| Event Name | Woodland Festival Lectures |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 6th May 2017 9:45 am |
| End Date | 6th May 2017 4:00 pm |
| Duration | 6 hours and 15 minutes |
| Description | Discover the science that is being undertaken with our partners to find out more about the wildlife of our Dartmoor woodlands. The Woodland Festival Lectures will be a day of short lectures from leading researchers and scientists who have been working within the Bovey Valley Woods, East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve and across Dartmoor. This will be an opportunity to hear about research being undertaken locally and the contribution that local volunteers are making through their fieldwork. We will post information about the speakers and the presentations on our blog here Place: Dartmoor National Park Meeting Room, Parke, Bovey Tracey TQ13 9JQ Booking Essential via the Woodland Trust Website For more information, please contact Sarah Edmondson on 01626 832330 or email sarah.edmondson@naturalengland.org.uk |
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YOUNG wildlife enthusiasts at St Catherine’s C of E Primary School, Heathfield, have been honing their ornithological skills by taking part in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch.Pupils in Year Three were encouraged to learn more about Britain’s feathered friends by teacher Nicky Rosewarne and Andy Bailey of Moor than meets the eye.‘They have really enjoyed taking part in the RSPB's big garden birdwatch,’ said Ms Rosewarne.‘The bird feeders they put out in their class garden has had lots of visitors and the children have been practising identifying them.There have been lots of different types of birds but the class favourites are the woodpecker, nuthatch and bullfinch.We’ve even had the very rare waxwing put in an appearance with serious birdwatchers gathering next to the nearby A38 to catch a glimpse.Edison class prepared for the day by making their own bird food which they enjoyed, as they did working with Andy who shared a lot of his knowledge about birds and their calls.’
After a busy summer, Bristol University bat researcher Andy Carr and some dedicated volunteers got together at the Woodland Centre in Yarner Woods to review the Bovey Valley barbastelle bat tracking project. It all started back in April when the team of volunteers began training in the use of radio tracking and data recording equipment. Andy then set up a series of trapping nets to capture and tag bats and all was going well until the Dartmoor weather intervened. With various cold and unsettled spells the mist nets and harp traps were not quite as effective as had been hoped for. He initially wanted to track 30 of these rare woodland bats but, through 25 capturing nights, only 19 barbastelles were caught. It was not an entirely gloomy outcome though because there were many useful results and a lot of local habitat information was gained.
The Moor than meets the eye Barbastelle Bats project in the Bovey Valley Woods (part of East Dartmmor NNR) is still helping scientists understand more about bats to help with future conservation. Last year researchers from Bristol University led a bat radio tracking project to look at these rare creatures. This summer Dr. Orly Razgour, a research fellow from the University of Southampton has started to survey these East Dartmoor bats as part of her European-wide genetic research project on bat responses to global climate change. So far, Dr. Razgour has gathered information on barbastelles from Morocco to Sweden and, for a few nights in August, she brought her survey equipment to the Bovey Valley Woods. You can read the whole story on our blog eastdartmoorwoods.org
Last update: 23 Feb 2017 9:33am