Summary

• JNCC is currently finalising its corporate plan for 2005-2008, the first phase in implementing our 10 year strategy.

2004 - worst year on record for UK seabirds

• The 2004 breeding season for some of the UK's commonest seabirds was the worst on record, as highlighted in a new JNCC publication.

White sharks and wrasse, elephants and rhinos

• Progress on species conservation at the 13th Conference of Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

New six year Biological Recording Agreement

• On 1 February 2005, a new six year Agreement began for work carried out by the Biological Records Centre (BRC) on behalf of JNCC and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). BRC is the focal point for organising national biological recording schemes in Britain for plants and animals.

The Wood's More Than Just Trees

• Progress and challenges for conservation of priority woodland species debated at a two-day meeting organised jointly by JNCC and the Forestry Commission.

Putting mammals on the map

• The Tracking Mammals Partnership (TMP) has twenty-four Government and Non-Government Organisations cooperating to collect information on UK mammal populations, providing information on mammal population trends and changes in distribution.

Geologists see red

• The latest volume, number 31, in the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) Series describes Britain's finest 'Old Red Sandstone' rocks, which represent a period from about 415 to 355 million years ago.

Dorset becomes the hub for heritage

• The Dorset international conference Earth Heritage:World Heritage in September 2004 was designed to make a significant contribution to bringing together a range of people, programmes and ideas.

MESH nets its first results

• This JNCC-led project to map the seabed habitats of north-west Europe, last covered in Issue 8 of Nature News, is now fully underway.

A new engine for JNCC's website

• The way we administer our website has changed - we have recently completed the first phase of a major migration of material previously held in individually created, static stand-alone pages to a Content Management System.

First Advisory Board for JNCC and BTO

• Following the signing of a new six year Agreement for work to be carried out by the BTO/JNCC Partnership (see Nature News 9), the first meeting of a new Advisory Board was held in December 2004 at the BTO headquarters in Thetford.

Going global on biodiversity issues

• The Global Environmental Change Committee (GECC) is an inter-agency cross-Governmental committee. Detailed GECC work is undertaken by specialist sub-committees. The newly established Sub-Committee, for which JNCC provides secretariat support, met recently for the first time.