Launceston Area Parish-Wildlife Group (LAPWG)

LAPWG was originally established in 2000 to encourage members of the Launceston Branch of Cornwall Wildlife Trust to take an interest in, and responsibility for, their local environment, by recording plants and animals in their neighbourhood.  The Group has developed with support and advice from Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS), North Cornwall District Council, the Environment Agency and other local conservation organisations such as West Country Rivers Trust and South West Forest. It also benefits from a network of local experts who spread the responsibility of leading events and teaching identification skills.

Great Green Bush Cricket

LAPWG works through parish-based teams, to provide learning opportunities in wildlife observation and monitoring as well as to improve social links within and between rurally isolated communities. Currently, 5 parishes are involved, with an active membership of about 80 families. The Group has now more non-members than members of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and it has recently become financially independent of Cornwall Wildlife Trust to apply for funding for its development. It still retains a strong relationship with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and has as one of its major objectives to supply records to ERCCIS.

Heron

Key elements of the project are:

• Simple means for members to record what they see in the own backyard – Wildlife Diaries.  Members are provided with a checklist of about 250 selected species from all groups, to record what they see in 3-month periods throughout the year. These species are chosen because of their relevance to the Launceston area and because they can be identified with the minimum of mistaken identity. They contain many of the common species which are frequently under-recorded in other schemes.
• Members record primarily on their own land so there is minimum effort required to observe the species and they can build up a good picture of their immediate environment and how this changes with time. It boosts records from homes, gardens and farms.
• Members’ wildlife diaries are analysed within the parish and each member receives a quarterly report on what is being learned from them.
• Monthly opportunities are provided for members to improve their identification skills, through workshops, talks, walks, nature quizzes, etc. The focus for these events is important habitat within the parishes in the scheme.
• Opportunities are also provided for members to get more involved with individual species and groups eg otters, ponds, bats, moths, butterflies.
• Support is provided to individuals in each parish via a Parish Coordinator and members are encouraged to contribute to the running of their own parish group. Digital photography and emails play an important role in communication.
• The Group has its own website http://www.parish-wildlife.org.uk. This provides a useful resource of teaching material and acts as the focal point for recording what we are learning about the local environment. It has sections on the projects, the parishes in the scheme, nature notes, a library of web links, a photograph gallery and some pages for local schools.

Primroses

Limits of the scheme.  For management reasons, it is only possible at this time to cover the 5 local parishes. Further work is being done to simplify the scheme so that more local parishes can take part and also so that it can be replicated in other parts of the South West. The website and a database are being developed with replication in mind.

Anyone interested in the scheme should contact Brian Stringer.

Other items that may be of interest:

• News release - LAPWING soars with Lottery support

Projects .... Bat Conservation Bodyline CRAG Dolphin Group Geology Mammal Group Otter Group PARC Seaquest Seasearch Seal Group Water for Wildlife VIC SEARCH . . . . . . . . .