Collecting on Cornwall Wildlife Trust reserves

Few naturalists like to kill other organisms. But sometimes specimens of animals or plants have to be collected and preserved to obtain verifiable identifications - a requirement for sound reserves management. The Trust encourages such collecting on its reserves and has a policy to ensure that it is conducted with restraint, and only for sound scientific reasons.

Reserves are among the Trust's most valuable assets. They are oases of species richness in a wider environment that is steadily losing biodiversity. To manage reserves effectively - which entails trying to maintain and increase their biodiversity - we must know which species they contain. Without reliable species lists, conservationists cannot detect trends in the decline of endangered animals and plants; nor can they recognise with confidence the impacts responsible. The credibility of the Trust when applying for resources to acquire or manage a reserve often depends on the quality of its species inventories.

This fact was central to the formation of the Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (ERCCIS). ERCCIS continually receives, stores, analyses and interprets records of all wild organisms in Cornwall. It has mechanisms to ensure that species identifications are correct according to present knowledge and that such identifications can be re-evaluated in future.

Recorders of birds and mammals are fortunate because acceptable (though not necessarily verifiable) species identifications can usually be made without collecting a specimen. But recorders of other kinds of organism, including many insects and simpler plants, often need to collect "voucher" specimens - for examination in the hand, or for preservation and future study. Many smaller insects cannot be identified without examining preserved specimens under a microscope. Because all organisms, whether conspicuous to the human eye or not, play vital roles in ecosystems that conservationists wish to preserve, some biological recorders routinely need voucher specimens. This is why, like many other Trusts, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust encourages collecting on its reserves. At the same time, because collecting, if practised without due care and respect, can have unwanted consequences, the Trust has a policy that applies to it.

The policy, approved recently by Council, enables the Trust to reconcile the need for voucher specimens of plants, animals and certain kinds of non-living material with the need for habitat and species conservation. The policy provides guidelines that enable officers or Trustees to grant or withhold permission to individuals wishing to collect on reserves; and it is consistent with policies on the same subject produced by other nature conservation bodies in the UK.

Anyone wishing to collect on a Trust reserve is obliged to apply for a permit. When doing so, the applicant must state what will be collected and for what scientific purpose, how the specimens will be preserved and where they will be deposited, and how the results will benefit nature conservation. Information must also be provided regarding the anticipated end result and dates when the Trust can expect to receive written progress reports. Permits are normally issued only to individuals, and all who apply must confirm that they have read the Trust policy on collecting and agree to abide by its provisions, and that they undertake to provide ERCCIS with any records collected under the terms of the permit. Permit holders are required to carry the permit when collecting on a reserve. The permit authorises the holder to collect on the reserve specified and asks visitors not to prevent the permit holder from carrying out the authorised work.

Philip Corbet

Nature reserves ... Introduction List of reserves Key to symbols Management Collecting Volunteering PARC diary SEARCH . . . . . . . . .