Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Environmental Records Centre
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Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Environmental Records Centre Newsletter—7th Edition Summer 2021 For many of us, summer is the busiest time of the In this issue: year as we get moving with surveys, species • Colours of the urban floodplains monitoring and just generally enjoying the Dr Irina Tatarenko p. 2 outdoors! • iRecord Records—An update on progress One very exciting announcement and hot off the Neil Fletcher p. 4 th press: we will soon be adding to our BMERC Team! • Nature Reserve gets an 80 birthday present We have appointed an additional Local Wildlife Sites Mick Jones p. 5 (LWS) Surveyor, who will be working full-time across • What on earth is that? p. 6 Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. • Canopy Monitoring for Dormice Joyce Moore p. 7 This is a fantastic development for BMERC and we • Peregrines in Aylesbury are very pleased to be able to announce the extra Paul Holton & Emma Foster p. 8 member of the team. The new post will be working alongside Fiona to survey potential new LWS, • What to look for in summer The BMERC Team p. 9 provide advice and management support to landowners and managers on existing sites, and to • Oak Processionary Moth Update p. 10 promote the role that these often overlooked gems • What have we been up to? p. 11 provide by supporting a wider network of wildlife- • Resources Round-up p. 15 rich resources right across the county—and beyond. We will introduce you to our new team member and their work in the next issue of the newsletter. There are so many ways to get involved with recording over the summer months and we’ve included some in our Resources Round-up on the final page. There are also two nature-themed festivals in our patch this August, with guided walks, family friendly crafts, and some online activities too: Colne Valley Festival Fortnight (until th8 Aug) Chilterns Celebration (1st to 8th Aug) Above: River Colne. Visit the website links above to learn more. Top image: Essex Skipper (photo: Claudia Bernardini). Would you like to write for our next issue? For more information, [email protected] 1 Colours of the urban floodplains Dr Irina Tatarenko, Floodplain Meadows Partnership Milton Keynes sits in a big loop made of the River meadow species such as Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum Great Ouse and the River Ousel and their floodplains, vulgare), Autumn Hawkbit (Scorzoneroides autumnalis), Ladies Bedstraw (Galium verum) and which have been included into the urban landscape Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra). as valley parks. The smaller valley locations along the brooks are also floodplains, continuing to Up to 40 different species can grow on one square accommodate floodwaters. More than 45 hectares of meter of the ground in a floodplain meadow, making these valley parks are floodplain meadows, open a great display of shapes and colours. This diversity landscapes that are both attractive and inspiring. has arisen because of the hay cut in the middle of These habitats also offer a range of ecosystem summer, which is the most ancient type of land services including flood protection, long-term carbon management on river floodplains. Winter floods sequestration and pollination services, to name few. deposit sediments with nutrients – free natural fertilisers for plant growth in spring ensuring a good hay crop in summer. Most meadow species are well Ancient floodplain meadows are the result of a long- adapted to being mown because of a natural term traditional management for hay and aftermath seasonal mid-summer break in their growth. In grazing. These once typical floodplain landuses have th contrary, a lack of mowing often negatively affects experienced a 97% decline during the 20 century. meadow species, because nutrients deposited by There has been a recognition of the increasing rarity floods are not absorbed by plants and removed as a of this biodiverse habitat which has stimulated hay crop. Not mowing increases the soil fertility, conservation and restoration programs across the supports faster growing grasses and causes a UK. The Floodplain Meadow Partnership (FMP) decrease in species diversity in the sward. hosted by the Open University started in 2008 provides expert support for those projects. The FMP has been monitoring fifteen meadows restored in Milton Keynes along the river valleys in the 1990’s and the beginning of this century. We have found a relatively high species diversity (up to 19-22 species per 1m2) in small meadow patches in Browns Wood Estate, Waterhall (Ouse Valley park), Stony Stratford Nature Reserve, and Tattenhoe. Floodplain meadow sites around Walton Hall, which were used as long-term pastures, have recently been converted back to traditional management: mowing in summer and aftermath grazing in autumn -winter. That change has already shown an increase in plant species diversity, including some typical From top: Oxley Meadow; Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis). Photos by Mike Dodd. 2 Small herbs like Meadow Saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata), Tormentil (Potentilla erecta), and Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris) can’t compete with vigorous grass growth. Mass decline of those species caused by an increase in grass biomass and density, was recorded in Stony Stratford Nature Reserve in our 2021 survey. The hay cut is a major tool for keeping the nutrient balance in meadow soils and grass vigour under control (Rothero et al 2016). Effects of timing of the hay cut on plant diversity in floodplain meadows is not fully understood. In 2020, the Park Trust together with the Open University The species-rich and colourful tapestry of meadows began a trial of hay cuts at three different times has attracted artists and poets for centuries. In the through the growing season. The trial is based on summer of 2021, artists of all ages are being asked the Oxley Meadow SSSI in the western part of to take part in our national arts and crafts Milton Keynes. The meadow has been monitored by competition to help raise awareness of the UK’s FMP for over ten years. In 2010, the number of diminishing floodplain meadows. The OU and the species per 1m2 varied from 10 to 25 (average 17). Floodplain Meadows Partnership have launched the However by 2020 it had decreased down to competition encouraging people to visit a local between 6 and 15 (average 11) species per 1m2. This floodplain and create a piece of art that represents decline is most likely due to the lack of a hay cut in the importance and beauty of these natural habitat. 2016-2019. The current trial will reveal which timing Visit the Floodplain Meadows Partnership website of hay cut: mid-June, mid-July or early autumn is for details: www.floodplainmeadows.org.uk/projects- more efficient for restoring the species diversity. and-events/art-competition-2021 Above: The flooded River Ousel in winter. Below: how many species can you spot in this floodplain meadow? Photos: Mike Dodd. 3 iRecord Records—An update on progress Neil Fletcher, BMERC Data Officer Many of you are using iRecord to capture your A few statistics from the records loaded so far: wildlife records, with some people submitting • We are only downloading verified records and substantial numbers of records. The main advantage excluding records not accepted, i.e. an expert has of this is that many of the national recording schemes reviewed them and accepted them as correct. are using this method and therefore any records • Up to June 2020, 113,500 records were submitted will be verified by national experts. You downloaded. may be aware that we have allocated time this year − 13,800 of these were moth records to download these records into our database. Here is downloaded from iRecord by the County a short update on progress. Recorders, processed by them and sent to BMERC separately, accounting for 12% of The number of records in iRecord is staggering. the records. When I last checked, there were over 335,000 − A further 6,700 records (5.9%) were rejected records for the BMERC area, i.e. administrative by us, either because we had received them Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes. About 80% of from another source (i.e. already in our those records have been verified and accepted. database), or for some other reason, (e.g. verification only as probable). So far we have loaded records up to and including • Records have come from 1,567 different recorders. 30th June 2020. Whilst that might seem quite good, • The top active recorder contributed 6% of the it only accounts for a third of the available records. records, congratulations Ryan Clark! • 80% of the records were submitted by 65 I’m currently working on the next 6 months, July to recorders (4.1% of total) December 2020 which is a further 80,000 records • A lot of records of scarce species were included. and which demonstrates the dramatic growth rate. − Almost 150 species which were new in our database. The table below shows iRecord records in our − Over 1,200 records of species with fewer database by year from 2010 to June 2020. Note that than 10 records in our database. the apparent decline after 2018 is simply because of the lag in verifying and importing records from other Over the next couple of months we are hoping to sources. make further progress loading records from iRecord. 4 Nature reserve gets an 80th birthday present Mick Jones, BBOWT Volunteer Warden Dancersend Nature Reserve which helped inspire owns and manages the reserve, is also planning a Charles Rothschild to start the UK's nature reserve series of events to celebrate the anniversary and will movement has received a special birthday gift to work with neighbouring landowners to help protect celebrate its 80th anniversary – a grant of more than and enhance the natural environment in the wider £90,000.