Save England's Forests

Whilst welcoming Government intentions to abandon plans for disposal of public forests, the campaign to protect and restore England's ancient forests must go on, warns the Woodland Trust.

"We welcome the opportunity for a more considered approach to the future of our much loved woodlands but our campaign continues. Whilst we welcome the removal of threats to public access, there is still an acute need for better protection of Ancient Woodland, our equivalent of the rainforests, and restoration of ancient woods planted with conifers. Even if there are no sales of publicly owned forests, the worst of all worlds would be for there to be no change to the loopholes that have allowed 850 ancient woods to be threatened by built development over the past decade. Ministers have made strong commitments over the past few weeks to increase protection for ancient woods, and we will be holding them to these commitments.

As I write, there is a proposal to water down protection for ancient woodland in the planning system. We need your help to defeat this proposal by 28th February.

What's it all about:
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/planning-changes/Pages/default.aspx

Take action now:
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/campaigning/planning-changes/Pages/planningpolicychanges.aspx

We must not let public passion and support for our woods and forests die down and now that ownership is no longer an issue, we must not lose sight of the need to increase protection for ancient forests and restore those planted with conifers, a once in a lifetime opportunity for woodland conservation.

Our campaign will continue and we urge everyone to continue to sign our petition and transfer their passion about who owns England's public woods to ensuring that all of England’s woods survive in the future".

Thank you,
Sue Holden,
Chief Executive Woodland Trust

Good news and bad news

An otter has been found in Wirral!

Unfortunately the animal was electrocuted on the railway line not far from Meols Meadow SSSI. Its body was recovered by Duncan Bevell, a Biodiversity Officer from the Environment agency who was alerted to it by a train driver.

Brightening up Bidston

Wirral Tree Wardens and the 8th Tranmere Brownies did their bit to help Wirral's environment last Saturday, with help from the Forestry Commission and Wirral Wildlife. 100 trees and shrubs were planted on the edge of an old landfill site at Bidston, on the northwest side of the M53 J1 roundabout. Trees were supplied by Wirral Countryside Volunteers, Wirral Tree Wardens, the Brownies and the Forestry Commission, with some grown from local seed. They included oak, hazel, dogwood, guelder rose, cherry, elder, purging buckthorn and hawthorn. This is part of the land, a former tip, which the Forestry Commission leased in 2006 and has been developing as community woodland. The 1970s landfill concerned was cleared and planted with trees and wild flower grassland. However, it became obvious that some extra trees and shrubs were needed to make an informal tree line near the road edge, to make sure the barn owls which feed in the area fly up over the traffic and do not get hit by vehicles. The weather was perfect and an enjoyable if muddy time was had by all planting the trees. Do look out for them when going past (but not if you're driving!)

The future for the Bidston complex, like all the Forestry Commission lands, is in doubt under Government proposals to sell off woodland or pass such areas to other organisations such as charities. Funding for those organisations which might take the woodlands on is doubtful, especially in the long term. Please make your voice known against these plans. See the DEFRA website for proposals and to make your views known, or sign the petition at www.38degrees.org.uk

Hilary Ash,
Hon. Conservation Officer

Garden Moth Scheme

Have you heard of the Garden Moth Scheme? The purpose of the Scheme is to try and find out what’s happening to our common garden moths. What do you need to do to take part? You just need to count the numbers of common moths you see, for one night every week from March to November. The list of moths consists of about 200 species, common in your area and those that are difficult to identify are intentionally left out.

As well as sending results to your county's recorder you can also get involved in a nationwide scheme to get standardised data, which can then be used to study the effects of climate change, and changes in habitats, to act as a biodiversity indicator and to plot against garden features such as distance from nearest wood, greenspace etc or presence of pond, log pile etc in garden.

Further details can be found at www.gardenmoths.org.uk

Contact the local NW co-ordinator, Steve Orridge, by email or, the National co-ordinator, Dave Grundy, by email or telephone on 0121 446 5446.

Underground power cable route

There is a proposal to run part of an underground power cable from Wirral foreshore, down the length of the peninsula to Connah's Quay. To find out more about this and the public information events, please read the details below sent to us by SP Energy Networks.

I am writing to invite you to a public information event, which National Grid and SP Transmission are holding to outline proposals for the development of an underground cable route from the Wirral foreshore, to Connah's Quay, Deeside.

The plans form part of a larger scheme to connect new renewable energy sources in Scotland to the electricity grid in England and Wales through a high voltage subsea cable. To explain the proposed plan, answer your questions and listen to any concerns you may have we will be holding two drop-in public information events in your area.

Tuesday 8th February
Neston Community and Youth Centre, Burton Road, Neston, CH64 9RE
2 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Wednesday 9th February
Moreton Community Centre, Maryland Lane, Moreton, CH46 7TS
2 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Representatives from the National Grid and SP Transmission project team will be on hand to explain the programme and answer any questions you may have.

You can find more information about the project at: www.westernhvdclink.co.uk

If you have any questions about the events, please do not hesitate to contact our Community Relations team on: Freephone 0800 030 4137 or email

Claire Watson
Environmental Planner, SP Energy Networks
On behalf of SP Transmission and National Grid

Help needed at Irby Quarry

Wirral Rangers are organizing another Irby Quarry task day on Sunday 30th January meeting at the Quarry 11.30am. Volunteers are welcome.

This is a continuation of scrub clearing both on the ground and on the rock face (provided we have sufficient climbers available).

All tools, gloves etc are provided. Hope to finish around 3.00pm -3.30pm.

If you have trouble finding the entrance to Irby Quarry check on our web site www.wirral.gov.uk and search for Royden Park or ring here on 0151 677 7594.

Thanks

Paul

Wirral Rangers

Last chance to attend Mersey Barrage consulation

Peel Holdings have a final exhibition on the Wirral this Saturday, 22 Jan from 10am - 2pm at Eastham Country Park Visitors Centre.

Here is a copy of a letter from Janel Fone, CEO of Cheshire Wildlife Trust, and Charlotte Harris, the Director of Conservation:

Dear Cheshire Wildlife Trust member/supporter,

You may have read in the media recently about Peel Energy Ltd’s plans to construct a tidal energy structure in the Mersey estuary to generate renewable energy. Although Cheshire Wildlife Trust has urged Peel to consider less environmentally damaging technologies, their current shortlist of options focuses on the use of barrage systems. Tidal barrages are typically large dams incorporating turbines, that hold back or ‘impound’ a large volume of water, and then release it through the turbines to generate energy. In the case of a tidal barrage, it may be necessary to impound water within an estuary - in contrast to the natural tidal flow, reducing available areas of mud used by feeding birds.

The Trust is concerned about potential damage to the finely-balanced estuary ecosystem of the Mersey, through the use of a technology that is largely untested with regard to potential impacts on wildlife. Similar, small-scale projects elsewhere in the world have however, had damaging effects on estuary ecosystems, and environmental impacts were one of a number of concerns over the recent £30billion Severn barrage proposals shelved by the Government last year.

The Wildlife Trusts support the need to move towards ‘green energy’ to meet the Government’s ambitious, but necessary, targets for 15% of UK energy from renewable sources by 2020 – but striving to meet these targets should not be at a cost to the very wildlife and habitats we are seeking to safeguard from the effects of climate change.

There will be strong economic arguments put forward in support of the project, however we must fully understand the impacts of such a scheme in the long-term, both in terms of potential damage to an internationally-recognised wetland, and also aspects such as flood management. Can we justify such a high cost to a natural icon of the north-west, without knowing the consequences?

It is likely that any barrage scheme will affect the flow and dynamics of the estuary ecosystem, and Peel have recognised that the Mersey’s Special Protection Area (SPA) – a level of protection for birds at a European level, must be considered. We will not fully understand the potential damage to the estuary though until a full ecological assessment has been undertaken.

Peel Energy are hoping to have a preferred option by March 2011. They have said whichever option they choose, they will introduce measures to reduce the damage to the Mersey Estuary, but whatever they do, there may still be a significant reduction in the intertidal habitats, and the amount of time the remaining areas will be exposed for birds to feed on them.

Peel are asking for comments on their stage 2 report before 21 January 2011. The report can be found here

www.merseytidalpower.co.uk/sites/default/files/MTP%20Feasibility%20Stage%202%20Options%20Report%20Summary%20-%20November%202010_0.pdf

You can make your views known by commenting on their website or by email.

Peel Energy Ltd are also organising a series of community consultation events. If you can make any of these events, please do go along and ask them questions, such as:

1. Why have they discounted various options for technical and financial reasons, but have not discounted any for ecological reasons?

2. How will they assess the ecological impacts of each option?

3. Have they fully considered the impacts on flood risk as a similar barrage in the Netherlands seriously increased flood risk.

4. You could ask about the carbon budget, and if construction or carbon locked-up in estuarine sediments have been factored in.

5. Why they are not waiting for emerging technologies that may be able to harness energy without having a serious ecological impact? A technology known as SMEC (Spectral Mass Energy Converter) appears to have been dropped despite promising energy returns and reduced ecological impacts.

Dr. Janel Fone

Charlotte Harris