Latest news with #RichardJefferies


BBC News
2 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Rare grey long-eared bat discovered at Devon's Seaton Wetlands
One of the UK's rarest mammals - a grey long-eared bat - has been discovered at a nature reserve in species, which had not been seen at Seaton Wetlands since 2013, was spotted at a guided bat walk event there earlier this long-eared bats are incredibly rare, according to Wild East Devon, which manages 10 nature reserves. Fewer than 1,000 of them are thought to remain across the UK, it said. "The diversity of bats at Seaton Wetlands is a strong sign of a thriving and healthy ecosystem," said Professor Fiona Matthews, chair of Mammal Conservation Europe. Exceptionally large ears Grey long-eared bats, known as Plecotus austriacus, are identified by their exceptionally large ears and distinguished from the more common brown long-eared bat by their "thumb size", Wild East Devon said."Seaton Wetlands and a few other local patches of farmland in East Devon offer a species-rich wet grassland, supporting the moths, crane flies and midges which bats rely heavily to feed on, making it the perfect place for the grey long-eared to forage," the organisation Mathews said bats were a "vital part" of the UK's native wildlife. "They are an indicator species, meaning their presence tells us a lot about the health of the environment," she said. A 'fantastic accolade' The discovery was a "fantastic accolade for the district", according to Councillor Richard Jefferies, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Nature and Climate."It demonstrates the remarkable work the East Devon District Council Countryside Team undertake to support wildlife restoration and conservation at each of our nature reserves," he East Devon said 14 of the 16 bat species found in Devon have been recorded at the Seaton site, including other rarities like Bechstein's bat, greater horseshoe and natures reserves are managed by Wild East Devon, from Axminster to Exmouth, including the award-winning Seaton Wetlands.


The Guardian
07-04-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Country diary 1975: The British countryside may be heading for another revolution
MACHYNLLETH: Over the centuries more than one revolution has hit the British countryside. Far back there was the change from forests to a hedgeless prairie-type of landscape. Then came the enclosures and the whole lowland scene was hedged from end to end and divided into fields much smaller than those we know today. By the late 19th century some of the hedges were already going. But only in a small way, and Richard Jefferies who observed it was not alarmed. In 1886 he noted: 'The meadow farmers have not grubbed many hedges, only a few to enlarge the fields, too small before, by throwing two into one.' But how stricken Jefferies would have been by the hedge destruction of today. For there has never been a greater champion of the English hedge. 'Without hedges,' he wrote, 'England would not be England. Hedges thick and high and full of flowers and birds and living creatures.' Today there are vast areas which Jefferies would not be able to recognise as English countryside, so great has been the revolution of our time. But now are we already heading for another? Forty years on, when people are living on steak made of soya beans, will our stock farmers have all gone into retirement leaving half the land of Britain to go back to forests? Right now this might seem too fantastic an idea. But as the years bring in the age of the soya bean, things may start to look different.