Without urgent action, the stamp collection could signal the last post for irreplaceable wildlife
Endangered species pictured on the new Royal Mail stamps issued today will become ever rarer unless the UK tackles the need for more wildlife habitat, says the Woodland Trust.
With native tree cover increasingly fragmented, the Trust has stamped its own special delivery habitat message on the new collection.
Eight of the ten species illustrated on the new stamps count Britain’s green spaces, including native hedgerows, trees and woodland, as important habitat. But if we are to actually safeguard their future, action is needed to increase that habitat and allow wildlife to move.
The wildcat, brown long-eared bat , polecat, water vole, hedgehog, greater horseshoe bat, otter and dormouse all use or are synonymous with tree habitats.
The Trust has inspirational examples of how its work creating and conserving trees and woods is making a major difference to wildlife right across the UK.
In Essex, otters had previously disappeared along the length of the River Colne. The Trust’s woodland creation site at Fordham Hall included the building of artificial otter holts on the banks of the River Colne, occupied within a month as the creatures gradually recolonised.
A water vole re-introduction programme is also planned at Fordham, now with wildflower meadows amidst the trees, a re-profiled river bank, new islands and meanders – and now classed a county wildlife site
In South Devon a classic example of dormouse conservation can be found deep in East Wray Cleave, formerly with conifers planted in the middle and native trees at either end of the 58-acre ancient woodland.
Trust site management, which includes extraction of conifers, has encouraged the iconic little mouse to colonise the whole wood.
But more must be done, says the Trust, to not only create new habitats but buffer and link up those that remain – with tree planting as the most beneficial option.
James Lonsdale, Trust head of woodland creation said: “We do have to start taking our environment seriously and creating more wildlife habitat. If we don’t, we are all in trouble.
“We have a fraction of the wooded landscape of Europe. If we commit to increasing tree and woodland cover for all the reasons we know benefit people, such as exercise, reduced flooding, soak up of airborne pollutants, carbon capture, then we need to make the same commitment to wildlife. We are all in this together.”
The Trust is actively working to encourage people, including landowners, to plant more trees on their own land. Find out more at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/planting
Find out more about the Royal Mail stamp collection
Notes to editors
For media enquiries contact:
The Woodland Trust Press Office on 01476 581121, email: media@woodlandtrust.org.uk
The Woodland Trust:
The Woodland Trust is the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. It has 300,000 members and supporters.
The Trust has three key aims: i) to enable the creation of more native woods and places rich in trees ii) to protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future iii) to inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees
Established in 1972, the Woodland Trust now has over 1,000 sites in its care covering approximately 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). Access to its sites is free.