wes_von_papineäu
Our Roving Correspondent
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2006
- Messages
- 494
- Reaction score
- 10
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Country
- Canada
- Display Name
- Wes von Papineäu
YORKSHIRE POST (UK) 10 October 07 Round-up of bay newts starts (Mark Branagan)
The big round-up is under way to clear great crested newts from the site of the £140m redevelopment of Scarborough's rundown North Bay.
Developers have spent months digging and cultivating an array of wildlife ponds to transfer the newt population from the grounds of the former Mr Marvels and Kinderland fun parks and Northstead Manor Gardens.
Scarborough Council's private sector partners in the flagship Sands Project, Benchmark, have been astonished by the scale of the newt invasion of the resort's North Side.
Much of the land occupied by the newts is earmarked for holiday homes.
But because the newts are protected by law, the turning around of Scarborough's tourism economy has had to fit into their life cycle – meaning the developers have to trap them all before they go into hibernation for winter.
Benchmark consultant Gerry Stapleton said yesterday: "We are capturing them now in the forest area of Kinderland and Mr Marvels and they are being relocated and going on their holidays. We need licensed newt handlers on site to do the relocation.
"They put a fence around the site which is punctuated with buckets set in the ground and the newts run along the side of the fence and fall into the buckets.
"The habitats are all sorted out now and ready for them. I expect the work to be completed in the next couple of weeks, because if we leave them any longer they will go into hibernation.
"They have not be holding up the work – we have been working around them. This will be an ongoing operation though because we will have to start looking for habitats in other areas as we start work on the next phases."
The company had not expected the boating lake at Northstead Manor Gardens to attract newts because it is man- made. But because it was regularly drained for cleaning by Scarborough Council there are not many fish in it.
With few fish, which feed off baby newts, the population was allowed to thrive, spreading to other parts of the site. They soon moved into a former ball pond which had filled with water on Kinderland, and a metal tank which that was used for radio controlled boats at Mr Marvels.
Mr Stapleton said he was surprised by in how many places newts had been found. The new ponds, which after being dug needed six months to settle down and become overgrown, were expected to be full earlier than expected.
There was a timetable that the company had to follow in constructing the habitats to avoid them being interfered with by nesting birds and at one stage it was thought it would take until spring to relocate all the newts.
However, going to all the trouble was not just eco-friendly but made good business sense, Mr Stapleton explained. "I would not like to berate the newts entirely. The enhancement that wildlife brings to a site is significant."
Many of the newts will awake in spring after hibernation to a new life on the North Cliff Golf Course. But although they may be gone the developers still have to contend with a number of other wildlife issues during the work, including bat roosts, birds, and badger setts.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Roundup-of-bay-newts-starts.3364398.jp
The big round-up is under way to clear great crested newts from the site of the £140m redevelopment of Scarborough's rundown North Bay.
Developers have spent months digging and cultivating an array of wildlife ponds to transfer the newt population from the grounds of the former Mr Marvels and Kinderland fun parks and Northstead Manor Gardens.
Scarborough Council's private sector partners in the flagship Sands Project, Benchmark, have been astonished by the scale of the newt invasion of the resort's North Side.
Much of the land occupied by the newts is earmarked for holiday homes.
But because the newts are protected by law, the turning around of Scarborough's tourism economy has had to fit into their life cycle – meaning the developers have to trap them all before they go into hibernation for winter.
Benchmark consultant Gerry Stapleton said yesterday: "We are capturing them now in the forest area of Kinderland and Mr Marvels and they are being relocated and going on their holidays. We need licensed newt handlers on site to do the relocation.
"They put a fence around the site which is punctuated with buckets set in the ground and the newts run along the side of the fence and fall into the buckets.
"The habitats are all sorted out now and ready for them. I expect the work to be completed in the next couple of weeks, because if we leave them any longer they will go into hibernation.
"They have not be holding up the work – we have been working around them. This will be an ongoing operation though because we will have to start looking for habitats in other areas as we start work on the next phases."
The company had not expected the boating lake at Northstead Manor Gardens to attract newts because it is man- made. But because it was regularly drained for cleaning by Scarborough Council there are not many fish in it.
With few fish, which feed off baby newts, the population was allowed to thrive, spreading to other parts of the site. They soon moved into a former ball pond which had filled with water on Kinderland, and a metal tank which that was used for radio controlled boats at Mr Marvels.
Mr Stapleton said he was surprised by in how many places newts had been found. The new ponds, which after being dug needed six months to settle down and become overgrown, were expected to be full earlier than expected.
There was a timetable that the company had to follow in constructing the habitats to avoid them being interfered with by nesting birds and at one stage it was thought it would take until spring to relocate all the newts.
However, going to all the trouble was not just eco-friendly but made good business sense, Mr Stapleton explained. "I would not like to berate the newts entirely. The enhancement that wildlife brings to a site is significant."
Many of the newts will awake in spring after hibernation to a new life on the North Cliff Golf Course. But although they may be gone the developers still have to contend with a number of other wildlife issues during the work, including bat roosts, birds, and badger setts.
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Roundup-of-bay-newts-starts.3364398.jp