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.
Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, is championing one of the countryside’s most tuneful species, the skylark. Although this bird is threatened by agricultural intensification farmers can help by leaving uncultivated areas or “skylark plots”.
Back from the Brink was formally launched in Windsor Great Park on 15 November. Project partners, volunteers and other distinguished guests came together to celebrate the launch of the programme, which aims to bring 20 species back from the brink of extinction. The project has been made possible thanks to £4.6m National Lottery funding, awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Shrill Carder Bees, Violet Click Beetles and Willow Tits are amongst those to benefit from this great new project Back from the Brink.
Helen Hayes, the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood and champion of the Common Pipistrelle, has been taken on a Bat Walk in Norwood cemetery where they detected both Common and Soprano Pipistrelle bats.
Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell and Secretary of State for Transport, has recently taken over as Parliamentary hedgehog champion. He was presented with a poster by the team behind “Hedgehog Street”, a nationwide campaign to help halt the ongoing decline in hedgehog numbers.
Damien Moore, the recently elected MP for Southport in Lancashire is to champion the Natterjack toad. Important populations of this toad can be found on the sand dunes along the Merseyside coast, including in his constituency.
