THE SUSSEX RECORDER Proceedings from the Biological Recorders' Seminar held at Washington Village Hall, West Sussex March 1992 Compiled and edited by Valerie Selby Sussex Wildlife Trust Sussex Recorder 1992 CONTENTS Page Introduction 3 Sussex Environmental Directory 5 • An. Update on the SNCI Project 7 The Otter Project 9 Amphibians 11 Sublittoral Recording 13 Afternoon Session 15 Arlington Reservoir 16 Coastal Habitat Surveying 17 Beauport Park 19 Butterflies on Mill Hill 21 Chichester Harbour Conservancy 23 Bees and Wasps in Patcham 25 Brighton Beach near the Marina 27 Chalk Grassland Surveying 27 In Conclusion 29 Appendices : Sussex Recorder 1992 INTRODUCTION Tony Whitbread This is the third of our Biological Recorders Seminars. The numbers of people attending, and the interest shown has indicated very strongly that a forum such as this is needed in our county. A main aiil) of the seminar is simply to get biological recorders together. Many of us work in isolation, perhaps recognising important sites for particular species. A chance to meet and talk is, in itself, valuable. Once together we can organise better systems of coordination between recorders. We now have systems in place which should, at last, start to achieve this. When we have better access to this information we can start to use this to achieve nature conservation on the ground. The following papers on lhe Environmental Survey Directory and the Sites of Nature Conservation Importance project outline how far we have got in this process. The seminar can also be used as an opportunity to keep us all informed of major survey or recording projects that are underway. The three main talks in the morning session therefore discuss three projects that are underway at present. We have also discussed in the past, the idea of using our network of biological recorders to look in detail at specific sites. Perhaps one specialist has noticed a site or area which has a certain wildlife interest but its value to other groups of plants or ·animals is unknown. A reasonable approach is therefore for the recorder to present this site to the seminar and so invite wider examination to find out if the site is of broader interest. This is the subject of our afternoon session. Several people have agreed to give short presentations introducing a site and discussing its value. The agenda for this meeting has therefore almost set itself, and may form the pattern for subsequent seminars. We will start with short report back sessions for our two main systems of data collection, storage and use - namely the Environmental Survey Directory and Sites of Nature Conservation Importance projects. These are followed by sessions on major projects in the counties. In the afternoon we have more quick-fire presentations giving site profiles. 3 Sussex Recorder 1992 SUSSEX ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEY DIRECTORY Simon Curson The Sussex Environmental Survey Directory is a database system to record the locality of survey information - a directory to inform people of what survey information exists in Sussex and where it is held. The infoi111ation is held on a card index and on a computer database which has a useful facility for searching on multiple fields. There are accompanying maps for each county to show the area covered by surveys. The maps of West Sussex are drawn onto overlays and those of East Sussex are held on a computer mapping system. The Directory is now in a finalised and operable state, however the, as yet, small amount of information held on it is limiting and it is by no means comprehensive. At the moment 160 surveys of 200 sites are on the system. The backlog of surveys held with each of the steering group bodies is being put on the Directory as quickly as possible. In addition to surveys held with the steering group bodies and other organisations, much survey data is held by individuals in Sussex. This information is a valuable but as yet untapped resource for conservation. So what will be needed soon is to add this information to the Directory. This is where your help comes in. If you have any information please send it in to Simon Curson at the Sussex Wildlife Trust using the Site and Survey Recording Sheets that were given out at the Seminar. If you need more Recording Sheets or run into problems then contact him at Sussex Wildlife Trust. The Directory will be based and kept up to date at the Sussex Wildlife Trust. At regular intervals copies of the more recent update will be sent to the other Steering Group members. Enquiries for information will go through the Trust and be charged. This is the only way the Directory has of generating income and this hasn't been used much yet due to its infancy. Finance for the continuing update could therefore be a problem. The Directory will probably be used mainly by the members of the Steering group. Consultants, surveyors and anyone wishing to assess ecological information of a given area will also find it an extremely useful "short-cut" in finding the actual ecological information they require. It would also be useful in highlighting areas on the ground that lack survey data. The work continues ...... 5 Sussex Recorder 1992 AN UPDATE ON THE SITES OF NATURE CONSERVATION IMPORTANCE PROJECT Ann Griffiths The identification of SNCls in West Sussex is being done as a joint project with West Sussex County Council, English Nature and the Sussex Wildlife Trust. All are involved on the steering group. Funding has been provided by these organisations plus support from all the District and Borough Councils, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the National Rivers Authority. A project team, consisting of Graham Roberts, Marion Finch and Louise Clarke, was appointed in 1990. This team collated existing information and carried out new surveys in order to identify the most valuable sites. The last few months have been put aside for evaluating the information gathered and producing the lists of SNCls. Identification has been carried out by presenting the site information to a panel of experts - people who are very familiar with aspects of the County's ecology. On May 18th 1992 the lists of SNCls will be produced as a series of dossiers, one for each Borough/District, and will be presented to the Local Authorities. This is however an ongoing process. Further sites may be added to the dossiers as they are discovered, or sites removed if they are destroyed. The next stage is to make use of this information. Policies to protect SNCls have now been incorporated into most Local Plans, which will be valuable in development control. However, there will be more positive use of the SNCI dossiers. Graham Roberts of West Sussex County Council is now co-ordinating the follow up work on the SNCls. The aim is to contact farmers and landowners to tell them of their sites' value and to discuss sympathetic management. It may then be possible to target grant aid towards these sites hopefully making a good wildlife site an asset to the owner, rather than a liability. We are currently liaising with the National Farmers Union and the Country Landowners Association: They have understandable concerns about the project but are sympathetic to conservation and would like to see the project succeed without disadvantages to their members. To conclude this section, there have been some positive examples which show how the system might work. A farm near East Grinstead was found to contain a valuable grassland area, now listed as an SNCI. Management here is now being grant aided including scrub clearance and follow up survey work. A valuable site has been found, is being managed sympathetically and the farmer has benefited - everybody wins. 7 Sussex Recorder 1992 THE OTTER PROJECT Graham Roberts This is a three year programme with the Hants, Kent and Sussex Trusts, sponsored by the NRA, looking at the status of the otter in SE England. Before 1950, otters were frequent all over the British Isles. However, their numbers declined in the 1950's to 60's, probably due to the use of organochlorines in agriculture. This has resulted in otters now being found mainly in the North of Scotland, although they are present in the rest of Scotland, Wales and. west of England. Very few are found in the east of England although they have a very wide distribution throughout the world. They are now extinct in seven countries in Europe, therefore those found in Britain are very important, especially as the best European concentrations are in Ireland and possibly Scotland. Many otters in the south and east of the country are run over and killed on roads and railways so that accidents have become the main contributing factor to their decline. Otters are very elusive and are therefore difficult to study. They are nocturnal and have very good senses (they see you, before you see them!}. They cannot be trapped and studied as they get very stressed in traps. In muddy rivers they use their whiskers to hunt. Mink vs Otter Otters are much bigger than mink, males being about 3' to 4' long and females 2' to 3' long. They also have a broader head and a wide base to the tail. Mink swim much higher up in the water than otters. Mink have had a large impact on fisheries and water vole populations. Do they compete? Mink and otter both live side by side in Devon. The otter is ten times the body weight of a mink and can therefore oust a mink should the situation lead to confrontation. However, competition for habitat is more serious.