August: Environmental news roundup
August was a busy month for South West Peatland Partnership, as its officially the start of the practical restoration season once more. We’ve also been out and about at some lovely local events, chatting all things peatlands and getting the arts and crafts out too! There’s also a whole lot of good taking place thanks to committed people working together to make a difference across the environmental sector.
Chloe Hurst, SWPP Project Assistant takes a look at some of the key moments for SWPP and the headlines on environmental issues in August.
Restoration works underway again
On August 1st, we welcomed contractors back on site to begin our 2023/24 restoration season. Phase 2 of works at Ockerton Court on Dartmoor are underway and a vast amount of progress has already been achieved. The most recent works have involved the installation of leaky wooden dams within erosion channels as well as arc bunds and peat blocks to level hummocks and break the severe dendritic erosion on top of the plateaus.
Out on Ockerton Court, NW Dartmoor
We have been showing the works from last season and the ongoing works for this season to groups of partners, volunteers and local organisations. These visits enable us to engage with a range of stakeholders, to discuss our successes, challenges and upcoming plans. Not only this, but they are able to see it happening first-hand and luckily, weather has been on our side so far!
It’s a busy, packed restoration season over the winter of 23/24 - with many more peatland restoration sites due across the South West will be starting imminently. Stay tuned!
The summer of dragons!
Summer is the perfect time for spotting insects on the wing in the UK. This year, the hot weather has led to noticeably large numbers of dragonflies with some species possible moving away from severe droughts in southern Europe. Unlike a lot of other species and insects that are suffering severe population declines, many dragonflies in the UK are becoming more widespread as climate change brings hotter, drier weather.
A British Dragonfly Society report in 2021 revealed that 19 of the 47 resident and regular migrant dragonfly and damselfly species have increased in Britain and Ireland since 1970, whilst just five have declined. Since then, dragonfly species appear to have spread even further.
However, while favourable short-term conditions can provide the perfect window for dragonflies to emerge, hunt and breed, continuous and persistent heat and drought will likely also dry out wetlands in the UK, leaving them without a home.
Dragonflies spend most of their lives in water as larva. After hatching from an egg which has been deposited loosely into water, they moult 5-14 times until fully-grown. This larval development can take anywhere from a couple of months to more than 5 years (Golden-ringed Dragonfly). Then, triggered by day length and temperature, an incomplete metamorphosis (dragonflies do not have a pupal stage like butterflies and other winged insects) occurs. This transition, the final moult, takes place out of water. The process leaves behind a cast skin, called an exuvia (which you can find!), and lasts between 1-3 hours.
After their first flight, they can begin to hunt for food, battle to defend a suitable breeding site, and mate with females. The life-expectancy of adults is short, sometimes lasting up to only 8 weeks.
Last month, myself and Eddie (SWPP Monitoring Manager), were joined with dragonfly enthusiast and new volunteer Kevin to trial survey one of our upcoming restoration sites in Exmoor. Not only were we joined by a good number of butterflies (Large and Small White and Meadow Browns), but we also recorded 5 Golden-Ring Dragonflies and witnessed both egg laying and mating. A male Common Hawker also made an appearance in the afternoon. We look forward to carrying out more of these surveys post-restoration as, with the creation of more pools and with a higher water table, the site will provide more of a stable and suitable habitat for dragons to come.
Curlews released on Dartmoor
More young Curlews have been raised and released as part of a repopulation programme within the Dartmoor National Park. The Dartmoor Curlew Recovery Project is funded by the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and the Duchy of Cornwall and run as a partnership with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Natural England and the RSPB, with the local farming community also playing a critical part.
Curlew numbers have sadly plummeted on Dartmoor, with just 2, at best, breeding pairs remaining. Dartmoor has historically always had Curlews with around 25-30 pairs, however, numbers have declined significantly across the UK due to land management pressures, loss of habitat and predation. The number of breeding birds has dropped by about 65% since 1970. The species is now Red Listed and is of high conservation concern. This project is all about stabilising the population and boosting it to where it was before. The project began in 2021 with more birds planned to be released in the coming years with the aim of giving these iconic birds of the British countryside the best chance to re-establish and thrive.
Successful summer event
The SWPP were invited to take part in the Meldon Wildlife Festival, a yearly event run by the Dartmoor National Park Authority. The event took place on the 22nd August and saw around 500 people come through – a fantastic turnout on a glorious day!
We had a ‘Slow the Flow’ demonstration where we showed the benefits of a healthy, functioning peatland ecosystem with the presence of sphagnum moss in terms of water quality and flood mitigation. We also had an arts and crafts activity, where we made paper dragonflies, a species associated with peatlands and wetlands, as mentioned above.
Not only did we thoroughly enjoy ourselves, but we also learnt lots from the other organisations and projects representing the wildlife and habitats on Dartmoor.
Stalls at Meldon Wildife Festival
Catch Chloe monthly on BBC Radio Cornwall, chatting all things climate news, peatland restoration, and environmental optimism, or listen back on BBC Sounds here.