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Environment Agency: Four skips of rubbish removed from River Welland

Posted by admin on February 4th, 2012

Workers from the Environment Agency have recently removed four skip-loads of rubbish from the River Welland and Coronation Channel in and around Spalding.

The rubbish and debris is normally below the water line. However, lower water levels – which are necessary while the flood defence piles through Spalding are being refurbished – has made much more rubbish visible.

Items taken from the river have included tyres, traffic cones, shopping trolleys, motorcycles and a bed.

Alec Ambridge-Richardson, Operations Delivery Team Leader, said: “Our works to refurbish the piling have included painting sections that would normally lie below the water’s surface. This has meant we have had to lower the river level to carry out the works.

“As a result, we have taken the opportunity to remove a large volume of rubbish from the river while the works are taking place. Clearing submerged items is not routinely undertaken by the Environment Agency unless they are likely to increase flood risk. On this occasion, however, we decided to act early to prevent any potential for future issues.” 

Rubbish will continue to be cleared from the River Welland over the next week.

The Environment Agency began painting the steel piling which supports the banks of the river at the end of August 2011. The works are expected to be completed in March.

The painting is being carried out from a floating pontoon to allow easy access to the 50-year-old piles. Protective booms are in place to reduce the risk of the bitumen paint entering the water.

A navigation restriction is in place on the river between Fulney Lock, Spalding, and Deeping St James, until 26 March 2012.

Boaters should be aware of the lower water level and avoid the edges of the river where it is likely to be most shallow.

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Stranded Cape Cod dolphins baffle scientists

Posted by admin on February 4th, 2012
  • , US environment correspondent
    • dolphins stranded in Cape Cod
    ‘It’s day after day after day’ … two stranded common dolphins being rescued at Herring River in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. Photograph: Julia Cumes/AP

    Scientists in Cape Cod are trying to determine what is causing dolphins to swim dangerously close to shore, with more than 100 becoming stranded in the last three weeks.

    Members of Congress are due to be briefed on Friday about the strandings, the worst such event in more than a decade. Volunteers are maintaining coastal vigils and trying to get the animals back to sea.

    “What is different about this particular event is that instead of having one discrete event, it is this string of ongoing strandings that started on 12 January and is just continuing,” said Katie Moore, who manages marine mammal rescue operations for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “It’s day after day after day.”

    Moore is due to brief members of Congress on the strandings, which have been concentrated along a 25-mile stretch of coast that runs between the towns of Dennis and Wellfleet in Massachusetts.

    It’s not unheard of for dolphins to swim too close to shore, said Teri Rowles, who heads the marine mammals division of NOAA, the government agency that monitors oceans. “The Cape Cod area is a hot spot for mass strandings,” she said.

    But it’s rare for such events to be confined to a single species – the common dolphin, in this case – and it was the worst such stranding since 1998.

    Of the 111 that have come ashore, 81 were found dead, or died soon after they were stranded. Rescue workers, trundling along through the muck with specially adjusted stretchers, have eventually been able to return 30 surviving dolphins to the sea, Moore said.

    But they remain baffled as to what caused the animals to swim so dangerously close to shore. Theories include the dolphins being lost, confused by changing tides or potentially diseased.

    “In the ones we are finding alive, we are not seeing any consistent diseases or anything indicating a pattern as to why they might be stranding,” said Moore. The dolphins were male and female, young and fullgrown. Most appeared healthy, although lab tests are still being processed.

    There have been no severe winter storms: as in much of the north-east, the weather has been unusually warm for this time of year.

    But Rowles suggested the animals could have become confused by changes in water temperature or tides that led them into Cape Cod Bay, or by the irregular features of the coastline.

    There is also the possibility the dolphins could have been victims of their own natural sociability, simply following one another to their doom.

    “These are very intelligent animals with very large brains, but there is something about the way they bond to one another,” Moore said.

    Those strong bonds serve the dolphins well in the wild. When they get into trouble, the dolphins stick together. But Moore added that social cohesion could sometimes be deadly. “That bond becomes a liability when they get into shallow water, and that may be why they mass strand.”

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    Counting Kereru in New Zealand

    Posted by admin on February 4th, 2012
    Counting Kereru in New Zealand

    Kereru are most abundant in forests (Craig McKenzie).

    All Forest & Bird (BirdLife in New Zealand) members, bird enthusiasts and Kiwi kids are being encouraged to get behind the inaugural Kereru Count this month.

    From February 19-27, volunteers are being asked to keep a look out in their local areas for kereru – the native pigeon also known as kūkupa and kūkū  in some areas – and record information on the purpose-built website for the nationwide survey.

    Participants will be asked to record basic information about any sightings, including the location, number of birds, their activity and what they were eating at the time. Information will be collated and shared with local and national conservation groups with an interest in kereru distribution.

    Since the extinction of Moa, Kereru are the only birds with a mouth large enough to swallow the large seeds of our native tawa, miro, taraire and karaka trees. So information about their whereabouts is also valuable for forest restoration groups.

    Forest & Bird Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) members and all schools around the country are invited to take part in the Kereru Count. It’s an easy and fun way to get kids interested in conservation and the more people counting kereru, the more accurate the information.

    KCC Officer and project organiser, Jenny Lynch, says the Kereru Count also gives kids the chance to contribute to a genuine, science-based conservation project. “It’s just a way of connecting them with wider research, because they don’t get that opportunity very often.”

    She hopes the project will become an annual event. And while Jenny expects there will be a few gaps in the data, the inaugural count will provide a baseline to track trends over time.

    The project will also help connect New Zealanders with their environment. Results will be relayed back to participants and this will help raise awareness and appreciation for New Zealand’s only endemic pigeon. “It lets people know Kereru are in the area so they can grow kereru-friendly trees,” she says.

    Kereru are most abundant in forests around Northland, the King Country, Nelson and the West Coast. However, they’re also found in backyards, parks, reserves and city areas around the country – as long as there’s a good number of food trees.

    They’re a large bird and with a distinctive coo but keep an ear out too for the loud beat of their wings.

    Visit www.kererucount.org.nz to find out how to get involved.

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    Defra: £28 million to enable communities to spring-clean England’s rivers

    Posted by admin on February 4th, 2012

    A £28 million Fund to clean up England’s rivers and encourage local wildlife to flourish has been announced today by Environment Minister Richard Benyon.

    Part of a £92 million Defra commitment to clearing up England’s rivers and lakes, the Fund announced today will allow communities and charities to tackle local eyesores and encourage iconic wildlife to thrive by tackling pollution and removing redundant dams, weirs and other man-made structures to create habitats which work for wildlife.

    Mr Benyon said:

    “Rivers and lakes are a vital, and much-loved, part of the English countryside and I want to ensure they remain that way.

    “We’ve all seen examples of rivers choked up with rubbish and weeds and the devastating effects on wildlife and the scenic beauty of these precious places. But we’ve also seen some fantastic successes in reversing these declines, such as the return of otters to all counties in England.

    “With only a quarter of our lakes and rivers currently providing a home to a wide range of birds, fish and mammals, there is still much more we can all do. Today’s £28 million Fund will help communities and charities interested in doing just that and I hope it will lead to us soon celebrating the same sort of success for other treasured wildlife, such as water voles, kingfishers and salmon.”

    Community groups and charities can apply for a share of the Catchment Restoration Fund to clean up their local rivers by tackling pollution, restoring wildlife habitats and enabling fish to migrate.

    The Environment Agency will be responsible for running the fund over the next three years and will ensure that money is given to local groups who can make a real difference.

    Lord Chris Smith, Chairman of the Environment Agency said:

    “This is a great opportunity to create a better water environment.  Cleaner water, flowing in a more natural landscape will be good for business, people and wildlife, and help society adapt to the effects of climate change.

    “We encourage businesses, local authorities and community groups to join together with charitable organisations to apply for funding and come up with big ideas for their local waterway.”

    1. The fund will run initially from 2012/13 to 2014/15 with up to £10 million each year.
    2. The lead applicant for funding must be a charity or an organisation with charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purposes.
    3. Closing date for bids is 29th February.  Funding will be awarded by April 30th following assessment by a national panel led by the Environment Agency and representatives from Defra and Natural England, see: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/136182.aspx
    4. The Fund will also help to deliver the commitments in the Natural Environment White Paper to restore nature in our rivers and water bodies. The White Paper, The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature, was published in June 2011. For an update on progress on implementation, see: www.defra.gov.uk/environment/natural/whitepaper/

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    What’s in Ed Davey’s in-tray?

    Posted by admin on February 4th, 2012
  • , environment correspondent
    • Newly appointed British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey
    Newly appointed climate and energy secretary, Ed Davey, outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change in London. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

    Ed Davey, the new secretary of state for energy and climate change, faces a daunting in-tray of policies that will create battles with industry, electricity consumers, anxious renewable energy investors and green campaigners – but the toughest challenge of all is likely to come from his cabinet colleagues.

    Chris Huhne was one of the few heavyweight champions of the green agenda within the coalition government. His departure sparked immediate fears that without him, the voices within cabinet – and among the Tory rank-and-file – that have been calling ever more loudly for a watering down of environmental policies will prevail. Those calls have been led by George Osborne, the chancellor, who vowed the UK would do no more than the minimum to meet environmental goals, and could revise current targets downwards.

    Andrew Simms, fellow at the New Economics Foundation, urged: “Davey must face down the economic and environmental self-defeating destructiveness of the Treasury, which is preventing the UK from becoming a world leader [in green industries].”

    Matthew Spencer, director of the Green Alliance, said it was time for David Cameron and Nick Clegg to speak up: “This creates a moment for the prime minister and deputy prime minister to assert their ownership of the green economy, and for the new secretary of state to build a broader coalition for action across government. It’s important that the top tier of government speak publicly to correct the misunderstanding that the leadership are giving up on this agenda.”

    Speaking in Westminster today, Davey said: “I’ve now got to take up the challenges, the challenge of climate change, of energy security and I’m particularly conscious of the impact on consumer households across the country of high energy bills.”

    He added: “I want us to have a green economy where there’s lots of green jobs to help grow our economy.”