Extinct plants brought back for benefit of bees - 30/01/12
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Somerset Wildlife Trust and Bristol Zoo Gardens are teaming-up with local school children to re-introduce rare West Country plant species to wetland nature reserves in Somerset.
The Flowering for Life Partnership will reintroduce two species of plant where they have gone locally extinct on the Somerset Levels: greater water parsnip and devil's bit scabious. These large, attractive plants are favourites of rare pollinating insects such as shrill and moss carder bees and the ornate brigadier soldierfly. The project is benefitting from the expertise of the Somerset Rare Plants Group, Natural England and the Hawk and Owl Trust within the partnership.
The notoriously fussy and difficult to grow greater water parsnip has been classified as ‘nationally scarce’ and is listed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). Just 50 individual greater water parsnip plants are left on the Somerset Levels. It has declined massively across southern Britain due to the loss of wetland habitats and intensive land management practices. Devils bit scabious has also been a victim of agricultural intensification.
Mark Steer, Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Brue Valley Development Officer said: “These nectar rich plants are very important for our pollinators including bees, but both are very poor dispersers, so even if good habitat is available, they are unlikely to be able to reach it without human assistance.
“Thanks to the Flowering for Life partnership, the fields of Catcott and neighbouring Shapwick Moor will become even more valuable for some of the Somerset Levels' rarest plants and insects.”
Greater water parsnip is very difficult to germinate so experts from Bristol Zoo’s horticulture team have been brought in to grow the plants from seed in the Zoo’s nurseries. The young plants will then be transferred to Inaura School, whose pupils will grow them on and plant them out. The plants will later be reintroduced to Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Catcott nature reserve and the Hawk and Owl Trust’s adjoining Shapwick Moor reserve. The reintroduction is being carried out in partnership with Natural England and volunteers from the Somerset Rare Plants Group.
Eddie Mole, Head of Horticulture at Bristol Zoo Gardens, explains: “In Somerset the plant has undergone a significant decline in the past 30 years. Current factors causing the decline are thought to include frequent cleaning and over-engineering of ditches; drainage of sites; exposure to prolonged heavy grazing and the dereliction of ditches leading to reed and scrub invasion.
“In a bid to halt its disappearance we have been nurturing these plants from seeds, replicating the damp conditions they love in the wild. Then, once they are more established, we transfer them into the tanks of water as they like to be partially submerged. The plants require constant monitoring so it is quite a big job but this is an important plant conservation project and we are pleased to be playing our part in its survival in Somerset.”
Both reintroduction sites contain fields that are being restored as flower-rich hay meadows – a habitat that has declined by over 97 per cent. A survey of both nature reserves highlighted the best areas for reintroductions and also that some of the other fields at Catcott are already amongst the most species rich in the Somerset Levels containing rarities such as marsh stitchwort, marsh pea and milk parsley.
The project has been funded by Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services.
For more information go to www.somersetwildlife.org
ENDS
Media enquiries/further information:
Contact Somerset Wildlife Trust PR and communications manager Beth Jerrett on 01823-652413 or e-mail: beth.jerrett@somersetwildlife.org
Or Bristol Zoo’s press office:
Lucy King, T: 0117 974 7306, or email: lking@bristolzoo.org.uk
Vanessa Hollier, T: 0117 974 7309, email: vhollier@bristolzoo.org.uk
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Notes to editors:
Bristol Zoo Gardens
· Bristol Zoo is open from 9am every day except Christmas Day.
· Bristol Zoo Gardens is a conservation and education charity and relies on income from visitors and supporters to continue its important work.
· Bristol Zoo is involved with more than 100 co-ordinated breeding programmes for threatened wildlife species.
· Itemploys over 150 full and part-time staff to care for the animals and run a successful visitor attraction to support its conservation and education work.
· Bristol Zoo supports – through finance and skill sharing - 15 projects in the UK and abroad that conserveand protectsome of the world’s most endangered species.
· In 2011 Bristol Zoo celebrated its 175th birthday. Over that past 175 years, the Zoo has brought six generations of Bristolians closer to wildlife, helped save over 175 species from extinction, established over 30 field conservation and research programmes all over the world, showed 40 millionschool-aged children the wonder of nature and given more than 90 million visitors a wonderful day out.
· In 2010 Bristol Zoo Gardens set up a Conservation Fund to raise vital funds to help care for threatened animals and plants – both in the Zoo and through the conservation work we do in the UK and around the world.
· Bristol Zoo Gardens is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums. BIAZA represents more than 90 member collections and promotes the values of good zoos and aquariums.
Somerset Wildlife Trust is the county’s leading environmental voluntary body, with around 21,000 members.
The charity owns and/or manages 75 nature reserves all over the county.
Money raised is spent to restore, recreate and reconnect our damaged countryside by creating living landscapes for wildlife and people. We help wildlife adapt to climate change, encourage sustainable living, fight to save sites where wildlife is threatened by monitoring development and inspire people to create more green space bringing environmental, social and economic benefits.
The trust is one of 47 in the UK. Together, they make up the Wildlife Trusts Partnership. www.somersetwildlife.org
Biffaward
Since 1997, the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) has been awarding grants to environmental and community projects under the fund name Biffaward. The fund administers money donated by Biffa Group Ltd, a leading integrated waste management business.
Under the Landfill Tax Regulations 1996,landfill operators like Biffa Group Ltd are liable for taxes on waste deposited in landfill sites. The Landfill Communities Fund allows them to donate a small percentage of their tax liability to projects working to improve communities living within the vicinity of landfill sites. To date, Biffaward has awarded grants totalling more than £125 million to hundreds of worthwhile projects. www.biffaward.org
