AONB Newsletter Winter 2016

News from the AONB partnership

Welcome to the Winter edition of our newslett er.

Read on to fi nd out what some of the AONB partners have been up to over recent months.

Isles of ScillyArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Newslett er

Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust

Funded by:

Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust registered charity number 1097807www.ios-wildlifetrust.org.uk www.ios-aonb.info

accessnature beauty heritageoutstanding scilly

Winter 2016

A January Day on St Agnes & Gugh

@ScillyAONB@ScillyWildlife

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Keep in touch

Winter Female Buff-Tailed BumbleBee

Nikki Banfi eld is the Communications Offi cer for the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust; she is also working on AONB communications projects and is your point of contact for this newslett er:

NikkiBanfield@ios - wildlifetrust.org.uk01720 422153

She’ll be publishing quarterly newslett ers and any feedback and comments are appreciated. If you’d like to know more about Nikki or how the Trust is linked to the AONB check out the “Who We Are” and “What We Do” sections on the Trust Website.

Keep in touch!

December Sunrise over Toll’s Hill

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Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

News from the AONB partnership Winter 2016


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by Nikki Banfield, Communications Off icer

The past couple of months have been busy with lots of big pieces of work taking place, many with initial, drastic looking results. As this has happened we have focussed on bulking up our before and aft er photo libraries for work as it is completed by the Rangers.

We have taken some immediate before and aft er images and the plan is to keep a record of the diff erences in the areas being managed; thus showing the positive long-term results of what may currently seem like drastic actions.

Before & Aft er on BryherThe Ranger Team spent much of October on Bryher completing selective scrub, gorse comprosma and pitt osporum clearance in specifi c areas around Timmy’s, Watch and Samson Hill.

We have put together a selection of before and aft er shots of this work so that you can see the diff erence

Comprosma removed ~ There’s a view!(Well there would be if it wasn’t foggy!)

It may take some time for the smaller plant species to return but now that the land is being managed they no longer have to compete with the bigger shrubs and trees for space and light.



Before

After

Before & Aft er on Bryher, continued....In October our Ranger Team also cleared some of the larger scrub, gorse and bracken from around Works Carn, Samson Hill on Bryher; the Community Archaeology Group then carried out a fantastic fi ner clearance of the entrance grave.

The results were amazing; take a look. Great combined eff ort on our historic monuments!

On St. Mary’s...Our Ranger Team have been working at Higher and Lower Moors and a programme of rotational management of the reedbeds and coppicing of the goat willow has begun in ernest.

Recently large sections have been cut in and around Porth Hellick Pool and the benefi ts are already starting to show!

Where some of the goat willow has been removed what was bare ground underneath the trees now has new shoots coming through!

To fi nd out more regarding the history of our reedbeds and why they are so important read the article on our website.

www.ios-wildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/isles-scilly-wildlife-trust/2015/11/11/reedbeds

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by Nikki Banfield, Communications Off icer

@ScillyWildlife


News from the AONB partnership Autumn 2015

When many of Scilly’s tourism-related businesses slowdown in late autumn and winter, here at the Islands’ Partnership, we enter one of our busiest times of the year. With membership renewals completed by the end of October in time for our AGM, we are then full-steam ahead with the new Isles of Scilly Guide - designing and writing the “front end” of the brochure, and gathering, checking, sorting and laying out all the ads and listings at the back.

Every year, it is a huge task that has to be completed in time for printing pre Christmas.

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Islands’ Partnershipby Carolyn Garman, Communications Manager

It is the prime time when people decide where they’re going to take their holidays and short breaks for the year. We use the Isles of Scilly Guide as well as our website (visitislesofscilly.com) and events programme as key marketing tools to encourage visitors to the islands, supplemented by media trips, PR activities, digital marketing and print advertising and, of course, social media.

We’re also currently putting the fi nal touches to Scilly’s brand new on-island Pocket Map Guide, and re-kindling our successful Cruise Ambassador Meet & Greet programme, as well as organising trade events and business skills training for our members.

2016 marks the start of a dedicated Scilly Events programme for the islands. All the planned events are designed to celebrate our islands’ remarkable beauty, creativity, history and heritage. All are also designed and timed to take place when we know we have capacity on the islands to fi ll. As you might imagine, the preparation for, and management of, every event is a long journey, meticulously organised by our events team.

Gearing up for a great season on Scilly

Now that the 2016 Guide is being distributed to interested parties far and wide, we’re gearing up for the season. A lot of marketing and planning takes place at this time of year, particularly January and February.


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Also planned for this year is a new Islands’ Regatta, a festive nod to Scilly’s maritime heritage which will take place during the August Bank Holiday weekend. A Parade of Sails, Red Wing racing and lively shore-side entertainment are just some of the jolly activities planned.

The Isles of Scilly Festival in May will be a month-long celebration of our islands’ Arts and Literature, incorporating the Folk Scilly Festival and Art Scilly; whilst Taste of Scilly, an islands-wide food and drink festival, will take place in September.

Islands’ Partnershipby Carolyn Garman, Communications Manager

The full events programme for Scilly can be viewed at visitislesofscilly.com. For Walk Scilly in particular, go to visitislesofscilly.com/walkscilly. And for further information about the Islands’ Partnership, including membership enquiries, call 01720 424036 or visit islandspartnership.co.uk.

Kick starting this season from 9th to 15th April is Walk Scilly, our ever popular walking festival. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Walk Scilly promises to be bigger and better than ever. Many of the walks not only showcase Scilly’s outstanding natural beauty and history with a number themed walks, there is also more opportunity this year for visitors to explore and appreciate our wildlife too. This week-long festival will once again be supplemented by the Autumn Walk Scilly Weekend taking place 13th - 17th October. This is a little later than previous years to help us extend the season and attract more wildlife walkers and birding enthusiasts.Walk Scilly on Samson

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Visit Isles of Scilly

@VisitIOS

Scillonian III Ferry Guides and Seabird SafarisIn 2015 12 volunteers took to the decks of the Scillonian III ferry on Fridays in virtually all weathers to help identify the various wildlife species visible to those on board. Thanks for your unquenchable enthusiasm and for pointing out no less than 18,666 animals (cetaceans and fi sh as well as seabirds!) while explaining all about the project to the passengers. Feedback from the latter included: “It is great to hear all about the project before we even arrive on the islands. The successes so far are great and we will look out for more ‘orange hats’ to talk to during our stay”.


Seabird Recovery Project

The Project is funded by LIFE, the EU’s programme for fi nancing key environmental schemes across the continent, and the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is a partnership project between RSPB, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding natural Beauty and Natural England. 6

by Jaclyn Pearson, Project Manager

Scillonian III Guides 2015

The project aims to protect Scilly’s seabirds by keeping St Agnes and Gugh ‘rat-free’. Rats eat the birds’ eggs and attack young chicks, and the two species most at risk are storm petrel and Manx shearwater. We continue to ask everyone to assist the project by reporting anything ‘suspiciously ratty’ on St Agnes and Gugh. Please call the ‘rat on a rat’ hotline number: 01720 422153.

Scillonian Gudes in Action

Also big thanks to skipper John Peacock and Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust Ranger Rob Carrier for this year’s weekly St Agnes boating ‘Seabird Safaris’. Feedback from visitors about Rob’s commentary was particularly positive. And it was a bumper year for spotting dolphins too!

Community TalkIn November Jaclyn, Lydia and Holly gave a talk to the residents on St Agnes and Gugh, they gave an update about the project and explained how Wildlife management’s Biz Bell will be back in January for the ‘fi nal rat check’. This will be a busy and exciting time and we look forward to giving you the results soon.


Seabird Recovery Projectby Jaclyn Pearson, Project Manager

The Project is funded by LIFE, the EU’s programme for fi nancing key environmental schemes across the continent, and the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is a partnership project between RSPB, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding natural Beauty and Natural England. 7

Young seabird ambassadors - activities this winterOn St Mary’s in the autumn half term the project delivered a ‘wildlife documentary ‘education session for the Council of the Isles of Scilly Holiday club. We spotted plenty of shore birds and saw evidence of Scilly shrews. Watch the fi lm which the young people presented, produced and directed here!

http://ios-seabirds.org.uk/index.php?cID=156 Intrepid Reporters ~ Wildlife Documentary

St Agnes School continues to ensure the islands have no sign of rats, the school children are our eyes and ears! They check 10 permanent monitoring stations, assist with shrew surveys and recently they had Apple Day. Windfall apples were collected up by the children to remove this potential food source for rats. So if a rodent does return to St Agnes it’ll be nibbling on chocolate wax in monitoring stations rather than on juicy apples. In December we were joined by educational volunteer Susie Taylor, we undertook ‘wildlife bingo’ outside and then back in the classroom she taught us how to make ‘willow wildlife’. We created Christmas marine animals including star fi sh, everyone had great fun. See pictures and listen to the audio clip here

http://ios-seabirds.org.uk/index.php?cID=156

Follow the Seabird Recovery Project on Twitter and FaceBook to receive regular updates on their work!

@seabirdrecovery

Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project

Shiant Isles Recovery Project

This Autumn Project Supervisor Paul St Pierre and Project Manager Jaclyn Pearson visited the Shiant Isles in the Outer Hebrides. These islands have their own Recovery Project too. They are similar in size to St Agnes and Gugh but are uninhabited and their high cliffs set different challenges.

It was also great to exchange advice on these operations. Watch videos of the trip here:

http://ios-seabirds.org.uk/index.php?cID=529

htt p://duchyofcornwall.org/

St Agnes RoadsThe end of 2015 saw the conclusion of a large road re-surfacing project on St Agnes which completed the section from the new Island Hall to the quay at Porth Conger. As well as providing a smooth road surface for decades to come, the road has also been ‘future-proofed’ by including conduit for future installations of communications and water, when required. The scheme was jointly funded by the Duchy and ERDF as part of the Island Hall project.


The Duchy of Cornwallby Luke Humphries & Will Garratt

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Porthloo Boat Park Work is well underway to complete an 80 metre section of sand bank repairs after work was paused in Spring 2015 prior to the visitor season. Following the devastating storms of February 2014 these, along with other works, have been undertaken to restore some of the damage caused to fl ood defences. The existing sand bank against Porthloo beach is being reinforced by a timber wall on the landward side and the bank itself is to be stabilised using a mesh netting buried just beneath the surface. Once completed, the bank will be sown with locally sourced Couch grass and Marram grass which will provide further stabilisation. The works have been funded by the Environment Agency via the Council of the Isles of Scilly.

On the boat park itself, locally grown pittisporum hedges have been planted to establish soft boundaries rather than the paling fence that provides a temporary marker. The surface of the boat park has also been re-seeded with a robust variety of grass to help bind the soil and prevent erosion. Benches

Carpenters have been busy refurbishing some of the granite benches around the Garrison. Some have been fi tted with new seats made from local Duchy elm stock and a visiting Journeyman craftsman has carved the Duchy shield into some! Whilst no new benches are permitted at the present time, if you have an idea for a memorial for a loved one then please contact us on 01720 422508.

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AONB Newsletter Winter 2016

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Transcript of AONB Newsletter Winter 2016