Annual Review 2009 If we and the rest of the back-boned animals were to disappear overnight, the rest of the world would get on pretty well. But if the invertebrates were to disappear, the world’s ecosystems would collapse Sir David Attenborough A Big Thank You We are grateful to the following Field Studies Council, Forestry Commission organisations that have provided !nancial Scotland, Freshwater Biological Association, To the many people and organisations who support or other gifts this year: Gar#eld Weston Foundation, Hanson Brick, have given us so much support and help this Industry Nature Conservation Association, year. Our members and donors, who have A S Butler Charitable Trust, Aggregates Levy Insectlore, J & JR Wilson Charitable Trust, contributed enormously; our sta! who have Sustainability Fund, Amphibian and Reptile John Ellerman Foundation, John Muir worked tirelessly to promote invertebrate Conservation, Anglian Water, Big Lottery Trust, John Spedan Lewis Foundation, conservation; and our trustees who have Fund – Awards for All, Broads Authority, Jordans Cereals, Manifold Trust, National enthusiastically and professionally overseen Bromley Trust, Bugbites Books, Bumblebee Grid, Natural England, News International Buglife. A special mention goes to all of Conservation Trust, Butter$y Conservation (Peterborough), Norfolk Biodiversity Buglife’s volunteers for the huge contribution Scotland, Cambridge and Peterborough Partnership, Oakdale Trust, Pilkington General they have made and especially to Buglife’s Biodiversity Partnership, Cecil Pilkington Charity, RSPB, RSPB Scotland, Scottish #rst intern – Charlotte Bruce-White - for Charitable Trust, Chapman Charitable Trust, Environment Protection Agency, Scottish giving up 6 months of her time to work with Cobb Charity, Coda Widlife Trust, Countdown Natural Heritage, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Sita the sta! team. Thanks also to our dedicated 2010 Biodiversity Action Fund, Countryside Trust, Teesside Biodiversity Partnership, The President and Vice-Presidents for promoting Council for Wales, Courtyard Farm Trust, Engine Group (for donation of IT equipment), invertebrate conservation so e!ectively. Darwin Initiative, Defra, Dulverston Trust, The Observer, The Wildlife Trusts, Tubney Ernest Cook Trust, Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Charitable Trust, University of East London, Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Essex Veolia ES Cleanaway Trusts, Whitley Wildlife Environment Trust, Essex Field Club, Conservation Trust, Wiggly Wigglers, WREN 2 A word from our Chair It is gratifying to look back over a invertebrates – the White-clawed National Observer Ethical Awards. Our year at Buglife that has been so full cray%sh. Aggregates sites have a work to save wildlife-rich sites from of exciting, new conservation work, role to play as isolated water-bodies the threat of destruction has continued, underpinned by organisational growth created where rocks or minerals and this year we celebrated Buglife and development. "anks to funding have been dug out of the ground playing a part in saving 15 sites to date. from Scottish Natural Heritage, we can become sanctuaries for rescued began new work this year in Scotland populations of the disappearing Raising awareness and increasing understanding of invertebrates is a to implement a Strategy for Scottish native cray%sh – these are called Ark vital element of Buglife’s work and this Invertebrate Conservation. We have Sites. "is work was supported by year we have been able to employ our also been joined by a new Conservation Natural England through Defra’s %rst Outreach O#cer. During 2009 we Assistant at our Stirling o#ce. Funding Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund. have taken on six new sta& members, from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, We have continued to work %ve of them into completely new posts. Essex Environment Trust, Tubney internationally during the year and Buglife’s achievements and progress Charitable Trust and Veolia ES have collaborated with partners in Sri in conserving invertebrates during Cleanaway Trusts has enabled Buglife Lanka to develop a project to conserve the year would not have been possible to begin an exciting new programme freshwater crabs and other invertebrates. without the support of our funders, of work. "is work is called ‘Stepping Sri Lanka is particularly important for members and donors, volunteers, and Stones for Wildlife’ and builds upon freshwater crabs - all 51 species are the input and help of other conservation our previous work for the bene%t endemic to the country and some are bodies – particularly the experts in our of threatened species on brown%eld restricted to extremely small patches of 28 Member Organisations. "anks sites. Practical work on the ground, threatened habitat. Funding from the also to the Board of Trustees who have initially in south Essex, Peterborough Darwin Initiative enabled Buglife sta& led the charity during the year, and and Teesside will develop a network of to visit Sri Lanka in November 2009. to our dedicated and talented sta&. sites, or ‘Stepping Stones’ in each area, enabling threatened species to spread. Our 3-year %ght to try to save West "urrock Marshes for its rare During the year we worked with the invertebrates was acknowledged aggregates extraction industry to save during the year, when Buglife won the Alan Stubbs one of the UK’s largest freshwater prestigious Conservation Award in the Chairman About Buglife Buglife is the only organisation in Buglife’s aim is to stop the extinction Europe devoted to the conservation of of invertebrate species and to all invertebrates, and we are actively achieve sustainable populations working to save Britain’s rarest little of invertebrates. We are working animals, everything from bees to hard to achieve this by: beetles, worms to woodlice and • Undertaking practical conservation jumping spiders to jelly#sh. There Small red damsel$y ( Ceriagrion projects that will contribute are more than 40,000 invertebrate tenellum) to achieving our aim. species in the UK and many of these, • Promoting the environmental as well as many international species, Invertebrates are facing importance of invertebrates and an extinction crisis raising awareness about the are under threat as never before. challenges to their survival. Today, thousands of invertebrate Invertebrates are vitally important • Assisting in the development of species are declining and many are to a healthy planet – humans and legislation and policy that will ensure heading towards extinction. World wide the conservation of invertebrates. other life forms could not survive 150,000 species could be gone by 2050 • Developing and disseminating without them. The food we eat, the if we do nothing. Each invertebrate #sh we catch, the birds we see, the knowledge about how to species plays a critically important conserve invertebrates. $owers we smell and the hum of role in the web of life. Once lost, they life we hear, simply would not exist • Encouraging and supporting cannot be replaced. Many invertebrates invertebrate conservation initiatives without bugs. Invertebrates underpin have incredible life stories yet to by other organisations in the life on earth and without them the be told, and we literally don’t know UK, Europe and worldwide. world’s ecosystems would collapse. what we are on the brink of losing. 3 Creating Stepping Stones for Wildlife and the Brown-banded carder Canvey Wick, for the wildlife living bee ( Bombus humilis ). To date, the there. Canvey Wick is a site that Buglife Streaked bombardier beetle and has a long history of involvement Distinguished jumping spider have with, having campaigned for its only ever been found on brown#eld protection when it was threatened with sites. The spider has only been found development in 2005. It is now a Site on two sites in the UK – both of them of Special Scienti#c Interest, protected threatened with development. primarily for its rare invertebrates. During 2009 we began exciting new During the year we published ‘Planning work to protect the rare invertebrates for Brown#eld Biodiversity- a best that live on brown#eld sites. We practice guide’ which is aimed at were awarded funding to begin all those involved in planning and implementing new developments. The very rare Distinguished jumping a new project called ‘Stepping The report provides practical solutions spider Stones for Wildlife’, where we will work to conserve invertebrates on for sustainable reuse of brown#eld land. The report is available free to Brown#eld sites are areas of land that brown#eld sites in locations across download from the Buglife website. have previously been developed. Once the UK. We will be working in each abandoned by industry, nature can area to develop a network of sites, or reclaim these places and wildlife can ‘Stepping Stones’, which will enable thrive, undisturbed. It is often sites threatened species to spread into where noisy factories once stood or new areas. We are grateful to the where heavy machinery excavated Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Essex the ground, that are now refuges Environment Trust, Tubney Charitable for wildlife, #lled with $owers and Trust and Veolia ES Cleanaway plants. In our towns and cities, they Trusts for funding this new work. can be oases of green set amongst Work has already begun in south Essex buildings, roads and industrial areas. and funding has been secured for work Brown#eld sites, particularly those in Peterborough and Teesside. In Essex, found in the Thames Gateway, are we are building on our previous work home to some of our rarest and most to conserve threatened species in the threatened invertebrate species such Thames Gateway. We have carried Brown#eld sites can be beautiful as the Streaked bombardier beetle out detailed invertebrate surveys places - a Pyramidal orchid on (Brachinus sclopeta ), the Distinguished and begun to plan out practical work Canvey Wick jumping spider ( Sitticus distinguendus ) to improve #ve key sites, including Buglife Out and About We exhibited at a number of new events including Malvern Spring Gardening Show where we talked to visitors about gardening for bugs. At Gardeners’ World Live we made over a hundred Ladybird and Lacewing Lodges with visitors to the show.