INFORMATION COFFEE MORNING 17 OCTOBER

About 80 people came along to the Information Coffee Morning in Louth where they had time to meet like-minded people, including the Mayor of Louth and LWT CEO Paul Learoyd, for a chat whilst enjoying coffee and biscuits. The presence of wildlife Volunteer-Wardens from Donna Nook, Red Hill and Toby’s Hill together with those from our woodland sites and verges explaining how the local wildlife sites are maintained proved very popular.

Sales of LWT wildlife publications, Christmas Cards and gifts went well. Visitors were able to look at wild flower seeds look under a microscope whilst the slightly salty smell of the shore line attracted people who had seen many shells and seaweeds washed up by the tide but had never looked at them carefully nor wondered what they were 

Many thanks to those who visited and especial thanks to those LAG members who helped on the day. RW

Frampton

Managing the Wash Reserves for Wildlife - Working in a Wader Wonderland. Toby Collett.

The Louth Area Group of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust started it's Autumn season of talks at the Conoco-Phillips Room on the 9th of October with a talk by Toby Collett, warden at the RSPB Reserve at Frampton.

Before the talk started we had a little round-up of what's been going on and what people have been seeing.  Wildflower seed collection at Red Hill, the departure of blackbirds and other seasonal bird movements and the ratio of a redshank's leg to bill length were discussed.  Toby demonstrated how to call back a buzzard by whistling.  Now we know.

Frampton Marsh comprises a mature saltmarsh managed by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and, the main subject of Toby's talk, a freshwater wetland managed by the RSPB that is now one of the country's best sites for seeing waders with 34 species recorded.  Since 2006 the RSPB has been converting some arable land into a combination of reed-beds, wet grassland and scrapes with islands.  The early years of the site's development are recorded in the Bird Guides by the Paul French, the warden in 2010. 

Toby stressed the experimental approach to dynamic management that is possible in this new reserve.  Managing the various inter-related habitats requires regular changes, for example ensuring by cutting that the reed beds offer various stages of maturity, with dense thickets for bearded tit nesting and edges from which bittern can hunt for roach and eels.

Carefully controlling water levels, changing them with the season, is key to the dynamic management. Allowing vegetation to build up and then flooding to kill it off provides nutrients to the mud for the all-important bloodworms, the larvae of the non-biting midges, the Chironomids.  These are found in great abundance and provide the bulk of the food for wading birds.  Maximising the abundance of Chironomids and ensuring their availability for the birds by changing the water levels seems to have been a great success, evidenced by the flocks of thousands of birds over-wintering here.

For Toby, a vital aspect of the RSPB's management of the reserve is to plan for a future of climate change, providing the diverse habitats that meet the needs of what may be changing populations of birds in years to come.

Seed Collecting and a Coffee Morning

BUMPER TURNOUT AT RED HILL FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER

Eleven of us turned up at Red Hill on this wonderfully sunny morning. Our aim was to collect the seeds of the Autumn gentian flowers which was a delicate process. One had to identify the flower and then gently shake the seeds into a container whilst protecting them from the breeze. The seeds are so tiny and after an hour I had only collected about an egg-cupful. I was relieved to learn that was about as many as most of the others had obtained.

Harry Turner was very pleased and told us that the seeds were very valuable. They will be planted in the meadow adjoining the Coronation Meadow. RW 

 

INFORMATION COFFEE MORNING SATURDAY 17 OCTOBER 1000 – 1200

CONOCOPHILLIPS ROOM, LOUTH LIBRARY

Each year the main fund raising event for LAG is the October Coffee Morning. In order to extend the interest and to attract more visitors we shall be having an Information Coffee Morningwhich will involve:-

A time to meet like-minded people for a chat whilst enjoying coffee and biscuits.

An opportunity to learn how the local wildlife sites are maintained as you meet the volunteers who carry out this work. Volunteers from Donna Nook, Red Hill, Toby’s Hill and our woodland sites have agreed to come along.

There will be a Raffle.

You will have a chance to purchase wildlife publications, Christmas Cards and gifts.

You will be fascinated to see how wild flower seeds look under a microscope.

You are welcome to bring your seashells for identification as you see what the tide has washed up.

The admission including refreshments will be £1.50 and there will not be a charge for children.

We do need Raffle prizes and a few helpers on the day. So please let me know if you can contribute.

With very best wishes

Ray Woodcock Chairman LAG

Seed Collection and Frampton Visit

SEED COLLECTION CORONATION MEADOW

Harry Turner tells me that the weather will be good on this Friday 25 September and that he has a lot of Autumn gentian seeds that need collecting. It is just a matter of shaking the seeds from the seed heads into a small plastic box - not bags. If you are able to help, please come along at 10.00 am to Red Hill for about an hour.

Harry and the LWT Mid-Lincs Warden, Kevin James really appreciate our help. This has enabled Harry to sow 4 acres of land with the Cowslip seeds that we collected last month.

LOUTH AREA GROUP VISIT TO RSPB FRAMPTON MARSH SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER

The weather forecast for next Sunday looks promising too and the migrant birds have started to arrive on the Marsh. The venue is well signed off the A16 south of Boston. Please meet in the car park MR TF 365392 at just before 1100 hrs. There is a charge of at least £2 for parking to help towards the upkeep of the RSPB site. Toilets are to be found in the Visitors’ Centre where we shall meet at 1100 hrs for a site briefing by Dr Chris Andrews.

We then explore the Marsh. If you wish, you may make your own way round the pathways or you can straggle along slowly with me! Bring your binoculars and telescopes as well as your lunch. There are plenty of large hides and grassy banks that will make good picnic spots.

Best wishes

Ray Woodcock Chairman LAG

Ted Smith

I regret to announce the death of Ted Smith CBE, President of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. He died yesterday, Sunday 13th September, at Boston Hospital. His daughters Alison and Helen were with him.

Ted, a founder member of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is also described as the architect of the modern Wildlife Trust movement.

Sir David Attenborough said in 2012 “Ted is quite exceptional. This countryside of Britain may not be as rich as Ted knew it as a child in the 1920s and 30s but it is immeasurably better than it would otherwise have been without him and The Wildlife Trusts. I believe that work will continue and be increasingly important to all of us living in this beautiful but crowded archipelago."

Back in the 1940s Ted Smith recognised the urgent need to save Lincolnshire’s most special places for nature. He fought to save our unspoiled coast, ancient meadows and heaths and to halt the destruction of native woodland. Ted campaigned on almost every front from saving roadside flowers from being sprayed with chemicals to pressing for legislation to protect otters.

His influence extended far beyond Lincolnshire. He travelled the length and breadth of Britain, lecturing on his vision for nature and for local Wildlife Trusts to champion it. Most importantly, he saw the need for local nature organisations which could own land and for them to derive support from a wide section of the community.

A short film about Ted was made in 2012 http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/who-we-are/ted-smith

I offer my deepest sympathy to his family and to his friends and colleagues, he will be so greatly missed. Dear Ted, rest in peace.

Paul

Paul Learoyd Chief Executive
Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

The Last Cuckoo

Jane and I were at Donna Nook yesterday On the way down the approach road we saw a Little owl on a sign post. A good start for a walk on a lovely sunny day. As we went long the path  in the lee of the dunes we kept sighting a small raptor resting on the path and flying into the bushes. We reckoned the bird was a juvenile Cuckoo - its identity  has been confirmed by the LBC. I wonder if was recently fledged and was stocking up with insects before flying south to the tropics.

It was a good day in a poor summer for butterflies. We saw the usual Large whites with Meadow browns and lots of common blues.  

Ray

Neonicotinoids

The Wildlife Trusts Position Statement Neonicotinoid Insecticides 

The Wildlife Trusts are calling for an outright ban on the use of all neonicotinoid insecticides.

There is a growing body of evidence to show that neonicotinoids have a detrimental effect at sublethal doses on insect pollinators; pose a serious risk of harm to a wide range of beneficial invertebrate species in soil, vegetation, aquatic and marine habitats; and pose a severe risk to the wider environment and delivery of essential ecosystem services. For these reasons, The Wildlife Trusts believe that the continued use of neonicotinoids in the UK represents an unacceptable risk to insect pollinator populations and ecosystem health.

We urge the Government to retract its opposition to the EU ban, recognise the scale of the risks posed by the continued use of neonicotinoids and place a permanent moratorium on the use of all neonicotinoid insecticides.

Key points

• Neonicotinoids, which are used as an insecticide on crops such as oil-seed rape, are harmful to a wide range of invertebrates, including pollinators such as honey bees and bumblebees.
• Pollination is a vital ecosystem service that maintains biodiversity and sustains agricultural crop yields. It is estimated that a collapse in pollinators would cost the UK economy c. £1.8 billion per year.
• We could see a collapse in ecosystems across the agricultural landscape and beyond if pollinators become scarce.
• The risk of environmental contamination is high and the impacts of neonicotinoid pollution have already been documented in the Netherlands, where high levels of imidacloprid pollution have been linked to declines in insectivorous farmland birds. 

Download the full Position Statement

Wildlife Trusts website report