Hoopoe – A blog by nhbs – Page 80 – The NHBS Conservation Hub

Enhancing habitat connectivity for hedgehog populations

Hedgehog

Hedgehogs are in the news with a serious decline in numbers – according to this recent report by David Wembridge, “at a conservative estimate a quarter of the population has been lost in the last ten years”. But things are moving in a positive direction with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust leading the way in hedgehog conservation in Britain, thanks to funding from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. Find out more about their pioneering Solihull Hedgehog Improvement Area – part of the Help for Hedgehogs campaign.

Simon Thompson, Hedgehog Officer at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, gave us some tips on how to help your local hedgehog population:

“There are measures which we can all undertake to provide space for our hedgehogs, the simplest and most important of these is to provide access into and between our gardens. Walls and fences create an impenetrable barrier to hedgehogs and a small hole, about the size of a CD case will easily allow hedgehogs to pass between gardens. Ask your neighbours to do the same and all of a sudden there is dramatically larger landscape through which hedgehogs can find food, nesting sites and potential mates. Once your garden is linked to the wider landscape then having a hedgehog box instantly provides a structure within which hedgehogs can construct themselves a safe and secure nest to sleep during the day or perhaps even hibernate through the winter.”

Hedgehog Homes

Hedgehog homes are a safe retreat for the hedgehogs in your garden and provide a warm and dry shelter along with valuable protection from predators. Site your home in a quiet position, out of the prevailing wind, ideally in an area with some cover.

Hedgehog Nest Box

The Hedgehog Nest Box has been designed and extensively tested by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and provides a safe and snug environment for these wonderful creatures. The box has a predator-proof tunnel and removable roof and is approved by Dr. Pat Morris of London University.

Igloo Hedgehog Home

This attractive wicker Igloo Hedgehog Home is designed to blend into your garden. The built-in entrance tunnel provides protection from predators and the Igloo is spacious enough for a family group.

Hogitat Hedgehog House

The Hogitat Hedgehog House has an attractive appearance and will fit perfectly into any garden environment. Made of principally natural materials, it has a waterproofed roof and predator defence tunnel. Provides a safe retreat for hedgehogs and other small mammals.

Hedgehog reading list

Hedgehogs by Pat Morris (Whittet Books, 2014)
The Hedgehog by Pat Morris (Mammal Society, 2011)
Hedgehog by Hugh Warwick (Reaktion Books, 2014)
The Disappearing Hedgehog by Toni Bunnell (Independent Publishing Network, 2014)
A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs by Hugh Warwick (Allen Lane, 2008)
Britain’s Mammals: A Concise Guide by The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (Whittet Books, 2010)
Urban Mammals: A Concise Guide by David Wembridge (Whittet Books, 2012)

Main photo attribute: Hedgehog by Milo Bostock on Flickr – licensed under CC BY 2.0

Where’s my order?

Ever wondered if your delivery is on the way? Well now you don’t have to.

Our IT team have been busy improving our on-line services and introduced a real-time order status. Simply log in to your account and select ‘Recent Orders’ to have a look.

The page shows all the information you need to review current and past orders, including the order number, the date, value, and its status. If you want to know more, simply click on an order to get the expanded view to see the quantity and price of each product ordered, shipping and delivery addresses, as well as shipping type, cost, and payment type.

This expanded version also gives you precise details on the state of individual products ordered; this way you can see exactly what is happening to each item in your order.

Sound recording for ecologists and naturalists

Bioacoustic recording is a valuable method of surveying animal populations for research and conservation, as the sounds made by many animals are unique to the species or individual. The collection and preservation of such sounds have also become an art form for many amateur naturalists.

In comparison to music or voice recording, capturing the sounds of nature in the outdoors poses a number of challenges. These include dealing with the complications of wind and other ambient noises as well as subjects which can be extremely quiet and that may need to be recorded from a distance. Having suitable equipment and understanding the best ways to use it can go a long way to minimising these issues.

The key items of equipment required for wildlife sound recording are a microphone and a portable recorder. For recording a single animal, a shotgun microphone is ideal, and for animals recorded from a significant distance, a parabolic mic is recommended. For recording multiple animals, such as the dawn chorus, a single or matched pair of condenser microphones can be used.

A portable recorder will allow you to save your recordings onto an SD card, and many offer a range of on-board editing functions as well as a triggered recording option. In situations where the noise of the recorder is significant or when a microphone extension cable is being used, a preamplifier can improve the quality of your recordings.

For those involved in bioacoustic surveying, the addition of a software package can help you analyse your recording, and figure out the exact species that you have captured.

NHBS stocks a wide range of sound recording equipment, including recorders, microphones, hydrophones and preamplifiers, as well as headphones, tripods and all the cables you need to connect the equipment together. Take a look at the website or our catalogue to see what’s available.

New range of Bushnell trail cameras now available

Bushnell Trail Cameras are rapidly becoming the cameras of choice for researchers, conservationists and amateur naturalists around the world. Their ability to let you monitor a survey site or capture the action in your garden when you’re not around makes them a great tool for anyone interested in wildlife and animal behaviour. This spring sees the release of a new range of Bushnell cameras with a model available to suit every application and budget.

The Trophy Cam line now includes the entry level Essential HD as well as the Aggressor HD which has higher resolution, a faster trigger speed and a choice of no glow or low glow LEDs. The brand new Trophy Cam Wireless (coming soon) completes the range and allows you to send images directly to your phone, tablet or computer.

The popular NatureView camera is now available in two models: The affordable HD Essential and the HD Live View (both coming soon). The HD Live View comes with two additional close focus lenses for great close-up images of wildlife.

The new Surveillance Cam is equally suitable for monitoring a survey site near your home or for security purposes. It utilises a WiFi capable SD card (included) to transmit images or videos to a nearby phone or computer up to a distance of 24m.

All Bushnell cameras are available as a starter bundle which contains batteries and an SD card; everything you need to get started capturing great images and videos. Other accessories include security cases and cable locks to keep your camera safe in the field, a tree bracket for easy positioning and a solar panel, which will extend the battery life.

Update for Wildlife Acoustics bat detector users

Wildlife Acoustics have made some upgrades to their ultrasonic microphones this year – read on to understand what this means for you.

SM2BAT+ user
An entirely new microphone is now available for SM2BAT+ users – the SMX-U1. This microphone is different in every respect from the original SMX-US microphone. The microphone element has been upgraded to a Knowles FG element which is more resistant to moisture but has greater sensitivity and a flatter frequency response so you will record more bats. The old foam windscreen has been replaced with a new and improved weatherproof membrane that will not hold water, and the microphone body is now slimmer and stronger. The old SMX-US microphone is still available in limited quantities if needed to provide continuity on a long term survey – please contact customer.services@nhbs.com to check availability before ordering.

SM3BAT+ or SMZC user
The new SMM-U1 is electronically identical to the old SM3-U1 microphone and will give very similar results. The new model differs from the old version in two ways – the casing is now smaller and stronger and the old windscreen has been replaced by a new weatherproof membrane that will not hold water.

EM3+ (with optional external microphone) user
The EM3+ cannot be used with either of the new microphones. NHBS will continue to hold stock of the SMX-US and SMX-UT microphones for as long as possible for use as an external microphone for the EM3+ – pick up a spare if these are critical to your workflow.

More information
Here’s Wildlife Acoustics microphone guide showing all models, compatibility and microphone type.

New firmware and software for SM3, SM3BAT, SM3M and SMZC:
Latest SM3 related software and firmware packages
Latest SMZC related software and firmware packages
Latest versions of documentation

Ecology gifts raise money for key UK conservation charities

Lizzie Barker is a working ecological consultant, and the creator of gift and homeware design company, Creature Candy. This newly-launched enterprise produces quality British-made products featuring hand-drawn illustrations of wildlife. As well as raising profits for the Bat Conservation Trust, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and Butterfly Conservation, Creature Candy also intends to raise awareness around the conservation of our endangered and protected wildlife. We asked Lizzie how it all came about:

What are your background and current interests as an ecologist?

I studied Zoology between 2007 and 2010 at Aberystwyth University and graduated with a first degree. I then went on to work at Darwin Ecology in September 2010 as a consultant ecologist and have been there ever since. It’s a great company to work for and my job is very varied, although I specialise in bats. I hold a Natural England bat and great crested newt survey licence, but I also survey for dormice, badgers and reptiles. I love the spring and summer months so I can get outdoors and explore the English countryside for wildlife.

What’s the story behind Creature Candy?

I wanted to take more of a proactive role in wildlife conservation and raise money for the charities that I work so closely with as a consultant. Two years ago (whilst sitting on my sun lounger in Portugal) I came up with the idea of Creature Candy. I not only wanted to raise money for the charities, but also raise awareness of Britain’s declining & protected wildlife species, and to inspire people to take active roles in conservation. It was also incredibly important to me to change perceptions of bats, which is why my first design was a beautiful, charismatic brown long-eared bat illustrated in its true form, not a typical black silhouette with red eyes and fangs! It was also a priority to produce all our products with a “Made in England” stamp on them, which I think is very appealing in today’s market dominated by mass produced imported products.

How do you find the time to be an ecologist and an entrepreneur?

It’s a very hard balance to achieve. On a typical day, I switch off from the ecological consultancy world at 5pm, make myself a cup of tea and re-enter my office as the Director of Creature Candy. I then usually work for a few hours each night on marketing, processing orders and accounting, before spending some time with my husband before bed. It’s very important to find time for a social life and to relax, and I’m sometime guilty of over-working. However my husband is very supportive and I couldn’t manage the business without that support.

Can you tell us more about the artwork, and what’s to come for the range?

Our illustrations are hand drawn by my friend Jo Medlicott. Jo is a very talented artist and draws inspiration for our designs from photography and the natural world. Our next design is likely to be a red squirrel or a bird and we would like to introduce aprons and fine bone china jugs into the product range. The rest is top secret!

Browse Creature Candy products at NHBS

How we moved 27 people, 1 km of shelving, 140,000 stock units and an inflatable dolphin to our new warehouse

NHBS has been based in Wills Road and Burke Road (named for the explorers of the 1860 Burke and Wills expedition in Australia) in the Devon town of Totnes since 1986. We had long outgrown these warehouse and office premises and had been keeping an eye open for a new building for several years. In January 2014 an ideal building became available and the best news was that it’s just around the corner at 1-6 The Stables in Ford Road (the area that now comprises Totnes’ trading estate was once a racecourse, hence ‘The Stables’).

A photo gallery of move-related images is available on our Facebook page.

This new building more than doubles our storage space to in excess of 1,200 sq m (13,000 sq ft). We’ve outfitted a purpose-built office area, meeting rooms, shower facilities for the dedicated cyclists/runners, a faster data connection, a staff room and kitchen, 600 m of new shelving, a more efficient heating system and a large pallet racking zone for >100 pallets of bulk stock.

After three months of building work the move to this premises was concluded just before Christmas. We had lots of extra NHBS staff on hand and remained fully operational, delivering thousands of gifts during the holiday period.

Here is some extra information if you’re interested:

How did you do this while remaining fully operational in the run up to Christmas? That is a good question…

We spent six weeks having the site converted from a factory/warehouse complex into a warehouse/office.
New heating, electrics, security, fire safety and CCTV systems were installed.
Data cabling for desk areas, servers and high-speed wifi were set-up.
On the first weekend of November we moved the office and office staff into the new premises. From then on all Customer Services and other office functions were operating from The Stables (albeit with a lot of running back-and-forth).
We moved a significant proportion of NHBS stock from its shelves in the warehouse onto super-organised temporary shelving in the old office area including lots of makeshift storage locations.
The Goods Inward and Dispatch Team put away stock and picked/packed orders from the temporary storage locations. Mild chaos ensued but almost nothing went missing.
An external warehouse (Unit 1) at our new site was fitted-out with pallet racking for 100 pallets. Training began on the Mini Bendi forklift.
The warehouse shelving was taken apart where possible and large sections were carried from the old warehouse to the new in pyramid-building style.
600 m of new shelving was assembled and placed alongside reconfigured existing shelves.
Bulk stock was moved on pallets to Unit 1.
Over several epic weekends NHBS staff (earning 370.75 hours of overtime) moved stock from our old location onto shelves at The Stables. All stock was scanned into storage locations with new handheld barcode scanners so the database knows exactly where every single item is.
By mid-December all NHBS staff were working from The Stables.
A vast number of remaining shelf units, stock items, and odds & ends were shuttled across in the last two weeks of 2014.

Why didn’t you move at a quieter time of year?
Surveys and the legal bits took ages. Besides, we have quite a few peak periods throughout the year so there was never going to be a ‘good’ time to do the move.

How far are your new premises from the old building?
140 m as the crow flies (300 m if you can’t fly).

What’s the new address?
NHBS, 1-6 The Stables, Ford Road, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 5LE, UK.

Does NHBS’ phone number or email address change?
Our phone number (+44 1803 865913) and email address (customer.services@nhbs.com) are the same.

How does it affect customers?
We’ll have more stock, more efficient picking/packing and even happier colleagues.

How many stock items have been moved?
Depends how you count the small things like test tubes and sampling pots, and components of sets etc. The number we mostly refer to is 140,000 items.

What’s a Mini Bendi?
It’s a species of forklift truck (there a photo of the Bendi in our Facebook Gallery) – we bought one for the move and have two members of staff trained to use it. It means we can make more use of pallet racking to store bulk stock.

The Week in Review – 12th December

Dragonfly use neurological calculations which allow them to actually predict the movements of their prey. Photo by John Flannery.

News from outside the nest

This week…we learned why pufferfish build sandcastles and how it has taken us such a long time to observe this particular behaviour.

A study published this week in Nature showed us how dragonflies go beyond mere reflexive responses and actually predict the movements of their prey as they are hunting.

This short guide helped us to address the most common questions posed by “climate change challengers”.

We discovered the OceanAdapt website which lets members of the public search and download geographic data of more than 650 species of fish and invertebrates and track how these have changed over time…a hugely valuable resource for fishermen and scientists.

Camouflage in the natural world is incredibly common and well understood. However, a paper published this week by the Royal Society revealed a new kind of camouflage exhibited by the beautiful harlequin filefish: smell camouflage.

And finally…we were amazed by this extraordinary bird that disguises itself as a caterpillar.

New arrivals at the warehouse

Useful and fun: these cute animal head torches are a great stocking filler for young outdoor enthusiasts.

The Week in Review – 5th December

Trawler — The Global Fishing Watch Project has made satellite data from fishing vessels freely available online to raise citizen awareness of overfishing. Image by Winky.

News from outside the nest

This week…we read a great article about the “Send us your Skeletons” project and learned about the power of citizen science in gathering valuable data.

We also learned about the importance of citizen awareness in the Global Fishing Watch project. This amazing new scheme uses satellite data to make global issues of overfishing much more transparent, as well as making huge quantities of fisheries science data available to researchers.

These beautiful images hosted by Rough Guide showed us some incredible views of forests around the world.

With temperatures in 2014 now reported to be the hottest on record, we took a look at how different places around the world have experienced these heatwaves.

We learned about the feeding behaviour of the aptly named killer whale – and discovered why they are suddenly preying on humpbacks.

And finally…Martin Litton, one of the great pioneers of the environmental movement, sadly died on Sunday. In this article from the National Geographic we read about his life and legacy.

New arrivals at the warehouse

The 5th edition of the Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Great Britain and Ireland contains stunning illustrations and photographs. It also features descriptions, distribution maps and site guides alongside a whole host of other great information.

The Barnacle Goose, the new Poyser Monograph, contains more than 25 years worth of research on these fascinating and sociable birds.

These Haglof Increment Borers are made from high quality Swedish steel – just the job for all your tree core sampling needs.

Anne Bebbington on botanical illustration and her new book, Understanding the Flowering Plants

Dr. Anne Bebbington trained as a botanist and worked for over 30 years for the Field Studies Council and as an environmental educator. Also an outstanding botanical illustrator, her career has traced a path between the two complementary fields, and she is a past President of the Institute of Analytical Plant Illustration. Her new book is a testament to this dual expertise.

What came first for you, botany or illustration – and how have the two interwoven throughout your career?

From an early age natural history, drawing and painting were always my favourite occupations. At university I was lucky to be able to study both botany and zoology and found that drawing the plants and animals we studied was for me the best way of describing and understanding them. After specializing in plant ecology I joined the Field Studies Council. As well as teaching environmental studies at all levels from primary pupils to undergraduates, I tutored many wild flower courses for adults both in Britain and further afield in Europe, Canada and Australia. My interest and expertise in illustration always formed an important part of my work, particularly in producing handouts and identification aids, and running short botanical illustration courses. In retirement I work as a freelance natural history illustrator but also continue to share my enthusiasm for plants running workshops and giving talks to both natural history groups and garden clubs.

You are a founder member and past President of the Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration. Tell us more about this organization?

The Institute of Analytical Plant Illustration (IAPI) promotes interest in the diversity and understanding of plants through illustration. It was founded in 2004 by the late Michael Hickey, an excellent teacher, botanist and skilled analytical illustrator. Its aim is to encourage and facilitate collaboration between botanists and artists by organizing talks, running workshops and field meetings, and setting up projects which members can contribute to.

In 2010, with IAPI support, I got together with Mary Brewin, a skilled artist, to provide a course of ten workshops combining botanical tuition with an opportunity to develop and practice appropriate illustration techniques. We hoped it would help members to:

gain a better understanding of plants to inform their practice of the art of botanical illustration.
develop and refine illustration techniques appropriate to different botanical subjects.
encourage enthusiastic beginners to gain botanical knowledge and some basic art skills.

This course was very successful and raised great interest and in the last four years has resulted in the running of further courses and workshops both for IAPI and other groups and organizations.

What is the place of botanical illustration in scientific research?

Botanical illustration both in the form of photography but also drawings and painting is integral to all aspects of scientific research.

Are there any botanical subjects that you are particularly inspired to work from?

I am particularly interested in the way that plants interact with their environment and how the intricacy of their structure plays a part in their success and survival. I frequently work with my husband, a zoologist and photographer, investigating the interactions between plants and animals, particularly insects. Close observation and drawing plants out in the field is also something I really enjoy.

What are you currently engaged with in terms of your botanical illustration career?

I am currently looking at the detailed internal structure of flowers in relation to their pollination mechanisms by producing illustrations in the form of half flowers.

It’s a beautiful book and a wonderful resource for botanical information – who is the book written for?

The book should be accessible to anyone, even those with little or no scientific background. It was written for:

botanical artists and photographers who wish to gain a better understanding of the Flowering Plants to inform their practice of the art of botanical illustration.
anyone who works with or just enjoys plants and wants to know more about them.

Understanding the Flowering Plants: A Practical Guide for Botanical Illustrators is published by Crowood Press and is available now.

Available now