News
Bumblebee to make a comeback
Met Office negativity is bad for golf!
MPs support local golf club over misleading weather forecasts
TWO Conservative MPs have supported a call by a golf club manager for the Met Office to be less negative when delivering weather forecasts, as it has an adverse effect on golf participation.
©Dave Goulson/RSPB
‘Extinct’ short-haired bumblebees due to be released
AN extinct species of British bumble is set to make a comeback in Kent.
Experts have spent two weeks collecting short-haired bumblebees from farmland in southern Sweden and they will be reintroduced to the RSPB’s reserve at Dungeness.
The last confirmed sighting of the species was in 1988 and they were declared extinct in 2000.
The project, backed by Natural England, RSPB, Bumblebee Conservation Trust and Hymettus, began last year with an initial pilot reintroduction which followed four years of work with local farmers to create the ideal wildflower habitat for bumblebees across Romney Marsh and Dungeness.
Conservationists said the move is a ‘sign of hope’ for all the UK’s bumblebees.
Of the twenty-five native species in the UK, seven are declining and two are extinct - one of which is the short- haired bumblebee.
Dr Nikki Gammans, project manager, said: “Bringing this extinct species back to the UK shows what can be done for wildlife by working together. The queens we releasedin 2012 had a very tough time with last summer’s weather, so it was vital that we returned to Sweden to bring back more queens to bolster the colony at Dungeness.”
“There’s a lot more work to be done, but thanks to the local farmers in this area of Kent and East Sussex, our friends in Sweden, a crack team of volunteers and the wildlife experts involved in the project, there is hope for all our threatened bumblebees.”
8 PC JUNE/JULY 2013
Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, and Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, have both contacted the Met Office to detail that, when unfair prominence is given to colder temperatures and rain, or even presents favourable weather in a negative way, this leads to a drop in golf clubs’ profits for the next twenty-four hours.
Their intervention came after Neil Sjoberg, manager of Epping Golf Course, wrote to them to say that his club had been collating daily information on morning BBC Radio 4 weather forecasts, what the actual weather turned out to be for that day, the number of rounds played that day and the number of rounds that had been expected to be played.
He found that, when Met Office forecasters used words or
phrases such as
‘temperatures below the seasonal average’, ‘feel colder in strong winds’ and ‘chance of showers’, his golf course was nearly empty all day. However, on some of those days the actual weather had turned out to be warm and sunny.
“The forecast wasn’t
inaccurate, but it had created an impression that the weather would be worse than it was,” said Neil.
“If the weather forecast is bad, people will not play golf even if the weather turns out fine. Often, the forecasters say ’fifty percent chance of rain’ and no one plays golf. If they say ’fifty percent chance of sunshine’, the golf course is busy.”
“The actual weather is secondary to the forecast in terms of effect on golfing trade.”
The Met Office has replied to the MPs stating that its forecasts were accurate, but this, according to Neil, misses the point.
Epping Golf Course
“They have not understood my point,” he said. “They replied to the MPs saying that UK weather forecasts are the most accurate in the world. I’m sure they’re right about that, but it’s not the point I’m making. Forecasters often express the weather in such guarded terms.”
Since approaching the MPs, Neil said six other golf club managers have contacted him to say they agree with him and are collecting their own data, and he is calling on all golf club managers to compile a ‘fair forecast factsheet’ over a twelve month period so that the industry can have more information on how much the wording used in forecasts affects business.
Out of Troon with the locals
Bid to create a 500 feet-long, thirteen feet-high dune branded snobbish by holiday park owners
ROYAL Troon Golf Club has been granted planning permission to build a wall of sand to block out views of a nearby caravan site.
The Ayrshire club, which is hosting the 2016 Open Championship, will now build a 500 feet-long sand berm (bank), topped with gorse, that will be thirteen-feet high, alongside its ninth green and tenth tee.
That part of the course has shared a boundary with Prestwick Holiday Park, a 160-caravan site, for the last seventy-five years.
Royal Troon says the wall is necessary due to course maintenance and security issues, but admits that it is partly motivated by screening ‘views of the caravan site’. The worldwide television coverage that comes from hosting the Open regularly leads to an increase in tourism for the host’s local area.
However, several people involved with the caravan site have
criticised Royal Troon Golf Club.
Arthur McKay, owner of Prestwick Holiday Park, said: “It seems we’re just not good enough for Royal Troon, despite being neighbours since 1938.”
Amanda Mackay; “... seriously affect our business”
“Amazing course and sea views from some of the caravans will now become a view of a sand berm which starts right at our boundary.”
His daughter Amanda added that it could seriously affect their business. “People won’t pay good money for a view of a wall of sand,” she said. “I fail to see what Royal Troon find so objectionable. The caravans are discreet and well maintained.”
Thirty-seven objections were lodged with South Ayrshire Council, some of which stated that the wall will be bad for the environment, as it will lead to the felling of a number of trees.
However, whilst, councillor Peter Convery said he appreciated the “concern and upset” of the objectors, no councillor voted against the proposals.
Royal Troon told them that the trees were ‘weak, stunted and damaged’, whilst golf course architect Martin Ebert told the committee that The R&A views the proposals as ‘essential’.
The club’s report that went before the council also stated: “Royal Troon wish to more effectively screen the boundary of views to the caravan park.”
Club secretary David Brown said: “The development for the Open has great economic benefits for the district and the whole area.”
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