Issue 4 – Summer 2020
Welcome to the Summer 2020 edition
We hope you and your families are well.
If you have any suggestions for future topics to cover, please contact [email protected].
Find us online at www.nonnativespecies.org
News
Environmental Audit Committee
Government has published its response to the Environmental Audit Committee Invasive Species Inquiry report. View the response.
Management measures consultation
The following consultation: Invasive alien species: management measures for widely spread species in England and Wales has closed. Defra and the Welsh Government have published their joint response here.
Pathway work
Two working groups have developed pathway action plans for angling and boating, expected for consultation later this year.
WaREN
Funded by the Welsh Government’s Enabling Natural Resources and Well-being grant, the Wales Resilient Ecological Network (WaREN) is devising a collaborative framework to help public and private bodies and community groups to work together to tackle the significant impacts of INNS in Wales.
WaREN is the first time a collaborative strategic approach of this kind has been used to tackle INNS pan Wales. The WaREN is keen to engage with organisations, businesses and community groups with an interest in INNS in Wales.
Find out more in the July Wales INNS Newsletter that will be published here.
Invasive Species Week 2020
Invasive Species Week 2020, planned for May 2020, was postponed due to COVID-19. We hope to be able to hold a smaller initiative in the Autumn, but this is currently under review. Contact [email protected] to be added to the mailing list for updates.
GB Stakeholder Forum
For the first year since it was established in 2004 the GB Stakeholder Forum, planned for June 2020, could not take place. It may be postponed until 2021.
Recording non-native species
Remember to look out for Asian hornet this summer. Download an ID sheet here.
Record any sightings using the following: Asian Hornet Watch app for iPhone / Android
Online reporting form
[email protected].
Predicting future invasive plants
You can also take part in the BSBI’s plant alert project aimed at discovering which garden plants have the potential to become invasive and problematic in future.
COVID-19: safe activities to do at home
Earlier this year we put together some suggestions for activities to help prevent the spread of invasive species, that people could safely do under lockdown.
> Online training
> Educational activities for children
> Recording non-native species
> Biosecurity planning
Some of you have shared other resources that might be useful to others, and updates on what you’ve been doing during lockdown. We’ve included some of these below.
Online training
INNS e-learning launched for SEPA staff
From Jo Long, SEPA
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has launched an INNS e-learning package for staff, based on the NNSS e-learning but tailored to Scotland. The training is made up of an introduction to the issue of INNS to raise general awareness among all staff, and instructions on recording sightings in Scotland through the preferred reporting channel, Scotland’s environment website, which links to iRecord. Most importantly, biosecurity training has been incorporated into our mandatory health and safety training for field staff, to ensure that anyone working outdoors follows the principles of Check Clean Dry.
With only essential fieldwork being possible at the moment, we’re encouraging staff to make the most of the enforced desk time to complete the training during lockdown.
Links to online training resources
Learn about invasive plants and animals, how to identify them, and how to prevent their spread, with our free online training. It’s particularly useful for anyone that works or volunteers outside.
Biosecurity training for University students and staff (developed by University of Leeds).
Invasive non-native species and biosecurity for retailers, pond consultants and fishkeepers (developed by OATA).
Educational activities for children
Scottish Invasive Species Initiative Alien Detectives activity pack
From Vicky Hilton, SISI
As well as working with local communities and volunteers to remove invasive non-native species (INNS) across a huge area of Scotland, part of the remit of the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative (SISI) is to raise public awareness about invasive species and their impacts. A key audience for this is young people and over the last two years the SISI team have worked on a range of projects to engage schools and youth groups.
One such project is the production of a range of educational resources and last month the SISI project was delighted to launch ‘Alien Detectives’ – a fun and educational online resource packed full of activities, presentations, worksheets, crafts, games and puzzles.
Originally designed as a school education pack, the situation with the Coronavirus lockdown gave the SISI team an opportunity (and the time thanks to homeworking!) to create something larger and more diverse to appeal to a wider range of people and which could be used in a variety circumstances - in the classroom, at home, in the garden, on local walks etc. – including those in the period of COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing.
The resource is designed so that no prior knowledge of INNS is needed to get involved. To help structured learning the activities are laid out in themes including; discovering what aliens are, how they got here, what makes them successful, how to prevent them taking over and how to find and capture them.
Each theme has several activities and games and in addition there is a whole section devoted to fun crafts, puzzles and games - from invasive species battleships, invasive top trumps and making an exploding seed pod to crosswords, pictograms and wordsearches. There is also a certificate for those who have earned the sought-after status of ‘Alien Detective’.
All the ‘Alien Detective’ resources can be found at www.invasivespecies.scot/alien-detectives
If anyone has any INNS related activities or games they’d like to share to add into the resource pack then please drop the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative team a line on [email protected]. And of course do let others know about these Alien Detectives resources – they are there to be used.
Medway Valley Countryside Partnership
The Medway Valley Countryside Partnership have produced an illustrated book to educate young children about some of the invasive non-native species that are a problem on our riverbanks. Hard copies are also available at a cost of £3, please contact [email protected] .
Download more fun, free activities for children here to teach them about invasive plants and animals.
Invasive species management
Tweed Invasives Project
From Emily Iles, Tweed Forum Project Officer
The Tweed Invasives Project got underway in 2002 as a result of strong public demand to tackle problem of riparian INNS species in the catchment. The project has now reached its 18th year and is increasingly seen as a blueprint for others to follow. As the total annual cost of INNS to the British economy is estimated at approximately £1.7 billion, there is a big incentive to put measures in place to see the problem tackled.
Giant hogweed, identified as one of the biggest threats to the River Tweed in 2002.
Drawing down on the cumulative knowledge gained from the Tweed Invasives Project, we have published a new good practice manual to INNS control: The Tweed Invasives Project: 18 Years of Catchment-wide Control. The document presents each stage of the project and how it evolved over time. The hope is that it can be available as a guidance document for other organisations to follow, who are also embarking on INNS projects.
Visit their website to find out more.
CABI biocontrol update
CABI have published their latest update on progress with weed biocontrol updates. Download a copy here.
RAPID LIFE
Due to COVID-19, RAPID LIFE's end of project conference, "RAPID Revelations!" will now be going virtual and will be held in early July. More information coming soon - please keep an eye on the RAPID webpages: www.nonnativespecies.org/rapid.
Contact us
If you have any suggestions for future topics to cover, please email us at [email protected]
Find us at www.nonnativespecies.org and for updates on the campaigns, follow @CheckCleanDryGB and
@InvasiveSp