Biodiversity News - Issue 40 - JNCC - Defra

Contents
Harmondsworth Moor Receives Award for
Biodiversity
British Airways has been awarded The Wildlife
Trusts’ Biodiversity Benchmark for the parkland surrounding
its Waterside headquarters at Heathrow.
The rigorously audited Biodiversity Benchmark has
been given to British Airways in recognition of its land
management of the Harmondsworth Moor site, a former
industrial waste site that has been transformed
into a haven for the natural environment and
visitors.
The pioneering Biodiversity Benchmark enables
organisations across the country to assess the
quality of their land management, improve their
contribution to the environment and demonstrate
their commitment to biodiversity. Similar to
other standards for management systems, the Biodiversity
Benchmark is composed of a set of detailed
requirements which an organisation
must be able to meet.
Harmondsworth Moor features several miles of
attractive riverbank, lakes, ponds and acres of
grassland and young woodland in which lives a
wealth of wildlife. Several rare and endangered
species have been identified, from insects
such as stag beetles to river and marshland
plants, bats, skylarks and harvest mice. These, and
many more plants and animals, are being encouraged
to enhance the parkland’s various habitats through
careful management of the area by the Parkland
Ranger team provided by contract partner, Glendale
Managed Services.
The site, which has already achieved ISO14001 and a
Green Flag award, was originally awarded the Biodiversity
Benchmark in October 2003 during a pilot
phase of the scheme. Since that time the award has
undergone an extensive review, making the Requirements
of the scheme significantly harder to achieve.
British Airways is just one of four companies so far to
have received the new award.
Amy Underwood, Biodiversity Benchmark
Manager, The Wildlife Trusts, said:
“Extensive and notable work has been carried
out at Harmondsworth to ensure the
site thrives as a haven for wildlife. To
have achieved the Biodiversity Benchmark shows
a genuine commitment by British Airways for the
long-term protection and enhancement of the
site.”
On receiving the award, Kevin Morris, Manager
Environmental Affairs, British Airways, said: "The
requirements for the 'new' Biodiversity Benchmark
have been considerably tightened up and it
has brought a new focus to everything we do in
the Parkland, and our management of it has definitely
benefited as a result."
More information on the Biodiversity Benchmark,
including the Requirements and how to apply, can
be found on www.biodiversitybenchmark.org
Friday 13 th – Lucky for Some as Osprey Chicks Take
to the Skies
Tay and Tummel, the two newly
named osprey chicks at the Scottish
Wildlife Trust’s (SWT) Loch of the
Lowes Wildlife Reserve near Dunkeld
took to the skies at 1.00 pm today
(Friday 13 July 2007) for their first-ever flight.
At 54 days old, the two remaining chicks from a brood
of three, have been growing at speed and their flying
skills have been improving on a daily basis with both
youngsters practicing flapping their wings and jumping
in the air over the last week. With a 50-foot drop
from the nest should one of the chicks take a tumble,
stress levels of staff and volunteers have been rising,
as the chicks readied themselves for their potentially
life-threatening first flying adventure.
they move ever-closer to adulthood. “The chicks
have finished their dark reptilian phase and if you
visit the webcam you can now see that they are
now quite light and speckled,” said Andrea Williams,
SWT’s Perthshire Reserves Ranger. The camera
used by staff and volunteers 24-hours a day to
monitor the birds against any potential harm, is simultaneously
beamed into the visitor centre and
Over the last few weeks significant changes have
taken place to the appearance of the osprey chicks as
© Michael Davidson
4 Biodiversity News October 2007