LENS LENS Long Eaton Natural Wildlife History Society Watch Autumn 2010 Volume 2 Issue 6 Inside this issue: Friends 2 VICTORY FOR THE COMMUNITY Water Quality 3 Assessment Forestry Commission orders Tree planting at Toton The Forestry Commission stop the site being used requirement that they re- Summer Out- 4- ing Reports 11 have ruled that illegal for open cast coal mining plant this autumn/winter, tree felling has taken followed by development. and protect the trees for at place at Toton Sidings This is a site of interest least the next 10 years. Environment Agency works 12 and that reinstatement for nature conservation should take place. The (SINC). Notts Wildlife This is a real victory for the Trust are concerned to community. NBN Gateway 12 Toton Sidings Environ- maintain green space and mental Action Group are corridors for the wildlife fighting to protect the which includes glow Tree Pests 12 remaining greenbelt be- worms, bats, aquatic tween Nottinghamshire mammals, orchids and Meeting dates 13 and Derbyshire in this many other Biodiversity 1 area. Negotiations are Action Plan Species. taking place with Brox- towe Borough Council There was good news in Trees in Kenya 13 who have earmarked the July, with the Forestry Commission’s announce- land for housing. Contact details 13 ment of the order for re- The Friends of Toton Park planting of 1100 trees in Mother Shipton moth are supporting the Toton the area. The decision Environmental Action can be appealed by the Callistege mi Records Wanted Group in a bid to owners, but is subject at the old Toton Sidings to the Report Mammal Records for the new MARKEATON PARK BIOBLITZ Derbyshire Mammal Atlas which is being Derby City Council’s Wildlife At the LENS stall Gill Martin produced by Derby- Officer, Beverly Rhodes or- and David Pinney hosted a shire Mammal ganized a successful BBC wildflower quiz devised by Group December is Breathing Spaces event a Joan Breakwell and a but- last date for records. BIOBLITZ at Markeaton Park. terfly quiz by Marion Bryce. Take part in BTO . The aim was to record as The event took place over British Trust for many species of wildlife as two days and over 600 Ornithology tetrad possible within 24 hours. species of wildlife were re- recording survey Another aim was to show corded. phone D Budworth LENS BUTTERFLY people how to identify wild- 01283 215188 for Quiz enjoyed by life. details. children and adults www.lensweb.wordpress.com Friends of Elvaston Castle People living near Elvaston Castle DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL The lease is linked to support complained after about 100 trees intend to grant a 150 year for a matched funding bid to were felled near the site. The lease of Elvaston Castle and the Heritage Lottery Fund for Friends meet at the Moon Hotel, part of the Country Park to the restoration of the Gardens. Station Road, Spondon, Check out Highgate Sanctuary. Approxi- The remaining 165 acres of the the new u tube video on the web- mately 150 acres of land in- Country Park which remain in site. cluding Home Farm and the the Council's ownership are not http://www.friendsofelvaston.co.uk/ Stables area will be developed affected by this proposal. video.htm into a :Hotel with conference The Council is considering es- and leisure facilities (Castle, tablishing a Trust to manage courtyards and immediate the Park and Historic Gardens. area);Craft type businesses A petition objecting to the plan- (stable area);Golf course and ning application has been pre- club house extending onto sur- sented to Parliament. rounding land. Cream wave moth at Elvaston Scopula flos lactata Friends of Forbes Hole A brown argus butterfly was a new record for Forbes Hole seen on the Wildlife Wander in August. Common blue, small copper, meadow brown, gate- keeper and comma were also seen. The Friends have had several action days to cut back scrub, clear and tidy up the re- serve. Call Marion Farrell 01773 Clearing the scrub back at the Two Alans Painting 539 434 or mobile 07800 viewing area for the big pond 752259 to join the action. Friends of West Park Long Eaton Horticultural Society trees in the elm avenue need re- are contributing to a 5 year plan placing. The judging for East Mid- for introducing more colour into lands in bloom was in mid July. the park. The cold winter has dam- A schools competition has been aged several palm plantings in the started for the design of a pair of bowling green area. Trees felled in gates at the yellow barrier en- recycling area due to a fallen trance. A water play area is branch damaging a car, have opened up the view. planned. A living sundial is being planted. Cards with contact num- There will be a tree planting re- West Park Broad Street Entrance view in September as some of the bers are available for park users. Next meeting Curzon Room West Volume 2 Issue 6 Park 7 pm November 4th www.lensweb.wordpress.com 2 Water Quality Assessment The biological monitoring working party (BMWP) is a procedure for measuring water quality using species of macroinvertebrates as biological indicators. The method is based on the principle that different aquatic invertebrates have different toler- ances to pollutants. The presence of mayflies or stoneflies for instance indicates the cleanest wa- terways and are given a tolerance score of 10. The lowest scoring invertebrates are worms (Oligochaetes) which score 1. The number of different macroinvertebrates (larger ‘bugs’) is also an important factor, because a better water quality is assumed to result in a higher diversity. Kick sampling, where a net is placed downstream from the sampler and the water is agitated with the foot for 3 minutes, is used. Any macroinvertebrates caught in the net are identified to the family level. The BMWP score equals the sum of the tolerance scores of all macroinvertebrate families in the sample. A higher BMWP score means better water quality. Also the Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) score is calculated. The ASPT equals the average of the tolerance scores of all macroinvertebrate families found, and ranges from 0 to 10. The main difference between both indices is that ASPT does not depend on the family richness. Once BMWP and ASPT have been calculated, the Lincoln Quality Index (LQI) is used to assess the water quality. The results below were from samples taken adjacent to the pond dipping platform at Attenbor- ough Nature Reserve on 8 July 2010 by David Gell. Sam- pling Group Families BMWP point Caddis or sedge flies Leptoceridae 10 10 Caddis or sedge flies Limnephilidae 7 7 Mussels Unionidae 6 6 Shrimps Gammaridae 6 6 Dragonflies Coenagriidae 6 6 Bugs Notonectidae 5 5 Bugs Corixidae 5 5 Beetles Dytiscidae 5 5 Flatworms Planaridae 5 5 Damselfly larva Mayflies Baetidae 4 4 Leeches Piscicolidae 4 4 Snails Lymnaeidae 3 3 Snails Planorbidae 3 3 Leeches Erpobdellidae 3 3 Hoglouse Asellidae 3 3 Midge Chironomidae 2 2 Oligochaeta(whole Worm class) 1 1 BMWP score 78 4.588 ASPT 235 Water quality banding Good KEY Pond skater Poor <25 Moderate 26-50 Good >50 Reference:A key to the Major Groups of British Freshwater Invertebrates by P.S. Croft (Field Studies Council). www.lensweb.wordpress.com 3 LENS Summer Outings Reports April 26 Erewash Canal and Lock Cottage, Sandiacre Meet at corner of Willoughby Ave and Bennett Street, Long Eaton: Grid reference SK482350:Leader Marion Bryce The Erewash Canal runs 11.75 miles through the Erewash Valley from the River Trent at Trent Lock to Langley Mill Basin. One of the earliest canals, built in the 18th Century, the Erewash Canal con- nected the now disused Cromford, Nottingham and Derby and Sandiacre Canals to the River Trent. The Erewash Valley walking and cycling trail is currently being developed which includes improved access and wildlife information panels along the canal. The Erewash Canal Preservation Society hosted our visit to the Sandiacre Lock keeper’s cottage and toll booth. This was built in 1776 and has been restored and fitted with original housewares such as enamel ware, a dolly tub and a mangle with water supplied from a hand pump. There are photo- graphs of the cottage through the years. The society is also involved with canal restoration. On a sunny evening the club had an enjoyable walk although the natural history value was reduced due to towpath works. It is good to see haw- thorn hedge management, but not in spring when the birds are nesting. The new path is very wide and with the adjacent clearance there had been virtually a total removal of herbage. This will recover but the habit of sprin- kling grass seed onto the exposed soil rather than letting it regenerate naturally, is not good for local flora. In places the original gritstone canal The Lock Cottage edgestones had been replaced by concrete, this will affect the lichen flora. Blackthorn was flowering with common dog violet and lesser celandine colourful beneath. Cuckoo flower, wavy bittercress and some thallose liverworts were seen in the canal overflow channel. Lesser pond sedge and false fox sedge lined the water’s edge. A swan was nesting. Willow warbler and blackcap could be heard singing in the adjacent Toton Water Meadows whilst a green wood- pecker was anting in the grass. Returning to Dockholme Lock, several members continued to look at one of the only sites for field garlic in Derbyshire. Here is an extract from Derbyshire Flora on line. ‘Field Garlic is a rare native perennial of rock ledges and dry grassland generally over limestone.