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30/10/2014 17:22: BBC Midlands Today / Autumnwatch feature

We're racing against time to conserve the globally-endangered white-clawed crayfish in Staffordshire...


Our SITA project 'Can we save the Native crayfish?' was featured on BBC Midlands Today / Autumnwatch: http://ow.ly/DxhOG

We'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to our main sponsor, the SITA Trust and our chief partners Staffordshire County Council, the Forestry Commission, Natural England and the Environment Agency.

If you'd like to find out more about how we're helping these amazing little creatures, visit our website: http://ow.ly/DyuuT

26/09/2013 10:37: Crayfish Plague update - BBC Radio Derby

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust would like to thank Yoxall Parish Council, local residents at Yoxall, angling clubs, landowners, local Trust members and the Environment Agency for all their ongoing support to help reduce the spread of  crayfish plague. The disease is currently moving upstream through Yoxall village and we are desperate to stop it being tranferred to native crayfish populations in the headwaters of the River Swarbourn and to surviving strongholds at nearby Cannock Chase. Information posters have been placed at locations where people, dogs and horses often enter the river. We are respectfully asking people to stay out of the infected water until confirmation that the plague has died out. This may take two months or so. A recent BBC Radio Derby piece picks up the story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01f8gd3

(From approx. 1:24)

26/09/2013 10:16: Call to public to help stop spread of deadly crayfish disease

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is calling on the public to help stop a deadly disease from spreading which is wiping out Britain’s only
native crayfish.

 
Crayfish plague, a fatal fungal disease, has been discovered in one of the few surviving refuges of the threatened White-clawed
Crayfish, the River Swarbourn near Yoxall in the Needwood Forest area of East Staffordshire.

 
The plague can wipe out whole populations in a short period and the nature conservation charity is appealing to local residents and
visitors to the River Swarbourn to help prevent the disease from spreading to other watercourses.

 
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust’s senior wetlands ecologist, Nick Mott, said, “This is devastating news for our native crayfish.
The disease is carried by invasive American signal crayfish and then transferred to our native crayfish via a number of ‘wet pathways’ including
direct contact, footwear, animal coats, fishing kit, pond nets or other survey equipment. 

 
As well as being Britain’s only native crayfish, the White-clawed crayfish is an important part of the diets of other wildlife such
as otters, birds and fish, so their loss could have severe impacts on the entire wetland ecosystem. The public can really make a difference by following our advice to help stop the disease from spreading, and the future of this
species could depend on those efforts.”

 
To help prevent the further spread of the disease, members of the public are being asked to avoid entering the River Swarbourn for
the next few months or until there is confirmation that the disease has died out. The Trust and the Environment Agency have also been liaising with fishing clubs in the area to alert them to the outbreak and to promote additional biosecurity measures such as disinfection routines and careful planning of their fishing trips.

 
People can also help to stop it returning by removing all mud and plant matter from footwear, pond-dipping nets or anything that has come into
contact with water, then washing in clean water at home and drying thoroughly or disinfecting it before using footwear or equipment again in another pond or stream. Dog owners and horse riders can help by keeping their animals out of the water at this sensitive time.

 
Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is working to protect the remaining populations of White-clawed crayfish in this river and at other
stronghold areas in Staffordshire through our SITA Trust-funded crayfish project. For further biosecurity advice, please visit our website: http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/page/invasive-species

 
A leaflet about the White-clawed crayfish, including advice on how to help prevent the spread of the plague can be downloaded from
the Trust’s website at www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/page/white-clawed-crayfish. You can also pick up a copy from the Trust’s Wolseley Centre HQ on the A51 between Stafford and Rugeley, or request a copy by calling 01889 880100.

 

If you would like to become a member of the Trust to help support work to save the native crayfish, call 01889 880100 or visit
www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/membership

23/07/2013 15:06: Crayfish on the Move!

The project partners are gearing up to carry out white-clawed crayfish translocations to set up additional 'headwater ark' sites for this globally threatened species.

Candidate sites have been prepared for their imminent arrival. The translocations are the result of several years' surveys, monitoring and feasibility study. We need to make sure that the selected sites offer the best possible chance for native crayfish to survive, breed and disperse. An article describing the sequence of events can be seen at:-
http://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/files/documents/2160.pdf

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust would like to thank the SITA Trust, the other funding partners as well as Forestry Commission England, Staffordshire County Council, the Environment Agency and all the other partners, mangers and landowners that have contributed to this project so far.

17/12/2012 13:20: Staffordshire Wildlife magazine article autumn/winter issue

The Trust has launched a two-year project to help ensure Staffordshire remains a stronghold for the globally endangered native white-clawed crayfish.

With £42,940 funding from SITA Trust being added to £4,500 from the Edward Cadbury Charitable Trust and Gladys Jones Charitable Trust , Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is working in partnership with the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Staffordshire County Council and a number of private landowners to establish new populations of the crustaceans at isolated watercourses to help them survive outbreaks of crayfish plague.

Nationally, white-clawed crayfish populations have suffered dramatically due to crayfish plague, which is lethal to them and carried by non-native crayfish such as American signal crayfish. Non-native crayfish are also larger and out-compete the native species for habitat and food.
Traditionally there have been strong populations of white-clawed crayfish in many of Staffordshire’s rivers, lakes and streams – but in the last seven years plague outbreaks have resulted in the loss of millions of native crayfish from the White Peak, the River Dove, the River Churnet, Sher Brook at Cannock Chase and three large lake populations.  In a bid to make the creatures more resilient to plague outbreaks, the Trust has begun relocating small numbers of healthy white-clawed crayfish to new sites that are free from non-native crayfish – generally isolated headwater streams –  to try and establish new populations.

The Trust’s senior wetlands ecologist Nick Mott said: “The relocated crayfish will be monitored and it is hoped that over time they will breed and become substantial, thriving populations. Expanding the number of sites that support a healthy population of white-clawed crayfish will help to safeguard the survival of the species in the event of further outbreaks of the plague.”   

Jools Granville of SITA Trust added: “Both disease carried by and overcrowding from alien species has left our native Crayfish in need of serious help. We hope that this project to find new, sustainable homes for some of the Staffordshire population will enable them a chance to flourish once again in this fantastic county. We’re delighted to be a major partner in this endeavour.”