Allerthorpe

I've just visited the common again this afternoon after finishing work to take a more rational look at it. Nope I'm still seething !! I spoke to the guys doing the clearing and explained my concerns and basically told me that they had been contracted in to do the work. I was told that an "Adder" guy had been consulted (I didn't get his name, damn!) before the work had gone ahead and he wasn't happy, but accepted it. The contracters weren't very sympathetic and were ther just doing a job.  They were in another area bordering which is a little known adder hotspot where I had observed 4/5 Adders basking last year. It took me years to find it and now there is a real possibility that it will be erased. I explained to the contractors but recieved little sympathy from them. Maybe it will be still there tommorrow but I won't hold my breath as it only a small area. I had a good look around while I was there and there was nothing out anywhere. They have left a few small islands but only in some areas, other areas have been completely cleared. The birch has also been cleared by hand along the pathways too but has then been thrown/piled onto of the heather with no thought. It is quite a mess ! When I can work it out I will submit some pics. Thanks again fro everyones advice and concern.  

 

The good news is that after writing a letter to the local paper they are going to cover a story regarding it ! Fame at last !! And after advice from this forum, next I'm going to write a letter to my local MP.

 

 

 

 

I agree with Gemma comments though on the contractors, totally. They are just instructed on what to do, and really it should be the person instructing them who should be held responsible. Agreed that most contractors brought on sites are just general building contractors, not ecological contractors.

 

We here at SE always use ecological contractors.  Ecological contractors have the expertise and understanding of the needs for wildlife, and I can certainly recommend a few companies to the relevant organisations if needed as we have a coupl of firms who do regular work for us, and what's more they do a fine job too.

 

The fact is that the adder expert should have been on site supervising the contractors to make sure that reptiles were not harmed during the process. This is what we always do, even with ecological contractors, because this is regarded as what NE woudl call a "reasonable measure" and it makes sure that reptiles are safetly moved out of the way beforehand. It's a simple search - just like you do when you put in a reptile exclusion fence. Trouble is, the wildlife trust probably didn't want to pay for somebody to do this.

 

If it was me, I would have told the staff at the WT to wait until an appropriate itme of year when reptiles would not have been that active, or disturb hibernation sites,

 

Personally, I think the supervision factor should be made standard practice amongst wildlife trusts and other organisations alike - because this is what we do as consultants when putting in fence lines, or doing destructive searches etc.

 

If NT were allowed to do destroy/damage a GCN pond and sand lizards, then why hasn't NE done something about it? They should know that european protected species habitats are protected against destruction or disturbance.  It is probably down to resources, sadly, because there have been a lot of cut-backs in NE in recent years.

 

bye for now as it's late