Welsh Government has recently released an updated list of Section 7 Species in Wales. Sometimes legislation and sections and annexes can be overwhelming – at least for me! Let me introduce you to some of the incredible species on the list and I promise that the legislation jargon won’t be that bad.

The Lumpsucker has a fantastic name, in English, Welsh and Latin. The Welsh name for the Lumpsucker is Iâr Fôr which translates to sea hen, which is adorable. The Welsh name is thought to reference how much this fish looks like a chicken. I’ll let you be the judge of that. It looks like a fish to me. The Latin name for Lumpsucker is Cyclopterus lumpus or C. lumpus for short. Cyclopterus means ‘circle winged’ referring to the circular fins of the Lumpsucker. The full translation of the Latin name for this fish is the Circle Winged Lump. Which is an excellent name. The Lumpsucker uses modified fins on its underside to cling onto rocks. Lumpsuckers they spend most of their time in deep water and their modified fins may to have evolved to help them cling on in rough conditions. However, you may catch a glimpse of a Lumpsucker in tidal rock pools during the breeding season! Other fish species on the list include the Porbeagle shark, the smooth-hound, the Thornback Ray and the Angel Shark – all very cool species too!

Section 7 is part of the Environment (Wales) Act which was passed in 2016. Welsh Ministers must take all reasonable steps to conserve and improve the state of these species and habitats. As of this year, there are now 1,322 priority species and 69 priority habitats on this list. These species and habitats are considered to be of key significance to sustain and improve biodiversity in relation to Wales.  Ok, good work on the legislation bit, now back to the animals!

It is my pleasure to be able to introduce you to the greatest bird of all time, the Manx Shearwater. Not only is the Manx Shearwater my favorite bird, but it should be yours too because they’re awesome. Manxies are a medium sized bird, smaller than gulls but larger than a puffin, weighing in at around 400g. Despite its small size, the Manx Shearwater has been known to live for 50 years! Each year, Manx Shearwaters fly 10,000 miles to their overwintering sites in South America and back to their breeding colonies in the UK! They complete this incredible journey year after year (without satnav!). Manxies pair bond for life and both partners will return to the exact same burrow every year. Sometimes their burrow has a rabbit living in it while they’re away. The rabbits promptly get turfed out to make room for a single egg that the manxie couple will produce. The newly hatched babies will make their first flight to South America all on their own, flying constantly for 12 – 20 days. How the fledglings know where to go without their parents to guide them is still a mystery!

One of the goals of the Environment (Wales) Act is to help in the management of natural resources. Natural resources include things like water and timber but also species. The Environment Act places a duty on Welsh Ministers and Natural Resources Wales to collect data on the current status of natural resources and to ensure sustainable use of them. Ok, now let’s talk about the crystal moss animal(!!)

I had no idea what a crystal moss animal was before reading the new Section 7 List (that’s at least 1 reason to read the updated list!). Lophopus crystallinus, aka the Bellflower, aka the crystal moss animal, is a freshwater bryozoan. Bryozoans are colony forming animals that live in marine and freshwater habitats. A single bryzoan is called a zooid which links up with other zooids to create blobs, crusts, fans and bushes. Each zooid has a different role in the colony such as feeding, excreting or reproducing! An entire crystal moss animal colony is only 5-10mm across. Crystal moss animals look kind of like a close-up of a translucent moss with tentacles at the end. That's a very unhelpful description but google it and you'll see what I mean. Crystal moss animals are incredibly rare. The disappearance of these tiny animals may be due to increasing pollution in our freshwater ecosystems.

As a society, we’re beginning to understand that all biodiversity is important to conserve. Each ecosystem is a finely tuned machine with many different species that make up the parts of that machine. Removing the smallest part may have consequences for the rest of the machine. Likewise, losing that smallest species may have consequences for the entire ecosystem. We don’t fully understand what all the different parts do yet but each day we learn more about why even the tiniest organisms are essential. That’s why it’s crucial to protect not just those species that directly benefit us, but all species. The machine might continue to run if we tamper with it a little bit, it might just make a funny noise here and there. But will it keep running in the future? We need to think now about how we can sustain the ecosystems we use before it’s too late.