Clifton Downs • Chris Jones

Features from Wildlife magazine Wildlife articles 2008 -- Spring 2008 -- ::Severn Barrage ::The Variety of life ::A year at Willsbridge ::Willsbridge comes of age ::Reaching out - Willsbridge ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2007 -- Autumn 2007 -- ::Thinking BIG ::Watery webs:the pond network ::Wildlife in the landscape ::Variety of life ::How to be a climate friend ::Seasonal stroll - Walborough ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2007 -- ::The Folly Farm appeal ::Weston Big Wood-biodiversity at its best ::The variety of life ::How to capture a butterfly ::How to get to know an orchid ::Seasonal stroll - WestonBigWood ::Reserves update -- Spring 2007 -- ::Folly Farm - a very special place ::Making a difference at Folly Farm ::How find the magic at Folly Farm ::Seasonal stroll at Folly Farm ::Magic spots at Folly Farm ::Batscapes ::Climate challenge ::Variety of Life - the Ponways project ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2006 -- Autumn 2006 -- ::The Severn Estuary ::Bird Watch results ::How to identify garden birds ::Making space for wildlife ::How does your garden grow? ::Round the reserves -- Summer 2006 -- ::Going for green ::Stand up and be counted ::Happy birthday NSLMP ::Holi day - a riot of spring colour ::Avon's species-rich grassland ::How to photograph dragonflies ::The Big Switch ::Round the reserves -- Spring 2006 -- ::How to identify winter water birds ::Make 2006 the year you... ::Invasive invasion ::Sowing the seeds: Willsbridge Mill ::Round the reserves Wildlife articles 2005 -- Autumn 2005 -- ::Indentify common funghi ::Build a hedgehog hideaway ::Big Bird Watch ::Champions for wildlife ::Round the reserves ::Seeds of the futre: Willsbridge Mill -- Summer 2005 -- ::Restoring Folly Farm ::How to become bee-friendly ::How to identify the butterflies of spring ::Save our seas ::The variety of life: hedgerows ::Round the reserves ::25 Ways to make a difference -- Spring 2005 -- ::The variety of life: water voles ::The Avon Biodiversity Action Plan ::How to take really good wildlife photos ::How to help your garden grow ::Round the reserves ::Seasonal strolls: Browns Folly ::Sowing the seeds: for wildlife for people ::Sowing the seeds: looking back

The variety of life

Imagine the poverty of a sea without fish, a wildflower meadow without bees or Wordsworth's world without its 'host of golden daffodils'.

Practically all life forms are mutually inter-dependent. Life forms, including humans, could not exist without this complex variety of other living creatures. Biological resources feed and clothe us and provide housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. The beauty of our surroundings depends in a large part upon their diversity. And biological diversity - 'biodiversity' - is the variety of life on earth.

Taking Action
The importance of taking action to preserve this diversity was first recognised with the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Local biodiversity action planning is the means by which national strategy and priorities are tailored to suit the local area, and translated into on-the-ground action. To do this effectively, the Avon BAP was developed with the help and involvement of a wide range of local experts and organisations - the Avon Biodiversity Partnership - ensuring that it is as forward-thinking and widely supported as possible.

What is the Avon BAP?
The Avon Biodiversity Action Plan is the first over-arching conservation strategy for the former county of Avon. It has a ten year timescale. The plan's production was led by the Trust and the three main aims of the plan are:

A common approach
The plan is aimed at all those organisations, groups and individuals wishing to improve biodiversity in the area and particularly at partnership and potential new partnership members. There is an incredible amount of energy going into preserving and enhancing wildlife in the region. The plan and partnership aim to focus this energy on common objectives, targets and actions in order to harness its full potential.

The involvement of local communities and individuals is also essential if the partnership's vision is to become reality.

'a landscape rich in wildlife, where species and habitats are part of healthy, functioning ecosystems that ... are valued by everyone; where conservation of biodiversity is integrated with social, cultural and economic activities.'

A flourishing partnership
The Avon Biodiversity Partnership came into being in 2000 with the formation of the steering group. In the last year it has developed to encompass a wide range of statutory and non-statutory bodies. Together, partnership members will drive implementation of the Avon Biodiversity Action Plan, pursuing, influencing and communicating biodiversity objectives in the area consistently. New partners are both welcomed and needed, especially from the business, academic and private sectors. The co-ordinator for the Avon Biodiversity Partnership is is employed by the Trust, which recognises the importance of maintaining this position in order to lead co-ordination of the plan's implementation.

What's included in the plan?
In ecological terms Avon is exceptionally diverse for its size. Its varied geology has created a wide range of habitats, from the species-rich calcareous grasslands of the Cotswold and Mendip Hills and the ancient woodlands of the ridges, steep slopes and scarp faces, to the network of rhynes of the levels and moors and the coastal saltmarshes of the Severn Estuary.

Objectives, targets and actions for many of Avon's most important habitats and species, are set out in specific habitat and species action plans within the Avon BAP. These are: species-rich grassland and heath; hedgerows; arable farmland; purple moor-grass and rush pasture; woodland; wood pasture, parkland and veteran trees; standing open water; reedbeds and sedgebeds; watercourses and floodplain; coastal and floodplain grazing marsh; estuary and dormouse.

Other plans for urban areas, water vole, white-clawed crayfish, bat species, otter, and great crested newt will also be developed and included in the BAP over the coming years.

Ten cross-cutting themes that affect more than one habitat or species are addressed in the BAP:

One of the most valuable outcomes of developing the plan has been bringing people together, making others aware of current activities and ideas for future collaborative projects. An essential part of the plan's implementation is to build upon this contact.

Themed partnership sub-groups will co-ordinate and drive implementation of various aspects of the BAP, looking at what we can do within existing resources and where new resources must be brought in and new projects developed to achieve our aims. Meetings of the topic groups are scheduled for the last three weeks of September, with partnership members already signed-up to attending. These groups are being chaired by people from the organisations within the partnership.

What does the plan mean for the Trust?
Fitting our action in with national priorities means that we can, for example, cut scrub to restore heathland at Dolebury Warren because we know that by doing so we are preserving something of national and even international value, not just because we have an inherent feeling that the heath is worth looking after. We also know that we're not working in isolation when doing this, but as part of a team of committed organisations and people across Avon and the whole country. At another level, the national context of the BAP helps to justify our actions to politicians, protect our most valuable sites from development, and draw in money to help with their management. It will also mean we are more aware of what others are doing, can integrate our aims with theirs, and make sure others know how much the Trust does for wildlife in the area.

Financial and in-kind support for the project
Core funding for the project has come from Avon Wildlife Trust and English Nature, with additional funding
from Bristol City Council and Bath and North-East Somerset Council

If you wish to be a partnership member or find out more about partnership activities contact: Dr Jenny Hayward, Avon Biodiversity Partnership co-ordinator, email jennyhayward@avonwildlifetrust.org.uk or visit the partnership's website at: www.avon-biodiversity.org.uk