Funding will help La Societe’s conservation schemes
VITALLY-needed funds will make a big difference to local conservation projects, La Societe president Donna Francis has said.
Four of its projects are benefiting from the new Strategy for Nature fund.
‘It’s fabulous,’ said Ms Francis.
‘The conservation sector has been underfunded for decades. The fact this funding is available will make a huge difference.’
Education is an area on which La Societe has been focusing, with education officers Sarah Allez and Becky Ogier putting together lesson plans to help educate young people about the local environment.
‘We have some equipment, but we need more items, like nets for catching butterflies and pond dipping and calipers for measuring crabs,’ said Ms Francis. ‘Getting more equipment would mean there would be more to go around for a group.’
La Societe launched a bat survey earlier this year, which has been very successful.
Ms Francis said La Societe was keen to move on to the next stage, which would involve catching bats to find out more about them, such as their gender and species.
Two specialists are being brought over from Jersey to do the training. The plan is to train four volunteers to handle the bats.
The handlers would need to be licensed and have rabies jabs before starting to catch the bats.
Some of the money will also go towards a specialist macro camera, which Andy Marquis will use to photograph tiny invertebrates.
‘This will help us find things that we don’t even know are here,’ Ms Francis said.
The final project is a scheme that will be launched early next year to encourage more islanders to grow native plants.
