Making conservation engaging - a volunteer view

Guest blog post by volunteer Jackie Wragg

A crucial part of any conservation effort is public engagement. Over the summer I have volunteered with Moors for the Future Partnership to aid them in this effort. Is my motivation totally selfless? Not at all. Although I take great fulfilment from raising awareness and inspiring people to value the habitats and rally for the cause it isn’t the only benefit. It’s the invaluable experience to hopefully lead me into my future career in a rewarding role in conservation. This experience is the key to my dream job!

Comma butterfly photograped at Longshaw Estate

The unaccommodating yet spendid Green Leafhopper!

Over the summer Moors for the Future Partnership performed a “takeover” of the Moorland Discovery Centre at the Longshaw Estate every Thursday. Volunteering here gave me the opportunity to set up and run a range of activities many of which were aimed at engaging children in the different species that can be found in our local uplands.

The staff are so appreciative of the help and keen to listen to new ideas and put them into practise. The chance to be part of a team setting up an engaging experience for members of the public is something I would not have access to without volunteering. Not to mention the chance to take children out on a bug hunt in the surrounding area and the opportunity for a spot of wildlife photography at the same time. I have developed a serious obsession with getting the perfect picture of the beautiful yet unaccommodating Green Leafhopper (Cicadella viridis) thanks to seeing so many of them during my time at the Moorland Discovery Centre. They’re so quick it’s almost impossible to capture their splendidness on camera!

In addition to this “Bogfest”; an event I was truly proud to be a part of. I was chosen to provide a port-of-call for visitors to this international gathering in partnership with the IUCN at the Moors for the Future Stall. This was a fantastic opportunity to network with people working within the field and also provided some experience of working to engage different audiences such as professionals and landowners.

I intend to do much more volunteering for Moors for the Future. There is no doubt that people who volunteer are valued greatly and I look forward to more events where I can be a part of the Moors for the Future mission.

A journey bee-yond bee-lief

Blog post by Tom Aspinall:

The morning after a long day of field work at the Roaches in the south-west Peak District it dawned on me that upon arriving home in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire the evening before, I had not unpacked my rucksack.

I got to work removing my lunch box and the tools I’d been using only to hear a very strange sound emanating from the bottom of my bag.

At first I thought it may be air escaping from my half-drunk flask of tea but removing that did not stop the noise. Deciding something must have made a temporary home in my bag I took it outside and with trepidation emptied the contents on to the ground. To my surprise out popped a beautiful, fresh-looking, queen, white-tailed bumblebee!

Having travelled nearly 40 miles in my bag the previous day I imagined the poor bee was hungry and as she seemed unable to fly I fed her up on some sugar water which she seemed to enjoy as you can see in the video below.

 

After she’d eaten I placed her on an open flower so that she could warm up and hopefully get some sweet nectar inside her. Unfortunately the weather had different ideas and the torrential downpour that followed forced me to move the lethargic insect to a sheltered spot underneath some winter heather.

Bumblebee on the step - close to death

The following afternoon I thought I should check on my garden guest. Disappointment followed as I found that she hadn’t moved an inch and didn’t look any more active than before. I again moved to her into the sun on the open cosmos flower so she could warm up and eat. She had other ideas and after a couple of hours I found her on the garden step looking close to death.

One final attempt to rejuvenate her was needed so with garden gloves on I lifted her up and put her on the flower head of a nearby lavender plant. 

She quickly started lapping up nectar from the tiny flowers and once all were exhausted her little legs were waving at me to help her to the next one. I repeated this several times and while her energy looked to be increasing she still didn’t seem able to fly.

With hope dwindling my partner then had the great idea of pulling the lavender flowers together and trapping them against one another to form a network of bridges so that I could have a rest and the bee could make her own way between the flowers. This was the move that made all the difference! 

Just a few minutes later, to our astonishment, the bee lifted into the air and buzzed away. Her four day ordeal and epic journey had not, as I had feared, been the end of her and I like to think she’s now found a safe hole nearby to hibernate for winter so that she can visit us again next spring.

Work experience with Community Science

Guest blog post by Community Science work experience student Izzy:

Hello, I’m Izzy, and this week I’m joining Moors for the Future’s Community Science Project for work experience . Since 2013, I’ve been really into wildlife and nature photography and have kept a photography blog (www.frozennature.wordpress.com); I hope to photograph some of the species and landscape in and around Edale this week.

Here are a couple of common frogs in my family’s garden pond. By March, Britain’s ponds are alive with these famous amphibians, and, if you can get close enough, they’re rather photogenic!

Blue tits are another common species in British gardens, and are active all year round. I took this photo during the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch last year, using a tripod and camera remote - most garden birds can be shy and are relatively  difficult to get close too.

 

The lynx, however, isn’t an animal that you’re likely to spot in your back garden. This elusive mammal became extinct in most parts of Western Europe after the destruction of habitats and thousands of years of persecution. The last of the British lynx disappeared around the year 700, although the Lynx UK Trust is currently doing research to reintroduce them to the British Isles. This lynx was seen at Nordens Ark in Sweden.

Here are a few more of my favourite photos:

Caterpillar in Sweden

 

Mute swan in the Somerset Levels

 

Honeybee

 

 

Wildlife photos from Crisis event - part 2

Last Friday was the second 'Creative Conservation' Community Science event with Crisis members from Sheffield. Member Steve Smith has shared this set of cracking wildlife shots he took on the day:

One of the highlights of the day was a close encounter with this roe buck near Longshaw estate

Another shot, as the roe deer makes a hasty exit...

A beautiful reed bunting seen singing in a patch of soft rush

Just one of the hundreds of millipedes all making their way along the path in Burbage Valley



A stunning meadow pipit; in a classic pose!


 

Wildlife photos from Community Science walk with Crisis members

Last Friday was the inaugural 'Creative Conservation' Community Science event with Crisis members from Sheffield -  consisting of a guided wildlife walk around the Millstone Edge and Padley Gorge area led by the Community Science team and Tom from the National Park Ranger Service, followed by an introduction to Community Science (and lunch stop) at Brunt's Barn near Grindleford.

Peacock butterfly (c) Steve Smith

Crisis member and photographer Steve took some pictures of some of the wildlife which was spotted, including the Community Science target species the Peacock Butterfly (above) - seen and recorded just below Millstone Edge.

A northern hairy wood ant nest (c) Steve Smith

Some of the other species also seen/heard and talked about were: orange-tip butterfly; early, white-tailed and tree bumblebees; willow warbler, chiffchaff, redstart, pied flycatcher, meadow and tree pipits, stonechat, buzzard, great spotted woodpecker, northern hairy wood ants, bluebells, lesser celandine, wood sorrel and birch polypore fungus (also known as razor strop) and red kite.

Female pied flycatcher (c) Steve Smith

Red kite (c) Steve Smith

Thanks to Steve for sending in these great photos, and also to everyone else involved for making it a very enjoyable day.

Surveying bumblebees - Sheffield University Conservation Volunteers

Guest post by Amruta Tendolkar (Sheffield University Conservation Volunteers)  http://sheffuniconservation.wix.com/sucv

As a sequel to the Sphagnum moss workshop that we did with the Moors for the Future, 15 of us headed to Longshaw Estate on Saturday to learn how to identify and survey bumblebees.

SUCV looking for bees!

Loss of flowers for foraging, loss of suitable nest sites and use of pesticides have led to the rapid decline of many bumblebee species in Britain. Bumblebees are better pollinators than most other species of bees because they can travel up to 2km from their nests in search of flowers and their tongues are much varied in length. Hence, it is essential to save them.

Studying bumblebee specimens before heading out

For this reason, Moors for the Future has initiated surveys to note down the abundance of bumblebees around moorland. They have chosen three species which are easy to identify and will be interesting to track in response to climate change. The morning session gave us pointers to identify these three bumblebee species and a few others commonly found in the area.In the afternoon, we took a walk around Longshaw Estate in search of some bees. 

 

Bumblebee survey materials

Since it is quite early for them to come out of hibernation, we could spot only two. However, the weather was sunny and everyone had a great time!

SUCV taking a well earned break at the end of the day

Thanks to everyone who came for the workshop and a big thank you to Tom, for conducting it.

A fly on the moor

Jane, one of our volunteer Community Scientists was out on the Roaches in the South West Peak District doing a bumblebee survey, when she came across this rather amazing insect:

Jane described how the fly had a bright yellow head, was very large (the size of a queen red-tailed bumblebee) and kept flying back to the same spot if disturbed.

We had never come across this species before, so consulted Ben Keywood, an entomologist from Sheffield Wildlife Trust, who identified the photo:

“The fly is a parasitic tachinid Tachina grossa which parasitises the larvae of Oak Eggar Moth.  Oak Eggar is a moorland day-flying moth also of huge proportions.  The moth occurs across the Sheffield moors and is bright yellow or orange.  This tachinid fly is not rare but certainly rarely recorded.  Great photo!"

Jane e-mailed us to say: "It's fantastic - I'm always learning something new and seeing something amazing each time I go out to undertake Community Science."

If you have any wildlife photos or surveying experiences you’d like to share with us on this blog, please get in touch.