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Oh great Iove got GCNs on my land!: |
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Mark_b Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2008 No. of posts: 79  View other posts by Mark_b |
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 Interested in everyones opinion on the positives of finding gcns for the landowner? SWWARG are currently doing a lot of survey work on amphibians in our area, in particular farmland It would appear most farmers dont know a lot about amphibians but they know the words 'great crested newt' mean trouble Obviously we ask permission to survey their ponds, then go have a look if granted and afterwoods go see or call them to tell them what we have found Some land owners are thrilled and ask how they can make it better, but most farmers are not keen at all. They are just trying to make a living and want to be able to do what they want to their land (a fair point I say). Most dont care about biodiversity and endangered species, so how can you make finding GCNs into a great event?! p.s. In a dream world we think a large scale scheme should be set up to reward land owners who have and look after 'important' species, or does this already exist? 
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will Senior Member Joined: 27 Feb 2007 No. of posts: 330 View other posts by will |
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 Good and thorny question ! Some ponds may be eligible for stewardship type awards I guess - can their local FWAG advise ? At the end of the day, most farmers like to say their role includes custodians of the countryside / nature - so they're lucky to have such impressive animals on their land. In my experience, if you can actually show them a male GCN in full breeding dress in a tank they do often come round. Also it could be worth emphasising that GCN will avoid land which is already being actively / intensively farmed (if it's arable) so their impact on the running of the farm would be less than they might imagine. Of course if they want to plough up a rough grass and scrub field or fill in a pond, it's a different question entirely. I was once escorted off a farm at shotgun point for telling the farmer he had GCN Cheers Will |
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Mark_b Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2008 No. of posts: 79 View other posts by Mark_b |
Posted: 18 Aug 2009 Taken from GCN Species Action Plan .... Proposed actions with lead agencies Policy and legislation Does anyone know of any progress? edit// Also it appears the environmental stewardship scheme is available in Wales, but most of the details are on the natural england site, confusing
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Mark_b Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2008 No. of posts: 79 View other posts by Mark_b |
Posted: 21 Aug 2009 On the subject of GCN, when does everyone stop seeing them in ponds? We are still bumping into a couple every so often!
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herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369  View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 21 Aug 2009 Hi Mark crested newts will visit ponds throughout the spring and summer months. The breeding season is when they are most obvious while in the summer they are in deeper water looking for food etc On the GCN on land - you just have to be open to land owners and explain that gcn's would not result in problems if things stay the same - ploughing already regularly ploughed fields etc However ploughed land in some parts of the country have been very productive for newts. In Basingstoke it is reported that over 3,000 newts were collected from a field which was ploughed the year before! Building a working relationship with the owner is key and getting them to consult the group would be the best way to ensure that newts are looked after. There will be people who do not like great crested newts due to the perceived problems that they create for landowners when they want to build a new barn, remove rough habitats for further agriculture etc of course there may be a problem - each case needs to be assessed on whether it would affect the status of the newt population - in order to do this you need to have up to date surveys - which is what ARG's can provide - The survey information can be sent via the landowner to DEFRA/CCW etc so that their environmental stewardship plans can add these animals to the list - There is an incentive for building ponds, creating habitats within farmland etc It is not just cresties all the widespread reptiles and the common toad are all BAP species so these would count to any score to a farm going into environmental stewardship etc Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
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herpetologic2 Senior Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 No. of posts: 1369 View other posts by herpetologic2 |
Posted: 21 Aug 2009 If you have farmers who are really keen go with them and try not to waste time with the sceptical ones - hopefully they will come round but you have to put your efforts into schemes which would give the most benefit to the newt populations that you find J Vice Chair of ARG UK - self employed consultant - visit ARG UK & Alresford Wildlife |
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Mark_b Senior Member Joined: 26 Jun 2008 No. of posts: 79 View other posts by Mark_b |
Posted: 21 Aug 2009 New Species action plan has been released for GCN and other species ... http://www.arc-trust.org/species/saps.php
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- Oh great Iove got GCNs on my land! |