England & Wales: Hydropower

Six-fold increase in the number of schemes.  See The Environment Agency's news item for more details.

Can acaricide treatment of sheep control ticks and tick-borne disease in the environment?

The Knowledge Scotland website has provided a briefing about research published last year by a team of researchers at Stirling University and Macaulay.  A modelling approach has been used to investigate the effect of increasing deer populations on the ability of the 'tick mop' approach to control sheep ticks.

There is nothing new here for landowners and managers, but it is helpful to see the research supporting the techniques that have been promoted as best practice: a highly effective acaricide regime is necessary to produce a reduction in tick numbers and tick control will lose its effectiveness quickly with increasing deer numbers.

Muirburn Workshop - Candacraig Estate, Strathdon - 1 March 2011

This workshop is the third and final event under the Moorland Management: Rights & Wrongs project that is being funded by the Skills Development Scheme of the SRDP.  It will follow our usual format of 'talk & walk' with guest presentations being given by Prof Rob Marrs and Michael Bruce in the morning.  If the weather is kind, we will make smoke in the afternoon as part of a practical session on the Candacraig Estate.

More details and the flyer can be found on the website.

Heather for Cutting

For the attention of moorland owners in the Peak District.

To feed the desire for heather brash for reseeding in the Peak District, more areas of local heather for cutting are needed.  There is a financial inducement available and if anyone has anywhere that might be suitable, please get in touch with me for more details. 

Phytophthora Ramorum - update

This article provides a useful update and emphasises the risk to Larch trees - the disease is described as the 'foot & mouth' of trees.  I fear that we are going to hear quite a bit more about this disease and I am waiting for an update about its effect on dwarf shrubs, such as heather.

Happy New Year!

Implementation of EU Pesticides Legislation

Defra ran a consultation for the 12 weeks up to 4 May 2010 that sought views on how the Directive on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (Directive 2009/128/EC) should be implemented.

The most significant part of this Directive for the Trust is Article 9 that deals with aerial application of pesticides, important in connection with bracken control.  The full summary of the Consultation can be found on Defra's website - page 28 covers aerial application. 

Article 9 requires Member States to prohibit the use of aerial applications and permit such use only when a series of conditions have been met or are present. The Directive also requires Member States to: identify a competent authority responsible for considering and approving applications to carry out aerial spraying operations, establishing procedures for considering and notifying the outcome of requests and making records available to the public; establish a monitoring system to ensure that the conditions under which the approval to spray have been met; and ensure that from 2013 aircraft are fitted with accessories that constitute the best available technology to reduce spray drift.

Defra has concluded that the responsible application of pesticides by aerial spraying does no pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment and, consequently, the derogation to allow aerial spraying will be used.  The existing legislative control regime is believed to provide a basis for meeting the requirements of the Directive and this will be adapted to ensure the continuation of properly regulated aerial applications, through a consent-based approach.

In summary, bracken control by aerial application of Asulox will remain possible.

England & Wales: 'High Hopes' - CLA Uplands Report

This report by the CLA, published today, summarises the analysis from the recent report by the Commission for Rural Communities and then expands on the Commission's recommendations. The report also argues that the recommendations apply equally to the Uplands in Wales.  I suspect that much, if not all, is also applicable to Scotland.

Carbon in the Uplands- Conference Report

On behalf of the The Heather Trust, The Southern Uplands Partnership and The Crichton Carbon Centre, I am delighted to announce the publication of the report from the Carbon in the Uplands conference that was held in Moffat, in April this year.  I would like to thank all those who: contributed to the conference, provided papers for this report and those who attended the conference.  The Report is being circulated in electronic form only, and please feel free to circulate it within your organisations or to your contacts.  

In the fast changing world of carbon there will be scope to hold a follow on conference and we are reviewing the opportunities for this.  If you are not already on the Trust's circulation list and would like to be kept informed, please let me have your details.

Brash spreading by helicopter

YouTube has four video clips of Dinsdale Moorland Services working with a helicopter to spread heather brash.  Some might argue that this is overkill, but they might be the people who do not move brash around by hand across peat hags.

Re-wilding Scotland

Follow this link to an interesting video that considers re-wilding issues and includes discussion about reintroductions into Scotland.

More about Phytophthora

In a recent post, I mentioned that on the Craignish peninsula, in Argyll, Japanese larch have been found to be infected with P. ramorum.

In another part of Argyll, Lawson’s Cypress trees in Balloch Castle Country Park, near Loch Lomond, are the latest casualties to the Phytophthora pathogen. In this case, Phytophthora lateralis, is the cause of the disease. Whilst “new” to Scotland, P. lateralis has been present on the Western seaboard of the USA for some time.  Here it has also affected Lawson’s Cypress trees.

P. lateralis is a water-borne organism which can live and grow in the roots and lower stems of its host trees, surviving in a resting state in soil, and actively travelling in surface water.  In affected trees, the foliage of the crown begins to discolour, and it wilts and withers. In small trees, this may happen over a period of weeks, and with larger trees, the process can take between 1 and 4 years.

This continual drip feed of information is starting to be a little ominous for dwarf shrubs on moorland.  I will be keeping my ear to the ground.

Phytophthora Ramorum found on Japanese Larch in Scotland

This is a first for Scotland.  Similar infections have been found in SW England previously.  This is not just a forestry issue, there are real concerns that the disease could become prevalent on heather species.  Rhodoendron is a primary host, but the increasing levels of infection on other species, including Japanese Larch, is of great concern.

Read the FCS press release for more details about this outbreak.

Winter Strikes but Exmoor is reached

The weather has even affected the workings of the Trust and we elected to postpone the Board meeting that should have taken place in Edinburgh, today.  It was a good job we did, as Carstairs was out of commission through a signalling defect all morning, which would have stranded those of us who would have travelled from the south.

However, all is not lost as I managed to catch a flight down to Bristol and I am in place ready to speak at a meeting to discuss burning practices on Exmoor, tomorrow morning.  It would have been easier if I could have used to time spent making sure I got here on writing my presentation.  Who needs sleep when there are moorland management issues to address?  I will be trying to encourage a lively debate with a view to getting more good quality burning, or swaling as it is known here, carried out to regenerate the tired heather, provide better grazing and improve the conservation status of the moors.

Scotland: Windfarm guidance scoops green award

Well done to Scottish Renewables, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Forestry Commission Scotland for winning a Scottish Renewables Green energy Award in the best environmental initiative category.

The Windfarm Guidance that this group produced is well worth a read by all those involved with windfarms or who like to know about their construction.  It is available to download from the SNH Website.

Wildlife Estates Scotland

This initiative was launched last week and it is very welcome.  This is a Scottish version of the initiative that is running throughout Europe and the aim is that by signing up as a Wildlife Estate, an estate will be able to demonstrate the role that Scottish estates play in delivering a wide range of benefits to Scotland.  It is also hoped that the initiative will help to address some ongoing tensions in the Scottish countryside.  The concept briefing suggests that there is much more to unite than divide, and this is a view that I wholeheartedly support.

The press release provides some high level quotes and the Concept Briefing explains the background to the initiative.

IUCN Peatland Programme - Open Inquiry - Written Evidence

The written evidence that was submitted to the Inquiry for the meeting on 3 November  is now available from the peatland programme website.

This includes the evidence that I presented with Tim Baynes, on behalf of SRPBA, which had input from Martin Gillibrand of the Moorland Association.  This evidence argued the case for better communication with the land management community.  Their understanding of the issues should not be assumed but their ability to assist with the improvement of the condition of peatlands should not be under-estimated.  Much work is already underway as stated in our evidence.

On the back of this, I have been asked to organise an event for land managers in March to ensure that the Peatland Programme captures the views of the land management community.  Attendance is likely to be by invitation only with a view to attracting key players with an experience of peatland management.

CAP post-2013: EU Commission's proposals published

For those seeking an easily digested guide to the CAP proposals published by the EU Commission on 18 November, I recommend the Smith's Gore publication CAP Reforms post-2013.


Note the three main objectives of the the new CAP:
1.  Viable food production
2.  Sustainable management of natural resources and climate action
3.  Balanced territorial development

The table of good news vs bad news makes salutary reading.  The ratio is 1 : 6.

How this will affect upland agriculture remains to be seen, but the possible shift of payments for specific natural constraints (e.g. LFA) into Pillar 1 payments that are co-financed within the UK is a cause for concern. 

Raptor Dispersal Tracking

Photo: jackhawk9

One of the presentations given at the Northern England Raptor Forum meeting on Saturday was by Stephen Murphy from Natural England.  He presented the data he has collected about the dispersal of Hen Harriers from the Forest of Bowland using GPS tracking devices.  The ability to monitor the movements of these birds clearly helps gain a better understanding of their needs.  One bird had travelled from Bowland to Portugal and had returned to his nest site.  Comments were made about how the birds tend to move between favoured roosts, many of which are associated with grouse moors.  This will come as no surprise to many.  

The birds are not tracked continuously as I believe the GPS packs do not have enough battery power so there are some gaps in cover, but it is still possible to gain a good idea of the birds movements.

I have not been able to find any detail on the web for Natural England's tracking (perhaps I have not found the right place) but if you would like to see the potential of the technique have a look at the Cairngorms website where similar work is taking place.

England: Shaping the Nature of England

I have contributed to the Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme and they have just published a paper Shaping the Nature of England: Policy Pointers from the RELU Programme.  This draws on the findings of a large range of Briefing Papers produced as part of the programme.  The paper provides a stand back approach in a commendably brief form and is well worth a look for those interested in redefining policy for the uplands.

Heather Restoration and Bird Populations

Geoff Eyre's presentation at the Glenlethnot heather restoration event last week included a slide of the numbers of some bird species on Howden Moor in the Peak District before and after his heather restoration work.  Geoff has kindly agreed that I can circulate this information and the graph is shown below.  It speaks for itself.

Geoff provided the following additional explanation:  The 1993 figures are taken from the English Nature bird survey.  The 2004 data comes from the Sheffield Bird Study Group survey carried out for the National Trust.  It was reported that Skylarks and Pipits were too numerous to count.

In 2010, an increase in grouse, and hares has been observed, the number of skylarks has dropped slightly, but other species have been maintained at the same level.  Populations of Snipe, Black grouse, Merlin, Kestrel, Raven, and Peregrines are thought to have increased and in 2006, Hen Harriers hunted the moor.