Offshore wind farms: Climate Change vs Biodiversity

Offshore wind farms (OWFs) are areas with multiple turbines, often located in relatively shallow water just off the coast. The energy produced by the force of the wind is clean and renewable but, often, such climate change solutions come with trade-offs. Research around these areas has shown that they can impact surrounding habitats and ecosystems both positively and negatively.

Offshore Wind Farm by Nina_Ali via Flickr
Climate change prevention vs biodiversity protection

Policies and strategies for fighting climate change can sometimes ignore or under-emphasise biodiversity protection. For example, a pledge made at COP26 in 2021 to halt net deforestation by 2030 does not actually prevent the cutting down of forests, but instead requires that forest loss should be replaced ‘sustainably’. However, replacing primary forests with new growth has negative consequences for biodiversity, as ancient woodlands are highly complex ecosystems. New growth is less able to support the same level of biodiversity and it would take decades for an area to develop back into a climax community. Therefore, while this pledge may help to fight climate change by potentially stabilising or even increasing global forest cover, it would allow for the continued negative ecological impacts of deforestation.

Wind farms face similar dilemmas. They produce clean and renewable energy, without the negative impacts on the climate of traditional energy sources such as coal and gas, but they have been shown to impact the surrounding environment.

Negative impacts of offshore wind farms

Two phases can potentially cause disturbance to wildlife: the construction phase and the operation phase. Some species may be impacted during the construction phase but are able to recover and are unaffected by the general noise of the operation phase, but some are impacted by both, thus creating long-term changes in the ecosystem. Additionally, wind turbines do not have an infinite lifespan, and may need replacing as frequently as every 20-25 years. While this may not involve a full replacement, it would involve some level of construction and therefore disturbance.

The impacts of wind farms can be through collisions, displacement, noise, destruction of habitat, change in hydrology and more. One new report, however, found that seabirds off the UK coast are better at avoiding wind turbine blades than previously thought. Researchers monitored how birds behaved in Aberdeen Bay for two years using radar and cameras. The results showed the birds adapted to the rotor blades from approximately 120 meters, becoming increasingly precisely adapted the closer they came to the rotors. During the two-year study, there wasn’t a single collision between the birds and the rotor blades. However, collisions are not the only way wind farms can affect wildlife.

A recent study has found that populations of red-throated divers decreased by more than 90% in areas where OWFs were built. The data, gathered by German scientists, looked at population numbers in the North Sea before and after five OWFs were built and found that numbers were up to 94% lower within half a mile of the turbines after they were installed. One farm in particular showed a 99% decline in population numbers. The impact is also more widespread, with an average decline of almost half of bird numbers up to six miles away from the turbines. The cause behind this decline is thought to be due to the effect turbines have on their hunting techniques. Their formerly large foraging area has been split into smaller units by these offshore farms, restricting their movements when foraging for highly mobile prey.

Red-throated diver by Jason Crotty via Flickr

Red-throated divers are not the only species that are being affected by OWFs. A study assessing the vulnerability of marine populations to offshore wind farms in 2013 identified a number of other seabirds that are potentially at risk, including gulls, white-tailed eagles, northern gannets, skuas and common scoters. More recent studies highlight the impacts on long-tailed ducks, common eiders, razorbills and common guillemots, such as general avoidance, changes in migration patterns and lower abundance around wind farms. The increased energy cost of avoiding wind farms could potentially impact survival and reproductive success, depending on the length and frequency of the flight, as well as the characteristics of the species.

While birds are often the focus of studies into the environmental impacts of OWFs, numerous studies have found that marine mammals such as porpoises, whales and dolphins, as well as fish and marine invertebrates, are affected. Many types of offshore wind turbines need foundations that are placed deep into the seabed. By drilling the sea floor, any benthic marine habitats in the surrounding area could be destroyed, while the displaced sediments can hang in the water column impacting filter feeders and photosynthetic organisms. Once the sediment settles, it can also smother many bottom-dwelling organisms, preventing them from feeding.

Furthermore, the noise pollution from the construction can threaten marine organisms, as it interferes with the communication of species such as porpoises, dolphins and whales. These species rely heavily on their hearing for orientation, hunting and communication between individuals. Prolonged exposure to loud noise, which even the normal operation of turbines can produce, leads to hearing loss and stress, increasing their vulnerability to diseases, while also combining cumulatively with the impacts of other pressures such as pollution and reduce food availability. Fish are also affected by this prolonged exposure.

Stress from these pressures leads to behavioural changes, and affects general movement, feeding patterns and migration. It can also impact fecundity and mortality rates. Due to this, as well as changes in the physical or chemical characteristics of the habitats surrounding wind farms, ecosystem structures may change because of alterations in species composition or abundance. This can impact the functions of the ecosystem, having widespread impacts on the surrounding environment, as well as the industries that rely upon it, such as fisheries.

Wind farm pieces from Cammell Laird by Andrew via Flickr
Positive impacts of offshore wind farms

Wind turbines and their foundations, though destructive to construct, provide structures that become artificial reefs for corals and other sessile aquatic organisms such as sponges, seaweeds, mussels and anemones. This increase in the distribution and abundance of certain species, such as invertebrates, can attract other species that are higher in the trophic level, such as fish.

Certain farms also ban fishing, which can reduce pressures within the boundaries of the farm. This, along with the ecosystem supported by the artificial reef system, can provide a haven for fish that are usually heavily overfished. This increase in food availability can, therefore, have a positive impact on many species in higher trophic levels, such as seabirds, but the impact varies from species to species and often from farm to farm.

Advantages of onshore vs offshore wind power

Onshore wind farms are cost-effective, as they’re one of the least expensive forms of renewable energy and are far less expensive than offshore wind power. They are also easier to construct and maintain, unlike offshore farms, where higher wind speeds, strong seas and other accessibility issues can make maintaining these farms more challenging. However, offshore wind farms are more efficient, as higher, more consistent wind speeds mean that fewer turbines are needed to produce the same amount as onshore farms. Additionally, there is more space to construct farms offshore than onshore, with a reduced effect on local people.

What are the solutions?

As the world moves towards carbon net zero in an effort to fight climate change, wind power is going to be more heavily relied upon, meaning the construction of more wind farms. With the construction of these structures in the ocean, there will always be some negative impacts, but there are things that can be done to mitigate some of these. A balance needs to be found between efforts to meet net zero and protecting our environment.

Continuing to monitor and assess the impacts of existing wind farms can inform the ecological strategies of future builds. By improving our understanding of how these farms impact the environment and ecosystem, future projects can be adapted to reduce these impacts. This research needs to be properly funded and shared globally, with stringent legislation that is updated in response to findings. These studies should be rigorous and consistent, avoiding underestimations that could allow the continued threat to the environment but steering clear of overestimations which could hinder further development of clean energy through wind farms.

Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm by Department of Energy and Climate Change via Flickr

Using data from fisheries can indicate where research is needed, as an increase or decrease in catch around wind farms suggests ecological changes. However, this would mean only the impacts that affect commercial fish would be investigated and impacts on other, non-commercial species may be overlooked. Therefore, other monitoring methods are also needed, which will involve funding from both private and government sources.

In the UK, Natural England has called for new OWFs to leave nature in a better state than before its construction, avoiding any irreparable damage to the environment. The approach, published in June 2021, set out how these farms can play a vital role, not only in tackling climate change, but also in nature recovery. Similar to Biodiversity Net Gain, which requires new developments on land in England to ensure that habitat is 10% better after building than before, Natural England is seeking to ensure that new OWF projects ‘build in’ plans that will enhance nature and protect the environment from the pressures mentioned above. The approach outlines the objectives and actions that Natural England will focus on, in partnership with others such as Defra’s Offshore Wind Enabling Actions Programme. These include:

  • Aiming for each development to leave nature in a better state.
  • The advanced introduction of strategic, to-scale and evidence-based measures that will compensate for environmental harm.
  • Monitoring to inform stronger, evidence-based impact assessments, promoting the use of environmentally sensitive design, construction and operation.
  • The development of an environmental sensitivities map that is easy-to-use, so that planners and developers can make sure OWFs and their cables avoid causing irreparable damage to the environment.

Other mitigation options include the arrangement of turbine clusters, as certain patterns can minimise barriers to movements, such as creating corridors within the farms to allow birds to pass through rather than having to extend their flight to go around extensive concentrations of turbines. Advances in technology have also given rise to options such as floating wind farms, which would reduce the impact on the sea bed, as well as potentially reducing the construction phase; and multi-purpose interconnectors, which would allow multiple offshore farms to be connected to the shore, rather than individual wind farms, which would reduce the impact of cable laying.

Other renewable energy options

Other renewable energy options include hydropower, solar power, biomass and geothermal energy. Solar power is an important source of renewable energy and can be placed on areas such as roofs, to reduce the space needed, but there are environmental implications for large-scale solar energy production, including aluminium demand. Hydropower, such as wave and tidal power, has future potential but is not yet widely employed commercially.

These could also have ecological impacts, however. For example, large-scale wave energy converters could cause changes in water velocities, which may impact sediment transport, coastal erosion and the increase of sediment deposition. Additionally, barriers such as dams radically change the typography and environment of rivers, with widespread ecological implications. Burning biomass, often from agricultural waste, releases carbon dioxide. While the plants that are grown as the source of the biomass can capture almost the same amount of CO2, the burning smoke can also contain harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide, as well as producing ash which can contain high concentrations of various heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which would need proper disposal. Geothermal energy produces both water and air pollution, such as arsenic, mercury, nickel, methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. It also produces hazardous waste that would require safe disposal and requires a large amount of water for purposes such as cooling.

It is clear that all renewable energy comes with some negative environmental implications. However, the pollution and greenhouse gases produced are far less than non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels. Fossil fuels do substantially more harm than renewable energies, therefore the world must continue to expand and improve its renewable energy endeavours, while focusing on reducing and mitigating their negative environmental impacts.

Summary
  • Climate change strategies often overlook the protection of biodiversity, with wind farms producing clean and renewable energy but having serious impacts on the environment and ecosystems surrounding them.
  • Both the construction phase and the operation phase of offshore wind farms (OWF) cause disturbances, such as population declines, changes in general movement, feeding patterns, migration, fecundity and mortality rates.
  • OWFs also have positive impacts, creating structures that form artificial reefs, and increasing the abundance of certain species such as corals, mussels and anemones, which then attract species in higher trophic levels. Certain farms also ban fishing, creating havens for commercially important fish.
  • A balance needs to be found between the effort to meet net zero through creating more clean, renewable energy and the protection of our environment.
  • Continuing to monitor and assess the impacts of existing windfarms, plus stringent legislation, can help improve the ecological strategies of future farms.
  • Natural England has developed an approach that would require new OWFs to leave nature in a better state than it was before construction, avoiding any irreparable damage to the environment. The objectives of this approach include the advanced introduction of strategic and evidence-based measures that will compensate for environmental harm and the development of an easy-to-use environmental sensitivities map, which will help planners and developers make sure OWFs avoid causing irreparable environmental damage.
  • All renewable energy sources come with some negative environmental implications but fossil fuels are far worse. Therefore it is important for renewable energies to expand, with a focus on reducing environmental impacts.
References and further reading

News report on the decline of red-throated divers.

The study of offshore wind farms and their effects on birds, published in 2019, and a study assessing the vulnerability of marine bird populations to offshore wind farms, published in 2013.

Report on the study which found that seabirds in the UK are better able to avoid turbines than previously thought.

Natural England’s Approach to Offshore Wind

Wildlife and Wind Farms, Conflicts and Solutions, Volume 3: Offshore: Potential Effects

 

 

 

 

Wildlife and Wind Farms, Conflicts and Solutions, Volume 4: Offshore: Monitoring and Mitigation

 

The NHBS Guide to UK Corvid Identification

There are eight species of corvid in the UK, five of which belong to the Corvus genus. They are intelligent birds, with many studies finding species demonstrating self-awareness and tool-making abilities. Their brain-to-body mass ratio is only slightly lower than ours and equal to cetaceans and non-human great apes.

Corvids occur worldwide, except for the polar ice caps and the southern tip of South America. Certain species are a common sight in our urban areas, having adapted to the proximity of humans. Some surveys have even found that fitness and reproduction have increased due to human development. Crows and ravens have been shown to have high reproduction rates and a positive association between annual survival and proximity to human development.

The crow family feature heavily in mythology and folklore, often as omens of ill fortune or death, though magpies can also be considered a herald of fortune. This is thought to have derived from their scavenging behaviour, feeding on carrion at battlefields. They were considered by some to be ‘soul guides’, there to carry to dead into the afterlife. Ravens feature in Scandinavian mythology, as the god Odin had two ravens that would tell him secrets they’d heard. This communication also features in Anglo-Saxon history. This is most likely due to the ability of many corvid species to mimic sounds in their environment, including human speech. They do this by using their two ‘syrinxes’, vocal organs located at the base of the bird’s trachea, which is made of ossified cartilage, muscles and vibrating membranes. As corvids have excellent memories, they can be taught a wide range of words and sentences.

All species are listed as green by the Birds of Conservation Concern 4, with the Eurasian Jay being upgraded from its previous amber status.

Carrion crow (Corvus corone)

Distribution: Common and widespread, although less common in northwest Scotland. They are found across many habitats, including woodland, farmland, heathland and urban areas.
Wingspan:  84–100cm
What to look for: An all-black species, they have a shiny, thick black beak that is of medium length, and black legs. Their black plumage has a glossy sheen. They are fairly solitary and are most likely seen alone or in pairs, but they can occasionally form flocks.

Carrion Crow by Alexis Lours via Flickr
Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

Distribution: Common and widespread, except for parts of the Scottish Highlands.
Wingspan: 64–73cm
What to look for: The jackdaw is a black species with a distinctive silvery patch on the back of its head. It has pale eyes that are quite easy to see. Their beaks are shorter than carrion crows, though both have an extended patch of feathers on the top of their beak.

Jackdaw by hedera.baltica via Flickr
Rook (Corvus frugilegus)

Distribution: Widely distributed across most of the UK, although less widespread in Scotland and mostly absent from far northwest Scotland. They are mostly seen in open fields but can be found along roadsides and occasionally in parks and villages. They mainly avoid the centre of larger towns and cities.
Wingspan: 81–99cm
What to look for: This species is black, with a distinctive bare, greyish-white face and a peaked head. Rooks also have a thinner, paler beak than other corvids, such as carrion crows. This beak darkens towards the tip. Juveniles do not have a bare face, therefore can resemble other all-black corvids such as crows, but they can be distinguished by their peaked head.

Rook by hedera.baltica via Flickr
Jay (Garrulus glandarius)

Distribution: Widespread across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, present in parts of Scotland except in the north.
Wingspan: 52–58cm
What to look for: This colourful bird is a light brown to pinkish-grey, with a pale throat and prominent black moustache stripes. Their forehead and crown are pale with dark stripes. The upper surface of their wings is white and black, with a distinctive bright blue patch patterned with black bars. Their tail is white or pinkish underneath but their upper tail feathers are mainly black.

Jay by Airwolfhound via Flickr
Magpie (Pica pica)

Distribution: Widespread across the UK, except the highlands.
Wingspan: 52–62 cm
What to look for: This species has a distinctive black and white plumage, with a purple-blue shine to the wings and a green shine to the tail. They have a black beak, black legs and black leg feathers.
Did you know? Magpies have long been associated with folklore in many countries, with a wide range of beliefs. Magpies have been thought to signal death, bad luck, good luck, fortune-telling and happiness. They are also the centre of the well-known ‘one for sorrow’ nursery rhyme where the number of magpies signals different events and occurrences. Depending on the version, gatherings of magpies can signal a birth, funeral, wedding, gold, silver, the gender of a child and even the devil.

Magpie by Airwolfhound via Flickr
Raven (Corvus corax)

Distribution: Widespread across Wales, Northern Ireland and the West of Scotland and England. They are found across a number of habitats, including woodland, farmland, upland and marine habitats.
Wingspan: 115–150cm
What to look for: This is the largest member of the crow family, with an all-black plumage, a large bill and long wings. Their necks are thick, with a shaggy appearance. They have a diamond-shaped tail, best seen in flight. They closely resemble the carrion crow, except for their much larger size, but they can resemble raptors such as buzzards in flight.

Raven by Imran Shah via Flickr
(Red-billed) Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

Distribution: Small, isolated populations along the west coasts of Wales, Cornwall and Ireland, as well as the Isle of Man.
Wingspan: 73–90cm
What to look for: Choughs have a blue-black plumage with a green sheen to their wings and tail. They have a slender, red bill that curves downward. Its legs are red with black claws. Juveniles have an orange bill and either pink or grey legs.
Did you know? In 2002, a pair of choughs raised young in Cornwall for the first time in more than 50 years. They continued to nest successfully for over a decade, raising 46 chicks in total. In 2022, the population reached 200 birds, with 25 pairs successfully raising over 70 young.

Red-billed chough by gailhampshire via Flickr
Hooded crow (Corvus cornix)

Distribution: Present in Northern Ireland, north and west Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In winter, it is present on the eastern side of England.
Wingspan: 93–104cm
What to look for: This species has an ashy-grey plumage, with a black head, throat, tail, wings and thigh feathers. It has a black beak and legs, with dark brown eyes.
Did you know? The hooded crow was thought to be the same species as the carrion crow until 2002 when they were given full species status.

Hooded crow by Ott Rebane via Flickr
Suggested reading and equipment:

Marzluff, J. M., and Neatherlin, E., 2006. Corvid response to human settlements and campgrounds: Causes, consequences, and challenges for conservation. Biological Conservation, 130(2), pp. 301-314

Møller, A. P., 2010. The fitness benefit of association with humans: elevated success of birds breeding indoors. Behavioral Ecology, 21(5), pp. 913-918

Twenty years of cornish choughs and another bumper year.

Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide

 

 

 

 

 

Collins Bird Guide, 3rd Edition

 

 

 

 

 

 

RSPB Spotlight: Crows

 

 

The NHBS Guide to UK Thrush Identification

Thrushes are passerines in the family Turdidae. They are found worldwide. The family was once much larger before biologists determined that the former subfamily Saxicolinae (chats) were Old World flycatchers rather than thrushes. Some thrushes are permanently resident in warm climates, while others migrate to higher latitudes during summer, often over considerable distances. There are four species that regularly breed in UK as well as two winter visitors that also occasionally breed here.

These small to medium-sized ground living birds feed on mainly on insects, other invertebrates and fruit. They generally inhabit wooded areas, creating cup-shaped nests that are sometimes lined with mud. They lay between two to five speckled eggs, with two or more clutches a year.

All the thrushes listed below are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, including their eggs and nest sites, with several included on the UK Red or Amber List. Song thrushes have even been designation as a Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework.

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Distribution: This is the most common and widespread thrush, present all year round.
BoCC5 status: Green
Wingspan: 34–38cm
What to look for: Males and females look different, with males being all black, with bright yellow eye-rings and beaks, while females are a redish-brown, with a speckled appearance and duller yellow eye-rings and beaks. The female’s beak can also be dark brown.

Male blackbird by Jacob Spinks via Flickr
Female blackbird by Jacob Spinks via Flickr
Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Distribution: These are winter birds, with only a few remaining to breed in the UK all year round.
BoCC5 status: Red
Wingspan: 39–42cm
What to look for: This is a slight larger bird, with grey heads, necks and rumps, though they have a dark strip across their eye to their orange and black beak. Their backs are dark brown and their tails are black, with a tinged orange throat and a paler, puff coloured breast. They are speckled with dark markings, which are larger on their breast. Their underside is pale.

Fieldfare by hedera.baltica via Flickr
Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)

Distribution: Widespread, across the whole of the British Isles throughout the year. They are absent in parts of the northern and western isles of Scotland.
BoCC5 status: Red
Wingspan: 42–48cm
What to look for: This is the largest of the thrushes, with a dark brown back and paler underside and throat that is speckled with dark brown. It has a pale eye-ring, cheeks and lores. They stand quite upright and have orange legs and an orange and dark brown beak.

Mistle Thrush by ianpreston via Flickr
Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

Distribution: This is a winter visitor, arriving from late September onwards and leaving again in the summer. They’re found across the UK, except for parts of North Scotland.
BoCC5 status: Amber
Wingspan: 33–35cm
What to look for: This species is the smallest thrush that regularly visits the UK, similar in appearance to the song thrush. Their distinctive feature, however, is the bright orange-red patch on their sides under each wing, as well as the pale stripe over their eye.

Redwing by Alison Day via Flickr
Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus)

Distribution: Summer visitors are found in the uplands of Scotland and northern England, as well as parts of north west Wales and Dartmoor. During spring and autumn, when they migrate, they may be spotted along the east and south coasts of the UK.
BoCC5 status: Red
Wingspan: 38–42cm
What to look for: Males are black, with a pale panel on their wings and a bright white band across their breast, resembling a bib. Females are similar but their colouration is much less striking, looking like a ‘washed out’ version of the male. Both have an orange and black beak and black legs. Their wings and underside feathers have pale outlines, and some can have white patches on their heads.

Male ring ouzel by Nick Goodrum via Flickr
Female ring ouzel by Stefan Berndtsson via Flickr
Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Distribution: Found across the UK, through missing from parts of Northern and Southern Scotland.
BoCC5 status: Amber
Wingspan: 33–36cm
What to look for: This, other than the blackbird, is probably the most well known member of the thrush family. They are a small bird, browner than the mistle thrush, with smaller speckles. Their sides and cheeks are yellowish, with a paler underside, eye-ring, undertail and legs. Their beaks are yellow and black.
Did you know? The male song thrush copies other birds’ songs, creating a repertoire that it sings on repeat, often to reinforce territories and attract mates.

Song thrush by ianpreston via Flickr
Suggested reading:

 

Collins Bird Guide, Volume 3

 

 

 

 

Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide

 

 

 

This Week in Biodiversity News – 15th May 2023

Research

15-million-year-old giant wombat skeletons have been uncovered in Australia. A new paper analysed the various features of these fossil bones to reveal the overall size and shape of the animal, its lifestyle and surrounding environment, as well as what kind of movements the animal was capable of. The research showed that this species, known as Nimbadon, spent some of its time suspended from tree branches like a sloth, grew in periodic spurts and had opposable thumbs. They are currently studying the enamel microstructure of Nimbadon’s teeth to determine its diet.

A program to plant 20 million trees in Australia prioritised cost-saving over gains for the environment, according to new research. Beginning in 2014, the program was aiming to improve native vegetation, support a richness of plant and animal species and reduce greenhouse gases. However, funding decisions were largely driven by ‘value for money’ considerations, with projects where the cost per tree was less than A$5 far more likely to be funded than projects where a tree cost more than A$10, undermining the benefits for both threatened species and the climate.

Extinction risk

A lack of large prey in Nepal may be the reason behind the rise in human-tiger conflicts. The wild tiger population has nearly tripled in the past 12 years but this has led to an increase in conflicts, with tigers in Bardiya National Park frequently preying on livestock in nearby settlements. Tigers in Parsa National Park, however, have access to large prey such as wild water buffalo and guar wild cattle, and researchers found no traces of livestock in their diet.

Trapping is holding back the speed of bird recovery in the Harapan Forest, Sumatra, Indonesia. A new study has found that the decade of protection and natural regeneration has helped bird populations increase in this forest, but wild trapping is preventing the full results of reforestation efforts. 45.1% of 122 bird species showed a notable population increase from 2009 to 2018, but 16.2% faced intensified trapping pressure.

Climate change

For the first time, wind is now the main source of UK electricity. In the first three months of 2023, wind turbines generated more electricity than gas, with a third of the country’s electricity coming from wind farms. There was also a record period for solar energy generation. While there is still a long way to go, this is a step in the right direction to meet the UK’s aim for all its electricity to have net zero emissions.

Frogs in Puerto Rico are croaking at a higher pitch due to global heating. The coqui frog appears to be decreasing in size due to the warmer temperatures, which is causing their croaks to become more high-pitched. Researchers are warning that if the trends continue, the temperature could become too high for certain amphibians to survive.

A new report claims that the UK could unlock £70bn a year in renewable energy. Generating more green electricity to meet the UK’s climate targets could create an additional 279,000 jobs, supporting a total of 654,000 jobs. If Britain’s clean electricity generation increased 50% above its current projections for 2050, it could be capable of exporting £17bn of green electricity to Europe annually. This could attract trillions in global private investment, doubling the £35bn a year economic benefit forecasted for its current path. To do this, government policymakers must remove barriers hampering the UK’s green energy ambitions, such as making sure the UK has enough batteries to store its renewable electricity and retrofitting commercial buildings to improve the UK’s energy efficiency.

Conservation

A Cornish farm is launching a project to triple the UK’s temperate rainforest. The Thousand Year Trust is being launched this year by a veteran who is now transforming his 120-hectare hill farm on Bodmin Moor into the largest rainforest restoration project in England and Wales. Working with local farmers, landowners and other charities to identify land suitable for this habitat, the charity has the ultimate aim of tripling Britain’s surviving rainforest to 1m acres over the next 30 years.

Seabird conservation is mostly working, according to a comprehensive new data set. Researchers compiled a data set of 851 seabird restoration events over the last 70 years, spanning 551 locations and targeting 138 seabird species. Forty-nine events used translocation, while 802 used social attraction, such as decoys, bird sound recordings and other devices aiming to lure birds to a new place. While the result of each project depended largely on the species and circumstances, most were successfully completed.

Policy

An unprecedented €2.2bn drought response plan has been approved in Spain. The package of measures includes €1.4bn in funds to tackle the drought and increase water availability, and €784m to help farmers maintain production and avoid food shortages. The €1.4bn will be spent on building new infrastructure, such as desalination plants, doubling the proportion of water that is reused in urban areas from 10% to 20% by 2027, and subsidising those whose irrigation water supplies would be reduced.

Experts are calling for a ban on importing foreign soil to the UK, to help save British wildlife. Imported plants, soils and compost can be a vector for invasive, non-native species, including insects, microorganisms and seeds, which could outcompete native species. 356,000 tonnes of plants and soils were imported during 2021, creating a significant threat to our ecosystems.

Author interview with Isabella Tree: The Book of Wilding

In the hotly anticipated The Book of Wilding, Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell share some of the many lessons they have learned from their pioneering rewilding project at the Knepp Estate in Sussex. Explaining in detail why rewilding is important and how we can all play a part, this inspiring book is packed with practical solutions for rewilding on a range of scales, from farms and estates to allotments and gardens.

 

Charlie and Isabella. Image by Anthony Cullen.

 

In our recent conversation with Isabella, she talks about some of the things she has learned through her years managing Knepp alongside husband and co-author Charlie Burrell. We also discuss ways of coping with eco-anxiety and how we can all make a difference to the future of the planet, even if we aren’t large landowners or farmers.

The story of Knepp Estate and its transformation from a struggling farm to a prosperous and famous rewilding project is incredibly inspiring. Looking back over your journey and knowing all the things that you know now, what would you say to the younger you who was just beginning on this path?

I would tell her that this is going to be the most exciting adventure of her life and rewards will come in spades. And not to worry about the occasional Exocet missile from disgruntled neighbours or a Twitter storm. The results will speak for themselves. It may feel like you’re swimming against the current, but soon the tide will turn. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people out there in the UK who will soon be inspired to make the leap into rewilding too.

In relation to the first question, with the benefit of hindsight, are there things that you would have done differently, or were the challenges and potential mistakes a necessary part of the process?

The wonderful thing about rewilding is that there isn’t a detailed management plan, no specific goals or targets. Initially, you may need to put in some drivers (such as free-roaming grazing animals and restoring dynamic natural water systems) to kick-start natural processes again – especially if your land, like ours, has been ploughed and soaked in chemicals for decades. But then you’re stepping back and letting nature take over. That’s a huge relief in terms of lifting the burden of responsibility from your shoulders. Nature itself takes over the driving seat. So, in a way, there are no mistakes. It’s all about nature revealing itself, evolving in the way it wants to, anew. Often these outcomes are completely unpredictable.

The only management we do at Knepp is controlling the number of animals – neither too few, or too many – so their influence maximises the potential for diversity and abundance of life. And that is simply by observation. So, if we go too far in one direction, we simply – at some point – change the strategy. But we try never to respond with knee-jerk reactions. It’s a totally new way of thinking, very liberating.

The Book of Wilding, while being a hugely practical guide to rewilding on all scales, is also a beacon of hope. In an age when eco-anxiety can lead even the most optimistic and determined of us to feel despondent, do you feel broadly hopeful that humans can do the necessary work to restore balance to our planet?

Yes, we absolutely can. If we work together, and realise our potential to bring about huge, transformative change. But you’re right to identify how the enormity of the environmental crisis we’re facing can make most of us feel despondent and impotent. The only cure for eco-anxiety, that I’ve been able to find, is to actually do something positive oneself. Even if it’s just establishing a window box and filling it with plants for pollinating insects – that small gesture can be hugely galvanising. It is part of a much bigger picture, contributing to restoring the web of nature – our life-support system – across the planet. Seeing butterflies and bees and night-flying moths arriving, on flowers that you’ve planted yourself, is balm for the soul. It gives you the kind of encouragement that allows you to lift your head above the parapet and think ‘what else can I do?’

The case you make for rewilding, both through the book and your decades of work at Knepp, are extremely compelling. What do you think are the main barriers to a more widespread adoption of this approach? Do you think that cultural and traditional values are more of an issue than the practical concerns of funding and knowledge transfer/availability?

Yes, in a way, I do. We’re seeing new streams of funding for rewilding and nature restoration all the time. Governments are at last making the move to pay for ecosystem services – improvements to the land that bring benefits to the public like clean water, clean air, soil restoration, healthy food, carbon storage, and flood protection, as well as wild spaces for human health and wellbeing. And the private sector (businesses concerned about their image, and now legally required to account for their carbon footprint and environmental impact) is beginning to make colossal investments in nature restoration – this is likely to be the most positive influence of all. So, the financial incentives are happening. But a major drag on action is down to public perception, and aesthetics.

We’ve grown up to believe the countryside should look a certain way, that rivers should be canalised, hedges clipped within an inch of their life, gardens should be tidy, lawns manicured. Insects are pests. Barren, overgrazed hillsides are natural. Apex predators are dangerous. Often, the biggest obstacle of all is changing our own mindset, questioning received wisdom, really asking ourselves ‘can I consider this landscape to be beautiful if I know it’s not functioning, if it’s actually harmful to wildlife and to ourselves?’ Ultimately, it’s about letting go of cultural values we may have accepted unquestioningly, understanding what makes an ecosystem function, to stop being a control-freak, allow ourselves to get messy, to let go – to rewild ourselves.

Do you think that there are some misconceptions as to what constitutes rewilding? Particularly on a smaller scale where a more hands-on approach might be required to mimic the natural processes of herbivores, for instance – to the untrained eye this might seem more like conventional conservation management than rewilding.

Yes, indeed, small-scale rewilding (where there isn’t the space to use free-roaming animals, and there may not be dynamic natural water systems) has a lot in common with conventional conservation, and often the managers of ancient woodland or nature reserves may not be aware that they’re also acting like rewilders, being proxies, themselves, and mimicking the disturbance of wild herbivores – by doing things such as coppicing and pollarding, or putting woody debris blockages into rivers and streams (like a beaver) to create different flows and depths of water.

Where I think the rewilding approach brings something different, and more dynamic, is in varying the timing of interventions – so you might randomise when you cut a wildflower meadow, for example, and the intensity of cutting, so as to mimic the different factors that might affect herbivore grazing pressure in the wild. This will favour different suites of plants, maximising plant and insect diversity. Or try the passive-active-passive approach – doing nothing for a while, then going in with interventions, then leaving the area alone again for maybe several years. Basically, mixing it up, rather than applying steady, even, predictable management. Get rid of the level playing field!

I liked that you included a chapter on rewilding gardens, as this feels like an achievable project that any open-minded gardener could attempt. If done well, rewilding a small garden will have obvious benefits for the local plants and animals but, if done collectively, do you think it can also have a wider impact?

That’s one of the big themes of rewilding – connectivity. A friend of mine has created wonderful habitat in his back garden for insects, frogs, toads and grass snakes. But he’s also persuaded his neighbours to either replace their fences with hedges (great for nesting birds, especially if using thorny species such as blackthorn and hawthorn) or cut holes in the fence for hedgehogs. They’ve discussed the different habitats they can collectively provide for nature. One garden has a beetle bank and a pile of dead wood for stag beetles, another has a pond; some mow their lawns monthly, others only at the end of the summer; some have put up window boxes or planted ivy to climb their walls; others leave a pile of leaves or nettles and brambles in a discreet corner. Between them, they’ve created a whole string of different habitats that are connected, so they’ve become a wildlife corridor that also provides for species that have different demands at different stages in their life cycle. The next step is to connect with a nearby park by persuading the council to manage the roadside verges like wildflower meadows, and by planting an avenue of trees in the street. Their gardens already back onto a railway embankment, so ultimately they could be instrumental in creating a flow of life between open countryside and inner city.

Finally – what steps would you recommend to the ‘average’ citizen who isn’t a large landowner or farmer and wants to go beyond simply rewilding their own small garden?

There are lots of groups and NGOs working for nature restoration in imaginative and exciting ways and many of them welcome volunteers, such as the Vincent Wildlife Trust which focuses on recovery programmes for bats and mustelids. Citizen Zoo is a community-focused rewilding organisation involved in reintroduction programmes such as water voles, beavers and large marsh grasshoppers. Derek Gow Consultancy runs courses on practical rewilding in Devon (rewildingcoombeshead.co.uk) as do we, at Knepp in West Sussex (www.knepp.co.uk). Caring for God’s Acre is a conservation charity which advises on restoring nature in graveyards and cemeteries. Become a member of your local Wildlife Trust (London has one, too). You could petition your local council to stop mowing verges, leave thorny scrub in unmanaged areas, rewild urban parks, plant more street trees and encourage green walls and roofs. And, perhaps most important of all, campaign to make your village, town or city pesticide-free.

The Book of Wilding by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell is published by Bloomsbury. Hardback RRP £35.00.

Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe series

The fourth and final volume of Geoffery Kibby’s Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe has now been published. This privately published series consists of four essential, user-friendly guides containing an enormous amount of information, fully illustrated and aimed at everyone, from the fungi enthusiast to the expert mycologist. Author Geoffrey Kibby is one of Britain’s foremost experts on identifying mushrooms in the field.

The first volume, Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe, Volume 1 was published in 2017 and has since been updated twice, with the third edition published in 2020. It illustrates the non-agarics, including puffballs, stinkhorns, earthstars and chanterelles. A total of 650 species are illustrated via watercolour paintings, along with drawings of the spores and other useful microscopic features. Geoffrey Kibby, professional mycologist and editor of Field Mycology, first became interested in fungi when he was 13 and he now aims to produce the sort of works he would have wanted as an aspiring young mycologist.

Page 81 fromVolume 4

These books are based on Kibby’s years of experience in the field, and focus on illustrating species that are not readily available in other guides. Fungi are an understudied group, with around 15,000 different species in the UK, from moulds and mildew to yeasts and mushrooms. They are found in almost any habitat, living on decaying organic matter such as leaf litter or dead wood. They play different roles in many different ecosystems, but many are key in the breakdown of organic matter, recycling nutrients such as nitrogren and phosphorus into the soil. This, in turn, allows the growth of plants which provide food for animals such as insects, mammals and birds. They themselves can also be a source of food for both humans and other animals, and are often rich in vitamins and protein. Fungi also play a role in the carbon cycle, capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil, reducing excess atmospheric carbon and helping to fight climate change.

Page 85 from volume 2

Volumes 2 and 3, published in February 2020 and May 2021 respectively, cover many of the families of the agarics (gilled mushrooms). Volume 2 illustrates 750 species and varieties, mainly white-spored agarics, with volume 3 covering 680 species. The illustrations are watercolour paintings, and highlight important characteristics that are sometimes difficult to ascertain from photographs. All four guides also include illustratations of microscopic features next to each painting.

Fungi have become increasingly vulnerable in the British Isles for a variety of reasons, including the loss of habitats, changing rural practices, intensive land management and over-picking. Important fungi habitats such as unimproved grasslands, woodland, sand dunes and saltmarshes have declined severely in the UK. For example, over 97% of our species-rich grassland has been lost in the last few decades and the UK is one of the least densely forested countries in Europe, with woodland covering only 13.2% of the UK’s land surface. However, many of the current biodiversity and climate change strategies overlook fungi, focusing instead on flora and fauna. One important element of combating this and enabling effective conservation, beyond repairing and expanding habitats, is spreading the knowledge of how to survey and identify many of the fungi species we have in the UK. These monographs provide excellent guidance for any serious field mycologist or for those interested in getting into field mycology.

This newest and final volume covers the families Bolbitiaceae, Tubariaceae, Macrocystidiaceae, Inocybaceae and Entolomataceae. An addendum illustrates a number of species recorded in Britain since volumes 1-3 of this series were produced, and includes a number of recent name changes. With over 380 species illustrations, the whole series covers almost 2,500 species.

The final volume of the Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe series has now been published. 

This Week in Biodiversity News – 1st May 2023

Research

An abundance of urban honeybees adversely impacts wild bee populations. By comparing bee population data collected from sites around the island of Montreal in 2013 to data collected at the same sites in 2020, a new study argues that the rapid growth in urban honeybee-keeping in recent years may be negatively impacting nearby wild bee populations. The researchers believe that small bees with limited foraging ranges may be particularly at risk. As honeybees are not native to the region, they are in competition with the almost 180 other species for resources.

New research has found that Juan Fernandez fur seals can tolerate high levels of metallic pollutants such as cadmium without suffering any ill effects. Scientists believe this ability could aid medical research, with researchers finding high levels of silicon in their bones which may be offsetting the impacts of this cadmium.

Extinction risk

The habitat for Asian elephants has shrunk by almost two-thirds. Around 3.3 million sq km of habitat has been lost since 1700, according to a new study. China has lost 94% of its suitable elephant habitat, while India has lost 86% and Bangladesh 72%. Thailand, Vietnam and the Indonesian island of Sumatra have lost half of their suitable habitat. The study noted a trend of converting landscapes to more heavily human-dominated spaces but did not look into specific reasons for the habitat loss in each country.

Asian elephants by Mike Prince via Flickr

The red list, published in the Journal of Bryology, has revealed Britain’s extinction-threatened mosses and liverworts. The study found that 19% of bryophyte species are at risk, with at least four having already become extinct in Great Britain. After assessing all 1,097 species (1,019 with sufficient information available), 191 are threatened with extinction, 59 critically endangered, 52 endangered and 80 vulnerable. Of these, 73% are mosses and 27% are liverworts.

Climate change

A report has found that the UK is failing to honour its net zero farming pledges. The projected emissions drop for agriculture and land use are 58% below the target of the original net zero plan. This gap is comparable to the emissions of the entire UK building sector. Additionally, the total projected emissions benefits from tree planting, from now until 2037, are 85% lower than previously claimed, with the planting rates currently half of what are needed to be in line with net zero.

Spain is bracing for a record April temperature of 39°C. The government has warned people to take precautions as they face droughts and temperatures 7-11°C above average for this time of year. The country has been in drought since January last year. Last year, Spain experienced a series of heat waves, which were accompanied by forest fires that burned hundreds of thousands of hectares.

Wildlife crime

The illegal killings of birds of prey has led the Peak District national park to end an agreement between grouse moor managers and bird conservationists. The partnership, which was set up in 2011, sought to restore bird of prey populations across the park. Due to the continued illegal persecution targeting some of these species, the park is now looking for alternative ways to ensure birds of prey have a future in the area.

Buzzard by caroline legg via Flickr
Policy

The Welsh Government has announced £11m for conservation projects that help Wales’ endangered wildlife. Nine new large and 17 medium projects will benefit from the last round of this Nature Networks funding package, helping to strengthen the resilience of Wales’ seas, forests and grasslands. One species to benefit is the Atlantic wild salmon, which experts say could disappear from Welsh rivers within the next two decades.

Brazil’s government has recognised six Indigenous lands. Out of 733 Indigenous territories, 496 are now recognised by the state, with the remaining 237 in different stages of the demarcation procedure. The current government is aiming to demarcate the highest number of Indigenous lands possible, not only because it is their right, but also to reach zero deforestation by 2030. Between 1990 and 2020, only 1% of native vegetation area was lost in lands demarcated or waiting demarcation. In comparision, private areas lost 20.6%.

New discoveries
Grey-headed lapwing by Sai Adikarla via Flickr

A grey-headed lapwing has been spotted in Northumberland, UK. The species, which is normally found in India, China and Japan was spotted in England this week. It is thought to be the first sighting of the wader in the UK, with only five recorded sightings of the bird in Europe and western Asia in recent years.

Author Interview with Ted Benton and Nick Owens: Solitary Bees

Solitary Bees is the newest volume in the New Naturalist series, drawing on the great wave of new knowledge to give a wonderful insight into the complicated lives of solitary bees. Honey bees and bumblebees make up only a small proportion of the bee species that live in Britain but are often the ones people first think about when discussing bees. Now, it is recognised that the other bees, whose 230 or so species make up the majority, play an important role in the pollination of crops and wild flowering plants.

Ted Benton

Authors Ted Benton and Nick Owens are entomologists that have a particular interest in behaviour and ecology. Both have written several previous books on bees, including Bumblebees, The Bees of Norfolk and The Bumblebee Book. The main focus of this new book is on the wonderful complexity of the behaviour and ecology of solitary bees, a remarkable group of insects.

Could you tell us how you both became interested in entomology and what drew you to write this new book?

(TB) Since my earliest memories, I have been fascinated by insects – finding Large White chrysalids on a playground wall, or, later, seeing such species as the Silver-spotted Skipper in a museum showcase, and wondering if I would ever get to see one. That led to an attempt (over more than 35 years) to photograph all the European butterfly species in their natural habitats. Meanwhile, I became interested in other, less spectacular groups of insects, and wrote about dragonflies, grasshoppers and crickets and bumblebees. To manage these interests alongside family life and work commitments, I chose groups with relatively few species, in the hope that would be easier. Since then – partly through the expert help from leading lights in the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) – I was led to appreciate the great diversity and awesome fascination of this larger group of insects. Then I met up with Nick, and he seemed to be an ideal companion with whom to work on the project. An impression that was amply confirmed as we worked together over five years or more.

Nick Owens

(NWO) I have been interested in all aspects of natural history from an early age, growing up in Yorkshire beside the River Foss. I was intrigued by aquatic insects and was also very excited to rear moths such as the Garden Tiger from caterpillars. Later my interests revolved especially around birds and I was employed by the Nature Conservancy to study Brent Geese. A diversion from birds included a PhD study of baboons in East Africa. After a teaching career, an intense interest in wild bees developed in retirement and led to the publication of The Bees of Norfolk. Ted and my shared interest in solitary bees resulted in the joint New Naturalist project, which was originally offered to Ted, following his two previous excellent publications in the series and his monograph on Solitary Bees (Naturalists’ Handbooks).

This book celebrates the solitary bee, a type of bee that’s often overlooked in favour of honey bees and bumblebees, despite solitary bees making up the majority of bee species in Britain. Why do you think honey bees and bumblebees are more ‘popular’, so to speak?

(TB) Honey bees have a lot of positive publicity because they have an economic importance as suppliers of honey, and the belief in their role in pollination (probably exaggerated). Bumblebees, too, are appreciated because of their attractive colours and ‘cuddly’ appearance. Also, there are relatively few species, so learning to identify them is not too difficult (and both of us have written books which might have increased their popularity!). The most exciting aspect of our study of the solitary bees has been in the astonishing complexity of their behaviour – how, with very small brains, and just their adaptive body parts they are able to dig deep burrows and seal them, make waterproof and bug-proof linings to their brood cells, collect various materials to line and plug their nests, defend their offspring from innumerable parasites and predators, access complex floral structures, seek out their specialised food sources and accomplish many other demanding tasks. These are the topics that made us want to study and write about the bees, but this would have been impossible without the landmark books by Falk and Lewington, and Else and Edwards. Armed with these books, we expect the public interest in solitary bees will continue to grow – along with the desire to conserve their habitats.

Tawny Mining Bee (Andrena fulva). Image by pete beard via Flickr.

The UK’s insect population has declined dramatically, with flying insect populations falling by as much as 60% in the last 20 years. Have there been long-scale surveys into solitary bee populations, and are they following the same trend?

(NWO) Solitary bees seem to be following a similar trend in terms of their distribution, particularly among scarcer species and in upland areas. At the same time, there has been a sequence of new solitary bee species arriving in Britain by natural colonisation or through inadvertent human assistance. Also, quite a number of solitary bee species are extending their British range, largely by spreading northwards. The picture is a complex one and there are no systematic counts of solitary bee numbers equivalent to those for butterflies and birds for example. This is difficult to achieve since most solitary bees cannot be identified at a glance while walking through the countryside. The Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS) maintains a database of all British records and these are mapped on the Society’s website. A large proportion of the records are provided by amateur entomologists.

The behaviour and ecology of solitary bee species are incredibly diverse, and in this book, an entire chapter is dedicated to the ‘Cuckoo Bees’. Why did you choose to focus on this particular group of species?

(NWO) Cuckoo bees comprise about 28% of our solitary bee fauna, so one chapter out of ten in fact under-represents them. The behaviour of cuckoo bees is fascinating and involves the cuckoo laying its eggs in the nests of a ‘host’ bee, this typically being just one or a few closely-related species. The reasons for this specificity and the exact hosts used by each cuckoo bee species are only partly known and understood. The means by which cuckoo bees evade the defences of the host and the host’s attempts to protect itself offer many opportunities for careful research and we were able to make some novel observations as well as synthesise what is already known about them.

Female variable nomad bee (Nomada zonata). Image supplied by Nick Owens.

Chapter 10 ‘Ecology and Conservation’ mentions the potential impact of the new Biodiversity Net Gain scheme, where areas that are important to solitary bees, such as bare ground, soil heaps and sandpits, may be given a low ‘biodiversity value’. How do you think this scheme will impact solitary bees once it’s rolled out across England?

(TB) The role of the planning system in harming or protecting biodiversity, and solitary bees in particular, is hugely complex. In some respects, since BNG makes it necessary to include biodiversity in planning decisions, it may be welcome. However, there are serious problems. One is the generally low estimate of many habitats that are important for bees, as your question suggests. Another problem is that the idea of ‘net gain’ already carries the implication that biodiversity will be lost – but, hopefully, mitigated or compensated. First, if a site has survived with rich biodiversity, it is likely to have a significance for people as well as nature. There needs to be far more emphasis in a time of ecological crisis for recognising the uniqueness of such places, and the impossibility of complete replication: ‘irreplaceability’ should be the most common start and finish for the ‘mitigation hierarchy’. Second, in practice proposals for mitigation and ‘offsetting’ invariably fail, and by the time that is recognised, it is too late. Thirdly, despite the careful qualifications set out in BNG guidance, there are numerous loopholes that a developer and a colluding planning authority can jump through with ease. I could give examples!

The book ends with a question about whether a cultural shift towards strong action to protect biodiversity could generate enough of a demand for the radical changes needed in sectors such as food production and transport. How have attitudes changed towards protecting biodiversity, particularly insect biodiversity, since you became involved in entomology?

(TB) This is an impossible question to answer with confidence, as no one was measuring public opinion on such matters when I was young. In the mid-1950s I made a small butterfly collection, but I remember being very shocked to see whole drawers-full of set specimens of rare species in the cabinets of older local entomologists. In those days there was no general feeling that butterflies, or any other sort of insect, were in any way at risk. In fact, most insects were often seen as unwelcome pests. From the beginning of the 1960s, the effects of pesticides on predatory birds were beginning to gain public recognition, and from that, the inference to the poisoning of their insect prey was commonly made.

Internationally, the Rio conference of 1992, with its biodiversity convention, gave the issue a much higher profile. Local and national biodiversity action plans were devised, usually focussing action on particular threatened species, but there was little effective action to address the wider impact of agricultural intensification and the associated losses of natural and semi-natural habitats. Growing recognition of a global climate emergency has certainly shifted public attitudes in many countries, and certainly in the UK. However, it is only relatively recently, with a combination of citizen science initiatives to monitor populations of butterflies and other groups, scientific studies and radical social movement activity, that at last a distinct ecological crisis has come to be recognised in many communities. Unfortunately, it is still almost always the furry and feathered elements of biodiversity that get public support and media attention: the invertebrate fauna need more allies, or the furry, feathered and human populations that depend on them will suffer the consequences.

Willughby’s leafcutter bee (Megachile willughbiella). Image by Dean Morley via Flickr. ID provided by Nick Owens.

Finally, do either of you have any future plans for projects that you can tell us about?

We are both interested in solitary wasps and hope to do some field studies together as well as following up on the many unanswered questions about solitary bees. In addition, TB is considering whether to begin writing up his many years of visiting the wildest and most beautiful spots of Europe in search of butterflies.

Solitary Bees was published by William Collins in May 2023 and is available to order from nhbs.com.

Biodiversity Net Gain: Credit Creation and Metric 4.0

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is the new scheme by the UK Government to improve the health of our environment, set to become mandatory in England in November 2023. For more information about this scheme, please read our first blog on BNG. This new scheme represents an important opportunity for landowners as a diversification option. Those that are interested in getting involved in this scheme should assess their lands’ economic productivity to determine whether they have any low-productivity land that could be used for habitat creation.

Wet meadow by Dominic Alves via Flickr
Credit creation

Credits are areas of land (usually a minimum of 10 hectares) with a biodiversity net gain plan in place that have been registered through the regulator. Developers can purchase these credits to offset any biodiversity loss that cannot be mitigated for on-site. Creating credits for BNG can allow landowners to generate reliable and environmentally friendly income from otherwise unproductive or low-productivity land. To do this, the landowner needs to:  

  • Have the area assessed using a preliminary ecological appraisal following Defra’s biodiversity metric. This will determine what the biodiversity value of the land is.
  • Have ecologists produce a net gain plan, based on 30 years of uplift. 
  • Have a specialist lawyer draft a 30-year legal agreement including the net gain plan.

These units must be registered with a certificate through the regulator. There are fees involved in this registration, including the legal fees of the regulator when certifying the credits. Once these credits are certified, the landowner can sell them on the open market. A developer will pay a fee to purchase credits and this sum will usually include the lease of the land for 30 years, as well as management services, estimated by some to be around £800-900 pounds per hectare per year. This could be paid either as a one-off payment or in regular instalments over the 30-year period, depending on the agreement. 

The onus is then on the landowner to deliver the net gain plan. 

Positives

Not only will this be good PR for landowners, these units, which would otherwise be poor-yielding or non-yielding, will now be able to provide the landowner with a reliable income. Given the continued disruption from inflation, climate change, bird flu, Brexit, the Ukraine conflict and so on, a consistent income may help to relieve some of the pressures from these uncertainties. Diversifying the portfolio of the landowner/business, such as a farm, can improve the resilience of the business.

This scheme will help to create increased biodiversity, which can lead to benefits for productivity improvements on farms such as increased soil health, pollination and resistance to pests and disease.

Increasing areas set aside for biodiversity and habitats will improve the overall health of our environment, helping to fight the impacts of climate change. This, again, can help to improve farm yields and resilience.

Drawbacks

The use of the land will be locked in for 30 years, as it will be secured by conservation covenants, and must be managed in relation to the net gain plan. As climate change continues to impact England, this may involve more and more work for the landowner, above and beyond the initial lump sum fee. This may also mean the loss of a more financially beneficial opportunity in the future.

Additionally, due to the general movement towards protecting the environment, any land used for BNG may then become an important habitat, therefore the land may not be able to be used for anything else in the future, even when the covenant expires. While this is a positive for the environment, as it would provide long term protection for important habitats, landowners should consider how this may impact future business opportunities.

Farm by Ian Livesey via Flickr

Changing the land from agricultural production could also have tax implications, as Agricultural Relief means some agricultural property is free from inheritance tax.

There is also little clear guidance on how BNG products will be accredited and monitored, therefore professional advice should be sought before entering into any agreements with developers.

Metric 4.0

The government recently published version 4.0 of the Biodiversity Net Gain Metric, which will most likely be the version used from November this year when the scheme becomes mandatory. The metric used for small sites has also been updated to align with this new version. The Biodiversity Metric 4.0 can be found on the Natural England website, and includes user guides, calculation tools, the small sites metric, condition assessment sheets and associated guidance documents.

What has changed?

After feedback from the consultation in autumn  2022, the guidance was streamlined and made more user-friendly, with habitat names changed to align with relevant habitat classifications, such as UKHab, and amendments made to the calculation tool and to the formula of the spatial risk multiplier, which will allow developers to consider how and where BNG can be secured and delivered while also assessing the likely number of units that would be required.

Chalk stream, a globally rare habitat, by Peter O’Connor via Flickr

Additionally, ‘bespoke compensation’ will now be required if any watercourse habitats that are classified as having ‘very high distinctiveness’ cannot be retained or enhanced. This type of compensation is required for all ‘very high distinctiveness’ habitats considered ‘irreplaceable’, such as peat bogs, to prevent the replacement of these high-value habitats with low-value habitats. Bespoke compensation includes habitat creation, enhancement or restoration, possibly on a large scale in recognition of the irreplaceability of the habitat lost or damaged. This bespoke design is needed as compensation for irreplaceable habitats cannot be determined by metrics and must be custom-made based on the specifics of the habitat lost or damaged.

What happens now?

Natural England will continue to work with a number of parties concerning any future changes and improvements to the metic, with major updates occurring every 3-5 years.

Summary
  • Creating credits can generate reliable income from non-yielding land. Landowners need to assess areas using a preliminary ecological appraisal, have ecologists produce a net gain plan and have a specialist lawyer draft a legal agreement.
  • These areas can be sold on the open market and could generate either a one-off payment or regular instalments over the 30-year period.
  • This would diversify to the landowners’ portfolio and potentially improve business resilience. However, the land would be locked for 30 years, the work involved may go above and beyond the initial income and changing the land use could have tax implications.
  • Version 4.0 of the Biodiversity Net Gain Metric has been published, with several changes including streamlining to make the guidance more user-friendly, changing habitat names to align with relevant habit classifications such as UKHab, and amendments to the calculation tool.
  • From now, Natural England will continue to work on the metric, with major updates occurring every 3-5 years.

Book Review: Cry of the Wild: Eight Animals Under Siege

Cry of the Wild: Eight Animals Under Siege is a unique take on nature writing, blurring the lines between non-fiction and fiction and harking back to Henry Williamson’s Tarka the Otter and Richard Adams’ Watership Down. Written by the author of several loved books such as The Screaming Sky and Being a Beast, it is an original and creative book that aims to change our perspective on how the way we live is impacting animals. The book is split into eight chapters (plus an epilogue), each following a species ‘under siege’, beginning with foxes and ending with eels. The chapters follow the stories of anthropomorphised individuals as they try to navigate life impacted by the human world. 

Gannets by A S via Flickr

The Living Planet Report, published in October 2022, highlighted the impacts of the interlinked threats of human-induced climate change and biodiversity loss. Using datasets from almost 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the planet, this comprehensive report shows that populations have declined by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018, with land-use change being the most significant driver of biodiversity loss. Human activity is having a profound impact on the environment and ecosystems, and Charles Foster shows us this impact through the perspective of the animal, from an orca whose pod tries to survive in a polluted, overfished ocean to a gannet struggling to breed.

The third chapter is on humans, with the narrative following a child as they try to navigate and come to terms with a world that is being degraded by human activity. Foster is clear in the introduction that he views humans as also under siege, that we are part of the animal kingdom and therefore also suffering due to the declining health of our planet. Foster wrote Cry of the Wild as a way of introducing fresh storytelling to combat the fatigue many of us are experiencing when faced with the barrage of news about climate change and environmental destruction, which often leaves us numb and in denial. This chapter is a heartfelt representation of the struggles we face when trying to remain engaged with what is happening to our natural world.

Mayfly by Johan J.Ingles-Le Nobel via Flickr

Many of the species covered in the book are freshwater species or those that rely heavily on freshwater habitats, such as otters, mayflies and eels. Our freshwater environments, especially those in the UK, are heavily degraded, facing a wide range of constant threats such as pollution from sewage discharges and agricultural runoff to canalisation and invasive species.  The mayfly is a particularly interesting species to pick, as insects are often overlooked in favour of more charismatic species when trying to encourage more people to act and empathise with conservation projects. However, there are 51 species of mayfly known in the British Isles, and they play a vital role in the freshwater ecosystem, providing a food source for many species such as trout, salmon, woodpeckers and dippers. Their larvae are opportunistic feeders, consuming detritus, plant matter and other insects. They are also used as an indicator species, as they are impacted by poor water quality. Chapter four highlights the fragility of their declining populations, showing how one single landowner practising poor management along a river system could devastate that ecosystem.

Throughout the book, humans are portrayed as villains and saviours, invaders and carers, showing the complicated and multifaceted ways we interact with nature. Cry of the Wild is a distinctive and engaging book that explores the impacts of our society on the environment in a novel, accessible way. By inviting us to experience the consciousness of his eight protagonists, Foster creates a poignant warning about how we treat animals and their habitats.

Cry of the Wild: Eight Animals Under Siege
By: Charles Foster
Hardback | May 2023