A WEALTH OF WILDLIFE
BAT GROUP
The summer breeding season for bats seems to have been a successful one. A greater horseshoe bat roost near Grampound is building up in numbers with 50 young born this year. This is a relatively new site and the increase in numbers cannot be explained by births alone. Bats are obviously converging on this roost from others that have been lost or become unsuitable for breeding. The Prideaux Wood greater horseshoes continue to breed underground, producing five young this year.
The group has carried out a resurvey of Natterer's bat breeding colonies over the summer. Preliminary results are encouraging, with colonies still present in house roofs over ten years since the last visit.
Another grounded barbastelle has been picked up (and subsequently released) at Widemouth Bay on 21st October. We still do not know of any roosts of this species in Cornwall, which typically lives in cracks in trees.
Daniel Eva
Line
BAT HOSPITAL
The following picture shows Nezera the Natterer's bat and her newborn baby Niobe. Nezera was brought to the hospital in mid-April, having been found grounded in the porch of a house near Lezerea. Her weight was low; she was lethargic and refused to fly. Recovery was slow, hampered by her inability to gain weight and later by the discovery of what might have been the cause of her problems - intestinal worms. Eventually she began to fill out and was put in a large cage to prepare her for release.
On 3rd June, Joanne, a student on work experience, took Nezera for weighing and discovered the baby still attached by its umbilical cord. Completely unaffected by being handled and photographed, Nezera cleaned and suckled Niobe, even eating the afterbirth, which she consumed at intervals with rests between. Sadly, Niobe will not be released as both of her wings are deformed and she cannot maintain height when flying. The reason for the deformity is not known. The vet suggests that it is congenital and not caused by a calcium deficiency as it did not respond to calcium supplements being given to her mother, a method which the hospital has found to be successful in the past.
Twenty-six bats, including one baby, were seen when the roost was surveyed, though there were probably more concealed behind the ridge beam. The hospital received an injured male brown long-eared, Peter, from the site ten years
ago, and a little earlier a pre-building survey had discovered a single "pip", but it is now only known to be a Natterer's maternity roost.
Ginni Little
Line
REPTILE AND AMPHIBIAN GROUP
This group's main target species for spring and summer is the grass snake. We are short of information on the status and distribution of all of our reptiles but this one, with its very exacting habitat requirements, gives particular cause for concern. If you have any records, old or new, please send them in, remembering to say what, where, when and who (see page 6). Please also mention that you heard about the survey in Wild Cornwall - we are comparing our response levels between publications. For further information on grass snakes and other "herps", including how to make your garden a haven for them, or to join CRAG in its work, please give us a call.
Mark Nicholson
 
RIGS GROUP
"People and wildlife" - people who have made a difference feature prominently in this issue of Wild Cornwall. For geologists, the theme could be people and dead wildlife, dead people and dead life, or even dead people and wildlife - at which point we are into recycling and the human contribution to the great geological recycling scheme as passive partakers. Green burials don't come within the RIGS Group's remit!
So, who are the people we celebrate locally for making a difference? Well, first there is the RIGS Group's very own Jane Anderson - very much alive and living in Crackington Haven. Some years ago she persuaded BP Shipping to let us have 200 hard hats for use on guided walks. Last year Jane used her persuasive words to discourage crazed gardeners from raiding Crackington Beach for pebbles for their "water features". She wrote Save Our Stones, a leaflet produced by a partnership including St Gennys Parish Council, North Cornwall Coast and Countryside Service and English Nature. End of problem at Crackington: the storm beach still protects the village. The action gained massive publicity - and Jane has just been honoured by receiving the LASMO Geological Challenge Award 2000. And of course that has produced more publicity over the need not to damage natural barriers.
The second person to celebrate is Charles Peach. His 200th birthday was celebrated - in
his absence (bodily at least) - by the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall putting a plaque on the Old Customs House in Gorran Haven. Charles Peach was a customs officer and a pioneer geologist - especially interested in Cornish fossils (very dead wildlife!).
Finally, let's flag up the geologists in the Trust: we are keen that "geological" reserves have flourishing wildlife too. But more of that another time!
John Macadam
   

 

Rigsi



Mother and baby in good hands at the Trust's Bat Hospital in Penzance. Offers of practical, administrative or financial help are always welcome
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Photo: Sandra Wolter
   
   
Wild Cornwall - Issue No.84 - Spring 2001