Bats,Wildlife and Green Corridors

[nightshade]

I have been trying to plot the green corridors around me to work
-out why I get so many types of birds and animals here.It is very
useful and adds weight to arguments over proposed developments
Unfortunately my ideas are outstripped by my lack of know how
can anybody give any useful advice? the main drawback is lack of
up to date aerial photographs maps give a skeleton but photos put
meat on them Google earth covers only patches
I had considered using a kite but was advised against this due to
the health and safety aspect in built up areas

[leon-b]

give multimap a go, i think they do ariel photos
leon

[thunder]

Your local flying club may take pictures for you, or take you up so you can do your own!

henrya

[nightshade]

Thank you Leon I will take a look at that site
Thank you Henrya that may also be an option (Bristol Airport is not far)

[nightshade]

Out of curiosity does anyone else have a similar project?

[Hornbeam]

Yes I'm looking at my corridors and am using Google Earth. It is patchy but I am fortunate that my area is well covered and in sharp focus . The big advantage of aerial photos over a map is that the gardens appear green instead of whatever colour mapmakers assign to built up areas. The sheer amount of green is astonishing and the unofficial "woodland" of field edges, street trees and waste land (even some factory sites) does give a better idea than a map can. Railways, canals, footpaths, blocks of gardens, cemeteries, parks, golf courses are of greater wildlife value than the massive arable fields in my area. With official nature reserves sometimes little more than green museums isolated from one another like oasis in vast green agro-chemical deserts - our unofficial green habitats are of utmost importance and deserve study and protection.

How do animals move around and what happens to them if the corridors are blocked or destroyed?

[svenrufus]

Depending on the size of the area you are looking at, there is no substitute for going out for a stomp and checking things out for yourself. Bats can find traditional flight lines disrupted by relatively small gaps appearing in hedges. I'm not a bat expert, but heard this in a talk recently - some species are more vulnerable than others, and the gaps talked about were not much more than a few metres. Would such a gap show up on the aerial photos? Checking on foot can pick up on a lot of useful info about the condition of hedges also, such as how much cover it provides at ground level, which affects a whole different range of wildlife potentially using the corridor.

As for sources of aerial photos, I worked on a project a while back in which we used aerial photos held at the County Council - you could try there, or perhaps at your local Wildlife Trust/Record Centre. The overlapping photos we used could be viewed through a stereo viewer and the extra info you get from this about the height of a boundary feature was astonishng. Any data that you get would be well received in return by most people you talk to about this.

You could also see if there is a local Hedgerow Survey group going, who might have good data already, or again, would be glad of any feedback you could give them.

Have fun
Sven

[Tursiops2]

Much of Avon/N. Somerset was photographed by the Luftwaffe during the War, and an extensive aerial photographic survey was carried out in the 70s. I don't know who holds the photos, but archaeologists use them a lot, so enquire through the County Council, Bristol or Bath City Museums, or English Heritage.
T2

[nightshade]

Originally Posted by Hornbeam

Yes I'm looking at my corridors and am using Google Earth. It is patchy but I am fortunate that my area is well covered and in sharp focus . The big advantage of aerial photos over a map is that the gardens appear green instead of whatever colour mapmakers assign to built up areas. The sheer amount of green is astonishing and the unofficial "woodland" of field edges, street trees and waste land (even some factory sites) does give a better idea than a map can. Railways, canals, footpaths, blocks of gardens, cemeteries, parks, golf courses are of greater wildlife value than the massive arable fields in my area. With official nature reserves sometimes little more than green museums isolated from one another like oasis in vast green agro-chemical deserts - our unofficial green habitats are of utmost importance and deserve study and protection.

How do animals move around and what happens to them if the corridors are blocked or destroyed?

This is why I think mapping out the corridors is so important,the link can be demonstrated if a development threatens any part of it.People can demonstrate that the area is a part of a larger habitat

[Hornbeam]

Very much agree, Nightshade - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.