Legacy Habitat Times - Autumn 2009

Our latest Legacy Habitat Times newsletter is now available for download from our news page, along with previous issues:
Click image below:

Providing recent news of our newt fencing, water vole fencing and other wildlife fencing activities. This issue also includes an article on ecology and the law, highlighting some of the issues raised when development impacts on European Protected Species.

New Tools Section on wildlifefencing.co.uk

wildlifefencing.co.uk now has a tools section for your wildlife fencing needs.
We aim to bring you quality fencing tools at competitive prices. Current product range is small but we are looking at expanding the range in the near future.
Please keep checking the site for new products.

Busy, busy, busy

Legacy Habitat Management contracting staff have been extremely busy on the ground installing newt fencing over the closing summer months. This time of year is often a very busy time for newt fencing work as the newt trapping window starts to close.

 
Great Crested Newt trapping can only take place whilst outside temperatures allow. If the temperature drops below 5°C, newts become immobile and cannot be trapped. This means the potential loss of a trapping days, which can in turn hold up any development projects. Developers are often therefore very keen to get any newt fencing projects, with associated trapping, out of the way before colder weather arrives and trapping cannot be completed, thus, possibly delaying a development project until the following spring.

Legacy Habitat Management are pulling out all the stops to meet your newt fencing requirements in these crucial months before the onset of winter.
We have recently carried out newt fencing projects at:

Longcliffe Quarry, Derbyshire
Ashton Vale, Bristol
Northstead Valley, Scarborough
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Sherringham Shoal, Norfolk
Wentloog, Cardiff

Remember that www.wildlifefencing.co.uk stocks pitfall traps, floats & mammal ladders for your Great Crested Newt trapping projects.

Legacy enters the minute newt fencing market

... or the mi-newt fencing market!
This rather clever piece of online software transforms photographs so that they appear to be taken using a photography technique called 'Tilt-shift':
http://tiltshiftmaker.com/
Proper tilt-shift photography requires the use of special lenses, that can be very expensive. This software, although possibly considered cheating, can produce some quite nice effects, and seems to work quite well with photographs of newt fencing, often not the most photogenic subject. The effect produces a very shallow depth of field and often makes the subject appear as though it were miniature.
See our examples below:




More information about tilt-shift photography can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt-shift_photography

The Caudon® Clip has arrived

This product has been designed specifically for use with our Caudon^® Semi-permanent Newt Fencing. Unlike our Permanent Newt Fencing which has the all important top fold permantently welded into the panels, our 1mm thick Semi-permanent newt fencing panels are manufactured as a flat panel with a scored groove along the top of the board to allow the installer to create a top fold with ease themselves.

The Caudon^® Semi-permanent Newt Fencing system provides a robust, flexible and economical newt fencing solution.

The Caudon^® Clip has been developed as a very simple, easy to install fitting to hold this top fold in position. Simply slide the clip onto the top fold portion of the newt fencing panel, fold down and screw the clip and the panel to the wooden supporting post in one process. This creates a very neat and durable top fold and eliminates those annoying gaps in the top fold where panels are joined.

The Caudon^® Clip is available exclusively from www.wildlifefencing.co.uk.

Polaris Challenge

Last weekend was a first for me, some kind of major undertaking, two days of mountain biking around the Peak picking up preorganised check points. Saturday was a seven hour course and Paul and I decided to go on an "Eastern Loop" starting from Bamford and working our way down to Haddon Hall via Houdskirk, Blacka Moor, Chatsworth etc, then back up to Bamford via Stoney. everything was going OK until I had a burst tyre wall which ultimately cost us time and points because we arrived back late.
Sunday was better, with new tyres and a different route and only five hours to play with we opted for a route through the White Peak going as far south as Tideswell, across to Chapel and up on to Rushop Edge and Mam Tor.
For the first one of these that I've done we did OK finishing a respectable 57th, 155km covered!
We've got a bit to learn tho as the winner Steve Heading had more than double our points tally.
Great thing to do as we got to visit and link up loads of bits of the Peak I had never walked or ridden + I realised just how much of the area I had worked in over the years.
Great views, great weather well organised event. Looking forward to the next one.
click here to view photos from the event

Using Blackberry as Modem for Laptop

Often working out on site and away from the office it is sometimes necessary to have access to the internet. We can pick up emails via our Blackberry 8310 devices but sometimes need to look at web pages or email attachments in more detail, which can only be done on a decent sized screen.
Our accomodation when we are away often has wireless internet access but this can't always be relied on.
The Blackberry 8310, along with some other models has an in built data-modem that, in theory can achieve download speeds of 115.2kbps, not bad considering we used to all put up with dial-up speeds of 56kbps. Connection speed is very dependent on signal strength.

The following link explains how to set up your laptop so that it can use a Blackberry device as a tethered modem.

HOWTO: BlackBerry As Modem For Laptop

One of the issues that I have found with doing this, is that the USB cable connection into the Blackberry can be very temperamental. Any slight movement of the Blackberry or cable can cause a drop in connection. This seems to be a common complaint and not just my device. The only real solution to this, is to make sure that you position the device on a firm surface where it won't have to be moved,... not always possible when in remote areas and are having to stand on one leg and wave the phone about at the window to get a signal.