JOHN CRAVEN
WILDLIFE CHARITIES STRUGGLE UNDER LOCKDOWN
Vulnerable nature reserves need our protection now more than ever.
Plans to reintroduce beavers and adders put on hold, heathland inadequately grazed, bracken and Himalayan balsam out of control, illegal wildfowl shooting and a surge in vandalism and fly-tipping – just some of the impacts on Britain’s nature reserves as the recent lockdown leaves them largely unprotected.
With many wardens and rangers furloughed at the time of writing, conservation projects are at a standstill and some reserves have become dumping grounds. Yet for millions of law-abiding people on their daily walk or bike ride, wildlife havens near to home are a godsend – if they are still open.
Across the wider countryside, the landscape hasn’t been as devoid of human footprints for years and there has been much talk of nature making a comeback. Fewer dogs off leads make it safer for ground-nesting birds, deer are walking boldly down paths and, maybe because we have more time to notice it, wildlife seems to be flourishing in and around our gardens.
But Craig Bennett, CEO of the Wildlife Trusts, which has 2,300 reserves across Britain, cautions against overstating this. “Nothing makes up for the terrific decline in nature we have seen for many decades and the real loss of abundance,” he told me. “We live in one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and it can’t recover that quickly. Perhaps a silver lining in this otherwise terrible pandemic is that people are remembering how much they need nature for their physical and mental wellbeing.
“I hope the real story out of this for politicians, planners, local authorities and business is just how much the British public values good-quality, abundant, flourishing nature close to where they live.”
TRUST FUNDS RUN DRY
Like all charities, the Wildlife Trusts depend on donations. Craig Bennett estimates that a three-month lockdown could cost the trusts up to £30m. It is lack of funds, not lack of work, that has forced them to lay-off their teams.
The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is a typical case. Its two visitor centres in Sherwood Forest and Idle Valley, which between them attract 400,000 visitors a year, are closed, large numbers of staff have been furloughed, initial research aimed at bringing back adders to Sherwood and beavers to the wetlands at Idle Valley has stopped and badger vaccination is delayed.
Due to social distancing, the Surrey trust can’t erect electric fences on its heathland to organise grazing for the benefit of rare or threatened species, such as woodlark, nightjar, smooth snake and sand lizard. At one Herefordshire reserve, home to waterfowl including black-necked grebe, illegal shooting has been reported; and in the Channel Islands, seabirds on Alderney’s outer islets can’t be protected from rats that invade at low tide.
Also on hold across many trusts are ‘balsam bashing’ events, when staff control the spread of Himalayan balsam, the invasive flower that can grow by three metres in spring and summer and out-compete native wildflowers. Add to this vandalism and fly-tipping, and it will take months, even years, for reserves to get back on track once the lockdown is over. “The sad irony,” says Bennett, “is that this virus emerged because of the breakdown in relationships between humans and nature.”
A virulent disease that had its first identified outbreak at a wet wildlife market in China has taken a terrible worldwide human toll – and nature, that great and much-abused provider, has become a vital source of solace.