Devon Wildlife Trust Placement, June 2016

by Harry Shadwell & Amber Connett

At the start of this month we joined the Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) for our 6 month placement. The DWT is a branch of The Wildlife Trusts charity organisation which runs multiple projects intended to protect and improve the natural environment. In liaison with landowners, developers and farmers, DWT ensures that all parties remain environmentally conscious in their actions. Our placement is based within the North Devon Nature Improvement Area (NIA) project where we assist the team with their individual projects through conducting surveys, analysing data, writing reports and meeting with landowners.

Following introductions to the teams at the Cookworthy office we set off on our first project; monitoring the rare marsh fritillary butterfly populations in North Devon. The marsh fritillary butterfly (Euphydryas aurinia) is one of the top 10 rarest species in Europe with the Culm grassland habitat in North Devon holding one of the few remaining strongholds. In order to monitor this species we conducted timed count surveys at sites across Devon where there have been previous sightings of the species. All site recordings taken are sent to the Butterfly Conservation Group, where a continuous database is upheld to monitor important butterfly species. Later on in the placement we will be analysing trends of this data and writing a report for DWT.

Sadly, after a long period of bad weather our butterfly surveys were cut short. We then began working on our plant species identification in order to conduct botanical surveys of potential County Wildlife Sites (CWS). We attended a grassland ID training course provided by Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) at Woodah Farm where we were shown how to identify the key indicator species of various grassland communities. After further practice of our ID skills, we then went out and conducted a survey on an Unconfirmed County Wildlife Site. This is where an area that may contain particularly good habitat has been identified through aerial photographs and so is surveyed to see if it should be designated as a CWS (CWS is a non-statutory designation which simply highlights good areas of habitat and diversity).  

 

Recently we have also begun river monitoring for the Riverfly Partnership which is a network of organisations that monitor invertebrate presence in rivers to assess their quality. When invertebrate diversity and presence weakens it can indicate an environmental issue upstream of the site which is then investigated by the Environment Agency. We have been assigned sites which we will monitor through kick sampling every month until October. Our data is then passed on to the Riverfly Parnership for their records.

Our first month at DWT has been really enjoyable; we have been welcomed as part of the team and quickly set off on a range of different projects. Next month we will be continuing our Riverfly and CWS surveys as well as starting new projects, so much to look forward to!