Lee Brady's Recording Blog

Google Tools to Study Deforestation

In conjunction with the Copenhagen climate meeting, the search giant has demonstrated software tools that use its archive of satellite imagery to track deforestation, hoping they'll help nations prevent the liberation of the carbon sequestered in its forests.

via arstechnica.com

 

Looking forward to seeing these in action. 

On Track for Changes in Ashford

There are three main areas where businesses can base themselves around the town of Ashford.

Eureka Business Park, next to junction 9 of the M20, has planning permission for one million square feet of office accommodation. 150,000 square feet of that is built and currently occupied. Funding has been secured for improvements to junction 9 which will enable Eureka Business Park to expand. These will start in spring 2010.

There are plans to develop a commercial quarter in the centre of Ashford with high quality public space and office buildings. Judith Armitt, Director of Ashford's Future, the partnership in charge of the town's expansion, says these buildings will be "taller perhaps than Ashford is used to".

The Sevington and Waterbrook areas are being developed for industries with large space requirements.

via news.bbc.co.uk

Many of the areas proposed for future expansion include significant populations of great crested newt and reptiles. If development proposals are to go ahead without unnecessary delays, the time required to implement appropriate survey and mitigation works must not be under-estimated. 

Widening Plans for A21 Unveiled

Plans for a £125m scheme to widen a bottleneck on the main road between London and Hastings in East Sussex have been released.

The Highways Agency has published details of the upgrade to the A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury in Kent, making a the road a dual carriageway.

via news.bbc.co.uk

Key Site Register for Kent

In an attempt to identify the most important sites in Kent for amphibians and reptiles, KRAG has created a Key Site Register. Full details of the register and the criteria used to identify sites can be found on the KRAG website. 

Key Amphibian Sites

Metadata associated with each site can be viewed by clicking the respective icon. We are working on creating individual site plans (to illustrate site boundaries, ponds, hibernacula etc).  

  

If a site plan is available a map icon that looks like the image above will appear in the metadata bubble. If no site plan is yet available, the map icon will be replaced by the KRAG Best Practice Logo. 

View Larger Map

 

Criteria for Amphibians:

Defining Key Amphibian Sites usually concerns breeding ponds. However, the criteria must take into consideration important terrestrial habitat. KRAG has therefore developed the following system that borrows heavily from the SSSI scores described by Trevor Beebee and Robin Grayson in the Herpetofauna Workers Manual (apparently now out of print, but may be republished)

(1) All sites with natterjack toad.

(2) All sites with an exceptional (or large) population or metapopulation of great crested newt.

(3) All sites with a good or exceptional population of common toad.

(4) Sites with amphibian assemblages that score 5 or more on the SSSI scoring system described by Beebee and Grayson (1998). Greater emphasis to be placed on sites with the highest scores.

(5) The boundary of a Key Amphibian Site may be defined as an area of land within a specified ownership that may include a single waterbody or a collection of waterbodies that supports a metapopulation of one or more species.

(6) The boundary of a Key Amphibian Site may be defined as an area of land within a specified ownership that does not include a waterbody, but does include terrestrial habitat that is considered important for one or more species (particularly for common toad).

(7) The boundary of a Key Amphibian Site may be defined as land within a specified Survey Region that may be owned and/or managed by one or more landowners. The site may include a single waterbody, a collection of waterbodies that support a metapopulation of one or more species and/or terrestrial habitat that is considered important for one or more species.

(8) The boundary of the Key Amphibian Site should include all areas of suitable terrestrial habitat that are located within 250 m of each waterbody that is occupied by the species (or species assemblage) of interest. Such terrestrial habitat is considered critical to the functioning of a metapopulation.

(9) Where a waterbody that is occupied by the species (or species assemblage) of interest is located outside of a Key Amphibian Site boundary, but situated within 500 m of another occupied waterbody that is already located within a Key Amphibian Site boundary, both waterbodies and their associated terrestrial habitat should be considered for inclusion within the Key Amphibian Site boundary.

(10) Key Amphibian Sites should relate to waterbodies and terrestrial habitat that is located on the proximal side of significant dispersal barriers.

Key Reptile Sites

In November 1999 Froglife published the excellent Reptile Survey Advice Sheet that deals with how to conduct reptile surveys and interpret their results. There hasn't been anything published since that has offered a better review. One of the outstanding achievements of the Froglife Reptile Survey advice sheet was in devising a simple, but meaningful tool by which reptile sites could be formally assessed. Such survey assessments led to the promotion of Key Reptile Sites.

The Key Reptile Site Register is a mechanism designed to promote the safeguard of important reptile sites.

 

View Larger Map

 

Criteria for Reptiles:

KRAG have adopted and slightly amended the Froglife methodology to create criteria used to identify key reptile sites.

(1) All sites with sand lizard. 

(2) The site supports three or more reptile species. 

(3) The site supports two snake species. 

(4) The site supports an exceptional population of one species. 

(5) The site supports an assemblage of species scoring at least four, based on the relative population scoring system described by Froglife (1999). 

(6) The site is of particular regional importance due to local rarity. In Kent, such sites will include (but not be exclusive to) any areas that support a ‘good’ or ‘exceptional’ population of adder, based on the population scoring system described by Froglife (1999). 

(7) The boundary of a Key Reptile Site may be defined as an area of land within a specified ownership. 

(8) The boundary of a Key Reptile Site may be defined as land within a specified Survey Region that may be owned and/or managed by one or more landowners. 

(9) Greater emphasis will be placed on promoting designated sites where available data indicates the presence of a breeding population. Breeding will be determined by the identification of eggs, neonates and/or juveniles. 

(10) Greater emphasis will be placed on promoting designated sites that include terrestrial habitat features that are deemed of particular importance to reptiles. Such features may include hibernation areas, nesting sites and foraging areas. 

 

[and just in case you haven't guessed yet, the two maps are dynamic and will always show the most up to date information]

Borough Green Records

I had a meeting with Jo Richards earlier today to discuss various KRAG matters. On the agenda was the fabulous effort that Jo has put into collecting records from the area around Borough Green. Jo has distributed many recording forms in the area and we now have many submitted records (with information still coming in). Although some of the records have been added to the system, there are still many more to include. Jo has taken one of the KRAG gumdrops away to help with the data entry. 

Jo suggested that it would be great if we could illustrate all of the records for the local parish council. Although it is easy to use Google Earth to produce a static map that can be saved as a jpg and emailed, I thought that it would be fantastic if we were able to display live data in an embedded Google Map like the one below. 

 

View Larger Map

 

I've shown this type of map before for other projects. What's really special about this one, is that the data is dynamic. As the KRAG database is updated, information can be fed through to the KRAG server and the above map is updated when the browser window is refreshed. In other words, the map will always show the most up to date information. 

There are quite a few applications for this type of dynamic map. Expect a few more blog posts on this in the near future! 

British Geology Maps Now Free to Explore

The [British Geological Society] website allows professional and amateur geologists to pull the information into virtual globe software which enables them to manipulate it further and mesh it with other types of data.

At the 1:50,000 scale, geological details down to about 50m on the surface can be resolved - essentially street level. The BGS says this is a world first in terms of releasing country-wide information.

via news.bbc.co.uk

What a fantastic resource! Very useful to view alongside species distribution data in Google Earth.

Promote Your Business with KRAG

Ecological consultancies that sign up to the Corporate Membership Scheme promoted by Kent Reptile and Amphibian Group are entitled to significant discounts on database search fees. In addition to other benefits, Corporate Members that regularly contribute records to KRAG are entitled to FREE database search fees and FREE access to KRAG's online risk assessment tool. 

The database search results generated by the KRAG database have now been updated to clearly identify the organisation that contributed each record. As an added bonus, the kml files that are provided for viewing in Google Earth also include the logo of the data provider. Clicking the logo takes a user directly to the organisation's website. 

 

  

 

This is an excellent way for Corporate Members to let everybody know that they are making a significant contribution to KRAG's recording efforts. There are currently 7 organisations signed up to KRAG's Corporate Membership Scheme, but at the moment only one of them contributes records to KRAG. Can you guess which one it is... 

Kent Police Exceeded Powers

Police in Kent have at last acknowledged that arresting people for being too tall might not be a very good idea.

via www.theregister.co.uk

Trying to explain to a passing policeman just why I am stood in the bushes wearing thigh high rubber boots (aka 'waders') with a lamp on my head, has in the past made me a trifle concerned for my liberty ("So sir, you claim to be looking for newts..."). Hopefully I won't now be arrested for being too tall whilst doing it ! 

Bournemouth Hibernating Reptiles Update

The consultant involved in the A338 roadworks that I commented on yesterday gave me a ring last night to let me know he was pretty unhappy with the Daily Mail's reporting of the project. I asked for a quote which was kindly provided. A more accurate description of the works can be found on the consultant's website and is reproduced below for information. 

 

Works are under way to clear scrub and thousands of trees on the A338 verges to make way for the roadworks in summer/autumn 2010. The tree clearance is essential prior to the roadworks and the topographic survey. The clearance has to take place over the winter to avoid bird-nesting season which begins in March. The road works will rebuild 10.5km of road and 21km of drainage ditches along the verges. After the trees have been felled, reptile-exclusion fencing will be installed along 7km of verge where there is reptile-rich neighbouring heathland. Then from March to June 2010, reptiles will be removed from the verges by CGO Ecology Ltd. Most will be transferred to adjacent land, but some will be moved to special 'receptor' sites elsewhere. Installation of the reptile fencing and the reptile capture itself should not involve any lane closures or traffic disruption; just cones on the verges.

 

So there will in fact be no 'rescue' of hibernating reptiles. 

My initial scepticism of the Mail's ability to accurately report on wildlife mitigation appears to be well founded. 

Ordnance Survey Maps to Go Online

Ordnance Survey map data will be freely available online to everybody from 2010, the Government has announced.

via news.bbc.co.uk

 
And about time too!

I'm assuming that this will mean less restrictive licensing terms for using the current APIs in websites and perhaps an expansion of the GetaMap service?