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The Gwent Otter Spotters Group is up and running! If
you would like to join please e-mail Gemma Bode,
Conservation Manager
gbode@gwentwildlife.cix.co.uk or phone the Trust on 01600 740358.
Spring 2006 events programme
After our first two meetings in July
and September last year our group went into a bit of a winter
hibernation – apologies to all those who were looking forward to
getting out in the autumn to carry out some surveys. Well, with the
winter weather making the thought of spending quality time on the
river bank about as tempting as wrestling an eel out of the jaws of
a hungry otter, it is time to think of the spring and what we might
get up to when the sun finally decides to make a reappearance.
There are a number of things which
were being organised for the autumn which we are now hoping to carry
out fairly early in 2006 and we are keen to get out and about at
least a couple of times over the next few months. In the meantime if
you’re really keen you can tell us your “adopt-a-stream/canal/pond”
area and we’ll get the maps, risk assessments and survey forms to
you ASAP to get out and about whenever you like (weather and
conditions permitting of course!). |
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Survey of the Ebbw and Llwyd
The first of the two organised group events
we are hoping to run sometime in April. This will involve pairing up (or
larger groups if you prefer) and going to check on a series of points along
the River Llwyd and River Ebbw for otter signs. This is a simple “bridge”
type survey we will be carrying out with the blessing of the Environment
Agency as part of their South Wales Otter Survey and the aim is to cover as
much of these rivers as we can over one weekend. Each “team” will be given
around 10 to 15 points along a section of the River and be asked to check
each point (which will be easily accessible) for otter signs before moving
on to the next one. The beauty of doing this in one day and recording how
“fresh” the signs are is that it should give us a good idea of the overall
otter activity on the river system and an idea of roughly how many otters we
might have – something ordinary stretch surveys don’t really give us. If
you’re interested in this can you please let us know and give an indication
of which weekends you might be available in April.
Survey of the Usk
The second event we are hoping to run in May
is a more traditional survey where we go out in pairs again but cover as
much of the selected area as possible looking for signs and, ideally,
habitat. The area we’ve picked for this outing is the Usk south of
Abergavenny. We’re hoping to cover the main river between Llanfoist and
Clytha Park and as many of the tributaries as we can manage between the Usk
and the Trothy to the east and the Usk and the Mon and Brecon canal to the
west. As well as collecting useful information about otter activity/presence
and habitat, this will be useful in two additional ways; it will enable us
to search some very good habitat which turned up little sign of otter
activity in a recent partial survey and also to look at possible activity
between three key corridors – the Canal, the River Usk and, via the Trothy,
the River Wye. Again, if you are interested, drop us a line with an
indication of which May days you can make.
Training days
We will have time to quickly go through the
various survey methodologies before each of the above but it would be really
good to get us familiar with the forms etc. before we start. So with this in
mind we’d like to try and organise a couple of informal training events in
March. The easiest way to do this is to give you all the dates and locations
now and then you can turn up on the day if you feel like! As a note of
caution, please give Gemma a call before the event just to confirm it’s
still on!
Sunday 19th March – Newport, (Canal
centre at 14 locks – meet 10.00 am)
Saturday 1st April – Abergavenny (Car
park to north of Castle meadows – meet 10.00 am )
Otter holt building
We are exploring the possibility of building
some artificial otter holts with the local Clean Rivers Team supported by
the Environment Agency and Keep Wales Tidy. We haven’t got any dates for
this yet but if you’re interested let us know.
For future screenings
Future areas we are keen to explore include
the next stretch of the Usk from Clytha park down to Usk town, the Gwent
levels and sea wall from Newport to Chepstow, and the heads of the valleys
from Abergavenny west towards Merthyr. We would also like to put some
quality time into the Gwent levels which may need several days to do it
justice. We’re also keen to go looking for water voles in this area so we
may try and get some training sorted as well.
All the best and happy spotting!
Kerry Rogers
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