The London Bee Situation: How Sustainable Is Beekeeping in London?

For more than 10 years London has seen an unprecedented rise in beekeeping across the city’s urban landscape. This talk will look at how sustainable beekeeping is in London and how it can impact other pollinators. In recent years well-meaning intentions have led to unsustainable actions.

Mark Patterson is an ecologist and beekeeper in London and an active recorder of wild bees. Through his consultancy Apicultural he works with local authorities, London businesses and community organisations to help the capital’s pollinators.

Q&A with Mark Patterson

  1. Does 1 colony equal 1 hive?
    A colony is 1 queen and the workforce. The hive is the box that houses the colony, so we do tend to use the two words interchangeably as they both refer to 1 superorganism. A collection of hives/colonies is referred to as an apiary.
  2. Which plants benefit the most from which pollinator species?
    Some pollinators are polylectic, meaning that they are generalists that feed from many different plants. Others are oligolectic, meaning that they are ‘fussy eaters’ and will only feed from a small number of plants (for example only feeding from flowers within one family of plants). Where you have a pollinator species that will only feed on a flower (i.e. a single species), these are referred to as monolectic. The monolectic species are the ones that are most at threat from competition by honeybees because they are unable to find food if their food source has been depleted by a nearby hive. So different plant species will benefit from different species. Many of the great nectar sources for bees are actually things that are considered weeds, such as thistles. Some invasive plants, such as Himalayan Balsam, can also be rich nectar sources for bees and their popularity with pollinators can be one of the reasons that they spread so easily. You’ll find guidance on planting for pollinators on my website.
  3. What sort of monitoring is going on nationally on this issue?
    Generally speaking, the biggest increase in beekeeping is in urban centres so it is big cities that are attracting the most attention. This increase in urban hives is largely being powered by commercial outfits that run ‘Sponsor a Beehive’ initiatives to “help save the planet” – which is complete beewashing and really just lining somebody’s pockets! For example, there are very few people living within the square mile, but there are a lot of beehives as they are on commercial properties. this issue is not limited to the UK or even Europe – we’re seeing it globally. For example, there are now concerns that there are too many hives in New York, Washington and Atlanta in the USA.
  4. Is there any control on who can become a beekeeper and do you need to register?
    In some cities in Europe and the USA there are strict regulations and control of beekeeping. For example, in New York and Washington DC in the USA you would need to apply for a licence to keep bees – this would be limited to keeping a maximum of 4 hives on a residential or commercial unit and the hives would need to be a minimum distance from the boundary of your property to minimise the impact on your neighbours. You would also be required to provide a source of water for them, manage them for pests and diseases and keep them in framed hives that can be checked by inspectors. However, in the UK there are no controls (apart from on the import of bees and relating to notifiable diseases) and anyone can set up as a beekeeper without a need to register. It is as easy as ordering a beehive and a box of bees to be delivered to their house with no requirement for training or registration. I would personally support mandatory registration and restrictions on beekeeping. Some local beekeepers’ associations, like London Beekeepers Association, are very good at encouraging their members to voluntarily register their hives in the areas that they cover – but this varies greatly between different areas and regions.
  5. Has the number of hives within the UK not declined since the early 20th century?
    I have not seen any real evidence to support the rumoured million hives in the late 1800s/turn of the century. Figure 1 below was generated by Jeff Ollerton from a number of sources relating to the number of bee hives in the UK. It shows there are as many bees today in the UK as there were in the 1950s. Figure 2 from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations clearly shows global hive numbers are increasing.
Figure 1: Number of bee hives in the UK over time (c) Jeff Ollerton
Figure 2: Number of bee hives globally over time (c) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

Literature references

Further info

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entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners and supporters.

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Unlocking Invertebrate Genomes: Trying to Sequence Every Species

Since the first animal genome (a nematode) was sequenced back in 1998, genomics has come a long way. This webinar will introduce the science of genomics, exploring methods such as whole genome sequencing and DNA barcoding. It will also explore current ambitious projects attempting to sequence all life and discuss some of the many applications of this knowledge. Liam will introduce the Darwin Tree of Life Project and his work with Oxford University focusing on sequencing British invertebrates.

Q&A with Liam Crowley

Dr Liam Crowley is an entomologist interested in insect diversity, taxonomy and ecology. He is currently working on the Wytham Genome Project, part of the Darwin Tree of Life project, which seeks to sequence the complete genomes of every species of animal, plant and fungi in Britain and Ireland, some 75,000+ species! His work involves the collection, identification and preservation of arthropod species from Wytham Woods for full genome sequencing, with a particular focus on species of ecological and evolutionary interest. The unprecedented quality and the large number of genomes being generated will allow us to address important scientific questions, with diverse potential applications such as species conservation and biodiscovery.

Who is funding the sequencing work of the Darwin Tree of Life Project?
It’s a very big ambitious project and was never going to all happen at once, so it was split into different phases. The first phase was funded by the Wellcome Trust and this was to sequence the first 2,000 species. The aspiration is that in subsequent phases we will scale up those operations and eventually deliver on all of the species. It’s likely that the future will involve a consortium of funders and that is something that we are developing at the moment.

Does this project cover geographic areas outside of the UK such as British Overseas Territories and the Channel Islands?
The project covers the East Atlantic archipelago so the UK and Ireland. So we don’t cover the Channel Islands or British Overseas Territories. There are other large scale biodiversity sequencing projects beginning around the world under the
umbrella of the Earth Biogenome Project, and of course some species will overlap between projects so we are coordinating our efforts.

How does DToL progress compare between marine, freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates?
Terrestrial and freshwater are some way ahead, mostly because they are the easiest environments to sample. The Marine Biological Association are coordinating a lot of the marine sampling. The marine environment is much more diverse in terms of phyla than terrestrial and both getting specimens and extracting DNA from marine specimens can be really difficult so there is still a lot of R&D when it comes to sampling and sequencing marine species.

What happens with species with legal protection or populations that are at risk?
We have a whole department that looks at permissions, legality and ethics. Everything that is collected is done so using the relevant permissions and permits. For larger species (including vertebrates and some larger invertebrates) we can take a biological sample that has a limited impact on the organism (such as a blood sample or feather for vertebrates and tarsi for larger insects). For species that require a whole specimen we try to be as minimally disruptive as possible, for example with social bees we would try to take only worker specimens and do so at the end of the season so there is no impact on the reproduction of the species. For other species they may be rare in Britain and Ireland, but common elsewhere, so we are developing protocols for using foreign material. This could allow future non-lethal sampling of our rare populations.

How do you deal with microscopic species such as harpacticoid copepods, nematodes etc.?
We have different pipelines for very small things. It’s called ultra-low input sequencing. There’s also a group working on protists which are single-celled eukaryotes. The procedure for collecting material and processing it is different depending on the group. For example, both the Natural History Museum DToL team and our team at Wytham Woods have tried different methods for dealing with earthworms as these can be tricky – check out Keiron’s blog on Sequencing British Earthworms to find out more.

Will the work of this project inform the ever-changing taxonomy of species and when will we have a complete taxonomy?
If the only focus of the project was phylogeny it would be far cheaper to just barcode all species and that is exactly what the global Barcode of Life project is doing. However, barcoding data only gives us part of the picture. This is where full genome sequencing can help us solve some of the complexities in phylogeny and will inevitably help stabilise the phylogeny even more. In theory, we could reach a point where we have sequenced the genomes of all species and have fully resolved taxonomic disputes, but in reality that will take a very long time and we may never get there. We are finding cryptic species all of the time and our understanding is improving as we go along. The species concept is quite a confusing term and the more we look at genetics the more that we see that there is gene transfer even between species.

Is there a publicly available checklist of which species you have sequenced to date and which you haven’t?
It’s really difficult to maintain a full checklist because there are so many species and our understanding of species and phylogenies is changing all the time. There is the Darwin Tree of Life Data Portal that lists all of the species that have been sent to the Wellcome Sanger Institute and where they are in the sequencing process, but we don’t currently have a publicly available checklist as this would be too time-consuming to maintain, however, this is something that might be developed in the future

What do you think the future role of Natural History Museums is that traditionally houses physical collections?
Natural History Museums often play an important role in genetic studies and although we are out sampling for fresh material to sequence the full genome, museum specimens can still be used for some genetic analysis. What is possible now is more advanced than 10 or 20 years ago and who knows what may be possible in 10 or 20 years’ time. Museum specimens help us look at changes over time and retaining and adding to these collections is important for future studies. In fact, the reference genomes produced by our project will unlock loads of exciting new ways to sequence museum specimens.

What’s been your personal highlight of the project so far? 
My favourite aspect has been working at the genomic observatory at Wytham Wood and studying this site in great detail. I’m out sampling throughout the whole year and it’s amazing how many different species we find when we’ve looked at this one site in detail. We’ve had some real surprises that are outside of a species’ known range and we’ve had some really rare things too.

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners and supporters.

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Spring 2023: Earthworm Courses & Events

At the Biological Recording Company, one of our 4 primary aims is to increase our knowledge of earthworms by delivering training courses and recording events across the UK. Most of these are free to attend due to funding from partners (or just our own goodwill), and all of them are components of the Earthworm ID Training Pathway endorsed by the Earthworm Society of Britain. Keiron Derek Brown, National Recorder for Earthworms, will be delivering each and every course or event – ensuring that all earthworm records generated are submitted to the National Earthworm Recording Scheme.

This spring there is a wealth of opportunities to get involved, including courses or events in North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Wiltshire and London – so check out the programme below and why not sign up to some and help us better understand UK earthworm populations?

Spring 2023 Programme

  • 18/04/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day Barnes (London)
  • 19/04/2023 Earthworm Study Day** Kensington (London)
  • 25/04/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day Middleton Down (Wiltshire)
  • 26/04/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day* Tolworth (London)
  • 02/05/2023 Earthworm Biology & Ecology Gisburn Forest (Lancashire)
  • 10/05/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day Ealing (London)
  • 20/05/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day* Chiswick (London)
  • 22/05/2023 Earthworm Identification*** Hawes (North Yorkshire)
  • 23/05/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day Low Row (North Yorkshire)
  • 24/05/2023 Earthworm Study Day*** Hawes (North Yorkshire)
  • 17/06/2023 Earthworm Sampling Day* Hounslow (London)
  • 21/06/2023 Earthworm Study Day** Kensington (London)

* Event listed as Invertebrate Field Recorder Day – select ‘Earthworm Sampling Day ticket’ when booking.

** Event listed as Invertebrate Study Day – add a note that you’d like to focus on earthworms when booking.

*** These events are not publicly listed as spaces are reserved for local volunteers. If you would like to be added to the waiting list for these (in case local volunteers don’t take all of the spaces on offer), please email Keiron at keironderekbrown@gmail.com

Check out the Worms event collection on Eventbrite

Types of Courses & Events

So which type of course or event is right for your experience level? The truth is that most of them are designed to be accessible to any naturalist that wants to branch out into earthworms. Below is a description of each of the event types to help you decide which one (or ones) is right for you.

Earthworm Biology and Ecology training courses are designed for absolute beginners. They don’t teach ID or surveying, and instead focus on giving learners an understanding of earthworm biology, ecology and behaviour. This includes learning about earthworms beyond the British Isles and is designed to give you the confidence to go onto one of the Earthworm Identification courses. It’s not all indoor learning though – as we’ll go for an earthworm walk and try to find examples of each of the different ecological categories of earthworm.

Earthworm Sampling Days do exactly what it says on the tin! These involve sampling a site (such as a farm, nature reserve or park) to collect specimens so that a site species list can be created (or updated if surveyed previously). Earthworms can’t be identified in the field so no ID experience is necessary, and you’ll learn how to undertake soil pit surveying and microhabitat sampling for earthworms. Earthworm sampling is slow work so the more people that volunteer to help on these days, the better.

Earthworm Identification training courses are microscope-based training courses that teach learners with no previous experience how to use a microscope and the Key to the Earthworms of the UK & Ireland to identify preserved earthworm specimens. We don’t mess around with lengthy presentations – expect these courses to be mainly practical as you work through the specimens from our teaching collection.

Earthworm Study Days are for those that have some experience of earthworm ID using microscopes and the key (such as attendance of an Earthworm Identification course). They may involve working on specimens from a previous Earthworm Sampling Day or your own specimens from your garden – but, either way, they are a great way to practice your ID under the guidance of an earthworm specialist.

Check out the Worms event collection on Eventbrite

entoLEARN Webinars

As if that isn’t enough earthworm learning opportunities, the Biological Recording Company has teamed up with the Forest of Bowland AONB and Yorkshire Dales National Park to bring you 2 FREE entoLEARN webinars about earthworms this spring!

Introduction To Earthworms (27 Apr 23) will go over what makes an earthworm an earthworm and explore some of the fascinating aspects of their biology, ecology and behaviour, and discuss how not all earthworms are found below ground

Earthworms For Farmers (11 May 23) will introduce how different types of earthworms contribute to these agricultural benefits in different ways, what threats our earthworms face in agricultural landscapes and what farming practices might be better for supporting healthy earthworm populations.

Check out the entoLEARN collection on Eventbrite

More on earthworms

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Crawfish: Trending in South-west Britain

Crawfish (Palinurus elephas) are large, colourful crustacea that inhabit rocky seabeds along the west of Britain and Ireland, also known as spiny lobster. They were fished almost to extinction in south-west England towards the end of the last century. Excitingly, this economically valuable species has undergone a remarkable recovery in Cornwall and Devon since 2014. Angus will describe how we are now able to track and analyse trends in the crawfish population using citizen science records collected for Seasearch by volunteer divers. We need to understand such trends in abundance and distribution if we are to manage this recovering population into the future.

Dr Angus Jackson is the data officer for Seasearch. He is responsible for curating Seasearch data and for doing research to make the best use of this large and remarkable dataset.

Q&A with Angus Jackson

What do you mean by ‘landings’?
The weight of Crawfish that are brought to shore to be sold at the fish market. This is different to the ‘catch’ as this is the number that is caught in the net, but some of these will be put back as they are undersized individuals or females with eggs.

How are statutory restrictions monitored and enforced?
This has been open to exploitation in the past. Lots of the fisheries recognise the valuable opportunity that they have here and don’t want to shoot themselves in the foot by over-harvesting too early on in the recovery. I’m optimistic that there is enough collaboration between commercial fishermen, fisheries, academics and conservation agencies to hopefully avoid the disaster that happened last time,

Are Crawfish fished for export from the British Isles and could stronger restrictions help with their recovery?
Most of the market for Crawfish is within Europe (such as France, Spain and Portugal) rather than the UK. Anything that reduces the number of Crawfish being caught could potentially help their recovery. Reducing catch through by-laws or national legislation (i.e. the Fisheries Act 2020) would be the mechanism for reducing how many are caught, but I’m not clear what the mechanism would be for limiting export as this lies outside of my area of expertise.

Does the catch record also indicate a similar rise in populations in other UK regions?
That’s a really interesting question for a couple of reasons. We’re seeing almost identical patterns of recovery across the Channel in northwest France. Colleagues in Mer Iroise area of France have observed increases in crawfish populations and have noted the same 2-3 year lag and a big upturn in fisheries landings of Crawfish. However, we’re not seeing a similar pattern in landings or records in southwest Wales (which was historically a stronghold) or Western Scotland. There are some suggestions that there is also recovery on the west coast of Ireland but we have much fewer data for this area. We still don’t know if the populations in England and France are being seeded by reproduction happening locally or if they were originally (or are continually) being seeded from further afield. We’d need to see the results of some population genetics studies to understand this better.

Did Crawfish populations recover because commercial fishing stopped?
We don’t have a definitive answer why they started reappearing in 2014. There had been fishing throughout so it seems unlikely to be related to fishing pressure. Likewise, I don’t believe that it has anything to do with conservation measures, such as marine protected areas as there is no management specifically for Crawfish. It could be due to climate change or even chance – we really don’t know! However, what we can do is ensure that we have measures in place that look after the population and prevent it from suffering the same fate as last time.

Can Crawfish be raised in captivity and released in areas they are struggling to recolonise?
There is a possibility and a project in north Wales has been working to try and develop the ability to raise Crawfish from the tiny plankton stage up to the release stage in the same way that lobsters have been raised in hatcheries and released along the coastline. For various physiological reasons, it is a challenging process, requiring very specialist conditions and a high level of care. I believe there is one initiative that now has the ability to get through all of the necessary stages and grow them to a size where they could be released. That doesn’t mean that we’re at the stage where this is now financially viable or at a scale that would make a difference to a stock. It’s not going to give us a quick fix as a tool to supplement fisheries landings or for conservation purposes – but who knows in 10 years or so!

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners and supporters.

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Celebrating Ladybirds: Developing Our Knowledge Through Citizen Science

Ladybirds are much-loved insects. Our understanding of the ecology of these beautiful beetles has been in part from the contributions of many citizen scientists. Helen will provide some insights into the diverse and intriguing life histories of ladybirds.

Q&A with Prof Helen Roy MBE

Professor Helen Roy MBE is an ecologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. She is fascinated by the ways in which environmental change affects the interactions between insects and other species. Biological invasions have been the focus of much of her research. Helen leads many collaborative national and international research projects. She is leading research for the EC on enhancing understanding and awareness of invasive alien species. Helen leads a Defra-funded project to produce a comprehensive information portal on non-native species in Great Britain which also includes annual reports on the status and trends of invasive alien species and the development of an alert system for people to report sightings of concern.

Over the last few years she has had the privilege of working with the UK Overseas Territories to predict and prioritise invasive non-native species. Her research on invasive non-native species has received international recognition and she is currently leading a global assessment on invasive non-native species for the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Helen also enjoys science communication and public engagement with research which led to her interest in citizen science. She has a passion for ladybirds and has led the UK Ladybird Survey, including tracking the spread of the invasive alien ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, alongside Peter Brown (Anglia Ruskin University) for more than 15 years. Helen is a previous President of the Royal Entomological Society. Helen was awarded an MBE in 2018 in recognition of her contributions to biodiversity science.

Do you have any tips for photographing small inconspicuous ladybirds that won’t stay still?

I’ve got a great tip, but the credit needs to go to Richard Comont. Put the ladybird into a clear plastic bag and put the bag with the ladybird onto some frozen peas to slow them down. If you then carefully hold the sides of the bag down to restrict the movement of the ladybird you should be able to get a photo. You won’t get the most beautiful photo through the bag but it should be good enough to help with ID. If you’re out and about at times of day when ladybirds are a little less active, such as early in the morning, then it can be easier to get a photo.

Where do Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) originate from?

Harlequin ladybirds originate from quite a large area within Asia. I’ve seen them at home in China, but they still cause problems in their native range, feeding on other ladybirds and forming quite large aggregations in buildings which can be a bit of a nuisance.

Have there been any studies on ladybird migrations?

There was some research by Jason Chapman using vertical-looking radar to assess insect dispersal and migration. It is tricky to separate species using this approach but it is possible to distinguish large ladybirds, such as the Harlequin and the 7-Spot, from other insects and measure the height and speed at which they fly. It was incredible to see how fast and high they fly. So while they are not migrating, some ladybirds do make quite long-distance dispersal, particularly when aphids may be running in short supply.

Check out Will Hawkes entoLIVE on fly migration to learn more about insect migration

Do the chemicals in flea treatments for pets impact ladybirds?

That’s a very good question and not something that I know much about. We do know that chemicals designed to kill one type of insect often have an impact on other insects, such as neonicotinoids on bees. However, I’m not personally familiar with any research regarding the impacts of those ‘spot-on’ flea treatments on insects. Declines in the population and distribution of insects are often due to a number of factors, such as climate change and biological invasions interacting, and it can be difficult to attribute which are the most important. We definitely need more research on the interactions amongst these causes of change.

When people find Harlequin Ladybirds (Harmonia axyridis) should they treat them as a pest and remove them?

They are so widespread that removing them will not make a difference to the overall population. We advise people to just leave them be, particularly as they can easily be confused with other species. Please do submit your records through iRecord. It’s easy to make the assumption that records of really common or widespread species are not very valuable, but they contribute to long-term datasets that are really useful. If they are being a nuisance and crowding indoors during the winter, you can move them into a shed or similar. It’s remarkable that now they are almost everywhere (except Australia, the Arctic and the Antarctic) – we even found them on St Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Do we know why there can be so much variation in the patterns of some species of ladybird?

There are a number of theories and thoughts. For example, all ladybirds contain distasteful chemicals that act as a defensive mechanism, but the 2-spot ladybird is less unpleasant tasting than others and it is thought that the melanic form may be trying to mimic other ladybird species that taste more unpleasant to avoid being eaten. A second theory is around thermal aspects. For example, melanic forms may warm up more quickly. I’ve personally observed that the melanic form appears to be more active earlier in the day and the brightly coloured ladybirds take longer to warm up but this just anecdotal.

How can we help prevent more declines in native ladybird species?

We’ve recently been working on a collaborative paper with ladybird experts from around the world to give a conservation roadmap for ladybirds globally. Thinking locally, leaving some patches wild and providing a variety of microhabitats within green spaces is really useful as different species need different things. Leaving some of the pest insects on plants is also important so that the ladybirds have something to eat. As we go into the winter months it is important to leave the leaf litter on the ground so that ladybirds and other invertebrates have somewhere to shelter. However, the recording that many people do is also really important, as it helps us understand trends and then make evidence-based decisions on what actions need to be taken to protect ladybirds and other wildlife. So please do submit your ladybird sighting to iRecord!

Literature references

Further info

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners and supporters.

More on biological recording

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Weird But Wonderful World of Worms: Tales From The Museum Collections

The term “worm” is often used synonymously with earthworms, but nature is full of many fascinating worms that we are much less familiar with. this includes the predatory or blood-sucking leeches and the fascinating bristle worms found in our seas and oceans. Drawing on the incredible collections of the Natural History Museum London, we explore some fascinating worm specimens and learn how their study has led to some important, or often slightly strange, discoveries.

Emma Sherlock is the Senior Curator of Annelids at the Natural History Museum (London), looking after the segment worm collections (including earthworms, leeches and bristle worms) as well as undertaking fieldwork both at home and abroad, and describing new species. Emma was one of the founders of the Earthworm Society of Britain back in 2009 and is currently the Chair of the Society. She also produced the Field Studies Council Key to the Earthworms of the UK and Ireland.

Q&A with Emma Sherlock

Are the dark spots on the head of Neanthes goodayi eyes?
That’s a great question! They are for detecting movement. They’re not eyes in the same way that we have eyes. These worms are deep-sea predators and these eyes are really big in comparison to any other worms found down there, which is what really distinguishes them from other species. The reason that the scientific name is ‘goodayi’ is that they put all of the research vessel crew into a hat to decide who the species would be named after and the lucky winner was Andy Gooday. Had they not chosen the name in this way, I’m sure that the scientific name would have reflected those big eyes!

How big is the earthworm species that was found living in the vagina of a woman?
The species that was found occurring in this surprising place was Dichogaster bolaui which is a very small species of earthworm at under a couple of centimeters in length.

How big are the ice worms that live in glaciers?
They are 1- 2 cm in length with a diameter of around 0.5 cm.

Is it only scientists and researchers that can submit specimens to the museum collections?
Not at all – we receive specimens from biological recorders as well as the general public if they have found specimens of note. Specimens are donated constantly, with thousands donated each year into the worm collections. Accessioning specimens takes a lot of time as there are strict standards to follow and there is a lot of work involved cataloguing new specimens as well as looking after existing specimens. We’re also responsible for ensuring that these specimens are available to science, with specimens being sent off and returned all of the time for all kinds of research all over the world.

Does the museum leech collection include all of the UK species?
Unfortunately not. Our UK earthworm collection is comprehensive and our polychaete is growing very fast because we’ve had a number of polychaete and earthworm collection managers and researchers based at the museum- myself included. The leech collection however had not had this Museum research focus so far and therefore is far less complete, but this is something that we’re going to be focusing on this year. I’m planning some trips with the Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) project to go leech hunting and improve both the museum collection and the species that we find sequenced. The DToL team are trying to sequence the genome of every British species and Keiron has also been working with the NHM and Oxford University on this project for earthworms.

Does the Natural History Museum have a Giant Gippsland Earthworm in the collection?
Yes, we do have a Giant Gippsland Earthworm (Megascolides australis) and it is on display in the tank room of the Darwin Centre so you will get to see the specimen and one of its cocoons if you go on one of the behind-the-scenes tours of the spirit collection. The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is our biggest specimen of earthworm in the collection and indeed the largest known species in the world.

What books on worms would you recommend?
There are no books that I’m aware of that cover all worms as it is such a big (and non-taxonomic) term. If you’re looking to get started with UK earthworms, I’ve produced a Key to the Earthworms of the UK and Ireland with the Field Studies Council that is reasonably priced and has some info on earthworm biology and ecology in addition to the identification key. There are a couple of great books by Gregory Rouse and Fredrik Pleijelon on Annelids in general and Polychaetes, but these are a fair bit more pricey.

Some recommended books on worms

entoLIVE

entoLIVE webinars feature guest invertebrate researchers delving into their own invertebrate research. All events are free to attend and are suitable for adults of all abilities – a passion for invertebrates is all that’s required!

entoLIVE is only possible due to contributions from our partners and supporters.

More on earthworms

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The Wildlife Trusts Habitat Banking Investment

The Wildlife Trusts Habitat Banking Investment project aims to create new financing structures to meet near-term demand for BNG credits and prepare to accelerate delivery when national policy is implemented. Their partnership has developed a new model to enable Trusts to leverage private finance and secure biodiversity unit agreements with developers to secure strategic land and create new habitats, reducing current reliance on piecemeal grant funding and offset payments.

Q&A with Martin Varley

Martin Varley is the Director of Nature Recovery at Cheshire Wildlife Trust and leads the Trust’s conservation efforts in the wider countryside beyond our nature reserves. The trust was a partner in the Wildlife Trusts Habitat Banking Investment project, a partnership between 4 Wildlife Trusts (Berks Bucks and Oxon, Cheshire, Warwickshire and Surrey) and the financial advisors Finance Earth.

How important is the location of the site in terms of connectivity?

What you have is an ideal where the delivery site is right next to one of our existing nature reserves, and then you have the reality. So I think it is a factor in our analysis and we would prefer to have a site which is connected but the truth is that the supply is so limited that we may well consider sites outside of that. The other issue is that within the local authority, there is a proximity principal with where the damage takes place as well, so we have councillors that are saying that the damage is taking place within my parish and I want a BNG site within my parish.

When it comes to the design of the habitat banks, how did you choose which habitats were going to be created or enhanced on the sites?

From a Wildlife Trust point of view, we would say what is best for this site and we would create the habitat that is best for that site. Secondly, we would then try and sell that to the BNG market. For example, in Cheshire we only have 300 hectares of grassland and this is the dominant habitat that is being lost to development so it would mostly be grassland that is being created.

What is your approach to recording, evidencing and tracking all of this ahead of the national register?

It’s very complicated and can be quite random – we are learning as we go and there are a large number of people involved within our organisation. We now have contracts with local authorities to deliver specific BNG related to development – so it is now programmed into our operations team about when is the monitoring of the site, when is the habitat being created and when is the funding being drawn down from the endowment that has been created for the sale of the units. This gets even more complicated as a single site may include multiple areas within it that have been sold to different developers at different times with separate section 106’s, meaning what looks like a single meadow is actually a number of BNG delivery sites with virtual boundaries separating the individual BNG delivery sites. Essentially each developer is buying a portion of the habitat that you are creating.

What happens to the habitats created through BNG on your sites after 30 years?

That’s a good question! At the moment there is no plan for the habitat created following the 30 years. That’s the least of our worries at the moment while we focus on getting ready for the near future.

Further info and links

  1. Habitat Banking Investment Scheme Announcement: https://www.bbowt.org.uk/news/habitat-banking-investment-scheme-wins-government-funding
  2. Upcoming free entoLIVE webinars: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/entolive-webinars-74679
  3. Full list of courses and events from the Biological Recording Company: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-biological-recording-company-35982868173
  4. Proposed Condition Assessment Method for BNG by Digital Ecology: https://digital-ecology.co.uk/condition-assessment-method.html
Go to the Biodiversity Net Gain Virtual Symposium page

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Biodiversity Net Gain: The Wiltshire Council Perspective

Wiltshire Council have been moving from securing no net loss to net gain and offering solutions to developers to help deliver nature recovery across Wiltshire. Rachel Jones will discuss Wiltshire Council’s approach to Biodiversity Net Gain and how they have been offering solutions to developers to help deliver nature recovery across Wiltshire. These solutions include opportunities on our own land holding, working with wider landowners and farmers for strategic sites, and securing on-site enhancements on development sites. Wiltshire Council are also looking at how to combine solutions with wider community and environmental benefits and how to address the expected resourcing implications for the Council.

Q&A with Rachel Jones

Rachel Jones is the Ecology Manager at Wiltshire Council, leading on the Council’s strategy for Biodiversity Net Gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategy. This work covers development management, local plan review and advising on the Council on opportunities to work with the Council’s own land holding, as well as other land owners in the County. Rachel is also currently on secondment with the Planning Advisory Service as a principal consultant advising on nutrient neutrality.

Will your policy that refers to the integrity of local ecological networks mean that off-site delivery is going to be more likely to be delivered locally rather than elsewhere in England?

Hopefully. Our current local plan policy secures no net loss within the local ecological network, and for major development, net gain is required. Our current policy does not stipulate a percentage level. We will be updating that policy within our local plan review to specify a level of net gain and ensure that the integrity of the local ecological network is maintained. Regarding how we draft our policy going forward, from an ecology perspective we would want to try and really focus on local nature recovery and ecological networks. As a council, we will need to wait for statutory guidance, and the local plan policy to be reviewed to ensure that local function is maintained. From my perspective, having a supply of projects in the right areas, certainly for our mitigation solutions, means that people are generally willing to deliver locally.

How much conversation is there with neighbouring counties regarding landscape-scale delivery considering some important habitats cross administrative boundaries?

We are aware that we need to think regionally for nature recovery and it will be critical. For example, with nutrient neutrality a lot of councils have experience of working across boundaries to meet the legal requirements due to the fact that this encompasses catchments that go beyond local authority boundaries. We will need a similar mechanism for BNG/planning in terms of those larger-scale projects.

Is the requirement for additional resource going to be a shift from application scrutiny to monitoring and compliance, and how do you see that changing over time as BNG develops?

I think that over time efficiency will improve in both how we assess metrics (as everyone gets more familiar with it) and the way the information gets submitted. Having more resource, monitoring and tracking is what is likely to be needed from the legislation as historically this has not been an area that is a statutory function. I don’t see it being a shift – I think we will simply require more resource.

As the land owned by Wiltshire Council and the other landowners that you are working with will need to go on the national register, do you still believe there is a need for a local register?

We are still waiting for guidance on the monitoring of the national register, and if this will be local authorities checking the monitoring. From our local perspective, we will be signposting local sites (on the national register) on our website to steer developers. We obviously won’t be able to use them exclusively.

Further info and links

  1. Phosphorus and nitrogen mitigation – Wiltshire Council: https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/article/6209/Phosphorus-and-nitrogen-mitigation
  2. A Framework for Landscape-scale Conservation in Wiltshire and Swindon (wiltshirewildlife.org): https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/sites/default/files/2022-08/landscape_conservation_framework_wiltshire_swindon2013%20%281%29.pdf
  3. Upcoming free entoLIVE webinars: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/entolive-webinars-74679
  4. Full list of courses and events from the Biological Recording Company: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-biological-recording-company-35982868173
  5. Proposed Condition Assessment Method for BNG by Digital Ecology: https://digital-ecology.co.uk/condition-assessment-method.html
Go to the Biodiversity Net Gain Virtual Symposium page

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Delivering Biodiversity Net Gain for Infrastructure Projects

To design Biodiversity Net Gain, Ecologists must balance the unit calculation of the Biodiversity Metric with the Metric’s trading rules, whilst ensuring the habitat creation and enhancement of a BNG design are feasible, will endure for at least 30 years and contribute towards conservation. Julia explores this balance, with key considerations and pitfalls to avoid for BNG to genuinely deliver long-term and meaningful outcomes on the ground.

Q&A with Dr Julia Baker

Dr Julia Baker CEnv MCIEEM is Head of Nature Services at Mott MacDonald, leading their Nature Positive initiatives. Julia has designed and delivered Biodiversity Net Gain on a variety of infrastructure projects including transport, housing and energy. Julia is the lead author of the UK’s Good Practice Principles on Biodiversity Net Gain and runs professional training courses on BNG and the Biodiversity Metric.

Have the trading rules changed much between metrics 3.1 and 4?

The main change is that now trading rules must be followed. There has been uncertainty in previous metrics but now BNG is to achieve a minimum 10% increase in ‘habitat units’ in ways that meet the trading rules.

Are the irreplaceable habitats that you referenced defined well in the context of Biodiversity Net Gain or are we still waiting for further guidance?

There is a limited list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework. Also Technical Note 3 in the Biodiversity Net Gain: Good Practice Principles for Development, A Practical Guide provides guidance on identifying irreplaceable habitats. However, we do not have a complete list although my understanding is that Defra or Natural England will be publishing a list of irreplaceable habitats later this year.

Do you think that climate resilience should be built into the metric?

The Biodiversity metric is one tool for BNG and to demonstrate change in biodiversity that results from a development. My preference is that climate resilience is not included into the metric, but we need to absolutely make sure that climate resilience is factored into the BNG design and management plan

What is the link between the metric and the 2023 environmental targets in biodiversity?

I think it is up to us to really join the dots. We need to look at all of these environmental targets and consider what is the contribution that biodiversity net gain can make to those. My preference would be that there is more of a connection between those targets and BNG – BNG as a policy doesn’t act in isolation. We, in industry, need to think about the Green Infrastructure Standards, the Urban Greening Factor – it all works out when you think of these things together.

Further info and links

  1. The Biodiversity Metric 4.0 (JP039): http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6049804846366720
  2. Upcoming free entoLIVE webinars: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/entolive-webinars-74679
  3. Full list of courses and events from the Biological Recording Company: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-biological-recording-company-35982868173
  4. Proposed Condition Assessment Method for BNG by Digital Ecology: https://digital-ecology.co.uk/condition-assessment-method.html
Go to the Biodiversity Net Gain Virtual Symposium page

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Biodiversity Net Gain: A Policy and Metric Update

Natural England provided an update on the forthcoming mandatory approach to biodiversity net gain, encompassing the latest Government policy announcements and what these mean for ecologists, developers, planners and land owners. They also provided an update about the biodiversity metric that will be used for mandatory biodiversity net gain.

Dr Nicholas Ian White works across Government (national and local), and with developers, NGOs and academia to advance policy, practice and standards around net gain (biodiversity, natural capital and environmental). The current focus of his work is on biodiversity net gain legislation, the biodiversity metric and biodiversity net gain standards and guidance. He is also working on the evolving approach to marine net gain.

Q&A with Nick White

Dr Nicholas Ian White works across Government (national and local), and with developers, NGOs and academia to advance policy, practice and standards around net gain (biodiversity, natural capital and environmental). The current focus of his work is on biodiversity net gain legislation, the biodiversity metric and biodiversity net gain standards and guidance. He is also working on the evolving approach to marine net gain.

Does onsite BNG also need to be delivered for 30 years?

That’s a good question. Onsite doesn’t need to be legally secured, it would be secured through planning conditions.  It depends on whether it is classified as significant or not. Under the primary legislation, there is a reference to significance and we’re still waiting for Defra to clarify what is meant by significant. 

Is there any update as to when we might see the drafts of the regulations that are going to be implemented?

Not at the moment. We also have a period of local elections coming up which will introduce a period of purdah and mean we can’t release any guidance during that period. When purdah comes to an end, there will be quite a lot of stuff coming out in May.

Presentation Slides

bng-policy-metric-updateDownload

Further info and links

  1. Defra BNG consultation response: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-biodiversity-net-gain-regulations-and-implementation/outcome/government-response-and-summary-of-responses
  2. Defra stacking and bundling guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/combining-environmental-payments-biodiversity-net-gain-bng-and-nutrient-mitigation
  3. Defra ‘collections’ page – where they will be posting Govt BNG guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/biodiversity-net-gain
  4. Defra metric consultation response: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/defra-net-gain-consultation-team/technicalconsultation_biodiversitymetric/results/offsen_consultation_biodiversity_metric_gov_response_mar20231.pdf
  5. Biodiversity Metric 4.0 – NE site: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6049804846366720#:~:text=The%20Biodiversity%20Metric%204.0%20-%20JP039%20Biodiversity%20Metric,the%20previously%20published%20biodiversity%20metric%203.1%20%28April%202022%29.
  6. Small Sites Metric – NE site: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6047259574927360
  7. NE blog post about the development of metric 4.0 and the future: https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/28/measuring-biodiversity-net-gain-publication-of-biodiversity-metric-4-0/
  8. BNG Brochure published by NE: https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/183/2022/04/BNG-Brochure_Final_Compressed-002.pdf
  9. CIRIA/CIEEM/IEMA – Biodiversity Net Gain: Good Practice Principle for Development, A Practical Guide: https://cieem.net/resource/biodiversity-net-gain-good-practice-principles-for-development-a-practical-guide/
  10. Process for Designing and Implementing Biodiversity Net Gain BS8683:2021 British standard: https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/process-for-designing-and-implementing-biodiversity-net-gain-specification/standard
  11. Upcoming free entoLIVE webinars: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/entolive-webinars-74679
  12. Full list of courses and events from the Biological Recording Company: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-biological-recording-company-35982868173
  13. Proposed Condition Assessment Method for BNG by Digital Ecology: https://digital-ecology.co.uk/condition-assessment-method.html
Go to our Biodiversity Net Gain Virtual Symposium page

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