Planning wildlife playing field for next decade

The two types of money spider are tiny – no more than a couple of millimetres in size – and, understandably, they are pretty hard to find.

But over the next decade arachnologists will be scouring the Yorkshire Dales for signs of them.

The Monocephalus castaneipes and Semljicola caliginosus are on a list of at-risk wildlife which the National Park has highlighted for study and conservation.

In all there are 150 different species on the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) being launched next week, ranging from bats, beetles and birds to moths, plants and reptiles.

This roll call will guide the work of Dales naturalists, as well as conservation professionals like Natural England and National Park officers, from now until the year 2020.

The list is based on a national BAP, and some of the species named on it are, at first sight, not usually considered rare in the Yorkshire Dales.

For example, the house sparrow is still widespread around farms and villages.

Ian Court, a wildlife ranger with the National Park, explains that nationally the house sparrow is seen as declining, and so it may be that this will make conserving the Dales birds extra important.

“Until we start monitoring it, we can’t be sure if even our population is at risk,” he says.

“We do know that we still have the kind of habitat they like, such as traditional farm buildings with lots of food and lots of nooks and crannies for their nests.

“But we need to be aware that if a farm is sold and there’s barn conversions to residential use then there could be a knock-on effect for house sparrows.

“Something we will look at through the duration of this BAP is promoting the provision of nest boxes, so that when a building is done up there is no loss of house sparrows and, another bird on the list, starlings.”

Another species on the BAP, the yellow wagtail, has seen a rapid decline in the Dales over the last 20 years.

This is thought to be due to changes in farming methods, with the cutting of haymeadows brought forward from the traditional time of late-July and early-August.

Yellow wagtails nest in the hay crop, and their young don’t usually fledge until late June or early July.

So the National Park is working with farmers to identify where the birds are breeding and making sure that hay cutting is delayed until the young have flown.

As a result of this action, the number of pairs has more than doubled to 15 in recent years. Some observers will raise an eyebrow at the omission of birds of prey from the list.

Especially the iconic peregrine – which nests at Malham Cove each year and draws many thousands of visitors – and the now extremely rare hen harrier, which has been reduced to just four known breeding females in England.

Their absence from the Yorkshire Dales is made more remarkable by the inclusion on the list of red grouse.

Many conservationists take the view that these are the reason why birds of prey are persecuted.

Ian Court acknowledges that the exclusion of peregrine and hen harrier from the list of Dales Biodiversity priority species will be controversial.

“It’s fair comment that the hen harrier should be widespread in the National Park, yet we don’t have a single nest,” he says.

“Similarly, it is true that many once-successful nesting sites for peregrines on grouse moors are no longer occupied.

“ That begs the question, what’s happening to them?”

However, Ian believes that future progress could be made on birds of prey nesting in the Dales through increased dialogue between conservationists and landowners.

Among the list of mammals, the dormouse is a new addition. When the previous BAP was produced in 2000 it was not known to be present in the Dales, but in 2008 a total of 35 were released into a 20-hectare woodland in Wensleydale.

The precise current population is unknown, but special nesting boxes provided for them have been taken up by nine dormice this year, and there are likely to be others using natural nesting sites. Anyone who checks the nestboxes has to hold a special licence issued by Natural England.

The National Park is currently training volunteers to become licensed monitors of the dormouse population.

One big success story in the last decade has been the spread of red squirrels in the Yorkshire Dales.

Although they are still limited to a few locations, a decade ago they were confined to the Cumbria side of the National Park.

Now, however, there are good colonies of them in Widdale, Snazedale and Langstrothdale.

Ian says: “It’s a positive story. They have spread south over the fells to the Green Field plantation near Beckermonds, where they are finding a plentiful food source, and they’ve had a couple of good breeding seasons. The range has definitely increased for this beautiful animal.”

The small heath butterfly has been included on the list even though, like the house sparrow, it is considered widespread in the Dales.

But it has been declining elsewhere in England, and so any changes to the small heath’s preferred habitat of rough grassland will be viewed with concern.

Of the Dales’ plant life, Ian Court gives special mention to the juniper.

It was once more widespread than it is today. Seeds are now being taken from some Dales junipers to establish new growths elsewhere in the National Park.

Many of the species on the list – flies like the northern yellow splinter, lichens like the orange-fruited elm- lichen, and moths like the grey mountain carpet – will only be identified by experts.

Therefore, the National Park is hoping that local people will help with the survey work, and it is launching a survey and monitoring plan.

Residents, individual naturalists, and local clubs and societies will be invited to come forward.

For example, people with a good knowledge of butterflies will be asked to take on a “butterfly transect” route.

They will be asked to walk it once a week between March and October noting those species observed.

And, of course, the National Park wants to hear from anyone who would like to search for the money spiders.

If you would like to volunteer to help with the Biodiversity Action Plan work in the Yorkshire Dales, please send an email to: [email protected]

Further information on the National Park’s wildlife can be found on www.natureinthedales.org.uk

Yorkshire Dales National Park

The National Park, set up in 1954, covers 1,762 sq km (680 sq m) straddling the central Pennines in North Yorkshire and Cumbria and it is run by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, an independent body created by the Environment Act of 1995. It’s one of the most important areas in the country for wildlife heritage and posesses the largest area of internationally important habitats of any National Park, from wildflower pastures in the dale bottoms, to the moorland fringe, heather moorland and blanket bog, plus the unique limestone pavements.