7SE 6 Winnall Moors Nature Reserve, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Follow the water vole trail and look for these enigmatic mammals in the clear waters of a beautiful chalk stream. Where: Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8DX Did you see one? We’d love to know how your water vole search went. Please tweet us your best photos of a water vole from your day out @wkwt Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 15

ANNUAL REPORT 2018 A summary for members W arwickshire Wildlife Trust exists to achieve an environment rich in wildlife for everyone in Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. We aim to protect local natural heritage and encourage people to engage with their natural environment. Our mission is to bring about Living Landscapes and a society where Nature Matters. THE RUSTIC FROG PAULA IRISH Expanding Brandon Marsh to Woodland Estate Management Habitat Creation encompass Brandon Reach In 2018 the nature reserves team The Living Landscape team has Brandon Reach is a rich and wild was restructured to better equip it focused on plans for an Urban Living addition to Brandon Marsh that for a whole estate approach to the Landscape scheme in Coventry supports a wider variety of activities care of the Trust’s woodlands (480 and working with farmers on two and increases the potential for habitat ha over 18 sites). A Brandon Marsh rural Living Landscape schemes. creation as part of our largest reserve. & Dunsmore Woodland Officer was Active delivery on habitat creation This increases our local footprint to 165 employed, and management plans is scheduled from mid-2020 - the ha - part of a land holding that stretches for our woodland estate were written Trust’s 50th anniversary year. Ideas from Ryton to the A46 Coventry ring with stakeholders and submitted to around a fundraising campaign for road. Added to the adjoining Brandon the Forestry Commission for approval a ‘Habitat Creation Fund’ linked to - expected in early 2019. Our woodland this landmark are being developed. Wood, this estate management plan will then be Preparatory work positioning the Trust forms a based on elements approved by the for the opportunity to create habitat very large Forestry Commission, in consultation at Newbold Comyn and Coventry continuous with the reserves working group. Gateway South has taken place, woodland and Then we will start work on the new whilst Wolston Fields provides the grassland site estate management plan, which will opportunity and obligation for the under active span decades and fulfil the strategic creation of new habitats within the management objective of a whole estate approach to expanded Brandon Marsh. for wildlife. woodland management. 16 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

ANNUAL REPORT Urban Living Landscape Scheme Rural Living Landscape Scheme Over the past three years, the Trust has Agricultural land covers 70% of lead multiple partners in developing Warwickshire. To realise our vision a shared vision for the Sherbourne we must collaborate with farmers Valley that returns the river to the heart to support nature’s recovery. of Coventry. Utilising the river’s built, Influencing government policy will cultural and natural heritage will re- put environmental principles at establish a sense of place - encouraging the heart of decision making and local communities to reconnect with may turn farmers into our allies. the city. A high quality bid to the last New approaches to landscape application round for National Lottery scale conservation were needed to Heritage Fund was unfortunately increase our impact on agricultural unsuccessful, but is being revised for land, improving land management resubmission in 2019. Complementary for wildlife and show farmers what work on Natural Flood Management is achievable. Our partnership in the Upper Sherbourne catchment is with Severn Trent Water (STW) being delivered thanks to funding from is part of our regional work with the Environment Agency. Worcestershire and Shropshire TOM MARSHALL Wildlife Trusts. Project officers funded Community Engagement Through A Species CampaignIAN JELLEY by STW focus on reducing the use of metaldehyde (the active ingredient Funding for Help for Hedgehogs was in slug pellets), which impacts water extended to October 2019, when it is quality. They also work on the take-up expected to cease. So, in 2018 efforts of capital grants to support improved were made to widen the theme of our land management practices, reducing species-led work from hedgehogs into the impact of farming on rivers. wildlife gardening, through a partnership The Arden Farm Wildlife Network with Garden Organic and using the HS2 is a three year project funded by Community & Environment Fund. An Natural England’s Facilitation Fund. expression of interest for a three year, Our network of farmers share £650,000 project was accepted and best practice on environmental the full project will be worked up for management and we support training submission before July 2019. If successful, requested by the farmers. We have this commenced in January 2020 with formed relationships within the approximately £300,000 coming to us to farming community, and our network mitigate the effect of construction of HS2 of 21 members covers over 9,000 by a series of activities in local ha of Warwickshire. This approach is green spaces. creating a bigger, better, more joined up area in the farmed landscape at relatively low cost. IAN JELLEYHealth & Well-Being JAMES HARRIS Our partnership with MIND ran throughout 2018 and legacy arrangements are being made for the end of funding in 2020. Your Wild Life delivered volunteering sessions in Solihull, with well- attended sessions at the Parkridge Centre and a roaming reserves team volunteering at our reserves. We secured a Reaching Communities grant (Big Lottery Fund), and a small grant from Public Health (Warwickshire) to enable similar work in Leamington until 2021. Our reputation for work in this area is solid, and partners’ confidence in our ability to deliver is growing. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 17

ANNUAL REPORT STEVE CHESHIRE Environmental Angling Centre Membership Training and Youth Work Based on discussions over previous Our recruitment company Wildlife In March 2018, our Wilder Career years, a vision for an Environmental Fundraising Central Ltd, which the Trust Choice project ended after seven Angling Centre at Lea Marston was co-owns with six other Wildlife Trusts, years of support from the Heritage agreed between the Trust, the Angling performed well at the start of 2018 Lottery Fund for a regional Trust and the Environmental Agency but the departure of key staff led to programme of high quality training (the landowner). This practical, learning declining performance in Warwickshire. to equip people with the skills to experience will be delivered through an At the end of 2018, membership was pursue careers in heritage. exemplary building and well-managed 22,674 (a decrease of 1.6% from 23,049 natural site - building a love of angling in 2017) from 10,055 subscriptions The Trust managed this and wildlife. The joint venture between (a decrease of 1.2% from 10,179 in programme with the Wildlife Trusts three organisations will create a place to 2017). The retention rate in 2018 was in Birmingham and the Black experience nature and learn new skills, 88.1% (meaning a lapse rate of 11.9%). Country, Leicestershire and Rutland, as well as generating income to support Membership subscriptions constitute Shropshire and Staffordshire and revenue and maintenance costs. our financial foundations and we rely on the Wyre Community Land Trust as The site will contribute to landscape- past and present support to continue placement partners. The year-long scale nature conservation in the Tame the work of the Trust. Despite a small work-based programmes taught Valley and will epitomise the 25 Year fall in membership, mermbership trainees about the ecology, behaviour Environment Plan. We aim to fundraise income rose by just over 7%. and identification of species and for a new building, underwater fish We are grateful to those who practical conservation heritage skills. observatory, and habitat creation as part remembered local wildlife by giving of the site’s management plan and the a lasting gift in their wills, which Additional training focused Warwickshire Biodiversity Action Plan. contributed to £141,640 of total on volunteer management, legacies received. Special thanks to: communication, project management Ken Bond, John Brightley, Glenda and interpersonal skills. In the past Catling, Betty Davies Will Trust, Philip four years Geoffrey Ruben Hayes, The Hayes Family Living Trust, Philip Pain, Maureen 31 trainees completed the Parkes, Anthony William Pratley, 1 year placement Michael J Senior. LOUISE BARRACK 2 t rainees completed Visitor Centres S.LESZCZYNSKA additional 6 month placements In January the tea room at Parkridge came in- house and we added the staff to our payroll. 16 placements went to Therefore, 2018 was the first full year in which the women, 17 to men Trust managed the entire visitor experience. There have been challenges but visitors are becoming 26 trainees left with a increasingly aware of the Trust’s work. Strategies for Certificate in Work Based both Parkridge and Brandon Marsh were developed Conservation with an external consultant, and led to a restructure of staff and an influx of new skills and experience 7 trainees gained Diploma in into two new roles. Each Centre now has specific Work Based Conservation messaging and retail and membership recruitment objectives. Therefore, they are now set to fully support the Trust’s wider work. 4 trainees gained Forest Schools qualification 18 trainees gained chainsaw licence 29 t rainees found employment in the sector since completing their placement 18 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

ANNUAL REPORT Keeping Up The Good Work The Most Of Who We Are Our management of nature reserves means we The review that informed the 2017-2022 strategic plan encouraged us to looked after wildlife where our supporters live, work recognise some simple truths about the Trust. In recent years, the Trust and play. Through the Habitat Biodiversity Audit we has turned over approximately £7M and employed 150 staff. By these surveyed habitats on other people’s land, building key measures it is one of the largest Wildlife Trusts, and the largest single our knowledge of local wildlife and its condition county Trust. Our trading subsidiary, Middlemarch, means we are also the and ecological functionality. We welcomed tens of only Wildlife Trust to operate across the whole of the UK. Therefore, in 2018 thousands of local children to our environmental we resourced the Trust more adequately by administering the Finance education programme, and similar numbers to our and Human Resources departments with new posts and new systems. visitor centres, plus thousands to our vibrant and We are now assessing the medium to long-term needs of the charity and varied events. In providing a voice for nature, we trading subsidiary, with plans to investigate the benefits and disadvantages commented on everything from Environmental of colocation. The charity has also made greater use of Middlemarch’s Statements submitted by HS2 to major housing expertise within Warwickshire. development. Projects and collaborations we have entered into have delivered, including those within Volunteering the Tame Valley Wetlands Partnership and the Dunsmore Living Landscape. A full-time coordinator was appointed in May 2018. With new GDPR regulations coming LOUISE BARRACK into force in May 2018, the Trust LOUISE BARRACK reviewed and overhauled its volunteering policy, whilst going over volunteering forms, records and figures. Our newly improved figures show that we have 608 active volunteers. These amazing people donated over 23,000 hours to help the Trust carry out its work in 2018. This is only what we managed to record and there is still a huge amount of unrecorded hours. Even so, our volunteers carry out the equivalent workload of 15 full-time staff. Our aim is to boost the sustainability of reserves-based work parties and build volunteer support in key, under- resourced areas of our operations such as the visitor centres. Initial work is underway to identify and resolve barriers to volunteering. This year we also nominated the Brandon Marsh Voluntary Conservation Team for two awards, including the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the highest award for local volunteer groups). MARK HAMBLIN/2020 VISION Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 19

ANNUAL REPORT Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 December 2018 Income and Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Total endowments Funds (£) Funds (£) Funds (£) Funds (£) 2018 (£) 2017 (£) Designated - 866,982 765,559 from Undesignated - 847 - 1,824,395 1,733,051 866,135 - 1,580,016 - 4,716,564 4,530,826 Donations 244,379 - - 15,074 8,416 and legacies 4,716,564 - - - 7,423,015 7,037,852 15,074 - - - 4,527,889 4,463,594 Charitable 5,842,152 1,580,863 21,810 2,278,743 2,296,854 activities 369 21,810 6,806,632 6,760,448 1,503,614 - Other trading 1,503,983 (21,810) - - activities - 616,383 277,404 76,880 1,744,078 Investment 6,309,551 6,032,147 income 560,966 1,722,268 6,925,934 6,309,551 Total income 637,846 Raising funds 4,498,712 28,808 352,542 400,777 Charitable 4,851,254 429,585 activities (1,180,586) 1,180,586 990,898 (429,585) Total expenditure 1,974,859 2,029,648 Transfers 1,785,171 2,780,649 between funds Net income/ (expenditure) Total funds brought forward at 1 January 2018 Total funds carried forward at 31 December 2018 The financial summary shown above is intended as a précis of selected key points, and does not contain all the information necessary for a full understanding of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust’s financial affairs. For further information, please see the full annual report and financial statements on our website. www.warwickshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/reports Warwickshire Wildlife Trust is a registered charity, (no. 209200) and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, (no. 005852470). 20 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

WILD TALK Talking wildlife with Mike Dilger Earlier this year, Education Manager Vicky Dunne caught up with a familiar face to talk all things wildlife, work and TV! Last summer, Education so a bullfinch for me, a jay for her and a predator feared Manager Vicky Dunne robin for my son. by everything delivered a talk to property else in my pond, and then I could spend development and investment What was your strangest job? a few weeks just passing on my genetic company, Urban & Civic. The talk was such When I was trying to save some money to information to the next generation! a success that Vicky was asked back this go travelling I worked as a live model for a year to join TV broadcaster and naturalist local sculpture class... Why is it so important to spread the Mike Dilger in running another family word about nature? wildlife event. Vicky took the opportunity to And your best wildlife job Having wildlife in your life is good for both get to know Mike a bit better over lunch! Away from television it was working in your physical and mental health. It is a the Amazon Rainforest doing bird of prey natural antidepressant and a reason to What is your favourite animal? surveys with volcanoes erupting in the look forward rather than back. I use nature A bullfinch – the bird that leaves you distance. Within television it would have as a calendar for my year. wanting more. They have a great song and to be watching and filming Killer Whales just as they fly off you get a flash of their hunting Harbour Porpoise off the west And finally, tell me an animal joke! coast of Scotland. What’s the difference white rump! We between a weasel and inscribed our What mini beast would you be? a stoat? One is weasily favourite birds I would be an Emperor Dragonfly, because recognised and the other is I could spend years as a wonderful aquatic stoatally different! on my wife’s wedding ring, Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 21

Pploannydoufr owrildaliflel-friendly We’re rapidly losing our ponds, Long grass for cover A mix of pond plants rivers and streams in the UK, so Allow the grass to grow long Add a range of emergent, around your pond, or grow floating and submerged plants adding a pond is one of the best low-growing herbaceous to provide the best habitat for plants nearby, to provide cover wildlife, offering egg-laying things you can do to help wildlife for young frogs, toads and habitat and shelter from in your garden. Kate Bradbury newts and protect them from predators. Submerged plants explains how to make your pond a predators such as birds. oxygenate the water, too. haven for animals, large and small. Shallow water This is where the life is! Here, you’ll find tadpoles and other aquatic larvae. Shallow areas warm up more quickly in spring, and frogs lay spawn here. Emergent plants Dragonfly nymphs climb out of the water using the stems of emergent plants before transforming into winged adults. Landing pad Deep water Water lilies will be In winter, deep areas used by thirsty insects provide shelter for such as bees. Frogs frogs, which rest at may rest on them the bottom, breathing to catch insects and through their skin. Toads aquatic larvae will prefer deep ponds too. shelter beneath them. 22 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE A pond is one of the richest habitats you can create of water, providing a lifeline to species that are Kate Bradbury in a garden, providing food, water and a breeding unable to travel long distances. is passionate place for a huge range of species, from amphibians about wildlife- to aquatic invertebrates, and birds to small mammals, While large ponds attract the greatest number friendly gardening such as hedgehogs and bats. A pond is also one of of species, don’t underestimate the value of a small and the author of the busiest wildlife habitats. Digging one will have an pond. A container such as an old tin bath, Belfast Wildlife Gardening almost immediate effect. Within just two weeks, you sink or even a washing up bowl can provide a home for for Everyone and might attract water boatmen and pond skaters, bathing aquatic insects. Frogs may use the habitat too – Everything in birds, thirsty hedgehogs and egg-laying insects, such just help them to reach the water by making a ‘frog association with as dragonflies and damselflies. Amphibians will seek ladder’ out of stones outside the container. Add more The WildlifeTrusts. out the water to spawn in spring, and bats will take stones at the bottom and plants to provide oxygen advantage of the insects dancing over the water’s and shelter for tadpoles and other aquatic larvae. surface in summer. Our gardens take up more space than all of Britain’s In the wild, ponds, rivers and streams are being lost nature reserves put together. If we all provided some and degraded by development, drainage and intensive form of watery home, we could create a network of farming, resulting in a huge loss of wildlife. So garden wildlife-rich water highways across the country. ponds are an increasingly vital habitat for species that may have lost their breeding grounds elsewhere. They For more pond tips and to add your can also act as stepping stones between larger bodies Water feature to our UK pond map, visit wildaboutgardens.org.uk Somewhere to hide Gently sloping sides Make piles of old Make sure mammals such terracotta pots or loose as hedgehogs can enter and heaps of stones near your exit the pond safely to avoid pond to provide shelter for drowning. A sloping ‘beach’ frogs and toads. is perfect and will attract birds to bathe here too. Nurseries for eggs Sheltering stones ILLUSTRATION: HANNAH BAILEY, KATE BRADBURY: SARAH CUTTLE Toads wrap their ribbon- In the shallows and like spawn around the deeper areas of the submerged stems of pond, stones provide plants such as marsh nooks and crannies for marigold. Newts fold aquatic larvae to shelter individual eggs into the from predators. Tadpoles leaves of plants such as also suck algae off them. water-forget-me-not. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 23

WITH YOUR SUPPORT We’d love to hear from you! Please send your letters and stories to [email protected] Parkridge Centre Upgrades and improvements in Solihull E arlier this year, the Trust applied The result is a peaceful area in the heart to the Veolia Environmental of our woodlands overlooking the pond, Trust and were delighted to where people can sit outside and enjoy be awarded £35,090 towards the surroundings of the nature reserve. improving the play area at Parkridge. Between now and the end of the year, we LOUISE BARRACK aPraerakrriedfguerbCieshnmtreenpticnic will be installing a new natural play area DOUG NAIRN Parkridge Reserve and trail, encouraging children and their families to explore the site and discover more about nature. We will also incorporate a natural and sensory theme that will appeal to all children. Huge thanks to the Veolia Environmental Trust for supporting the improvements at Parkridge. Thanks must also go to the Rotary Club of Solihull, as without their support we would not have been able to access this crucial funding from Veolia.  The Rotary Club donated £5,000, which unlocked the Veolia funding and has been used to improve the picnic area as part of a wider project to enrich the visitor experience.  Prince and Honor Enduring love and a lasting legacy P rince Albert Jacob and his who loves to keep active outdoors, Prince and Honor at their wife Honor live in Solihull. so when his niece Arlene came to 70th wedding anniversary Now in his nineties, see the couple, she combined their Prince served in the walks and love for nature and took RAF during World War Two, and met them for a walk around Parkridge. Honor whilst he was stationed in the The benches dotted around the UK. After the war, Prince went back reserve caught their eye and Arlene to Trinidad, before returning as part of suggested they sponsor a bench, the Windrush generation in 1948 and so the couple could enjoy it in their settling with Honor in Birmingham. lifetimes and leave a lasting legacy for younger generations. Honor has had several strokes recently, and Prince has been taking Honor and Prince plan to visit the her for regular walks to aid her new bench once Honor’s health recovery. Prince is a keen gardener, has improved. 24 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

Woodland dedication WITH YOUR SUPPORT DOUG NAIRN Planting for future generations Margaret Rowlatt has been involved with Margaret Rowlatt Warwickshire Wildlife with (from L to R) Trust since the 1970s, son Mark, daughter- when she and her husband helped in in-law Bernadette, the very foundation of the organisation granddaughter Fiona and that first saved Brandon Marsh from great-grandson Tommy developers and began the process of turning the area into a crucial home for wildlife on the doorstep of Coventry. Throughout the years Margaret has stayed in touch with the Trust, and in 2019 she purchased one-eighth of an acre of woodland at Bubbenhall Wood for her great grandson Tommy Davison. We went along to take a look at the site, where tree planting will commence at the start of next year. Our reserves team plant trees in February or March as this is the optimum time to ensure growth and proper bedding in. We will continue to follow the family’s experience as the woodland grows and changes through the seasons. If you’re interested in writing your story into the history of the Trust, please contact our membership team on [email protected] or call us on 02476 308972 Share your storyLOUISE BARACK development over the decades. We want to hear what inspired you Why do you love Warwickshire WildlifeTrust? to join the Trust, what you love about it, A s a charity, we rely on more and some of your wildlife experiences. than 23,000 members, whose You might have a special connection to a support helps us to protect certain reserve, or be a keen participant wildlife and wild places around on our wild events. Perhaps you’ve Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. You, grasped a new opportunity to volunteer, the members are the lifeblood of the Trust or introduced your family to the wonders and many of you have been with us from of the natural world. Whatever it is that the start. Now, we want to hear your side sparked your relationship with the Trust of the story. and keeps you supporting us, we want to know about it! In 2020, the Trust will celebrate its 50 year anniversary. Part of our plans If you’re interested in writing your for the year includes gathering stories from members and using them to paint story into the history of the Trust, a picture of the charity’s growth and please contact our membership team on [email protected] or call us on 02476 308972 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 25

THE STATE OF NATURE UN Report Nature’s decline jeopardises our survival T he Intergovernmental Science- Habitat degradation bigger, better, more joined up habitats Policy Platform on Biodiversity for wildlife and people. We work with and Ecosystem Services A hay meadow which isn’t correctly landowners like farmers, golf courses and (IPBES), run by the UN’s managed could damage wild flower local councils to make space for nature Environment Programme has produced diversity. Different flowers support different and create stepping stones for species the most comprehensive study ever insects, so declining variety of flowers to travel through. undertaken on the state of nature, and the means a declining variety of insects, who results are alarming. provide food further up the food chain and Exploitation pollinate fruit, cereals and plants. Our existence depends on the natural In the UK, wildlife has been exploited for world that provides us with food, air A decreasing number and quality of centuries. Birds of prey have historically and water, and captures carbon from ponds within farmland and gardens also been seen as fair game, and the hunting the fossil fuels that power our homes damages wildlife. Amphibians like frogs of rare species combined with other and cars. Interacting with nature is become isolated and unable to reach new factors has damaged their numbers. proven to improve our mental and ponds when their old one dries up or is The Trust works hard to promote the physical wellbeing. Nature even inspires filled. Most species can only travel limited protection of wildlife and reverse historic technological advances, such as the 70% distances, further impacted by human losses. The newly installed osprey pole at of cancer drugs that are natural and those barriers like roads, railways and housing Brandon Marsh will be the perfect home that are synthetic but inspired by nature. developments. for an iconic species, and our annual Peregrine Watch in Leamington Spa raises So what is driving the decline and how are The Trust manages over 65 nature awareness of these magnificent birds. we reversing the process at a local level? reserves - strongholds for some of our rarest wildlife that are vital elements of Osprey post DOUG NAIRN installation 26 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

THE STATE OF NATURE Invasive species and disease FRIENDS OF RIVER ARROW River Arrow Non-native plants like Himalayan Balsam we run regular litter-picking activities on followed by colder winters. Whilst climate are highly invasive and change entire urban rivers in Coventry and in partnership change cannot be blamed for specific habitats along rivers, canals and ponds with Severn Trent we work with farmers weather events, it is widely understood by outperforming native plants. As they to reduce their impact on local rivers and that it magnifies the likelihood of them die back in the winter, the bare bankside streams. happening. We cannot prove that the 2018 leads to soil erosion during rain and snow, drought was triggered by climate change, adding sediment to the water. Other non- Climate change but the prevalence of that weather pattern native species like the North American is significantly increased by climate change. mink have accelerated the decline of our Most scientific evidence suggests that own water voles. climate change will cause a spike in At a local level this can impact wildlife. extreme weather events and lead to Species like dormice, which we recently The Trust has joined a national pilot to increased volatility within seasons. This reintroduced into our woodlands as part introduce a natural biological control of could present as stronger storms, longer of the Dunsmore Living Landscape, rely Himalayan Balsam. There is one specific, periods of drought or warmer winters on cold winters. During that period they parasitic rust fungus that feeds off go into a state similar to hibernation Himalayan Balsam - stunting its growth Himalayan called torpor, and their bodies shut and sometimes killing it. We’ve also balsam down. Warmer weather awakens them worked for over a decade to support the and they begin searching for food and a last few remaining water vole colonies mate. Unseasonable temperatures of 20 in Warwickshire, aiming to strengthen degrees this February roused our local the connections between habitats and dormice, who awoke to a complete lack of establishing resilient populations. the fruit, nuts or seeds that sustain them in spring and summer. Pollution Some dormice died of starvation, and Plastic pollution in particular has received whilst an isolated incident shouldn’t a lot of media coverage recently, but impact the wider population- the whilst the impact on our oceans is increased in damaging weather patterns dramatic, plastic poses a major problem could eventually lead to their extinction. inland too. Elsewhere, the intensification Our aim is to provide the right type of of farming and industry means only 20% habitat, giving them as much food as of our rivers are healthy. In Warwickshire possible and working at a landscape scale to connect woodlands and enable dormice TARIK BODASING to move through the landscape to find food and a mate. Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 27

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WILD PLACES WTheoimopodrtlaancne odf s How can sustainable management strengthen the link between people and wild places? W oodlands are one of the planet’s management necessary to achieve long-term most important habitats and have sustainable enhancement. Our previous operation been essential to our existence for was clearly outdated, and implementing it was thousands of years. resource-heavy, but our volunteers’ outstanding Historically, they have been a working resource for efforts in maintaining the woodlands stood out as a timber, fuel and shelter, and in the last century have huge positive. In order to maintain rich, diverse become crucial for public recreation. Woodlands secure woodlands we understood that we needed to provide carbon, hence purifying the air we breathe and more support to our volunteers and develop different providing protection against flooding. As a managed approaches to woodland management. resource they can also provide high quality habitats for many rare and fragile species. We have now constructed long-term management plans for each area, setting out clear plans that strike The Trust owns or manages 18 large woodland sites the balance between large-scale thinning and finer covering approximately 485 hectares – larger than Hyde work on coppice coupes and ride management. We Park, Kensington Gardens and Regents Park put want to enable people to act for nature by supporting together! We believe that a step change in how we volunteering, extending our influence by advising land manage woodlands now will safeguard all that is owners and setting an example on our own land. important within them for future generations. The next ten years Woodland management was identified as a strategic objective for the charity during a 2016 To date we have secured approval from the Forestry review of our existing woodlands. The main threat Commission to manage our extensive woodland was identified as the scale and extent of habitats in the new way for the next ten years. This will happen in phases and we will update members to “We advocate the active management of provide an insight into the thought process behind our work. Whilst woodland management is necessary, it habitats for biodiversity as a tool to secure can appear destructive and so we will aim to explain the need and demonstrate a clear and thoughtful the long term future of woodlands. In approach throughout. short, woodlands with a range of different Delivering this management sustainably is crucial, and will enable our woodlands to provide economic, age trees, and a variety of structures environmental and societal benefits for future generations – strengthening the link between people produced through cyclical felling, and wildlife. thinning and coppicing attract a wider In time we will launch a woodland management page on our website with information and guidance range of wildlife. This approach also explaining the work. makes woodlands more resilient to pests, If you’d like more detail, please contact us on [email protected] diseases and climate change.” Karl Curtis, Director of Reserves and Community Engagement Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 29

nSpaatceuforre Today, the UK is one of the most nature- depleted nations in the world, but it’s not too late to help our wildlife recover. Simon Barnes finds out how the fortunes of three much-loved species can be transformed by protecting and connecting their wild habitat. 30 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

A WILDER FUTURE If we think we can live without Space for bees insects, we’re wrong: 80% of our crops, as well as fruit trees, herbs and most garden and wild flowers are pollinated by bees, wasps, beetles and flies. It’s said that if bees died out, we would follow four years later. RED-TAILED BUMBLEBEE: NICK UPTON/2020VISION, BUFF-TAILED BUMBLEBEE CUT OUT: VICKY NALL “Only connect!” EM Forster’s words – from course: which is like saying that the ideal his novel Howard’s End – are about human living room is an airport lounge. We’ve an relationships, but let’s borrow them, for unfortunate mania for tidiness, forgetting they say a great deal about the world we that we call an untidy house ‘lived-in’. live in today. “Live no longer in fragments,” Forster added: the perfect motto for bees, If we want a countryside that’s lived in by toads and water voles, and just as good for bees, toads, water voles and everything our own relationship with nature. Just as else, we must persuade people to accept more and better connections make human a little roughness around the edges. So lives better, so we need exactly the same communication matters: you can’t impose things to keep the wild world wild. conservation, it has to be carried out with the will of us all. And that again is It’s a problem that’s been sneaking up on about connecting. us for years. We can visit a nature reserve, but when it’s surrounded by houses, roads There’s another crucial move: connecting and industrialised farming, it’s an island – the present with the future. It’s no good lovely but doomed. We have allowed the making a series of lovely bee roads if you human world to take over our countryside. leave them to fend for themselves. Soon they will become overgrown and lose the But we can fight back – by joining up the very thing that bees love them for. There’s good places, by softening and freeing our no point to the scheme unless it has a landscape, and by allowing wild places and long-term legacy: and that is achieved by wild things to connect. training local volunteers to monitor and look after sections of the bee roads. After Protecting pollinators that we must look for further connections. We have grown rightly worried about the “Small actions can make a big decline of the insects that pollinate plants. difference,” says the Trust’s Rosie Earwaker. Pollinators provide every third mouthful of “We need people to be aware of that. food we eat; without them, the countryside What you do in your garden matters.” Kent will die. But bees are not great travellers: Wildlife Trust has started awards for the they prefer to potter from flower to flower. best gardens for bees and for other wildlife. What they need is connectivity. We need bees. So we need to make it possible for bees They are essential to travel by road. Roadside verges can be for a wild and living seen as long, thin nature reserves: places countryside. that allow bees to travel small distances, spread and increase. So Kent Wildlife Trust So they’re joining up people and bees. has been working with local councils to Bees are part of our lives. We need establish the right sort of conditions by encouraging wild flowers to regenerate them; many of our crops depend on them. naturally. The scheme already manages They are essential for a wild and living 11.5 hectares and hopes to add more sites. countryside. So we need to make a mental This involves another kind of connectivity: adjustment and see them in a different connecting wildlife and conservation light: creatures that we must connect organisations with people. with, and whose connections we need to cherish and enlarge. Many roadsides are managed by intensive mowing. We have somehow developed the idea that the ideal green space looks like the fairway on a golf Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 31

£430mVITAL STATISTICS The estimated value of services by pollinating 1insects for agriculture Most bumblebee workers forage within one kilometre of their nest 80% Space for toads On warm, damp evenings in early The increase spring, toads migrate in road traffic back to their breeding between 1980 ponds. But each year, an estimated 20 tonnes 63% and 2005 of unlucky toads never The increase make it, due to roads. in area treated TOAD SIGN: LINDA PITKIN/2020VISION, TOAD: SAM HOBSON with pesticides Live no longer in fragments, eh? A hard But saving them from being run over is between 1990 thing to achieve when many areas of a swift and effective counter-blast to the and 2016 our countryside have been split down fragmentation of our countryside. the middle with roads. There’s a classic 2km example in Herefordshire, where a Yet it’s only the beginning. In an ideal Toads can travel road cuts off an area of woodland from world there would be no need for toad two kilometres Bodenham Lake. patrols. And so work is underway to make to reach their the landscape around the lake better for breeding ponds And that’s not good news for toads. toads. Plans include making places where They hibernate in the woods and in toads can hibernate without needing to 4 in 5 Four out of five spring they travel down to the lake to get cross the road to do so. rivers in England on with the crucial business of mating, and Wales fail spawning and making more toads. Toads Creating new ponds for toads to achieve ‘good are not swift and sure crossers of roads. ecological status’ It’s ironic: Mr Toad in The Wind in the One of the problems toads suffer from Willows is the great mad driver of fiction, is the loss of the old farm ponds. On the 1–2km but in practice toads are the constant road wooded side of the road, farmers are casualties of Mr and Mrs Human. being encouraged to install new ponds, The distance most water voles travel to so that toads will be able to mate and find food, shelter and mates Herefordshire Wildlife Trust has spawn – again without crossing the road. coordinated a team of lollipop people for This helps to improve the quality of the Join our campaign for a toads: out there on spring nights with connecting landscape. Wilder Future and help us put buckets and torches as toads, mad with nature into recovery wildlifetrusts. desire, make their way to the lake. In its More ponds: part of a gentler and softer org/wilder-future first year, the team helped 200 toads to the landscape that joins up the best places and other side. Last year, the score was 1,300 so brings the wider countryside back to life. – not because they’re better at catching It’s good for wildlife and toads but because, thanks to their efforts in good for humans. previous years, there are now more toads A wilder countryside is needing to cross. a better place for us all, reconnecting us As a simple example of connectivity in with nature and action it could hardly be bettered. Toads making our have declined by 70% since 1985, due lives richer. to a complex combination of reasons. 32 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

A WILDER FUTURE Space for water voles Ratty in The Wind in the Willows is not losing our connection with wildlife and This is not, as you will no doubt have a rat but a water vole. He’s also a poet, making it harder for wild animals to observed, rocket science. It requires only a dreamer and a waterman. Here he is make a living. Those cows staring at an a subtle shift in the minds of humans. We talking about the river: “It’s my world, and idyllic riverside landscape while dreamily have relegated wildlife to the backwater of I don’t want any other. What it hasn’t got chewing the cud are making life hell for life, and it should be mainstream. is not worth having, and what it doesn’t poor Ratty. know is not worth knowing. Lord! The We have made wildlife a luxury item, times we’ve had together…” Together, we can the first thing we lose when we chase work towards a that will-o’-the-wisp we call progress. You can interpret this as Ratty’s plea kinder and richer But as we start to live with notions of for connectivity: for not breaking up the countryside connectivity, we can work towards a system of waterways on which water kinder and richer landscape, a better voles depend. But we’ve dredged them Sometimes the solution requires little countryside and a better country. and concreted them and polluted them and more than common sense and goodwill. generally bullied them, until it’s a wonder In several areas, Essex Wildlife Trust has It often starts with small individual they’re able to support any life at all. worked with local landowners to erect decisions – not using pesticides in fences that protect stretches of river bank your own garden, accepting that a tidy Now we’re beginning to re-think, and to from cows, and create the perfect habitat landscape is a dead landscape and letting adjust the way we live to make for better for water voles – and the voles have a patch of your lawn grow wild, supporting connectivity – with greater consideration returned, all along the bank. conservation organisations such as your of what wildlife needs to survive. local Wildlife Trust, and speaking up for Lock gates on rivers and canals are also wildlife whenever you get the chance, You might expect that, in rural stretches problematic for water voles. But with ‘soft over cups of coffee and pints of beer. of river at least, water voles would have engineering’ solutions to the problems it their own way. But that’s not the case. they create, including coir matting instead It’s also about our connections with Riverside meadow is traditionally good of concrete and the planting of willows, wildlife and our connections with other grazing for cows, and as they crowd they can become water-vole friendly once people. We can do it. Only connect. Let’s onto the bank to drink or to browse the again – and the connecting nature of the resolve to live no longer in fragments. riverside vegetation, they munch away on river can be restored. water vole food. Worse, they trample the Simon Barnes banks and make it impossible for voles to is an author with a passion make the tunnels they live in. for wildlife. He was awarded the Wildlife Trusts’ Rothschild Wherever we look, even in the heart medal in 2014. of the countryside, it seems that we’re Our new 10 year study of water voles shows that national treasure ‘Ratty’ needs urgent help, and sensitive management of river banks, to survive. WATER VOLE: TERRY WHITTAKER/2020VISION Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 33

LIVING LANDSCAPES Urban rivers Over the past decade, we’ve specialised in Coventry’s urban rivers. Here are the answers to some of your most asked questions in that time! W ho owns rivers? Larger improved legislation and hard-working Why are you pulling plants out of river rivers are managed by the locals. Rivers can support insects, banks? Himalayan Balsam is a non- Environment Agency, but fish, birds and bigger mammals, but native plant that loves our climate and landowners must protect improvements are still needed. Rubbish was introduced by the Victorians. It out- rivers, riverbanks and surrounding wildlife is the visible problem, but other issues competes native plants and attracts bees, on their own land. Smaller streams, called include polluted water on farmland, run-off but nothing else. Shallow roots mean that Ordinary Water Courses, are generally from roads, and pollutants being tipped when it dies there are no deep roots to managed by Local Authorities, although down drains. hold the bank together and soil falls into the landowners must maintain those on river. Wherever possible, we combat this their land. Why isn’t rubbish removed? Our by planting native species for native wildlife volunteers clear rubbish when they can, to secure the river bank and reduce the Why aren’t they dredged? Where but safely training and supporting them erosion that leads to flooding. possible, dredging is best avoided due takes resources. Woody debris also to potential negative impacts on wildlife. creates homes for insects, which fish then How can I look after my river? Stay vigilant The best alternative is managing both the eat. It can create quieter waters where and report issues to the Environment surrounding land and how much sediment fish can shelter from predators and faster Agency. Dispose of waste and chemicals enters the water. currents, as well as pushing flood water correctly. Direct dirty and clean water to the to the flood plain rather than into houses right places by visiting connectright.org.uk. Are rivers dirty? There’s been an downstream. However, in urban areas, Join a volunteer group by contacting Keep improvement in recent decades thanks too much woody debris collects rubbish, BritainTidy, your local council, or searching for to a greater understanding of pollution, poses a flood risk and looks messy. the Friends of Sowe Valley on Facebook. Sowe Valley JIM SHANNON 34 Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019

LIVING LANDSCAPES How to slow the flow Wetland Officer Nick Martin looks into how can we limit flood risk through planning and management. T o most people, the idea Leaky dam slowing NICK MARTIN of riverside living means water through picturesque views, varied Elkin Wood catchment of the River Sherbourne, west landscapes and an abundance of Coventry, we’re working with local of wetland wildlife. However, it can also prevents significant floods in the wrong landowners and farmers above the flood- mean flooding, danger and risk to property places by causing insignificant micro- threatened village of Allesley. In northern and life. The worry of inundation plus the floods in the right places. Warwickshire, along the Bournebrook, lasting damage left by water can cause we’re implementing a similar scheme to misery. Flood defences have historically Working in partnership protect Fillongley. Our Wetland Officers included artificial reservoirs and the are working with volunteers, contractors creation of bunds and barriers. These Ephemeral shallow pools retain water and locals to increase the flood resilience measures can be complex, expensive within the landscape and away from of at-risk communities when the next and out of character with the surrounding ditches. These scrapes can hold water significant flood risk arises. This vital area and the Trust believes there are more for several days before it evaporates or work will also provide tangible wildlife natural alternatives that can effectively permeates back into the soil. Trees and benefits and offer a template for working reduce risk. hedgerows hold rainwater in their leaves with nature that can be replicated around and draw water from the ground, creating Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull. As an alternative or complementary more permeable soils that absorb more measure, Natural Flood Management rainfall. Rough grass and scrub margins Find out more at (NFM) replicates natural features, slowing near water courses work in the same way, warwickshirewildlifetrust.org. the flow of water from the hills and whilst simultaneously creating habitat uk/natural-flood-management tributaries above rivers. This allows the for riparian species. We’re working in same volume of water to pass through partnership with local authorities and the system over a longer period, whilst the Environment Agency on a varied ensuring normal passage of fish and other programme of NFM. In the upper aquatic species. Under pressure NFM can be achieved through a variety of different interventions, including the installation of leaky dams that imitate the naturally occurring woody structures found in brooks and gullies. A historical compulsion with tidiness has meant removing debris from ditches and eliminating potential habitats for aquatic species. However, woody debris along water courses creates vital, sheltered backwaters and allows water to travel under pressure - scouring the bed of silts, exposing gravels and improving spawning grounds for fish. When wood disintegrates in the water, aquatic invertebrates benefit from this resource just as their terrestrial cousins would do from a dead tree on the woodland floor. Leaky dams and woody debris also provide resistance and slow water that would otherwise rush through ditches and brooks, holding back a higher volume that could otherwise flood further down the catchment. In short, NFM Wild Warwickshire | Summer 2019 35