Toby and Stewart were out with the Cheshire Bat Group on Sunday when the group found the first confirmed Lesser Horseshoe Bat roost in Cheshire for a number of years.

The group found a single bat free hanging in a cave during part of the regular annual round of monitoring surveys. A subsequent search of a nearby cave found a further single lesser horseshoe bat roosting.

All in all a good days work for the group and good find for Ged Ryan who spotted the first bat.

Keep an eye on the groups facebook page for more info.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheshire-Bat-Group/286189644750950

Worms will instinctively rise to the surface during heavy rain to avoid drowning in their underground burrows. The sound of heavy rainfall, or the vibration caused by the rain hitting the surface are mimicked by the gull’s ‘dance’. When they rise to the surface it’s an easy meal for the gull.

Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) is the national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes. The Code aims to reduce our carbon emissions and create homes that are more sustainable. The Code measures the sustainability of a new home against nine categories:

1. Energy and carbon dioxide
2. Water
3. Materials
4. Surface water runoff
5. Waste
6. Pollution
7. Health and well-being
8. Management
9. Ecology

A total of 9 credits are available in Category 9 (Ecology), representing 12% of the points contribution in total. The approximate weighted value of each ecological credit is 1.33, second only to that of Category 2 (Water) at 1.50. The aim of Category 9 is to:

• promote development on land that already has a limited value to wildlife, and discourage the development of ecologically valuable sites.
• enhance the ecological value of a site.
• promote the protection of existing ecological features from substantial damage during the clearing of the site and the completion of construction works.
• minimise reductions and promote an improvement in ecological value.
• promote the most efficient use of a building’s footprint by ensuring that land and material use is optimised across the development.

Chartered membership of the Landscape Institute is an internationally recognised badge of excellence, formally recognising a member’s technical and professional competence as a landscape architect in the UK.

Landscape design is an important part of any development project and has a major impact on the final appearance of a project as a whole. Good landscape design can improve the working or living environment for people using the area and landscape design can also help to improve the quality of habitats for local species of wildlife.

Examples of landscape design by United Environmental Services Ltd:

• Landscape plan for Lingley Mere Business Park, Warrington
• Landscape design in Knutsford, Cheshire
• Ecological appraisal and landscape design in Loughton, Essex

This is an injured hedgehog which is being cared for by Virginia at Warrington Hedgehog Rescue. The hog is called Bridget and is a permanent resident as she has injuries which cannot heal. Bridget came in to the centre in a terrible state and took a log time to recover from her injuries and infections. She has lost one of her eyes and has a permanently broken back leg which will never heal. Despite all of this she is a very happy hog, and that is down to the care and attention she has received from Virginia and her team of volunteers at Warrington Hedgehog Rescue.

The centre always needs willing volunteers to help with looking after the injured hogs and donations of cash to buy supplies or dog food (no fish flavours!) are always welcome.

A link to the site is below, get in touch any amount of help will be gratefully received.

https://sites.google.com/site/warringtonhedgehogrescue/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Warrington-Hedgehog-Rescue/172294019452978

David Williams, Chairman of the Badger Trust said: “We are clearly very disappointed by this decision but now that it has been made, we will be studying it with our legal advisors to determine what action we shall take.”

It's a snowy day here in the UES office

To cope with the lack of insects present during winter bats are able to hibernate. They can survive for months on the fat stores they have built up during the summer. During October bats seek suitable hibernation sites, and begin periods of torpor. Bats choose these sites (often called hibernacula) to provide the optimum environment for their hibernation.

Bats often hibernate in disused buildings, old trees or caves, where the temperate is generally below 10°C and remains constant. Hibernating is a state of inactivity characterised by a lower metabolic rate, slower breathing and a drop in body temperature almost to that of the surrounding environment. Once they have entered hibernation they are defenceless against danger, as it takes half an hour or more for a bat to revert back to its normal alertness after being woken. Bats continue to hibernate throughout winter until the weather warms in March / April, when they begin to come out of hibernation and are hungry and active.

Bats are protected by UK and European legislation therefore any action or development which has the potential to impact on bats or their habitats must be carried out under a European Protected Species (EPS) licence issued by Natural England. Bat surveys must be conducted to provide information on the type and number of bats which will be affected, how the bats use the site and what impact your development will have on any bats using the area.

Read the full article on the links below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/christmas-island-bat-months-from-extinction-1677667.html

Or some basic info on bats here

http://www.ues.org.uk/species/bats

Starlings flocking and coming into roost at Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Filmed by Stewart while walking the dog in November.

Most of the starlings were coming in from the east along the reserve from the direction of Runcorn and joining the main flock. The birds were coming in low in a steady trickle. When they eventually started to drop from the sky and pour into the reed beds a sparrowhawk turned up and waited perched on the ground between two banks of reeds.

We decided to leave before the sparrowhawk got a meal. The aerial display was well worth watching and is always an amazing sight.

Ex-battery hens. Source: http://www.bhwt.org.uk/cms/

An estimated 24 million egg-laying chickens are kept in battery cages in the UK at any one time. As the impending ban on barren battery cages draws closer many farmers are looking to empty their barren cages.

United Environmental Services Ltd think all laying hens deserve to enjoy natural freedoms whilst they lay tasty eggs for us to eat; that means freedom to roam on green pasture, freedom to enjoy sunshine, freedom to scratch for insects and freedom to lay an egg in a nest.

The British Hen Welfare Trust is looking for volunteers to take care of the last UK battery hens. If like UES you think you can care for some ex-battery hens, register online on the British Hen Welfare Trust website.