Northumberland Wildlife Trust is delighted that a rare bearded seal visited Beadnell Beach at the weekend – May 29.

This visit is the first ever record of a bearded seal to Northumberland since records began.

The young seal was spotted quite happily lying on the beach and appeared quite fit, fat and healthy. Local wildlife tour guide Alan Tilmouth, from Northumbrian Wildlife Tours waited with the young seal for 90 minutes to ensure the tide washed it back into the sea and to safeguard it against dog attacks.

Kevin O’Hara, Conservation Officer with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and mammals expert said: “This seal was way off course as species of this type normally inhabit the waters around the Arctic. Seals wander the seas and very often get blown off course and my guess is that the strong north westerly winds have altered the water currents and blown it here. There was no cause for concern although it is very unusual for it to make an appearance on a beach in Northumberland.”

The bearded seal, also called the square flipper seal is found in and near the Arctic Ocean. It’s most characteristic feature is the conspicuous and very abundant whiskers.
The bearded seal reaches about 2.25m (7.4ft) to 2.7m (8.9ft) in nose to tail length and from 275kg (606lb) to 340kg (750lb).

The England Biodiversity Group has recommended that central Durham should be one of the country’s first Integrated Biodiversity Delivery Areas, where priority will be given to conserving wildlife and creating new habitats.

The free event will celebrate successful examples of landscape scale initiatives in the county, such as the Heritage Coast.

It will also explore the priorities for the new project and how it can contribute to making the hills and valleys of central Durham even more wildlife friendly.

“The aim is to encourage community engagement and partnership working to protect and enhance native wildlife and encourage the formation of habitat corridors and networks,” said Cllr Neil Foster, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for regeneration and economic development.

A conference will be held on October 21 that will include a series of presentations on landscape scale initiatives and biodiversity issues together with a bus tour to various wildlife sites in the proposed area.

As part of the event, schools will visit Burnhill Nature Site conservation project, a partnership between landowner Russell Bell, Tow Law Millennium Primary and Blessed John Duckett RC Primary schools, Natural England, the county council’s countryside rangers, Butterfly Conservation, and Durham Wildlife Trust

The project aims to diversify farmland and create a conservation area to protect small pearl bordered fritillary butterfly and provide an educational scheme for schools and community groups.

It is an example of the kind of scheme the new national project aims to promote.

The exhibition and conference are organised in partnership with Durham Wildlife Trust and Europe Direct NE with funding from the European Commission.

Anyone wanting to book a place at the conference on October 21 should contact Helen Bonner on 0191 383 3361 or email helen.bonner@durham.gov.uk by October 8.

Limited places are available especially for the bus tour and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

The young birds, named Aqua, Splash and Spray, and only the second osprey family raised in North East England since records began 200 years ago, have all successfully flown in Kielder Water and the forest park.

Over the past week rangers have been monitoring CCTV coverage beamed live to Kielder Castle Visitor Centre as the chicks exercised their wings and leapt into the air, getting ready for take off. Two of the birds left the nest for the first time some days ago, but the third – the smallest of the brood and possibly a male – proved reluctant to leave and has only fleged in the past couple of days.

Kevin Hudson, Northumbrian Water leisure manager said: “The ospreys’ diet exists almost exclusively of fish. Kielder Water is well stocked with rainbow trout – a favourite dish for these raptors. Visitors to the Park now have a rare opportunity to watch the family of birds hunting as the parents will be showing the three chicks how it’s done. The best place to catch sight of these sensational creatures is from the aptly named ‘Osprey’ Ferry, which sails daily throughout the summer.”

The adult male will teach his offspring to fish – and it really is a crash course. By the end of August they will start a hazardous 5000-mile migration to sub-Saharan Africa when they must fend for themselves or perish.

Martin Davison, Forestry Commission ornithologist, explained: “The  chicks need to put on extra body fat to tackle the long flight. Ospreys  are  expert  hunters and will often hover over water to spot fish close to the surface. After fixing on their prey, they take the plunge with legs extended forward and wings swept back to keep them dry, before lifting away with a fish held in powerful talons.  It’s amazing how quickly young birds learn, but it is a matter of survival.”

Northumbrian  Water’s  ’Osprey’  Ferry departs from Leaplish Waterside Park and Tower Knowe Visitor Centre. Booking  is  advisable on 01434 251 000 or by enquiring on site.

Kielder Osprey Watch 2010 is organised by the Kielder Partnership, the RSPB and  Northumberland Wildlife Trust. The partners are working hard to ensure that  the ospreys are here to stay by maintaining a high quality habitat in Kielder  Water & Forest Park and safeguarding and monitoring the nest site. To find out more go to www.visitkielder.com

Ospreys were once distributed widely, but persecution resulted in the species becoming extinct in England as a breeding bird in 1840 and in Scotland in 1916. Some birds re-colonised Scotland in the 1950s and by 2001 there were nearly 160 breeding pairs (today about 200). The same year saw the first successful osprey nests in England for 160 years by re-colonising birds in the Lake District and re-introduced ones at Rutland Water in the East Midlands.  Kielder is only the place in England where the bird has returned to breed naturally.

The Coalition Government’s White Paper on the Natural Environment provides a real opportunity to lay the foundations of nature conservation for the 21st century, according to The Wildlife Trusts.

The conservation organisation’s comments come ahead of a public consultation and set out its recovery plans for the UK’s wildlife and fragmented habitats on land and at sea.

The Wildlife Trusts believe the time is now for the Government to establish a vision for the restoration of the natural environment which will help society achieve its ambitions for nature.
With scant existing legislation to encourage the restoration of the natural environment or the creation of new habitats on a significant scale, The Wildlife Trusts are looking for the Government to deliver real improvements.

Stephanie Hilborne, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: “This White Paper is potentially as meaningful as the build-up to the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Back then we were reconstructing a nation and, although money was very short, nature was seen as a key part of our future.”

In the 1940s, The Wildlife Trusts’ founders successfully pressed for laws to protect some of the most special habitats on land but these were emergency measures. They were refuges from which it was always hoped nature would re-emerge. Outside the nature reserves on land habitats were lost on an unprecedented scale. Since then more than 95% of wildflower meadows have disappeared and 90% of heathland too.

Every Trust is working within its local communities to inspire people about the future of their area through their Living Landscapes and Living Seas initiatives.

“Nature is not a luxury. With the UK facing unprecedented economic uncertainty and pressures for energy generation, food production and housing, there is a risk we overlook the very basis of our economy and our society; the natural environment upon which this all depends,” added Stephanie.

Most of us can picture a hedgehog, blue tit or grasshopper, but what does one sound like?

Members of the Wildlife Watch, the Wildlife Trusts’ network of groups for children, are now able to find out thanks to some new state of the art field recording equipment.

The Wildlife Sound Recording Society (WSRS) has generously provided The Wildlife Trusts with a wildlife sound recording kit worth more than £1,000. Now, the 300 Wildlife Watch groups across the UK can borrow the equipment and use it to tune in to the sounds of their local wildlife, hopefully learning much more about it in the process.

Adam Cormack, communications manager for The Wildlife Trusts, said: “We are very grateful to the Wildlife Sound Recording Society for generously providing this equipment. We hope it will encourage our young members to discover the sounds of nature on their doorstep and we are looking forward to hearing the results. We hope this new initiative will help children to tune in, turn on and press record!

“The sounds of nature are all around us but are often over-looked or easily missed. We hope this toolkit will show our young members that recording wildlife doesn’t need to be difficult, or perfect either. Recording the sounds of nature can be great fun but capturing the sounds that humans make such as noise from cars or aeroplanes is also part of the fun of field recording.

Recording and listening to them can tell us a lot about the impact we have on our environment.”
WSRS is all about encouraging participation in the collection of weird and wonderful wildlife sounds, and is at the cutting edge of developing recording skills and techniques.

Chair Roger Boughton, said: “We, at the Wildlife Sound Recording Society, are excited at the prospect of giving the opportunity for the junior members of The Wildlife Trusts to get closer to the sounds of nature. From the quietest click of a cricket or the chilling shriek of a barn owl, to the magnificent roar of a red deer, these breathtaking wild sounds can make your hair stand on end.

“We look forward to hearing how Watch groups get on, how they capture the sounds, and what they record.”

Those who are curious to hear the roars, croaks and coos of our wild creatures might want to get outside and listen. Here are five top wild sounds to tune into this summer:

- Screaming swifts – look out for the forked tails of these small birds wheeling overhead
- Grasshoppers and crickets – their chirrup can be heard in gardens and fields
- Popping gorse seeds – listen out for the brown pods bursting open with a snap
- Buzzing bees – busy collecting nectar from all the flowers in bloom

Wildlife sounds the WSRS has captured are also available to download as ringtones on the Wildlife Watch website: www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/Downloads.

Leaders of the three main political parties have been sent a letter from The Wildlife Trusts – urging them to introduce a White Paper on nature and ecological restoration in their manifestoes.

She said: “The UK Government must ensure the restoration of wildlife is at the heart of decision-making over land use and management. Nature is important to us all but it is in deficit. A new impetus for restoring the natural environment is urgently needed. A White Paper would focus attention on what the next government should do to restore our natural environment and ecosystems.

Hilborne added: “Our natural world is precious. It inspires millions of us every day and provides us with essential services like flood protection, food, climate regulation, carbon absorption and pollination. These are fundamental to our health, well-being and a successful economy.

“Already seriously depleted and damaged, the pressures on the UK’s wildlife and ecosystems are increasing, exacerbated by climate change. It has never been more important to protect wildlife everywhere and on a landscape-scale. It is now increasingly recognised we must restore nature, as well as part of plans for climate change adaptation.”

The Marine and Coastal Access Act, which recently passed through Parliament with all party support, is the first step on the road to recovery for our seas. The UK’s seas are potentially among the most productive and wildlife-rich on earth. Marine Protected Areas should provide safe havens where our wildlife can be protected and restored. The next Government must provide strong leadership, commitment and resources to effectively implement the new legislation.

Rangers in Kielder Water & Forest Park are scanning the skies for the return of ospreys which last year nested in Northumberland for the first time in at least 200 years.

The male is likely to be the first on the scene in late March after migrating back from sub-Saharan Africa, where he will have spent the winter in warmer climes. But despite being a born survivor and having made the long haul trip at least a couple of times before, nothing can be taken for granted, said Tom Dearnley, ecologist with the Forestry Commission.

“The epic 5,000 mile journey these birds make is quite breathtaking, but also daunting and there are many risks which have to be negotiated. But fingers’ crossed they will make it back and the male will soon be scouting out the nest site in Kielder Water & Forest Park. The female generally follows a few days later and providing things go to plan, they’ll re-ignite their romance with an aerial courtship display and settle down to rear young. It would be fantastic to see more English born ospreys fledge from Kielder Water & Forest Park to continue the recolonisation of former haunts.”

With England’s largest Forestry Commission woodland and northern Europe’s biggest man-made lake, managed by Northumbrian Water, Kielder Water & Forest Park is ideal territory for ospreys, which feed on fish and build their nests, or eyries, high in the tree tops. The Kielder Partnership is planning a viewing area in conjunction with the RSPB and Northumberland Wildlife Trust, and hope to gain close-up CCTV footage.
But ospreys are not the only stars on show in Kielder Water & Forest Park this spring!

The Kielder Partnership is staging a spectacular series of events as part Wild about Kielder season, starting on Saturday 6 March 2010 with a chance to see magnificent goshawks performing their breathtaking aerial courtship display. Setting out at 9am, the walk is repeated on Saturday 20 March 2010. Booking essential on 01434 220242. Other outings lined up include deer safaris, a dawn chorus walk, bat and owl nights and a chance to spy a badger. Booking is also required for these events on 01434 250209 and full listings can be found at www.visitkielder.com <http://www.visitkielder.com/> The season culminates with a wonderful Family Wildlife Day at Leaplish Waterside Park on Sunday 6 June 2010.

Richard Gilchrist, chief recreation ranger with the Forestry Commission, said: “Kielder Water & Forest Park offers unrivalled opportunities to see some of the nation’s best loved wildlife. This is a fantastic chance to join experts and see owls, bats, deer and goshawks in all their glory set against a dramatic wilderness.”

Kielder Water & Forest Park was recently voted the most tranquil place in England by the Campaign to Protect Rural England

Des res for Ospreys: Preparing to give last year’s nesting area a spring clean (top right) and the osprey chicks (above left) that made history.

The guest speaker is Dr Anne Borland, Reader in Molecular Plant Physiology at the School of Biology at Newcastle University and Director of Moorbank Botanic Garden.

Her lecture ‘A perfect storm’  takes the theme of the many threats facing biodiversity on a local and global scale and asks if these challenges create a ‘perfect storm’ for plant biology and looks at where solutions might lie.

It starts at 7.30pm and tickets priced at £5 are available from Durham Wildlife Trust -   tel: 0191 5843112.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene). Photo: James Lindsey at Ecology of Commanster - Click photo to enlarge.

Durham Wildlife Trust and Northumbrian Water have launched a new project to protect rare species in the face of climate change, starting with County Durham‘s rarest butterfly.

At the heart of the project is the small pearl-bordered fritillary, a butterfly which has declined by more than 93% in recent times.
Reasons for this include:

• Habitat loss through agricultural intensification, afforestation and development.
• Declines in habitat quality through agricultural abandonment and changes in woodland management.
• Habitat fragmentation and isolation

The historic range of the small pearl bordered fritillary in County Durham included the heaths and shallow valleys around the central belt of the County and the project area, over 29,000 sq ha concentrated around these areas.

Project officer Sue Charlton. Photo courtesy http://www.lowbarns.co.uk

Sue Charlton, Heart of Durham Project Officer, based at the Trust’s Low Barns offices near Witton le Wear, said: “With the help of local landowners and local communities, over the next five years, the project aims to secure the remaining relic areas of heathland, mire, wet and unimproved grassland by ensuring that existing designated Local Wildlife Sites are effectively managed.

“We then aim to, where possible, expand these sites and identify others with the aim of linking all these areas together. Ultimately this will increase the amount of available habitat and allow species to move through the landscape, not only to expand their range but also be able to move in response to a changing climate.”

These habitats are not only home to the small pearl bordered fritillary, but many other species of conservation concern, including the dark green fritillary, adder, grass snake, lapwing, curlew and many more.

The project funded by Northumbrian Water is part of a national network of projects run by the Wildlife Trusts (Living Landscapes) and Northumbrian Water (Branch Out), which eventually aim to provide a national network of high quality habitat which will allow wildlife to thrive and adapt in an uncertain future.

For more information, contact
Sue Charlton, ?Heart of Durham Project Officer
Durham Wildlife Trust?Low Barns, Witton-le-Wear, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, DL14 0AG ?Tel: 01388 488728

Don’t forget to help spread North East Nature Nature Watch news to your friends, family, colleagues and online social network, It’s so quick and easy to do. If you have a Twitter account then simply click on the green Tweet button at the start of the page. You can also click on the “Share This” link below to flag up the page via email, Twitter (again),Facebook, Myspace, StumbleUpon, Digg and any of your favourite social media networks. Go on do it now, it only takes a few seconds. Thanks:)