ISSUE 58 Scotland’s Biodiversity: Summer Issue 2016 Scottish Biodiversity Strategy: Taking Steps towards 2020 On Tuesday 22nd March 2016 delegates with an interest in Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy gathered at Battleby for the first annual Scottish Biodiversity Strategy Stakeholder Event. Unlike previous biodiversity conferences the aims of hosting this annual event are simple; To pointedly discover where we are along the route map to 2020, to share ideas and to make sure that we are, metaphorically speaking of course, on the right path to 2020. It is fair to report that there was a bit of a positive biodiversity buzz. Clearly a lot has happened since the Route Map to 2020 was published as recently as 2015. The demographic though was slightly unfamiliar. Amongst the usual, weathered faces, there were real, live, “young people”. SNH’s Biodiversity Youth panel providing a fresh face and ITAGE reminding some of the “more senior”, if not mature, environmentalists present that there is indeed a positive future beyond 2020, let alone towards it! SCOTTISH NATURAL HER The Forum Issue 58 Summer Issue 2016 SCOTTISH NATURAL HER ITAGE I Contents & Contacts Inside this issue: SBS Stakeholder report 3 NBN & SBIF—Collaborative working 4-5 Featured Fungus—Tongues of fire 6 Floodplain meadows - A technical handbook 7 Froglife—greener pathways for the future 8 NTS—Did you see me today 9 John Muir Trust—Turning Biodiversity engagement into action 10-11 ENFOR—Outdoor Learning 12-13 Trees For Life—Renovated Bothy & Project Wolf 14-15 Coille Alba - Hotspot for Flies 16-17 Butterfly Conservation Scotland—Whats visiting the allotment? 18 2016 Biodiversity Science Conference 19 Keep Scotland Beautiful—Adopt a Station 20 Postcode local trust Opens for Applications 21 HWDT—Marine traffic pressures on Scotland’s cetaceans 22-23 Publications 24-25 Diary dates 26 Contact details Do you have a news story? Are you involved in a The views expressed in this newsletter are not project? If so, then let the Biodiversity Team necessarily the views of Biodiversity Scotland. know! Ask for our article guidelines to help you The editors reserve the right to edit or exclude make the most of your article. articles; the editors’ decisions are final. Email: [email protected] Tel: 01463 For further information about the Biodiversity 725325 Team, log on to: Biodiversity Team www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk Scottish Natural Heritage Great Glen House Leachkin Road INVERNESS IV3 8NW Page 2 THE FORUM STAKEHOLDER Scottish Government’s Keith Connal kicked off the serious business, summarising changes to how Scotland is to deliver our Biodiversity Strategy through a new governance structure. To inspire there were examples of innovative projects, integrating biodiversity with other aims on the Crown Estate’s land on Glenlivet Estate, habitat restoration in the Forth catchment and plans in Glasgow to use NHS greenspace to improve the physical and mental health of patients (and staff). Although early days along the path to 2020 the news was positive, progress has been made with the ongoing and proposed work outlined in Scotland’s Biodiversity a Route Map to 2020. SAVE THE DATE 8th March 2017 Scottish Biodiversity Strategy 2nd Annual Stakeholder Conference The main event though for many was discussion, workshops to take stock and find out what the challenges ahead might be. And that is where we noted a sign that there has been a foray “off piste”. Repeatedly the biggest challenge noted is a degree of public disengagement with biodiversity. A bit of a shock, but also a wake-up call. Delivering projects is good, but we also need to take the crowd along with us, metaphorically speaking of course. ISSUE 58 Page 3 Collaborative working in Scotland: an update from the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Between November 2015 and March 2016, Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum undertook some work to improve their alignment with Biological Recording in Scotland (BRISC) and the NBN. This work has resulted in three agreed changes in order to establish an effective biodiversity data infrastructure in Scotland: 1. That SBIF and the NBN unite so that there is a single body governing the biodiversity data infrastructure and the Data Flow Pathway. To honour the original Public Petition which brought SBIF into existence, the SBIF Steering Group continues as the SBIF Advisory Group to the NBN in Scotland to support and facilitate the NBN and the Data Flow Pathway. 2. The SBIF Coordinator role transfers to be managed and hosted directly by the NBN to act as their Scottish Liaison Officer thereby maximising the capacity of the NBN in Scotland. 3. That the SBIF Advisory Group should focus on two matters: 4. driving a review and redesign of the ‘Biodiversity Infrastructure in Scotland’ with a view to re-aligning it, and 5. facilitating the Data Flow Pathway in Scotland so that the envisaged biodiversity infrastructure is highly effective. NBN Scottish Liaison Officer From the 1st April 2016, the SBIF Co-ordinator role transferred to the NBN becoming their Scottish Liaison Officer, the principal contact between the NBN Secretariat and Network members, data partners and data users in Scotland. Work on Recommendation 3 above has commenced. The review focus is currently on planning the approach; facilitating the Data Flow Pathway is however ongoing and the creation of the Atlas of Living Scotland will improve the flow of data in Scotland. Fig. 1 Page 4 THE FORUM and the Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum The Atlas of Living Scotland Fig. 2 The Atlas of Living Scotland [Fig. 1] is a new website being developed as a partnership between Scotland’s Environment Web (SEWeb); the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA); Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); the NBN Trust and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The NBN facilitates collaboration between its members and data are shared via the NBN Gateway, an infrastructure that needs updating. The Atlas of Living Scotland is the first stage in creating a platform to eventually replace the NBN Gateway. The Atlas is built on open-source code, originally created for the Atlas of Living Australia, and it allows interrogation of data such as species occurrences, habitats, images and spatial environmental layers. For example Fig. 2 shows the spatial portal in which species occurrences (blue dots) can be mapped with environmental layers (in this case ancient (of semi-natural origin) woodland (pink areas)). Each occurrence location can be interrogated to reveal associated datasets and records. The website was launched on the 27th May 2016, and is still developing. In June there were just over 2.5 Million species records available through the Atlas, and 24 spatial layers. For the moment to view the full NBN data holdings please continue to visit the NBN Gateway. We would encourage you follow the links below to explore the Atlas of Living Scotland, try out its functions, and send us your comments. Atlas of Living Scotland website: www.als.scot (send comments and suggestions to: [email protected]) . National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Gateway: https://data.nbn.org.uk/ Atlas of Living Australia: www.ala.org.au For further information please contact: Christine Johnston, NBN Scottish Liaison Officer; email: [email protected], tel: 07342254589 ISSUE 58 Page 5 Featured Fungus—Gymnosporangium clavariiforme There are four established Gymnosporangium species in the UK; they are rusts and their life cycles alternate between different host plants, Rust fungi are basidiomycetes and only distantly related to mushrooms and toadstools. Gymnosporangium clavariiforme has juniper (Juniperus communis) as it’s host and is visible on the juniper in the first half of the year on damp days. The alternate host for G. clavariiforme is hawthorn with structures found on the underside of leaves and on berries. G. clavariiforme is most commonly recorded in the spring when it produces amazing bright orange, structures on juniper known as telial horns. These horns grow in dense clusters and each individual horn can reach a length of around 1cm, expanding in damp conditions. At the beginning of the growing cycle, it can appear from a distance as though the tree is on fire and it has been suggested that a Middle Eastern species of Gymnosporangium Gymnosporangium may have been responsible for the story of the clavariiforme, telial stage burning bush in the Bible. In dry weather, these structures on juniper disappear and all that is visible is a slightly swollen area on the host stem. If you have a juniper wood near you, it would be well worth checking this out on a damp day in April or May. Fruiting: G. clavariiforme has been recorded from April and May in its distinctive telial stage on juniper; the less distinct aecial stage is mostly found in August and September on hawthorn. Habitat: Like all rusts, Gymnosporangium is parasitic, Gymnosporangium clavariiforme, in other words, feeding from a live host. In most cases, aecial stage on hawthorn. there is little damage done to the hosts although sometimes apparently the production of haws can be limited. Searches for the different stages of the fungus are clearly limited to habitats that support juniper, hawthorn or rowan. It is of interest that in many areas where the distinctive telial stage of G. clavariiforme is relatively common on juniper, the alternate host, hawthorn is not present in any quantity. Distribution: Records of these species can be generated from either stage of their life cycles. Records of G. clavariiforme are mostly from the telial stage on juniper. This may go some way to explaining the more limited distribution of the latter. All photos © Alan Watson Featherstone Page 6 THE FORUM Floodplain Meadows - A technical handbook A brand new handbook on species-rich floodplain meadows is now available.