L.Ooking to the Future

L.OOKING TO BURY BUCKETS 4 BEETLES THE FUTURE Helping Stag Beetles The past few decades have seen tremendous changes in the Blackwater OTTER UPDATE Valley, but what does the future hold? WATER, WATER... ANYWHERE? Thanks to the foresight and vision of the which, if seized, could see a major increase Drought in the Valley Councils who formed the Blackwater Valley in accessible and wildlife-rich greenspace. But Project (forerunner of the Blackwater Valley it also identifies serious stumbling blocks we VOLUNTEER NEWS Countryside Partnership or BVCP), the need to overcome. Local group round-up Valley has been transformed from an unloved The true value of accessible greenspace backyard to a well used green corridor that for people is now being realised, it's a brings the countryside into the heart of the vital element for quality of life and has a Blackwater Valley towns. remarkable effect on the physical and mental It was in 1976, 30 years ago that the first health of users. People who use their local RIackwater Valley Joint Landscape Report countryside regularly are measurably healthier ^s published. Running to 164 pages it was and happier. a comprehensive analysis of every aspect National government have earmarked of the Valley's landscape and its problems the Blackwater Valley towns as a centre for - and these were many. The River Blackwater growth, over 50.000 new homes are expected itself was so polluted it barely supported to be built in the next 20 years. In itself the , made up of 54 blocks and floats fish and was set in a ravaged landscape, growing population will increase pressure on water? Find out on page 5 pock marked with backyard industries, on the existing greenspace and the role of landfill sites, abandoned gravel workings and the Blackwater Valley can only increase in BADGER WATCH unsightly scrapyards.The report included a importance. co-ordinated landscape development plan The Valley is central to large tracts of WASTE NOT and this formed the basis of all that has been heathlands and woods that have been A story about rubbish achieved since.This has been considerable: notified as the Thames Basins Heaths Special over 400ha of derelict land restored, 230ha Protection Area (SPA), as they support MAKE A DATE - Event details opened to free public access, a Valley-long internationally important populations of three riverside path opened, five nature reserves rare birds:Woodlark, Nightjar and Dartford JOIN US AND'WALKTHE PATH* created, and ever increasing use by wildlife Warbler. Under European and UK law any and people. development which could significantly damage CLICK ON This is still a work in progress, the an SPA must consider the opportunities to OUR STRATEGY, Blackwater Valley Countryside Strategy avoid harm to the SPA through management YOUR FEEDBACK 2006-10 (see page 7) outlines our plans for and mitigation.The biggest threats to these the future and identifies many opportunities Continued on page 3 BIRD TALK: Little Egret Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership Blackxvater Valley Ash Lock Cottage,Government Road.Aldershot GUI I 2PS. Countryside Partnership Telephone (01252) 331353 www.blackwater-valley.org.uk They may be big, but Stag Beetles need up and down the country.The Bury in the spring of 2007 and carefully check all the help they can get to survive Buckets 4 Beetles project, or BB4B, is a for larvae, and to let them know what you great way for everyone to get involved find. If you are interested in taking part, Stag Beetles (Lucanus cervus) are Britain's in conservation at a local level and do contact PTES by phone 020 7498 4533 largest terrestrial beetle, named because something practical to help. email [email protected] for details, or the male's huge jaws look just like a stag's visit their website www.ptes.org antlers.They spend about five years as How to take part white grubs underground and emerge All you need is a garden, allotment or Seeing Stag Beetles as fully grown adult insects in spring. any other small green space, a plastic You are most likely to see males in flight Males can be up to 70mm (2.5 inches) bucket, a little time and lots of patience. on warm summer evenings between May long; females are smaller, without the By making holes in your bucket, filling and August, while they look for a mate. characteristic male'antlers'. Both sexes it with deadwood and soil and, finally, Females lay their eggs near decaying wood have a shiny black head and thorax (chest) burying it in your chosen spot, you can below ground and the developing larvae and their wing cases are chestnut brown. create an artificial breeding site for Stag are large white grubs with orange heads, They are quite harmless -- although they Beetles where their larvae (developing which feed on this rotting wood. It can can give you quite a shock if they bump beetles) can mature. Once your bucket is take up to five years for them to develop into you while flying around on summer in place, Stag Beetles (and a whole host into adult beetles.The majority of adults evenings looking for a mate! Their large of other insects) may use it to lay their live for only a few weeks in the summer in jaws are designed to ward off other males. eggs in. In the space of the next three or order to mate, although a few may survive Last year the People's Trust for four years these eggs will develop into the winter till the following year.With such Endangered Species (PTES) launched a fully-grown adult Stag Beetles.The PTES is a long larval stage, you can see how very^ , new project to help monitor Stag Beetles asking participants to dig up your bucket important it is to protect their habitats. work that needs to be carried out.The Environment Agency and Thames Water have kindly provided the necessary funding and an Otter Update MSc student, Steve Bolton, has begun the survey work. His results should enable BVCP and SWT to accurately cost all the mitigation Otter signs (and indeed a dead otter) along the River Blackwater in and habitat work, and this will enable us to bid for the much larger 2004 and 2005 heralded the beginning of otter recovery in Surrey, amount of money needed to actually undertake the work identified. so Blackwater Valley Countryside Partnership (BVCP), together In addition, volunteer surveyors are being given intensive training with Surrey Wildlife Trust (SWT), decided to bid for project funding in otter survey techniques and health and safety.Training takes to help them along the way.The money was required to carry out a full day for each individual and is structured so that they have a full survey of the river to find out hazards to otter survival, then experience of being in the water, working under bridges, identifying to address these and carry out habitat improvements to make the otter signs and learning the precautions necessary to avoid otters' lives more comfortable. waterborne diseases. So, at last, work is underway.We will report on Although the project met ENTRUSTS stringent criteria, we were our findings in due course. unable to get any grant funding at the time, so it was decided to CHRIS MATCHAM proceed with a much smaller one-year scoping project instead.This Chris Matcham is the Otters & will identify the potential risks in the Valley to otters and cost all the Rivers Project Officer at Surrey Wildlife Trust . Blackwater Valley Telephone (01252) 331353 Countryside Partnership There's no escaping the facts, we are suffering by domestic and industrial users is extracted Meadows, one of the Valley's natural from a water shortage. South-east and central from the River Thames. Once used.it is then floodplains.is usually water logged in winter southern England experienced the driest 15- discharged into the River Blackwater via the and inaccessible, but this winter it has been month period (November 2004-January 2006) many sewage treatment works found along dry enough for us to gain access," explains in over 80 years, and the entire Blackwater its length.This means that during the summer Steve Bailey, Blackwater Valley Countryside Valley area is now subject to a hosepipe and around three-quarters of the river's flow is Partnership' Manager/This is quite unlike the sprinkler ban.Without significant amounts of treated effluent.This simple fact greatly increases winter of 2000/1 when the site resembled a rainfall the river and its environs, including the the flow of the river above natural levels making lake." (see picture). 100+ lakes and ponds found in the area, will it unlikely that the river itself will run dry. Water levels in the Valley's many fishing suffer. However, with the predicted climate lakes, which are more reliant on rainwater, The river rises in Rowhill Nature Reserve change and more housing planned for the are lower than normal, making them more and according to Kathy Spink who has been area there is no guarantee that this situation susceptible to algal bloom and reduced oxygen involved with the site since the 1970s the will continue. Even before the current dry levels. Low oxygen levels have an adverse source has never dried up in all that time. period, concerns had been voiced over the effect on fish, causing many to die. Unfortunately only a tiny part of the river's deterioration of the Blackwater Valley SSSI, In the short term a drought should have no water supply comes from here. which is gradually drying out.At the same time marked effect on the Valley's riverside sites, Most water abstracted from rivers or the current system of grading rivers is to be nature is fairly resilient.

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