Going Batty for Jersey wildlife

30/11/2010

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 November 30, 2010

Young Islanders are being encouraged to join a campaign to protect Island bats and squirrels by helping to create new hedgerow habitats.

Jersey Dairy and Jersey Trees for Life have chosen National Tree week (27 November – 5 December) to launch their annual ‘Jersey Dairy Days on the Hedge’ initiative.
National Tree Week is Britain’s largest tree celebration launching the start of the winter tree planting season.

The activity, organised by Jersey Trees for Life, involves youngsters in practical educational workshops, clearing, planting and maintaining the Island’s vital hedgerow habitats. They are hoping secondary schools and youth groups will support the project with hands on work.

The charity has chosen to focus on creating wildlife corridors for squirrels and bats for this planting season, following the success of last year’s campaign which concentrated on areas important to local hedgehog populations.

Red Squirrels were introduced in Jersey in the middle of the 19th century. Jersey is one of the few places where the American Grey Squirrel does not have an impact on the red squirrel population.

Nina Cornish, research ecologist from the Planning and Environment department is delighted that the squirrels will be getting extra help over the coming months:

“Creating, restoring and maintaining Jersey hedgerows is one of the many vital actions urgently needed in the Island. Hedgerows are one of the most important features of Jersey’s natural landscape. They stabilise banks, reduce soil erosion, and enhance the environment by storing CO2 and atmospheric pollutants,’ she said

‘They are vital sources of habitat for local wildlife. Hedgerows are very important because they provide food, shelter, nesting areas and act as natural corridors enabling wildlife to move between habitats and move around the island safely. Loss of hedgerows can have severe implications local wildlife. Squirrels have no natural predators in Jersey except for man. The creation of new hedgerow and tree planting areas will be incredibly valuable to them.”

The Jersey Bat Group is also working with Jersey Trees for Life on their Hedgerow Campaign as Group Chair, Ani Binet, explained; “We have worked together to pinpoint priority areas for hedgerow planting that will link up areas of prime habitat for bats. Hedgerows are particularly important for bats, as they provide shelter and security to bats as they fly through the countryside. Hedgerows can also be an important source of food, as several species of bat will forage on the rich insect life associated with hedgerows. Providing habitat connectivity is important for a wide variety of wildlife, but it is particularly crucial for bats and indeed also red squirrels, which generally avoid crossing large areas of open ground.”

Jersey Dairy’s Managing Director, Eamon Fenlon, said: ‘The preservation of our Island environment is critical for future generations and of course Jersey Dairy is a vital living and working part of that countryside. We have supported the Jersey Trees for life Hedgerow Campaign with these special ‘Jersey Dairy Day on the Hedge’ workshops, because we believe that this type of ‘hands on’ education is essential to help school pupils learn how important the environment is. This year’s focus, on protecting and helping squirrels and bats, means that we have a whole new aim, which will hopefully appeal to youngsters and give them an even greater understanding of the many different creatures and inhabitants whose survival depends on our simple hedgerows.’

Michel Morel, the Education and Administration Officer for Jersey Trees for Life, will be leading the workshops and is appealing for teachers from secondary schools, and youth group leaders who would like their students to take part, to get in touch.

“Hedges give vital shelter and sources of food for many creatures. We will be planting native trees and hedgerow saplings specifically selected to be of benefit to squirrels and bats this year”, he said.

‘Native species like hawthorn and common oak are so useful as they support more invertebrates than most and larger animals such as bats depend on these invertebrates for a source of food. Anything which provides coverage and extra habitat is important. The planting season runs throughout the spring term and the maintenance activities take place during the summer term. We are delighted and grateful that Jersey Dairy has once again agreed to support this essential, educational and environmental project. The beauty of the ‘Jersey Dairy Day on the Hedge’ is that it encourages the students to get right into the natural environment.’

Any teacher or youth group leader who would like their students to take part in the educational activities, should contact Michel Morel, the Education and Administration Officer for Jersey Trees for Life on 857611.

Background Information:
National Tree Week is a great chance for communities to do something positive for their local treescape. Each year, Tree Council member organisations, such as voluntary bodies and local authorities, up to 200 schools and community groups, and many others, support the initiative by setting up fun, worthwhile and accessible events, inspiring upward of a quarter of a million people to get their hands dirty and together plant around million trees.
Bats in Jersey:
Nine different species of bat have been recorded in Jersey in recent years, from the relatively widespread common pipistrelle and grey long-eared bat, to less common species such as Kuhl’s pipstrelle and Natterer’s bat, and very rare species such as the brown long-eared bat. All of Jersey’s bats (and their roosts) are legally protected.

Bats are thought to have generally declined in number in recent years for a number of reasons, including loss of mature trees and hedgerows, changes in agricultural practices, reducing abundance of insects, development pressure on roosting sites, and the general loss of hedgerows as a result of Dutch elm disease.

For the Hedgerow Campaign, we have worked together with Jersey Trees for Life to prioritise new areas of hedgerow planting that will connect up habitat for Jersey’s long-eared bats. These bats particularly like patches of woodland, and also open areas of freshwater to feed over. We have therefore prioritised hedgerow planting in areas to join up woodland patches and open water, such as around the lower end of Queen’s Valley reservoir and around Val de la Mare reservoir. This will be particularly important to long-eared bats, but also beneficial to other species of bat and in fact to numerous other Jersey wildlife.

Improving habitat connectivity is an important way to help Jersey’s bats and red squirrels, and forms part of the Biodiversity Action Plans written for these species by the States of Jersey Environment Department, which is working together with Jersey Trees for Life and the Jersey Bat Group on this project.

Squirrels in Jersey:
The Red Squirrel is the only squirrel that is native to British Isles and their populations are considered vulnerable, as the distribution of Red Squirrels has been seen to decline drastically over the last 60 years. Red Squirrels were introduced in Jersey in the middle of the 19th century. Between 1994-1998, intensive research of the local red squirrel population was carried out to study our red squirrels so we could understand how best to conserve them for the future. In 1998 we estimated there were about 400 squirrels locally. Our continued monitoring has shown that in 2005, the number of woods with resident squirrels has increased by 32% and we estimate that the total number of squirrels in Jersey has probably increased to about 600. Of course, like all animal populations, numbers will vary from year to year in response to the amount of natural food available. The States of Jersey Environment Department continues to promote the red squirrel as a flagship species for woodland and hedgerow management. In addition to planting around 35,000 hedgerow trees since 1998, Islanders have continued and expanded the supplemental feeding of red squirrels. As a result of a combination of these factors and good natural food years, there has been observed increase in the number of woods recorded as holding red squirrel populations. However, despite this encouraging trend of an increased population, more squirrels are dying as a result of road deaths. This is because they often cross roads when they commute out of woodland blocks to feeding stations.