CUCKOO
Summer visitor with Britain’s most famous birdsong. But it is heard much less often now after a 65 percent decline in 40 years, says the British Trust for Ornithology.
WATER VOLE
Britain’s most rapidly declining mammal. It has vanished from 94 percent of its old haunts, says the Wildlife Trusts.
HEDGEHOG
Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggywinkle is disappearing at an alarming rate. In just 20 years number are down 30 percent in towns and 50 percent in the countryside.
DORMOUSE
Perhaps best known from the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland, the dormouse is in trouble. Numbers have halved since the millennium, says the People’s Trust for Endangered Species.
North Somerset Council has stepped up its campaign to save the area s hedgehog population.
- Credit: Archant
North Somerset Council has stepped up its campaign to improve safety measures for hedgehogs in the area following frustration with Government criteria for road warning signs.
Members of the council have written to North Somerset MP, Dr Liam Fox, calling on him to raise the issue with other ministers.
Green Party councillor, Bridget Petty, labelled the Department for Transport criteria, specifically indicating to the evidence of personal injury accidents caused by small mammals to people before a sign can be installed in an area as ridiculous .
Land off White Hill, pictured in 2017. A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build new homes on farmland off White Hill in Kinver is to go before council planners next week. Trebor Developments is seeking outline planning permission for its proposed development of up to 40 new homes on the site which sits beneath Kinver Edge. The application looks set to be approved by South Staffordshire Council s planning committee despite a raft of objections to the scheme which locals fear could pave the way for further development of up to 144 new homes on neighbouring land. South Staffordshire MP Gavin Williamson is among those who have raised concerns about the proposed development which he has said would have a lasting impact on the village if approved.