Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 RECORDERS NEWSLETTER ISSUE 9 – May 2010 Welcome to the ninth edition of the Powys and Brecon Beacons National Park recorders newsletter. In this issue, Bob Dennison describes the British Dragonfly Societies’ new online recording system; Phil Sutton adds an interesting note and photo of a harvest mouse nest barbeque; Tammy Stretton enthuses us with the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Sites Project; for those more computer minded, our own Michelle Weinhold describes the recent predictive modelling project she has undertaken at BIS on horseshoe bats; yours truly comments on the lily beetle in Powys; and a request by Butterfly Conservation to help search for the Forester moth in Wales. Don’t forget to come along on the Recording Day at Abergwesyn Common on 24th July. Good hunting! Phil Ward – Editor Training day Penlan ponds (Keith Noble) Lily beetle Lilioceris lilii (Keith Noble) Contents Update from BIS Janet Imlach 2 Priceless Dragonfly and Damselfly Records! Bob Dennison 3 New Montgomeryshire Dragonfly Recorder needed 4 Harvest Mouse Micromys minutus nest Phil Sutton 5 Abergwesyn Commons Recording day Jessica Tyler 6 Predictive Modelling Project at BIS Michelle Weinhold 7 1st Lily Beetle record for Powys? Nearly! Phil Ward 9 BIS database reaches one million records! Janet Imlach 10 Montgomeryshire Wildlife Sites Project 2006-2010 Tammy Stretton 11 Photo page 13 BIS Wildlife Recording Training Days 2010 14 Butterfly Conservation request – Forester moth Butterfly Conservation 17 BIS contact details 18 Page 1 of 18 Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 BIS update Staff Time has passed by very quickly as in the last newsletter we said hello to Naomi Stratton, who worked with us on a Go Wales placement and then stood in for Anna while she is on maternity leave. We now say goodbye to Naomi and thanks for all her hardwork entering data and keeping the planning and enquiry services running efficiently. She will be working for the Bat Conservation Trust surveying over the summer. Data In April the BIS database reached a million records (see page ) which was celebrated with cakes all round in the BIS offices. On the 22nd May 2010 the Recorder 6 database held 1,013,487 records. We have recently entered records from larger datasets including: VC42 Birds 1969-2007 VC 42 Butterflies 2004 -09 VC 42,43 Odonata Welsh Centipede records VC42 Herps VC47,43 Mammals VC42 Mammals 2009 We are also very pleased to have just received the complete moth datasets for Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire. Thanks to Peter Williams, Pete and Ginny Clarke and Norman Lowe, BIS will now hold the complete verified moth datasets covering the three Vice-counties in Powys. This is now also repeated with the 3 mammal datasets thanks to the new Mammal groups in Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire and Phil Morgan in Breconshire. BIS has put its first dataset onto NBN Gateway, which is the CCW Vascular plant records mobilised by BIS. This is an unverified dataset, which already needs updating due to some verification by Ray Woods. The link is http://data.nbn.org.uk/datasetInfo/taxonDataset.jsp?refID=5&list=1&sort=true&dsKey =GA000691 The dataset is at full public resolution as requested by CCW and we would be very glad for any feedback on verification. BIS hopes to upload all CCW data to NBN Gateway over the next few months. Website BIS is gradually updating its website and we have now introduced an events calendar. Please send us details of any events you would like to be displayed on our website or links to your website. BIS 10th Anniversary It is 10 years since BIS became a company and the founding partners signed a Memorandum of Agreement. Adam Rowe was employed as manager and in 2000 worked from the BWT offices setting up the business. Other staff joined him in January 2001 in the first BIS office, and began populating the database. We would like to organise some events over 2010-11 to celebrate and the first will be a social occasion on the 27th August 2010. We will be sending out invitations to staff, directors, partners and recorders past and present who have supported BIS over the last 10 years to celebrate with us and thank them for their contributions. Janet Imlach (BIS Manager) Page 2 of 18 Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 Priceless Dragonfly and Damselfly Records! Mid Wales’ dragonflies and damselflies are already on the wing! Surviving since the time of the dinosaurs, these insects are excellent indicators of water quality and environmental change - including climatic change. The UK Dragonfly Atlas is currently being updated and records received over the past few years have thrown up some surprises. Records of ALL sightings are therefore extremely valuable and welcomed. To facilitate the flow of information from the public, the British Dragonfly Society has launched a new and straightforward online recording system which I would commend people to use. The system provides helpful photos of all the UK species to aid identification, and Google Maps to pinpoint the location. Blue-tailed damselfly Ischnura elegans (Mark Walters) The ‘simple record entry’ will appeal to the occasional, casual observer:- http://www.ghmahoney.org.uk/bds/recording/simpleentry.aspx And the ‘simple entry’ screens have a step by step guide with traffic lights at each stage which go green when all the required information has been correctly entered. If users are unsure of a dragonfly species, they can attach digital images to records for definite identification by the BDS. ‘Advanced entry’ enables experienced recorders to input batches of records :- http://www.ghmahoney.org.uk/bds/recording/advancedentry.aspx In addition to updating the Atlas, the information collected will be used to make conservation decisions and to monitor spreading and endangered species. Records of breeding activity are of particular importance in this regard. All records, from anywhere in the UK, are also automatically routed via the local Vice County Recorder for validation; but if you prefer to contact your local recorder directly with any dragonfly records, then the contact details are at :- http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/docs/VCRecorders.doc For the three Vice Counties of Powys, the contacts are as follows :- Radnorshire : Bob Dennison, Maes y Geidfa, Crossgates, LLandrindod Wells, Powys, LD1 6RP. Tel: 01597 851 702. E-mail: [email protected] Breconshire : Keith Noble, 25 Belle Vue Gardens, Brecon, LD3 7NY, Tel: 01874 620133, E- mail: [email protected] Montgomeryshire : Mark Walters, 3 Sunnymeade, Canal Road, Four Crosses, Llanymynech, Powys, SY22 6PW. Phone: 01691 830207 Email: [email protected] website: www.sunnymeade.plus.com/index.htm Bob Dennison, Radnorshire Dragonfly Recorder Page 3 of 18 Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 Radnorshire footnote: I would just like to encourage any records (no matter how few or apparently common) but we are generally under-represented around the borders of the Vice County! Bob Dennison, Radnorshire Dragonfly Recorder Brecknock footnote: I would be pleased to hear now from anyone who will look for dragonflies in Brecknock, am happy to help with identification of photos, and will keep them informed of what's being seen through the season. Keith Noble, Brecknock Dragonfly Recorder Montgomeryshire footnote: Along with Keith and Bob I am happy to receive all records on any sightings no matter how common the species may seem. It is best to contact me via email and please always try and get a good clear photograph of the dragonfly if you cannot identify it yourself. I will be updating the News section of the Montgomeryshire Dragonflies website as the new season starts so keep an eye on that for the latest information. Significant new records and any nice photos you can contribute will also be included on the website. Mark Walters, Montgomeryshire Dragonfly Recorder New Dragonfly vice county recorder needed for Montgomeryshire This post is currently vacant. If anyone is interested in taking on the vice- county recording roll for dragonflies in Montgomeryshire, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Mark Walters adds: I'm just the caretaker for this role really until someone who can give the dragonflies more time comes along. Ideally you need someone who is retired or works part-time so that they can actually get out recording in the 10km grids where we have no records. Page 4 of 18 Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 Harvest Mouse Micromys minutus nest Back in March I found a harvest mouse nest sitting in the top of a burnt molinia tussock amongst a burnt field of rhos pasture on the Ystradfawr marsh fritillary site at Ystradgynlais. It was during a really dry spell when there had been a spate of fires, but fortunately for the butterflies it was probably a quick light fire that wouldn't have done them any harm. Don't know how lucky the mouse was though! Phil Morgan, the VC42 mammal recorder, says it is only the second record of harvest mouse for Brecknock. Phil Sutton, Reserves Officer, Brecknock Wildlife Trust Harvest Mouse nest after the fire (Phil Sutton) Page 5 of 18 Biodiversity Information Service Recorder Newsletter – Issue 7 – May 2009 BIS Wildlife Recording Day 2010 Llanwrthwl Common, Abergwesyn Commons (National Trust) Sat. 24 July 2010 Led by Jessica Tyler (NT) and BIS. Llanwrthwl Common in Brecknock is one of eight commons, known as Abergwesyn Commons, owned by the National Trust. There are seven contiguous commons and one separate common that make up the 16,500 acres of upland, between 300 and 645m altitude, that runs to the south of the Elan Valley.