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| Things to do for 2014 |
New events in the new semester and testing testing 1 2 3…
I hope you all had a great summer holiday; alongside with
various surveys that were ongoing this summer, we've been preparing a new
calendar of events for you to join in with.
It’s come to my attention that some of you may not have been
getting the blog updates that I've been posting.
So I’ll be undertaking bit of a test today, I’ll be posting
the blog as normal, posting it using some different formatting and posting a
notification post of a new blog in plain text – you may get one, two or all three of the tests, I would
really appreciate some comments on the blog that you get on your phone/email so
I can track which one has worked to help me figure out what’s happening with
our blog, and get the updates to you in one go.
Summer update
Assuming
that you have received at least one of my tests posts today – you’ll be able to
catch up on what we’ve been doing in and around the university on the older
blog posts when you visit the main site at http://kubiodiversity.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you to those of you who took part in the Big Butterfly
Count over the summer, KU staff and students surveyed the majority of our sites
at least once.
The
site with the most butterfly species seen was Tolworth Court with Jersey Tigers
Euplagia quadripunctaria, Red
admirals Vanessa atalanta, common
blues Polyommatus Icarus, commas Polygonia c-album and
a host of other butterflies – this is definitely a site to visit in the summer
months if Lepidoptera is your thing :)
The species that we spotted on nearly all of our sites was
the small white Pieris rapae
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| Small white spotted by Knights Park |
The one site that we surveyed that didn't have any
butterflies was Rohampton Vale. Given its proximity to Wimbledon Common, I do
think we have butterflies there; just not picked up during the quick survey. If anyone does spot anything, feel free to post your sightings here.
We've also seen lots of slow worms Anguis fragilis, field voles Microtus
agrestis, shrews Sorex araneus
and even a toad Bufo bufo during our
reptile surveys at Tolworth Court.
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| Field vole found at Tolworth Court |
Upcoming events and
training
Out new events calendar is now up and running – this link
should take you to a PDF of the current calendar.
For those of you who
receive my monthly newsletter please note that there has been a date change for
the Riverfly Monitoring training from the Saturday 1st November to a
week later on Saturday 8th November. We've also added two more
events in September (see below).
We have a few extra events in September where we can really
use your help – Next Wednesday we’re trying to clear the rest of the nature
trail at Kingston Hill to get it access ready for the school children who use
it to explore our woods and on Wednesday the after we are trying to keep
chipping away at the watercress and false watercress which are swamping some of
the other species that we planted in the new bank at Knights Park.
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| Vegetation on the bank before clearance |
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| After freeing up the flag irises and the signage |
Beyond
the sign we uncovered some of the marigolds that were just holding on and freed
up flag irises.
If you can help with ether event – please email Biodiversity@kingston.ac.uk –
please note that you will need wellington boots for the riverbank work on the
17th.
The
last two Kingston Biodiversity Network Meetings took place at the University’s
C-Scape room and were a big success with some interesting speakers. The next
meeting will be taking place on the 2nd of October the location is
still to be confirmed, but this is a great networking opportunity for those of
you who want a career in conservation, so keep an eye out on the KBN website.
Training opportunity for October and November
Hedgerow
survey training and Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (RMI) training with Zoological Society London. Follow the directions on the links to reserve your place. Please note that for RMI training, there is a volunteer commitment that is required in exchange for the training.
These are
great opportunities to learn new skills towards conservation work. We even have
lovely hedgerows at Tolworth Court and the Hogsmill River where you’ll be able
to practice your survey skills on once trained :)
We’ve been busy recruiting volunteers from
around the university for different biodiversity events, if you are a student,
you can sign up via the KUSU volunteering portal and
the hours will count towards the Kingston Award.
As I said in
my last blog, we've seen lots and lots, on the river and the surrounding areas,
if you've been out spotting wildlife, why not take a photo and enter it into
some of the competitions that are around. This
one from the Freshwater Habitats Trust has prizes for the winners so
it’s well worth getting snappy!
All the best,
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