Farming Subsidies & Biodiversity in Literature

Welcome to Inkcap Journal, a newsletter about nature and conservation in Britain. This is the Friday digest, rounding up all the week's news, science, reports, comment and more. Sign up to receive a free one-month trial.

National news

Farming | The National Audit Office has released a report on the government’s new Environment Land Management scheme, which will replace the EU’s farming subsidies in the coming years. Its findings are damning. Important elements of the scheme are still not in place, it says, which is threatening environmental outcomes and value for money. Moreover, the report found that Defra has not yet regained farmers’ trust, despite improved engagement. The Times covered the report, focusing on the NAO’s claim that too few farmers have been willing to participate in the initial sustainable farming pilot scheme. But Defra refuted the findings of the report, pointing out that the pilot was “only intended for a small number of farmers” anyway, and that the criticisms were based on “misunderstandings”. It promised to respond in full “in due course”. The Eastern Daily Press also covered the story.

Environment Bill | Members of the House of Lords concluded their examination of the Environment Bill on Wednesday, with members voting to make a total of 14 changes to the draft law. Additional changes made since Inkcap Journal covered the Bill last week include new protections for ancient woodland, and ending harm to the environment from discharging sewage into rivers. Other changes promised increased protection for pollinators and enabling charges for single use items (including plastic). The amendments are summarised on the Lords website. However, the majority of commentary has focused on the claim reported first by the Sunday Telegraph and subsequently by ENDS Report that the Bill would be further delayed beyond COP26. Ruth Chambers wrote an in-depth blog on the damage a further delay would cause, while Green Party peer Natalie Bennett pointed out that “as a puppy is not just for Christmas, the Environment Bill is not just for COP”. Environment minister Lord Goldsmith has dismissed the rumours of delay beyond COP as “mischievous and untrue”. The Bill is to be “tidied up” during a third reading on 13th October.

Rewilding | Trees for Life has partnered with Triodos Bank UK to offer investors the opportunity to invest directly in a rewilding charity for the first time. The partnership aims to raise £2m to part fund the world’s first rewilding centre, set to open in spring 2023 near Loch Ness. Triodos Bank will offer bonds on their Crowdfunding platform, starting at £50. ​​Steve Micklewright, chief executive of Trees for Life, said: “Funds raised will ensure we can establish Dundreggan Rewilding Centre as a beacon of hope for the restoration of nature on a large scale across Scotland”. The story was covered by the Scotsman, the Telegraph, Business Insider and the Ecologist.

In other news:

• The government has published new guidance on natural flood management, co-authored with partners in the US and Netherlands.
• Kew Gardens has broken the record for the largest living plant collection, reports the BBC.
• National Farmers Union Cymru has recommended rewarding farmers for new tree and hedgerow cover, reports the BBC.
• Plans to turn an area of farmland in Oxfordshire into a reservoir serving London have been met with resistance from local villagers, reports the Daily Mail.
• Plantlife is urging members of the public to look out for waxcap fungi to help identify forgotten patches of old grassland, reports Sky News.
• Two wildcat kittens have been born in the Highlands as part of a conservation breeding programme, reports the Press and Journal.

Across the country

Tamar | Big changes are afoot at the boundary of Devon and Cornwall. Two centuries after it was blocked to create farmland, a stretch of the River Tamar is being allowed to flow freely again onto the surrounding land, creating rich marshy land that both benefits wildlife and will lock in carbon. The National Trust, backed by government agencies and Plymouth University, carved three channels into the neighbouring low-grade farmland, then made a 15-metre-wide breach in the embankment to let water flow in at high tide. Species including herons, egrets and mallards moved in within days, and many more animals are expected to arrive as the ecosystem develops. The story was covered by the Guardian and the Plymouth Herald.

Denbighshire | Rare flowers have been recorded in urban wildflower meadows recently established across Denbighshire by the council – including Toothed Medick, which has never officially been recorded in Wales. But residents aren’t happy about the success of the project, reports the BBC, with 29 people signing a petition objecting to the presence of meadows near people’s homes. “Their well-being is very much affected. One resident has had a mouse gnaw its way into her bedroom,” said the councillor who presented the petition.

Cairngorms | An investment fund has bought up almost 1,500 hectares of land in the Cairngorms National Park in a £7.5m land deal. Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust said that the land – currently upland rough grazing and open moorland – would be mostly reforested with broadleaf trees as part of its carbon strategy. But the move has sparked concern among land campaigners, who have called for more regulation of Scotland’s land market. “It’s hard to see how an organisation like this can understand the need for local affordable housing, a just transition ensuring local communities can build local community wealth, the biodiversity crisis in Scotland and building sustainable communities,” said Ailsa Raeburn, chairwoman of Community Land Scotland. The Press and Journal reports on the story.

Elsewhere:

• The head of a quarrying project near Pontefract has disputed claims that it will irredeemably harm Brockadale Nature Reserve, reports the Yorkshire Post.
• Rare birds, including curlews and golden plover, have returned to an area of blanket bog in Snowdonia after the habitat was restored by farmers alongside the RSPB and National Trust, reports the BBC.
• The Marine Management Organisation is introducing a new Habitat Protection Strategy in Studland Bay.
• Campaigners have compared plans for solar farms on farmland in Anglesey to the flooding of a Welsh village in the 1960s to provide Liverpool with water, reports the BBC.
• The Marches Moss Nature Reserve, which crosses the border between England and Wales, is being expanded by 237 acres as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
• Yorkshire Water has been fined £150,000 for illegally discharging sewage effluent into the Potter Carr Nature Reserve following prosecution by the Environment Agency.
• New rules are being put in place to limit camping and restrict the use of barbecues in Dartmoor National Park, reports the Telegraph.
• A nature reserve in North Wales is being threatened by a series of illegal bike jumps and tracks that have been constructed at the site, reports BirdGuides.
• Hydroelectric schemes are having a devastating impact on the River Spey, according to a study commissioned by the Spey Fishery Board, reports the BBC.
• The UK government rejected a petition to clean up pollution in the River Severn, claiming that responsibility for the waterway lies with the Welsh government, reports the Shropshire Star.
• Norwich City Council have bulldozed an emergent wildflower meadow to make way for all-weather tennis courts, reports the Guardian.
• The Welsh government has rejected plans for a sizable solar farm at Gwent Levels, on the basis of ‘unacceptable impact’ to the landscape, reports Business Live.
• At Blackwood Estate, 65 acres of ancient woodland have been secured as community woodland thanks to a joint grant from Kype Muir Wind Farm and South Lanarkshire Council, reports Deadline News.
• Residents of Sunart are considering a community buyout of Longrigg Woodland, an 87-hectare block of mature pine, spruce and larch, reports the Oban Times.
• More news on wildcats, as they are set to be reintroduced to woodlands in Kent for the first time in two hundred years, reports ITV News.

Reports

Water | Two reports came out this week focusing on the quality of the UK’s freshwater environments. Neither had much good to say about it. Troubled Waters, produced by the National Trust, the RSPB and other nature organisations, looked at perceptions of such places, as well as systemic threats and solutions, finding a huge disparity between the actual and perceived health of the country’s watery environments. It includes a number of case studies, including the River Teifi and Upper Lough Erne. The Guardian covers the story. The second report, from Wildlife and Countryside Link, also criticises the state of England’s aquatic habitats, but focuses more on the solutions, setting out a vision for their recovery over the coming years. The vision has gained the support of 21 nature organisations. The Independent covers the story.

Genome | The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent body, is currently running an enquiry into the ethical questions raised by gene editing in farmed animals – something that is particularly relevant right now, as Defra recently launched a consultation on the regulation of this technology. As part of this enquiry, it has released a report on public attitudes towards gene editing, including its impact on animal welfare, farming systems, and nature. One finding was the strong sense among the public that trying to “outsmart mother nature” would create problems rather than solve them.

Saltmarsh | Marine Scotland has released a report highlighting the significance of Scotland’s saltmarshes for storing carbon and mitigating the impacts of climate change. It is the first national assessment of the carbon stocks found in Scotland’s saltmarsh soil. It found that these soils hold around 370,000 tonnes of carbon, and that this carbon is stored at a higher density than in most land-based soils. The saltmarshes of Dumfries and Galloway hold more carbon than those of any other local authority in Scotland.

Science

Literature | Just how much nature do books contain? This was the question posed by a study in People and Nature, which evaluated biodiversity patterns in books – or, more precisely, the occurrence of 240,000 biological taxon labels in 16,000 books published between 1705 and 1969. The study found that ‘biodiversity in literature’ peaked in the middle of the 19th century, with the study authors attributing the subsequent decline to humans’ “alienation from nature triggered by the onset of urbanisation, industrialisation and intensified land-use change”.

Pheasants | A study jointly funded by the University of Exeter and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust reveals the varied effects of released pheasants on local invertebrate populations. Releasing large numbers of gamebirds into woodland pens is common practice for recreational shooting, with some tens of millions of birds released annually. However, these concentrated sites of release often result in depleted numbers of invertebrates due to both direct predation and vegetation modification by the birds, the study finds. That paper was published in Ecology and Evolution.

Brownfield | Species richness of birds, plants and insects is often higher in areas containing ex-landfill sites, according to a study of biodiversity in brownfield landscapes. Contrary to popular opinion, these previously industrial spaces can be ecologically valuable due to their limited disturbance and scarce habitat. The study authors warn that current policies of unrestricted development of brownfield sites “could have unintended negative outcomes for biodiversity richness, by destroying the unique ecological communities that can develop on such sites.” The paper appeared in Science of the Total Environment.

Driftwood

Rewilding | In the London Review of Books, Scottish geographer Fraser MacDonald considers the debate over rewilding and land use in light of his own family history. Local opposition isn’t so much down to the outcomes of rewilding, but to its imposition upon the landscape by large landowners with scant consideration for the communities affected, he writes. “It’s easy to see how the culture of Highland field sports – Balmorality, it used to be called – might evolve into a form that disavows its ecological sins but keeps a tight hold on the land itself.” Also on rewilding this week, Stephen Moss has written in the Guardian about how once-controversial rewilding projects such as Yellowstone are now widely accepted as solutions for damaged ecosystems.

Offsets | A feature in the Financial Times examines how asset managers are increasingly looking to capitalise on returns in tree carbon storage. Managers including Manulife, Gresham House and JPMorgan have launched or grown a business this year around booming forestry offsets. The article reports that increasing interest in carbon offset projects is driving up land prices in countries including the UK. Gresham House, for example, plans to plant more than 10,000 hectares of new woodland in the UK that will be logged and generate offsets.

Jobs | A feature on BBC News looks at how a new generation of workers is making a career out of tackling the climate emergency, from low carbon heating to vertical farming to fixing wind turbines. Various new opportunities are cropping up in modern and potentially revolutionary industries, including indoor farming, which “has been around as a concept since the 1920s but never on this scale and with the full range of technologies to make it sustainable,” the article says. There are currently around 410,000 green jobs in the UK, but the government plans for two million by 2030 as part of its plans for eliminating fossil fuel emissions.

Further reading:

• The BBC has published a video visualisation of the dramatic impact of ice age glaciers on the Tayside landscape around Dundee.
• The Yorkshire Dales are at the centre of a major conservation drive to save Britain’s disappearing moorland bogs, reports the Guardian.
• Responding to government approaches to managing climate change, farmers at the National Sheep Association have warned that a landscape lacking lambs and cows would create a ‘bleak picture’, reports the Scotsman.
• The Telegraph has an in-depth read on the untapped reserves of lithium which lie under the Cornish countryside.
• A commentary in Geographical Magazine questions whether opening up the UK to imported meat could end British farming as we know it.  

Happy days

Caves | If you’ve ever wondered what lies deep in the sea caves of the remote Fair Isles in Scotland, you’re in luck. Last weekend, divers documented the hidden life of these caves for the first time, revealing stunning images of a range of corals, sponges and seasquirts. The team of divers from Heriot-Watt University surveyed over 70 caves in the project, which was commissioned by NatureScot. The findings were covered by the Scotsman and the Herald.