Whilst GNS does not normally advertise the meetings of other societies, we do have close links with the Bristol Naturalists Society and their next indoor meeting is directly related to the recent publication by GNS of the “Special” edition of The Gloucestershire Naturalist No. 25 – A Provisional Red Data Book of Gloucestershire Bryophytes. The author, Richard Lansdown, will be giving a talk to the BNS on Monday 24 November on the Conservation of Bryophytes in Gloucestershire, based on that book. The meeting will be at 7.30pm at the Guide Association Hall, Westmoreland Road, Westbury Park, Bristol BS6 6YW and is free of charge – full details below courtesy of Dr Clive M Lovatt of Bristol Naturalists’ Society:

THE CONSERVATION OF BRYOPHYTES IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE by Richard Lansdown on Monday 24 November, 7.30 pm

Richard Lansdown lives in Stroud and is well known to many members as an expert on water plants. He is the Chair of the IUCN SSC Freshwater Plant Specialist Group. He spoke to us in March 2011 on the subject of new and rare aquatic plants of Britain. He is the author of the BSBI Handbook Water Starworts (Callitriche) of Europe and A Field Guide to the Riverine Plants of Britain and Ireland.

Richard is the joint recorder for bryophytes in Gloucestershire and his new book, A Provisional Red Data Book on Gloucestershire Bryophytes has just been published by the Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society. It is an authoritative work of 327 pages and lays out and justifies the local threat status of some 200 species, each of which is given an illustrated species account covering distribution and history (with a dot map), habitat and ecology, the condition of populations in Gloucestershire and the conservation action needed.

As Richard points out in the first paragraph of his book, detailed information on the rare bryophytes of Gloucestershire is important in terms of [species and habitat] conservation and he draws attention to where “gaps in our knowledge …impede our ability to work for their conservation”. Some places have been found to be no longer suitable for some or all of the rare species which had been recorded there, but for others there remains the hope that focussed surveys will re-find them.

Expect to be well informed on the current state of the mosses and liverworts of the Watsonian county of Gloucestershire and what needs to be done to look after them and the places they occur.

The meeting will start with tea and coffee to allow questions and discussions to immediately follow the presentation.

As a result of having to provide copies of back issues of The Gloucestershire Naturalist Volumes 1 – 12 to the British Library and through the generosity of some of our members, we now have on file scanned copies of all of those issues. 

If anyone needs copies of specific articles for reference or research, we can supply them as e-mailed scanned pdf files free of charge on request.

Full sets of Volumes 1 – 12 as scanned pdfs can be supplied on disc at a cost of £6.00 (inc. postage) payable to Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society.

The document attached below is an index of the issues and articles available. We hope to add later issues in due course but due to the size of volumes 13 and 14, the Stephen Bishop Flora of Gloucestershire, we are still considering whether we are able to make them available and in what format.

Printed copies of specific articles may be possible in certain cases but we cannot provide printed copies of whole issues.

All enquiries for these services should be addressed to Andrew Bluett, Membership Secretary, at gnsmembership@btinternet.com or on 01452 610085.

The Gloucestershire Naturalist Vols 1 -12 Index

Poles Apart by Dr Michael Leach

The next event in the GNS calendar is a joint meeting with Painswick Bird Club on Tuesday 4^th November commencing at 7.30pm in the Painswick Town Hall, Victoria Street (just across the road to the left of the churchyard and on the opposite side of the main road from the Fiery Beacon Gallery).

The speaker will be Dr Michael Leach, the subject entitled “Poles Apart” is about bird life and animals in the Arctic and Antarctic. Michael is always good value for money as a speaker and this looks like a fascinating subject to be explored with excellent photographs and dialogue – not to be missed.

We don’t do many joint meetings with Painswick Bird Club and recently, the attendance from GNS members at these has been disappointing, so your support if you can come would be very welcome.

Michael’s web-site can be accessed here… http://www.michael-leach.co.uk/

Mike Smart was joined by seven members for this field meeting to visit and view the early stages of the development of new salt marsh on the riverside at the south-west end of Aylburton Warth.

The Environment Agency have purchased several fields from farmers and breached the old flood defence wall in places to allow the inflow of water from the estuary at high tides to facilitate this change, it is both a conservation measure for the birds but also a managed means of reducing erosion of the riverbank. Similar exercises have taken place at Steart Point in Somerset with advice from WWT and in parts of Essex on the east coast.

The weather for the visit was not especially good, whilst dry it was chilly and rather foggy and continued to be so throughout the day, high tide occurred just about the same time as the meeting started at approximately 11.00am. Ground conditions were rather wet and muddy in most places but an impressive list of birds was accumulated, some of these recorded as a WeBS count by Mike Smart prior to the start of the meeting:

Several hundred Curlew on roosts at Guscar and Aylburton Warth together with Redshank, Dunlin and Ringed Plover. 5 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Egret, 32 Golden Plover, a Common Snipe and 60 Lapwing on or in the vicinity of the flashes on Aylburton Warth, a Kestrel hunting over the Warth, a cock Pheasant by the railway line, a Sparrowhawk hunting the hedgerows and stubble, a Peregrine hunting over several areas, 3 Kingfisher and 2 Reed Bunting in the Phragmites filled ditches, 5 Stonechat, 20 Mallard, 12 Wigeon and 2 Cormorant over the river, 15 Teal in flight, 3 Common Snipe in flight over the river and a handful of Lesser Black Backed, Herring and Black Headed Gulls.

Other birds in various locations – 4 Wren, 15 House Sparrow, 40 Skylark, 8 Pied Wagtail, 25 Crows, 4 Heron, 4 Robin, 50 Linnet, 20 Meadow Pipit, 15 Goldfinch, 5 Dunnock, 2 Chaffinch, 3 Blackbird, 1 Jackdaw, 4 Jay, 12 Long Tailed Tit, 2 Great Tit, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Buzzard, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Raven, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Greenfinch and finally Martin Wright spotted 2 Swallow flying north eastwards high over the river.

Members present – David Priddis, Martin Wright, Cathy Booth, Guy Meredith, Juliet Bailey, Pam Jones and Andrew Bluett. Thanks to David Priddis for the use of his photographs.

Group photos by Andrew Bluett (left) & David Priddis (right)

Juliet Bailey up close and personal with Lichen (David Priddis)

Guy Meredith & Juliet Bailey exploring a Rhyne

The Aylburton Warth flashes (Andrew Bluett)

Golden Plover (digiscoped with mobile phone, Andrew Bluett)

Curlew in flight over the roost at Aylburton Warth (David Priddis)

Lapwing, Little Egret and Golden Plover on the flashes (David Priddis)

The remains of an old quay or landing stage in the Cone Pill (dubbed by David Priddis the “Hobbit House”!) constructed of a platform on wooden piles now “roofed” with a deposit of mud covered with riparian plant growth (David Priddis)

The idyllic Slad Valley in Gloucestershire is one of Britain’s richest and most diverse habitats. This coat-pocket guide in sturdy hardback is an ideal walker’s companion, with 450 colour photographs to help identify wild flowers, grasses, trees, butterflies and day-flying moths.

Among the hundreds of plant species thriving in the valley’s limestone grassland are up to thirteen orchids, including the early purple, pyramidal and bee orchids.

The 125 page book is by Richard Morris, a resident of the Slad Valley, science teacher and enthusiastic amateur botanist.

More information: sladvalley.co.uk

We have two GNS Meetings coming up this weekend…

Friday evening, the 10^th, at Watermoor Church Hall, Cirencester, an indoor meeting “A Journey into the Unseen World of Insects” with Cath Hodson, a local wildlife artist who specialises in close up detail work on insects. This will be a practical meeting looking at insect specimens through microscopes – fascinating stuff and a real chance to get up close and personal with truly beautiful invertebrates.

Sunday morning, the 12^th, at Plusterwine Railway Crossing (on some maps Woolaston Level Crossing) – Meet at 11.00am at the end of the lane by the level crossing at ST 600 991 (The usual location for visits to Guscar Rocks and the Severn riverbank at the south-west end of Aylburton Warth), leader – Mike Smart (01452 421131).

A visit to view the managed re-alignment project being carried out by the Environment Agency who have breached the flood defence wall allowing almost 100 acres to flood on high tides (of which there were several this week). GNS are monitoring the salt marsh development here, this will be a meeting of general interest but wintering Wildfowl and Waders are expected to feature. Weather prediction is for cloudy with bright sunny spells and possible showers, light southerly winds so wear boots or wellingtons and a weatherproof coat. High tide will be circa 10.00am.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY

Is pleased to advise members that we now have a limited number of copies of

“A provisional Red Data Book of Gloucestershire Bryophytes” by renowned local ecologist and joint county bryophyte recorder in Gloucestershire for the British Bryological Society, Richard Lansdown, as a special edition of The Gloucestershire Naturalist (TGN 25)

This publication, whilst important in its own field is unlikely to be of use to those naturalists who do not have a specialist interest in this branch of botany. If you do wish to receive a copy, but have not already reserved one, please contact the Membership Secretary, Andrew Bluett, by e-mail at gnsmembership@btinternet.com or by post to

GNS Membership Secretary, 50 Kingsmead, Abbeymead, Gloucester, GL4 5DY

Those members who have already reserved copies will receive them by post in the very near future.

The Dean Natural Alliance has informed Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society about the 38 Degrees Petition asking the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to hold a public enquiry on a major development in the Forest of Dean.  Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society has registered an objection to the development, and is represented on the Cinderford Regeneration Environment Forum.

The petition can be read here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-wildlife-and-national-forest-from-major-development

Here is the text of the petition:

Save wildlife and national forest from major development

To: The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Dear Secretary of State please intervene and hold a PUBLIC INQUIRY before making your decision on major development in the FOREST OF DEAN (Planning Application P0663/14/OUT)

Why is this important?

This major development will cause irreversible damage to the landscape and ecology of this stunning part of the publicly-owned National Heritage Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. This site supports wildlife with EU protection. It is a much valued space for recreation with unrestricted public access. There are other solutions and sites for job creation.

This is a major development of a new college, hotel, housing, employment sites and a through road on a sensitive landscape and wildlife site in the National Heritage Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. There are 2 national, cross-boundary walking routes through the site at Cinderford Northern Quarter.

Many acres of publicly-owned Statutory Forest will be transferred to the Forest of Dean District Council and the planning application for development made by the Homes and Communities Agency. This is likely to set an unwarranted national planning precedent for major development in other areas of the Forest of Dean, other publically owned Forests and other highly sensitive landscape and wildlife areas throughout the UK.

National Public Forests should not be used as cheap building land for major development. The majority of the development site is part of the Premier Heritage Forest of Dean, owned by the nation and the site should remain publically owned as recommended by the Independent Panel Report on Forestry wholly accepted by the Government.

• Over 1,300 species have been recorded there, the breeding and feeding grounds for many EU and Nationally protected species. There is a Lesser Horseshoe Bat maternity roost vital to the maintenance of the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Bat Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The site also has 13 other different species of bat, Great Crested Newts, Dormouse, other BAP species of newts and reptiles, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, notable and red data book species of birds including the iconic Turtle Dove and Hawfinch. This site should never have been allocated for development because of its high ecological value supported by a tightly knit interdependent ecosystem. The soils, plants and invertebrates underpin the food supply for other species’ survival. With the advent of Climate Change it is contrary to Government Policy not to protect such habitats.
• The Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Bat SAC is one of the most important areas in the UK for lesser horseshoe bats containing 26% of the national population and is cross boundary with Wales. Yet it is to be subjected to the experimental manoeuvre of attempting to relocate a large maternity roost, vital to the maintenance of the SAC and to demolish an existing maternity roost.
• Unrestricted public access over the site will be lost. The quiet enjoyment of recreation, wildlife and landscape experienced by local residents and visitors will be drastically degraded into a busy noisy urban polluting environment, visible from vista viewpoints outside the site.
• This is not Sustainable Development. By the National Indices of Deprivation which uses the 20% percentile to indicate deprivation, the Forest of Dean and Cinderford is not a deprived area. Alternative solutions have not been fully explored such as alternative sites for the different elements of this major development. The biodiversity of this site could significantly contribute to the economy of the Public Forest Estate and the economy of the District as a resource for ecotourism (as illustrated by the economic generation achieved by the Peregrine Falcons for the Wye Valley) and as an educational resource for study and research which could attract EU funding.
• This is not good planning, is not value for money for the taxpayer. The site is designated by the Coal Authority as a “High Risk Area” The creation of a new college building, hotel and housing is highly inadvisable in an area riddled with mine shafts, post open cast mining landfill and part flood zone. There is significant risk of massive overspending of taxpayers’ money.
• The proposal is of more than local importance because it gives rise to substantial effects beyond the immediate locality, cross-boundary and national controversy, and conflicts with national policies on important matters.

BY supporting this campaign you are asking the Secretary of State to intervene and make the planning decision by holding a PUBLIC INQUIRY, rather than be determined by the Forest of Dean District Council, a joint sponsor of the scheme and therefore an interested party.

Object to this planning application, P0663/14/OUT Hybrid at planning@fdean.gov.uk

This is the link to the planning application website: http://publicaccess.fdean.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=dates&keyVal=N4FS82HI01000

Read about the campaign and full objection details on Dean Natural Alliance Website: http://www.deannaturalalliance.org
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/DeanNaturalAlliance
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DeanNatAlliance

In memory of Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon who died 100 years ago today, the 1st September 1914, in Cincinnati Zoo, USA.

The Dodo, Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew, Guam Flycatcher, Ivory Billed Woodpecker and many others…where they have gone, primarily as a result of the stupidity and avarice of mankind, others are following, regrettably at an ever increasing rate, which is why we naturalists do what we do, in the hope that we might at least slow down that rate if not stop it altogether.

As many members will be aware GNS has been involved in various ways with the controversial development proposal for the Cinderford Northern Quarter site at Steam Mills in the Forest of Dean.

There is currently a Hybrid Planning Application in place with Forest of Dean District Council which was due to be decided during August but so many comments, observations, objections and amendments have been made that the decision date has been pushed back to possible September or even October. This is a significant and complex matter, there are now several hundred documents relating to the application available to view on the Council web-site.

As might be imagined, the Homes and Communities Agency and the Forest of Dean District Council have made a number of statements in respect of the development and the effects it will have, both in terms of the effects on the environment and wildlife and in terms of the economic benefit they believe will accrue to the area. They have made comments regarding the mitigation measure that are proposed for dealing with the wildlife on the site which is varied, extensive and amounts to 1300+ recorded species, a number of which are threatened or rare with Amber and Red conservation status. There could be many more if those species that have not been counted and recorded are taken into account. GNS members have been pro-active in adding to the list. Part of the site sits within a Special Area of Conservation as a result of the population of Lesser Horseshoe Bats (and others) which inhabit and use the site, the total numbers of which make the site notable in a European context, let alone a national or regional context.

The wildlife organisations, GNS among them, see things rather differently from the HCA and F of DDC; GNS along with other organisations through the medium of the Cinderford Regeneration Environmental Forum and by other means are attempting to influence the Council to at least modify the development and mitigation for the benefit of the wildlife on the site. It does seem that the message is beginning to get through and that some things are being re-considered and may change.

Dean Natural Alliance, a group of like-minded individuals and organisations, largely wildlife interested, have objected most strongly to the development and have had some publicity in the pages of the local newspapers. DNA held an open public meeting at the Forest Church Rooms in June, followed by a second meeting in July at the Speech House at which Jonathan Porritt was the main speaker. A copy of the report from the first DNA public meeting is appended below.

As things progress, we will give further updates and will continue to do what we can to limit the adverse effects of the development.

Dean_Natural_Alliance_Open_Public_Meeting_revised