Good English nightingale news

This video is about a nightingale singing.

From Wildlife Extra:

Nightingale site gains protection

November 2013: The future of the nightingale, one of Britain’s rarest birds, looks brighter with the good news that Lodge Hill in Medway, north Kent has been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by Natural England

This site is home to more than one percent of the UK’s total population of nightingales, a bird which has declined in the UK by 46 per cent since 1995. Lodge Hill – part of which is a former military engineering school – has also been protected for its nationally-important grassland and ancient woodland.

Martin Harper, the RSPB’s Conservation Director said: “Natural England’s Board had a very clear brief: to examine the scientific data and come to a conclusion about the site’s national importance. After a laudable level of scrutiny, we believe Natural England came to the right decision based on clear, robust and reliable scientific evidence.”

Lodge Hill is currently being proposed as a major development site for housing and associated employment use in the Medway Council Core Strategy and MoD – through their land sale delivery partner Land Securities – have submitted an outline planning application for 5,000 homes and associated developments.

The RSPB is hopeful the Ministry of Defence will now reconsider its plans for the site in light of Natural England’s decision to uphold the SSSI notification of the site. Martin Harper said “The RSPB remain committed to helping Medway Council to come up with a new plan which will provide homes and jobs for the people of the Medway, whilst protecting the environment for those people and for future generations”.

See also here.

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• Another skirmish on the Lodge Hill Battle Front (anewnatureblog.wordpress.com)
• Biodiversity Offsetting and Lodge Hill Part 2 (anewnatureblog.wordpress.com)
• Short-haired bumblebees buzz back from extinction (adoptahive.wordpress.com)
• Environmental Protection (cumbriatrust.wordpress.com)
• Government had ‘concerns’ over spray (bbc.co.uk)
• ‘Licence to trash nature’: Campaigners warn of new scheme that would allow house-building in biodiverse areas. (independent.co.uk)
• Give scheme for £450m marine energy park the bird says RSPB (yorkshirepost.co.uk)