Kerry McCarthy and Thangam Debbonaire, champions for the swift and shrill carder bee respectively, were given a guided tour of the work on the new student building at the University of Bristol – Brunel House. The developers have created a biodiversity friendly development which includes a planting scheme that supports pollinators and the provision of swift boxes to the exterior of the building.
Victoria Prentis MP for North Oxfordshire, will be working with the RSPB to champion one of our declining farmland birds, the corn bunting. These birds were once a common sight in the countryside, with a song that sounds like jangling keys!
Kerry McCarthy MP, Derek Thomas MP and Peter Heaton-Jones MP all received awards at the second Annual Awards event that took place in Westminster. The awards were presented by Mike Dilger from the BBC’s The One Show and Kit Stoner, the chief executive of Bat Conservation Trust, spoke passionately about the importance of species conservation and what MPs can do to help threatened wildlife.
James Cartlidge, the new species champion for turtle dove, visited a farm in his South Suffolk constituency to learn about the work being done to help conserve the species.
Jenny Chapman will be working with Buglife to champion the UK’s only native freshwater crayfish, the white-clawed crayfish. She met with Buglife’s Andrew Whitehouse to receive her Species Champion poster and learn more about conservation of this threatened crayfish.
One of the UK’s most rapidly declining mammals, the water vole, has found a champion: the MP for Leeds Central, Hilary Benn. Hilary will be working with the People’s Trust for Endangered Species to raise the profile of the species and help improve its conservation status.
The Winter 2018 Species Champion Newsletter has been published.
John Glen, MP for Salisbury, has joined the project as species champion for pheasant’s-eye, a small and unusual arable “weed”. This plant is endangered in the UK but found on parts of Salisbury Plain.
Dunlin, a small wader that breeds in the uplands, gains a champion in Debbie Abrahams, MP for East Oldham and Saddleworth. This bird has responded well to blanket bog restoration in the Peak District.
Farmland bird gets a champion
The yellowhammer, famed for its “little bit of bread and no cheese” song, is to be championed by Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.
