Can you give hedghogs milk No, they cannot digest it.

Where can I buy Devon meadow seed mix, pot plants and bulbs to create a Devon wildflower meadow?

Emorsgate Seeds are very good. DWT has used them for planting up our wildflower meadow at Cricklepit Mill

http://wildseed.co.uk/

Am I allowed to pick flowers on the wildlife reserves? Please do not pick flowers on our nature reserves, or out in the wild, much better to take a photo or buy commercially grown flowers.

Saw a man in Barnstaple with a Devon Wildlife Trust jacket. Where can buy one? At the current moment these jackets, fleeces and t-shirts are not for sale; they are only issued to DWT staff and regular volunteers.

What is the DWT's position regarding the Government's proposed cull of a protected species i.e. the badger? As this is a complex issue it is not easy to respond in this forum. Policy enquiries can be made to Peter Burgess, Conservation Advocacy Manager on 01392 279244.

Does DWT fund projects? Generally no but as part of the Working Wetlands project there is a small pot of money available to local landowners who have particularly wildlife rich habitats. This can pay for capital costs such as fencing and water supplies to help them secure better management.

How much of my money goes to conservation work on the ground? 80p in every pound we receive directly funds our frontline conservation work.

I would like to create a woodland, how do I go about it?

Wanting to create a woodland for future generations to enjoy is a laudable aim and one that shouldn't be rushed into. If you own some land, it might actually be that the habitats that already exist there would be damaged if you were to plant it up so an ecological survey should always be carried out prior to any work taking place. The Devon Wildlife Consultancy can help with this, for more info call 01392 455930.

It's also worth finding out what other woodland exists nearby, it might be that trees will arrive on their own accord if you have a bit of patience. If you can't wait for nature to take its course it is important to obtain your saplings from a local source and plant only native species that are suited to your area.

For more information we would recommend this book which is a great new guide to the process and is supported by RSPB and the Woodland Trust:

http://www.naturebureau.co.uk/woodland-creation-wildlife-and-people-changing-climate-principles-and-practice

I have seen Himalayan Balsam growing by a nearby stream, what should I do? If it is on your land you can pull it up by the root. It needs to be burnt to stop it spreading. If that is not an option inform your local Council if you want to dispose of it.

How do I attract frogs to my pond? Frogs naturally find new ponds quickly so there is no need to import spawn. But do create or adapt your pond to offer the best possible conditions for frogs to live and breed in. The pond should have water of different depths, with extensive shallow areas and some areas over 60cm deep which will not freeze solid even in hard winters. The more varied the slopes and the longer the shoreline the better. Gently sloping sides allow all sorts of creatures to get in and out of the pond. Frogs try to spawn wherever there is shallow water (7-10cm deep).

Use native pond plants. Be aware that most fish – other than the very smallest – will eat tadpoles. Create a pile of logs, branches or rocks near the edge of the pond to create a safe haven and leave long grass corridors to allow the frogs to get to and from the area in safety.

Once you have created your pond, it is often best to let it stock itself. 

I have an area of woodland/meadow (etc) can you give me advice on managing it? Devon Wildlife Consultants, DWT’s commercial arm, provides an advisory service to farmers and landowners to identify the current conservation value of their holding and potential enhancement methods and to advise on any grant schemes available (including assistance in producing ELS, HLS and FEPS). For further information on how we can help your business, contact us on 01392 455930 email dwc@devonwildlifetrust.org or visit www.devonwildlifeconsultants.co.uk


The Grazing Animals Project (GAP) exists to help land managers get the desired level of grazing on wildlife sites. GAP provides practical support to graziers, wildlife site managers and conservation advisors across the UK. See http://www.grazinganimalsproject.org/pilot800.php?detect=true

The Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) has online information on conservation and wildlife topics and can work with farmers and landowners to draw up Farm Biodiversity Action Plans: see http://www.fwag.org.uk/

Natural England’s Rural Development Service offers various farm advice programmes for farmers, advisors and other land managers through a series of seminars, conferences, walks, visits and workshops.

Can you come and advise me on what to do with my County Wildlife Site? If you have a County Wildlife Site in Devon, please contact Lynne Kenderdine on 01392 279244 or email lkenderdine@devonwildlifetrust.org for more information.

How can I help fight damaging developments in my area?

One of Devon Wildlife Trust’s roles is to keep an eye out for planning proposals which could damage important areas for wildlife, and to put forward the case against damaging development. However, we only have limited resources, so we must prioritise the cases with which we become involved. To decide which planning proposals we will deal with, we look at the wildlife value of the site affected by the proposal. If the proposal adversely affects a County Wildlife Site or land of equivalent wildlife value, DWT will generally become involved in opposing or seeking to amend the planning application.

If the site in question does not come up to the standard of a County Wildlife Site, then its wildlife value will probably not be high enough to be used as a valid argument against development. In this situation other arguments (such as the landscape value of the land) will carry more weight with the planning authority.  However, DWT confines itself to getting involved in planning matters where there is a major wildlife issue. 

Because of this, there are instances where members of the public will approach DWT looking for help with fighting a local development, and we will have to decline to get involved. This is not because we don’t care about the small scale damage to wildlife which such developments can cause, or because we don’t care about common wildlife – it's because our resources are limited.  Moreover, such proposals are often best fought by local people on a whole range of grounds, of which damage to wildlife would only be a small part.

South West Planning Aid
South West Planning Aid provides free, independent and impartial advice on town planning matters to community groups and individuals who cannot afford to pay for a professional adviser. It is part of the Royal Town Planning Institute, a charity and the professional body for planning. It has paid staff as well as a strong professional volunteer network.

Their helpline number is 0870 850 9807 and website address is www.planningaid.rtpi.org.uk

DIY Guide to planning

DWT has produced a guide which is aimed at people who wish to comment on, or object to planning applications. The organisation has produced this guide as it simply does not have the resources, or detailed local knowledge, to deal with the hundreds of individual planning applications that arise throughout Devon each year. We therefore believe that it is more effective to give people advice which they can then use to write to the Planning Authority themselves.

DIY Planning Guide pdf

I seem to have a high population of newts in my little garden pond, what is the best thing to do? Probably best just to leave them be, they are able to move on of their own accord quite happily and the will soon become prey by other needy creatures if not.

What could I do to discourage badgers from my garden?

Why do they do it?
Badgers are omnivorous. The most obvious signs of badgers feeding is when they scrape out small pits in the ground to dig out insect larvae and worms. They will also eat flower bulbs, fruits and vegetables, will take food put out for other animals, and occasionally raid dustbins. In dry or frosty weather it is harder for the badgers get at their preferred earthworm and insect larvae foods, so your lawn, vegetables or flower bed may seem particularly tempting! Occasionally badgers may dig a latrine in your garden. This would be a small pit about 15cm deep and wide, in which the badgers deposit their dung as a way of making group territory.

The badger is a legally protected species.

What could I do to discourage badgers from my garden?
Watching badgers foraging for food in your garden can give great pleasure. The badgers will also naturally remove some harmful creatures which may otherwise damage your crops, fruits or flowers. If badgers are causing damage which upsets you, you may find it easier to tolerate the nuisance knowing that the damage is limited to certain times of the year. Latrines are most conspicuous in the spring and autumn, while lawn digging for food is most common in late autumn and early spring.

Be aware that there is legislation in place to protect badgers and their setts from persecution. Take advice before blocking up holes or putting up fences, as preventing a badger from getting to or from its sett is an offence.

The most humane and long-term solution will usually be to remove or prevent access to whatever attracts them to the area. Only provide food for wild birds on bird tables or in feeders and clear away windfall fruit. Make sure your dustbin is securely closed. Use electrified fencing around vegetable patches . Try the kind of harmless mammal repellents available from good garden centres. It is illegal to use any other chemical, including creosote, diesel oil, mothballs or bleach to deter badgers.

Where badgers are digging up lawns in search of insect larvae, organically improving the condition of the lawn should help reduce the number of insect larvae in it and thereby make it less attractive to badgers.

Will putting out food for badgers help?
Putting out food and water at these times specifically for the badgers may distract them from eating other food available. However, it may encourage them to visit more frequently. Also it may artificially support a larger population of badgers than that which would occur naturally. Badgers will readily eat peanuts, raisins, most soft fruits and wholemeal bread (which can be soaked in water).

What is the best way to get rid of overgrown pond plants? New ponds often become covered in blanket weed in warm weather; you can pull this out by winding it onto a stick. Once a pond has settled down the pond animals should keep blanket weed in check. Many pond creatures, such as newts, like to hide in blanket weed.

Vigorous pond plants can threaten to take over, and these are best cleared out by digging, cutting or raking. Do not remove more than one third of any species in a year because the pond creatures need them and always leave cleared vegetation at the side of the pond for a few days to allow trapped creatures to escape back into the pond. Thin or clear plants in the autumn to cause least disturbance to pond creatures; avoid doing anything to the pond in winter as this can disturb hibernating amphibians and other pond life.

If your pond is permanently covered with duckweed, algae or water fern it may mean you have too many nutrients in the pond water. In order to solve this you need to tackle the cause of the excess nutrients.

If you buy or bring plants or water from elsewhere it is important to avoid bringing in invasive species. Some key species to avoid are floating pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides), parrots feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum), Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii) - also called New Zealand pygmyweed - and water fern (Azolla filiculoides). Never dump unwanted pond plants in the wild.

Help! I think there may be bats in my roof! With the clearing of Britain’s woodland, many bat species now rely on buildings for roosting, so their conservation depends very much on our goodwill. Most bat colonies live happily with their human landlords; but if you are concerned about having bats in your roof, contact Natural England for free advice.

It is almost unknown for bats to cause damage to houses. Unlike birds, they don’t bring in material to build nests and, unlike mice, they don’t gnaw wood, electrical cables or entrance holes but merely take advantage of existing gaps or holes. Problems of noise or smell are uncommon.

British bats have few diseases which could affect humans, and problems are very rare. In recent years a tiny number of bats have been detected with a rabies-like virus which can affect humans, so, for this reason, you are advised to avoid skin contact with bats or their saliva. Having bats in your roof caries no risk of this virus.

All bats and their roosts are fully protected by law because all species have declined and some are threatened or endangered. Because bats return to the same places year after year a bat roost is protected even if there aren’t bats there all the time. You must consult Natural England before you do anything which affects bats or their roosts in your house, such as building, alteration or maintenance work; re-roofing; remedial timber treatment; rewiring or plumbing. There will often be simple ways to avoid disturbing bats or their roosts, for instance by changing the timing of work, and using less poisonous insecticides.

This explanation should be regarded only as a guide to the law. For further details see the links below or refer to sections 9-11, 16-27 and 69 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 or regulations 38-46 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994.

Natural England’s excellent leaflet “Focus on Bats” can be downloaded from their website. Also see the Bat Conservation Trust’s website, http://www.bats.org.uk

Help – I’m swamped with frogspawn! Should I get rid of some of it? Sometimes ponds can seem overcrowded with clumps of spawn, or heaving masses of tadpoles. Don’t worry! This is completely natural. It’s the frogs’ way of coping with the fact that large numbers of tadpoles and young frogs die. A female may produce 2,000 eggs (female toads tend to produce about 1,000) and of these only four or five are likely to make it to old age, which in frog terms is probably about four years old. The rest will make up an important part of the diet of a wide range of wildlife including kingfishers, herons, fish, beetle larvae and blackbirds. This high death rate is distressing but totally natural, and it means that you will not be knee-deep in frogs when they all develop.

Do not take spawn to another pond or remove it to the wild. Doing so will only create a vacant niche which may encourage more spawning. Besides, moving frogs to new ponds risks spreading an unpleasant frog disease, red leg, which is now afflicting our frog population. The best thing is to leave the spawn where it is and let nature take its course.

I do not want snakes in my garden! How can I get rid of them?

Deter them
If you have a serious phobia about snakes, or particular reasons to be concerned about adders in the garden, there are things you can do to reduce the attractiveness of your garden to them. These include removing ground cover, keeping your grass very short, removing places like rockeries where reptiles can hide, and fencing off ponds. But do be aware that these measures will also reduce your garden’s attractiveness to wildlife in general. And if you live in good adder country, it may be very difficult entirely to prevent snakes entering your garden. Do not remove possible breeding sites like compost heaps between June and the end of September, as you may disturb grass snake eggs and potentially kill them, which is illegal.

 Adders are essentially shy creatures and will not set out to do harm to a human.  If you know they are around, just be careful not to surprise them - and you and they can co-exist peacefully.

Attempting physically to remove an adder from your garden is not recommended, except by professionals, so please seek advice.

Report it
If you have seen an adder you can contribute to understanding of them and their distribution by reporting when and where at: RAUK online sighting report. You can also help by reporting recollections and stories of historical colonies and sightings. 

There’s a snake in my garden! Is it an adder? It is unusual to see adders in gardens unless you live close to their preferred habitats. Adders are usually found in heathland, moorland, chalk downland, coastal areas, cliffs, sand dunes, railway cuttings and embankments. They are not usually found in farmland, urban areas, parks, places with clay soils or at rivers and lakes. Adders are quite easy to distinguish from other reptiles as their markings are very pronounced, consisting of a dark zigzag pattern down the spine and on the back of the head there is a prominent 'V' shaped mark.

Whilst the adder, Vipera berus berus, is widespread throughout much of the UK, numbers in Britain are declining due to ongoing persecution and habitat loss - so if you do come across snakes in your garden do leave them alone. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended), gives adders protection against deliberate killing and injury.

If you do come across an adder in your garden, it will often just be passing through. On the other hand, if you live in particularly good adder habitat, snakes may visit your garden regularly. Do accept this if you can. It may help to remember that reptiles hibernate from around October to March, and most garden visits are reported between June and September - so you are only likely to see them during a short period of the year.

Snakes are shy creatures which would rather slither away than come into contact with humans. Only when surprised or cornered will an adder strike - and then it will often emit a warning hiss before biting. The relatively small numbers of bites recorded in the UK are mostly caused when people try to pick a snake up. Don’t!

I have found an interesting plant or animal, what is it?

Finding a plant or animal you can't identify can be intriguing - and frustrating!  As a first step to identification, try the reference section of your local library - there are many excellent field guides available.  If you are going to seek help with your identification, you will need a high quality photo, in focus and with something to indicate scale. (Identifying anything from a verbal description can be very difficult!) 

Do send the photo to us - we may be able to help.  However, even if we can provide identification, it may take a while, so please be patient.  Once you have worked out what it is, please consider letting the Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) know;  they welcome confirmed sightings of all species for recording purposes.

Another option is to join the I Spot community which is run by the Open University. It's a website where, once you have signed up, you can upload your image and someone will get back to you with their thoughts on what it is.

I own a parcel of land with a badger sett. If the cull is extended to my area,will I be legally allowed to deny access to licenced culling groups? The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will allow two pilot culls of badgers in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset in the autumn of 2012.  If they are judged to be a success, a further 10 areas could be opened for culling each year, up to a maximum of about 40, under licences issued by Natural England.

Groups of farmers and land owners have been told that they may apply for licenses to cull badgers subject to meeting specific criteria.  Culling can only take place on land where the farmer and/or landowner has given permission for it to take place and has signed an agreement giving access to those who are carrying out the cull.  If you own, manage or farm land within one of the proposed cull areas no-one can come onto your land in order to carry out the culling of badgers under licence without your permission.

What should I do if I see a dead badger? If you see a dead badger you should let Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) know.  It collects records of dead animals, as this helps monitor population trends. Please note that DBRC cannot remove dead badgers; that is the Environmental Health Department’s task.

If sending details by post, please include your name and contact details (we may need to get back to you about your record), the date you saw the badger, and a description of the location including road name/number, direction of travel, and nearest town or village – as we need to find it on the map.

Phone: 01392 279244
Fax: 01392 433221
Email: landsighting@dbrc.org.uk

Devon Biodiversity Records Centre
Exeter Central Library
Castle Street
Exeter
EX4 3PQ

I have to get rid of my pond. What is the least damaging way to do this? Even small ponds can be valuable for wildlife. If you are worried about the danger your pond presents to young children, perhaps you could make the area safe by fencing it off securely. If you must get rid of your pond, it is best to let it silt up or dry out naturally, so as to give the creatures which have become dependent on it a chance to disperse. If you must destroy your pond quickly, breaking the lining will drain it.

I’ve found a dead or injured animal: what should I do?

Caution! Handling of any animal, whether domestic, wild, dead or alive may be hazardous. Obvious dangers include bites, scratches and risk of disease. Do use common sense and if at all unsure seek additional advice or assistance.

Hedgehogs: underweight young hedgehogs found wandering alone after the end of September can be helped to survive by being cared for indoors or in an outhouse. Hedgehogs below around 500 grams at this time will not survive the winter. If you find a hedgehog which appears to be sick or injured then wrap a hot water bottle in a towel and place the hedgehog on top of this in a high-sided box, provide a dish of water and seek more help or advice. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society lists local hedgehog carers you can call: see http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/carers.htm This website also carries leaflets about hedgehog first aid and caring for hoglets.

Dead animals: a dead animal which is causing a hazard on a road should be reported to the Highways Agency (for major roads) or Local Authority (for minor roads), who can arrange removal. Devon Biodiversity Records Centre appreciates receiving reports of dead animals as this helps monitor population trends (though please note that DBRC cannot arrange removal). Report your sightings on the DBRC webpage.

As protected species, dead otters should be reported to the Environment Agency on 01392 316036 or email mary-rose.lane@environment-agency.gov.uk 

In the unlikely event you find a dead polecat on the road, collect it and call the Vincent Wildlife Trust on 01531 636441: the VWT will advise you what information to record.

Injured and dead birds: Diseased wild birds cannot be treated, and unfortunately once a bird is ill enough to be caught it is nearly always beyond recovery anyway. The situation regarding injured birds is more complicated: do be aware that simply trying to catch an injured bird may cause shock, as can careless handling. Fledglings found below or near a nest are best left where you found them, as their best chance is to be found and reared by their parents. If they are in immediate danger (for instance from traffic or predators), try placing them in a paper carrier bag hung from a branch near the nest, where the parents should be able to find them. See the following RSPB site for detailed advice on helping sick, injured or fledgling wild birds: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/index.asp
 
The Garden Bird Health initiative is researching causes of disease in garden birds and invites the public to report dead garden birds or signs of disease in live birds by calling 0207 449 6685. See their website for up-to-date information on garden bird disease: http://www.ufaw.org.uk/gbhi.php