Every fall, millions of monarch butterflies engage in one of nature’s great spectacles, migrating from sites across North America to refuges in either central Mexico or coastal California, where winter temperatures are more tolerable. They fly south for thousands of miles, propelled by some innate sense of direction to places that neither they nor their parents have ever visited. But not all of them make the journey. Not all of them know the way.
73 million sharks killed every year for shark fin soup, sharks are thrown back to the sea where they will die after having their fins brutally cut from their bodies.
Loopholes are allowing people to continue smuggling fins in to the U.K despite a ban put in place in over 27 countries in 2013.
Permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, an expedition has discovered, in the latest sign that the global climate crisis is accelerating even faster than scientists had feared.
A YouGov poll for wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation revealed that 64 per cent of people surveyed associated moths with eating clothes and 33 per cent with being pests.
That old adage about waiting for buses comes to mind… we have been waiting for years for good news about UK marine protected areas (MPAs), and so far, in just ten days, June has seen three big announcements come our way.
We welcomed the good news from Secretary of State Michael Gove, on June 3rd, that 41 new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) will be designated in seas around England and Northern Ireland. MCZs are a ‘light-touch’ type of MPA, they allow multiple uses of the marine environment so long as those activities do not threaten the ‘features’, meaning those listed species and habitats the MCZ is set up to protect.
Curlews have various requirements in terms of the ‘patchwork’ of habitats they choose to call home.
First up is some good-quality feeding habitat… to replenish after migration and fatten up for energy-sapping exploits that lie ahead – advertising a territory, attracting a mate, laying eggs, fending off predators…
Animal abusers could now face up to five years in prison under the new Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), today.
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to turn farmland into a haven for breeding waders. The only tools you have at your disposal are tractors and cows and we will give you permission to pump water out of nearby rivers when conditions allow. That’s how it started. These days the diggers look big enough to use on a motorway construction site!
Can be seen feeding at flowers, such as Bugle, louseworts and Marsh Thistle. Can be confused with the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (H. fuciformis), although that species has broader bands on the outer edges of the wings, in particular on the hindwing.
Habitat loss and climate change are the two culprits most regularly blamed for the decline of butterflies and moths, but now a third suspect, nitrogen deposition, is increasingly coming under the spotlight as a key driver of decline.
The woodland landscape in Britain has changed enormously over the last century, most notably through the planting of large areas of North American conifers (Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine) and larches from Europe and Japan. Prior to these plantations, the native Scots pine was the only conifer available to common crossbills when irrupting crossbills arrived from the European continent.
The UK Wild Otter Trust has just received hugely exciting news: we have the chance to turn a site near Winkleigh, Devon, into one of the UK’s largest rehabilitation centre for otter cubs!
We’ve been offered 2 acres of ancient woodland to turn into a full rehab centre. We’ve produced a basic estimate of what we think it will cost to transform the site – all of our labour will be done by dedicated volunteers and helpers for free, so all of your funds will go directly towards purchasing the necessary building materials and equipment needed to make the site cub-safe. Once it’s built, we hope that we’ll be able to rehabilitate up to 10 cubs at a time, which would make us one of the leading rehabilitation units in the country!
Thank you so much for your help, support, and donations. Everything you give helps us to help our cubs. We’ve taken on a growing number of orphaned cubs in the past year or two, and this will allow us to make even more of a difference to otters in the UK.
Hummingbird Hawkmoth by Paul Lund, Bancroft 28 September 2015
Similar to Bee hawk moths in flight but the Humming-bird Hawk-moth has orange-brown hindwings which is evident in flight. It has forewings that are greyish-brown and a black and white chequered body.
The RSPB and dozens of environmental groups have resigned from the government’s pesticides forum after two decades claiming the use of dangerous chemicals is now far worse than when they joined.
Turtle Dove, Julie’s garden, Julie Lane, January 2014
Plants that produce suitable seeds for turtle doves can be encouraged using a variety of measures, for more information on land management click on the tab: Create Turtle Dove Habitat. However, practical ways of delivering suitable seed to turtle doves in the early breeding season (Mid April to June) is particularly challenging. For this reason, and due to the steep and worrying decline in numbers of this bird in the UK, we are now recommending supplementary feeding as an important additional conservation measure that could be helpful in all areas where Turtle Doves still breed.
The average person eats at least 50,000 particles of microplastic a year and breathes in a similar quantity, according to the first study to estimate human ingestion of plastic pollution.
Unfortunately, 2019 has seen more problems with the illegal use of rail traps posing a risk to birds and other non-target animals. The RSPB is increasingly concerned about the lack of consistent enforcement action in relation to these reports.
Hummingbird Hawkmoth by Paul Lund, Bancroft 28 September 2015
Butterfly magazine editor Liam Creedon reveals how George Orwell, cannibalism, mad kings, theft and cigarettes make Hawk-moths the rock stars of UK mothing.
Red squirrels are Scotland’s native squirrel species, instantly recognisable by their distinctive ear tufts, rust coloured fur and bushy tails. The tail is particularly important as it’s used for balance, communication and as a cosy blanket.
The naked mole-rat is perhaps one of the most bizarre beasts on the planet. At first glance, it looks like little more than a cocktail sausage with legs and teeth. But beneath its wrinkly pink skin, this creature’s strange and beautiful biology has me fascinated – so much so that I set up a whole research group devoted to studying them. Largely immune to cancer, impervious to some forms of pain, and seemingly blessed with the elixir of life, you may well owe your life to them one day.
If you fancy getting up close and personal with dragons and damsels there is no better place than the Business Park ornamental ponds at Caldecotte. Today there were a dozen emperors and four-spotteds mating and ovipositing. Also red-eyed, blue-tailed and common blue damsels. (And reed warblers).
Later there will be hawkers. Footpaths around half a dozen ponds, seating areas, odos buzzing around your head. Best to go at a weekend when you can park nearby in Monellan Grove or the small car park there at Caldecotte Lake (otherwise it is chockabloc with workers’ cars).
Text and pictures kindly supplied by Janice Robertson
The world’s fattest parrot is facing an existential threat in the form of a dangerous fungal infection which has already endangered a fifth of its species.
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. There is a huge variety of nests, from the grassy cup nest of the Blackbird, to the elaborately woven nest of the Long-tailed Tit. For some species, a nest is simply a shallow depression made in sand; for others, it is a hole in a tree or a burrow dug into the ground. Identifying nests can therefore be quite tricky! In order to ID nests, practice is key, so see if you can use this quiz to get a head start on the nests you might find in your own garden.
Privet Hawk-moths (Sphinx ligustri) by Tony Morris
Download your free Hawk-moth ID guide
Featuring beautiful illustrations from wildlife artist Carim Nahaboo, this ID guide is a great way to familiarise yourself with some of the UK’s most charismatic moths.
Nesting Hedgehog by Susie Lane, Skelton, Cumbria 20 May 2017
Hedgehogs’ unique appearance and proximity in gardens and suburban green spaces place them firmly in the public’s affections. They’re a wild mammal we can observe close-up and are a symbol of our natural heritage.
In 2015, The State of Britain’s Hedgehogs1, by People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS), outlined the findings of four surveys recording hedgehogs in urban and rural areas, and showed a worrying decline. This new report updates those findings and describes the current status of Britain’s hedgehogs a decade after they were made a priority species for conservation.
Peregrine by Harry Appleyard, Hazeley Wood, 29 May 2016
The sight of Peregrines breeding on buildings, pylons and quarry ledges is becoming more common, even as this species becomes scarcer in the craggy uplands with which it is more typically associated. Research Ecologist and raptor specialist Mark Wilson explains how Peregrines are faring in the face of a changing world.
Recently, Health Canada announced a move to ban the use of certain pesticides containing chemical substances known as neonicotinoids. Scientists have long known such pesticides decimate bee populations, which is bad enough, considering several species have made the endangered list of late. However, current evidence exists showing how these substances harm more than just bees.
The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) is the main scheme for monitoring population changes of the UK’s common and widespread butterflies. It is important in both assessing the changing status of widespread butterfly species and in providing an indicator of the health of the wider countryside. Data from this scheme feeds into the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS).
Although we are all familiar with the important role that bumblebees and honeybees play in pollination, over 90% of the UK’s 267 bee species are in fact solitary bees. Pollinating animals are responsible for one third of the food we consume and solitary bees are particularly efficient pollinators. Unlike other bees solitary bees do not have pollen baskets and so transfer much more pollen between flowers, meaning a single red mason bee provides a pollination service equivalent to 120 worker honey bees. This makes them a critical resource in our gardens and wider countryside and one that we should all be keen to protect. We have collated some information below on how to help encourage and preserve these fascinating creatures.
A previously extinct butterfly has bred successfully in an English woodland for the first time in more than 40 years as part of the ambitious conservation project, Back from the Brink.
Freshly emerged Chequered Skippers have been regularly spotted over the last few weeks at a secret location in Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire, and it is hoped they will become the foundation of a new English population of the butterfly.
Young Wildlife Photographers UK is an exciting project unveiling wildlife and nature photography and stories to a broader audience. Social networking is our tool to expose young talent and the next generation of British wildlife photographers.
Coot fighting CC BY_NC_SA Peter Hassett. Floodplain Forest NR 31 March 2016
All animals are specifically adapted for their habitat, their diet and their lifestyle, and birds are no different. There are many types of feet in the bird world, but can we tell where a bird lives based on what its feet look like? In this experiment, we’ll try and find out!
Nesting Hedgehog by Susie Lane, Skelton, Cumbria 20 May 2017
Nature is in trouble
One in ten species is under threat of extinction in the UK. We need your help. Only by understanding why our natural environment is so important to all of us, can we hope to save it.
Please spare us five minutes to complete our 2019 annual wildlife survey – as a thank you, we will send you a guide to garden ponds.
Your views are crucial – they will ensure we are working to protect the things that matter to you.
No British summer would be complete without the screech of Swifts darting overhead. This distinctive call is incomparably evocative of a blissful, warm summers day; for me a trigger of childhood memories playing out in the fields during ever-lasting school breaks or later, time spent in a third-floor apartment in St Ives, Cornwall (heaven!) where, once evening fell, a group of overzealous Swifts would rise up steep streets from the town below and erupt volcano-like inches from the old wooden window frames, plucking insects from the humid air at what seemed a million miles per hour, screeches reverberating so loud as if they were all but in the room before squealing excitedly back into the streets below, their whistle trailing off like a distant firework.
Swifts spend our winter months away from our cold weather in Africa, undertaking a huge migration every year to return to here to breed. They tend to start arriving in late April and early May and depart by the end of August, and are rarely seen into September.
Bird songs are common sounds to us all, but why do birds sing? Imagine you’re a male willow warbler, and you’ve just flown 2,400 miles (4000 km) from Africa. It’s spring, and you need to find a mate quickly. However, your home is a woodland and you’re the colour of leaves. What better way of advertising to a passing female that you are here and would make a fine father for her chicks than by having a clear, loud and recognisable song?
By Gwen Potter, Countryside Manager for Northumberland Coast and Farne Islands, National Trust
It’s June on the remote Farne Islands and National Trust rangers have started the task of counting the islands’ thousands of pairs of puffins. The much-loved seabird, which has traditionally done well on these wild isles off the Northumberland coast, is being closely monitored amid fears climate change is having an adverse effect on sources of food and puffin numbers internationally.
What is Hen Harrier Day? Hen Harrier Day celebrates the beauty of this wonderful bird and highlights its threatened status which is almost entirely due to wildlife crime. Hen Harriers are illegally killed because they eat Red Grouse (among other things) which people want to shoot for fun. There have been Hen Harrier Day rallies since 10th August 2014 when four events took place, the largest of which was held in the Peak District in torrential rain and was attended by the ‘Sodden 570’ and hosted by Mark Avery and Chris Packham. It is an annual event timed around the “Glorious” 12th (ie the start of the grouse shooting season)
It started in 2014, at the Derwent Dam, my image attached (I was one of the “Sodden 570 ” in the aftermath of Hurricane Bertha). In 2015, it moved to the Goyt Valley, Derbyshire (my image attached) then to RSPB Rainham Marshes in 2017 (my image attached) It was in various locations in 2017 and 2018 (I was unable to attend these so have no images) As noted above, it is consolidating down to the one location in 2019 for the 6th HH Day. I am planning to attend. Not everyone is aware that these even happen and even if not wishing to attend may just like the information.
Twitter followers should use the hash tag ##HHDay19
Grey Wagtails occur at highest densities along fast-flowing upland streams. WBS/WBBS shows a fluctuating population size along waterways, with a fall during the late 1970s and early 1980s from an initial high point in 1974, some increase since the late 1990s, and another steep drop around 2010. The BBS trend matches WBS/WBBS closely: there was an initial increase but from 2002 the trend was steeply downward, especially in Scotland. The species was moved from the green to the amber list in 2002, and subsequently from amber to the UK red list at the latest review in 2015 (Eaton et al. 2015). However, the long term decline is now categorised as moderate rather than rapid, as a result of a slight upturn since around 2012.
Biologists have discovered evidence that carnivorous plants in Canada feast on young salamanders, in what is believed to be the first instance of vertebrate consumption by plants in North America.
Human destruction of the living world is causing a “frightening” number of plant extinctions, according to scientists who have completed the first global analysis of the issue.
If you’re a fan of feeding the birds in your garden I imagine you’ll know a starling when you see one, but there’s more to these beautiful birds than meets the eye!
Ring-necked Parakeet by Howe Park Wood, April 2012, by Harry Appleyard
Electric Ladyland wasn’t the only thing Jimi Hendrix released in 1968. One day in that tumultuous year he left his flat on Brook Street, Mayfair, and strolled down nearby Carnaby Street with a birdcage in his hands. I like to think that he was dressed in a tasselled jacket and flares, his favourite Fender Stratocaster slung across his back. Or perhaps he travelled incognito, in a trenchcoat and dark glasses. Either way, somewhere on that street, the heart of Swinging London at the height of peace and love, he opened the door of the cage and unleashed two bright green birds: Adam and Eve, a breeding pair of ring-necked parakeets.
A close look at pesticide use reveals we’re treating crops more frequently and with a greater variety of chemicals than ever before – it’s time to reverse this trend and put the UK onto a trajectory of pesticide reduction.
The White-legged Damselfly (Platycnemis pennipes) is a delicate little insect that can be found fluttering along lushly vegetated margins of rivers, streams, pools and lakes in southern England and Wales. In recent years there have been increasing concerns that this elegant species is disappearing from some parts of the UK. However, our understanding of White-legged Damselfly population trends it limited by a lack of long term data; thus, the British Dragonfly Society has launched the White-legged Damselfly Investigation.
UK honeybees have an extremely varied diet, foraging on a selection of more than 1,000 different plant species, a pioneering analysis of honey samples has found.
Around 200 beekeepers from across the UK provided honey samples for high-tech DNA testing. The results revealed that bees feed on a wide variety of commonly found crops, wildflowers and garden plants including Oilseed rape, Clovers, Brambles and Sweet Chestnut. It has also found invasive non-native species to be important sources of pollen and nectar, particularly Himalayan Balsam and ‘Tree of Heaven’.
Great spotted woodpeckers make themselves at home at some of our reserves across Scotland, and can be seen visiting gardens over winter to have a go at the feeders. RSPB Scotland’s Allie McGregor shares five facts about this great species.
With Ring Ouzel migration about to reach its peak this wonderful thrush can turn up almost anywhere. Check out the latest identification video to help separate this species from Blackbird, both on the ground, in flight and by song.
Back in 2004, when Rothamsted Research and Butterfly Conservation first uncovered the significant, long-term decline in moth abundance, artificial light at night (ALAN) was highlighted as a potential contributor to the observed trends1.
Footage of every single freshwater fish species in Britain filmed over the course of 7 years. Jack traveled across England, Scotland and Wales to film these species using various specialist techniques.
Peregrine by Harry Appleyard, Hazeley Wood, 29 May 2016
Despite extensive research on city-dwelling Peregrine FalconsFalco peregrinus in mainland Europe and other parts of the world, little has been undertaken and published in the UK. We analysed the diet of Peregrines in three cities in southwest England – Bristol, Bath and Exeter – between 1998 and 2007.The wide range of prey species taken included many species associated with a variety of non-urban habitats. Some prey species appear to be hunted at night, while on migration. This paper summarises the diet of Peregrines in urban areas and reviews their night-time hunting behaviour.
Swallows are summer visitors to the UK. They start to arrive here from Africa in April. By early June most swallows have started breeding and by July, the first brood of young has usually left the nest and flown away. The parents will normally then go on to raise a second brood, sometimes even a third.
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip to:
Location: Meet in car park, SP 570 126. Space limited. RSPB requests car-share and do not overspill onto lane. From Abingdon Arms pub, Beckley (OX3 9TD), take Otmoor Lane for 1 mile and past firing range.
The RSPB has (with our Group’s support) restored this huge former wetland from intensive agriculture. Summer specialities include hobby, turtle dove and many dragonflies. Three hides but no toilets at this remote site. Paths level, but lengthy.
Walk leader : Mike Bird
Time: 10 am to 1 pm
Price: Free event
See the RSPB North Bucks Local Group website for more information
MKNHS is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. You should check details of any events listed on external sites with the organisers.
Around three quarters of the UK population (74%) have some negative opinion of moths, with many people believing the majority eat clothes and are pests, a study has revealed.
Famed for its minute size and extra shiny coat the shining guest (Formicoxenus nitidulus) is a real gem to behold, particularly when you spot one in amongst a group of larger, acid-spraying wood ants – which the former treats as its ‘hosts’.
Elephant poaching rates in Africa are declining, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.
The annual poaching mortality rate fell from a high of more than 10% in 2011 to less than 4% in 2017, but the researchers warned that current levels were still unsustainable and could spell trouble for the future of the animals on the continent.
Our current project, FSC BioLinks, is all about invertebrates. Invertebrates provide us with many useful ecosystem services which we cannot survive without but their numbers are declining. Few people know how to identify or record invertebrates meaning there is a lack of records, making it difficult for conservationists to address these declines. The BioLinks project teaches people how to identify and record invertebrates by providing subsidised training courses, learning opportunities and digital tools to generate more records.
One of the joys of spring is the burst of bird song it brings, but telling birds apart by sound alone can be tricky for beginners. Start by learning the repertoire of some of the UK’s most familiar songsters and you’ll soon get your ear in.
Plantations are an excellent way to combat climate breakdown, writes Andrew Weatherall, of the National School of Forestry. And Rachel Kerr says heather moorland is rarer than rainforest and the underlying peat is more effective at carbon storage than trees
Linford Lakes NR BioBlitz by David Easton. 24 June 2016
Citizen scientists are increasingly engaged in gathering biodiversity information, but trade‐offs are often required between public engagement goals and reliable data collection. We compared population estimates for 18 widespread butterfly species derived from the first 4 years (2011–2014) of a short‐duration citizen science project (Big Butterfly Count [BBC]) with those from long‐running, standardized monitoring data collected by experienced observers (U.K. Butterfly Monitoring Scheme [UKBMS])…
Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon surged last month to the highest May level since the current monitoring method began, prompting concerns that president Jair Bolsonaro is giving a free pass to illegal logging, farming and mining.
Grey Wagtail by Peter Hassett, Floodplain Forest NR, 10 April 2016
Wind and other weather phenomena are a driving force behind bird migration. Paul Stancli e and Grahame Madge explain how understanding the weather will help you understand birds’ movements.
Many shark populations are in decline, primarily due to overexploitation. In response, conservation measures have been applied at differing scales, often severely restricting sales of declining species. Therefore, DNA barcoding was used to investigate sales of shark products in fishmongers and fish and chip takeaways in England.
The Duke of Burgundy is back from the brink – and the work to conserve it has helped other declining species. Does this mean there is hope in the face of Insectageddon?
Ptarmigans live in the mountains, and can survive quite happily at altitudes of up to 4,000 feet! To deal with the conditions in this part of the country ptarmigans have a range of fascinating adaptations, which are perhaps most evident come winter. Here are five interesting facts we thought you would enjoy about these birds.
With their characteristic black and white-striped face and grey fur, the badger looks like no other UK mammal. Stocky, powerfully-built creatures, they typically weigh 10-12kg, with a whole body length of about 90cm.
Here are some tips to help you be bee friendly even if you’re not a beekeeper! With a changing climate and increasing habitat loss, bees need all the help they can get.
I’m Sue Hetherington. I’ve been a member of Bucks Bird Club since 2009 when I decided that it was about time I joined given that I was then living next door to where the club was holding its indoor meetings at the time (we have both moved since then). I remember my first field trip with Bucks Bird Club (to Wendover Woods) with shame – I didn’t even have a pair of binoculars, let alone a telescope! Oh yes, I fitted into what Simon Barnes has termed “a bad birdwatcher”. I’ve always been “into” all natural history but birds seem to have particularly invited themselves in to my consciousness and have tried to take over. I like all sorts of birds in all sorts of habitats but I have a particular interest in urban birds. To see what I mean by the term “urban birds” take a look at David Lindo’s eponymous book. And yes, David is my friend and hero.
I love seeing birds in unexpected urban settings, I admire their enterprise in finding homes with us especially when we seem to be constantly shrinking their natural environment. It also makes it easy to birdwatch if it can be combined with a trip to town. I’ve loved seeing waxwings in Aylesbury in those special winters they grace us with their presence. I’ve also some seen some amazing starling murmerations there. Come the summer, what could be better than to see (and hear) those most urban of birds, swifts. My absolute favourites though are urban peregrines and particularly those from my home county.
I know many others share my Bucks and MK interest in our urban peregrines and would like to know the results from this year. But first to summarise past years’ outcomes
– peregrines first bred on County Hall Tower Block in Aylesbury in 2011 using a provided nesting platform
– peregrines first bred in the MK Dons Stadium MK in 2015. At first they used an old crows’ nest but a nesting platform was provided which they eventually used for the first time in 2018
There is no central news outlet for these peregrines so it was not until Mike Wallen, the County Bird Recorder, placed some notes on the Yahoo discussion board called bucksbirders that this years picture emerged. This is the news that Mike gave on bucksbirders on 7/6/19
Bucks Peregrines- update
Aylesbury County Hall Tower Block.
Bad news complete breeding failure, no eggs, no chicks and it looks like the female has been lost, either before any eggs, or at some stage after. Whatever was there has been predated. There is a male present. A webcam which has been available in past years was unfortunately unavailable this year.
StadiumMK
Much better news. The birds went straight to the platform this spring and laid 4 eggs, 3 of which hatched and have done extremely well.
The first one fledged on June 3rd, but something wasn’t quite right and it had to be rescued, fortunately a member of staff there has a partner who is a vet, it was found to be dehydrated. It spent a couple of days with the vet where she (it was sexed) recovered well. This fortunately coincided with Rod Stewart performing so we didn’t have any trouble with Peregrine chicks causing havoc in the crowd. [although several birders who attended the concert reported how much they had enjoyed seeing the peregrines as an added bonus – Sue]
Yesterday (6th) the other two chicks were still on the platform, but exercising vigorously, one nearly came off, but hung on, fledging imminent.
At lunchtime the rescued bird was released at a high point in the stadium and after sitting still for a few minutes it then took off extremely strongly and went straight out of the stadium ! It was expected to return as peregrine fledglings do. There has never been a webcam on this platform.
I for one have missed being able to follow the fortunes of the Aylesbury project on webcams, as have many others I am sure. If anyone feels similarly deprived, I recommend the Derby Peregrine Project which has the entry point to almost everything you could wish to know about urban peregrines here http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/ Ordinarily, they too would have a webcam but this too has been jinxed this year (building developments have got in the way of line of sight wireless transmission from the camera on the cathedral to a wireless base station – work is in progress to find a fix) The Derby website has a list of some of the other peregrine projects that exist around the county (there are lots)
That’s all the Bucks and MK Urban Peregrine news I have.
Turning to another iconic urban bird, swifts, they are back in our towns and villages but many people think they were very late and have arrived in lower numbers than normal. When they made their 6000 mile journey to us from their winter airspace in Africa, it is thought that they hit severe storms in Italy, France and Spain. It is believed they were badly hit, with many dying through starvation or hypothermia. We’ve just had a prolonged bad weather spell here which can’t have helped breeding swifts. We hope for the best for these fantastic little birds. Hopefully we won’t get a problem with grounded swifts (eg fledglings jumping before they are ready) but if you do, there is advice here https://www.swift-conservation.org/SwiftFirstAid.htm
I would add Tiggywinkes Wildlife Hospital, Haddenham to the list of carers, it’s where I would take a swift casualty. If anyone needs a swift “ambulance driver” I am happy to be contacted on 07972 833 408
I have no news yet on various swift projects around the county, but I can confirm that my swift box (in its second season) has no occupants. This would seem to bear out the “low numbers” theory as my village normally has a good population of swifts and interest was shown in my box last year.
We are home to a quarter of the entire global population of curlew. If the curlew dies out in the UK, they are in real danger of disappearing from the earth all together. The scary news is that UK’s curlews are in serious decline. The British countryside is no longer a safe place for curlews to raise their young. With too few chicks surviving to fledge, there are not enough youngsters joining the population to replace the adults. We’re facing a future without our wader – that’s if nobody does anything about it.
In my last blog piece I wrote about the lichen translocation work that we carried out at Tarr Steps National Nature Reserve on Exmoor as part of Plantlife’s Building Resilience in South West Woodlands project, as recently featured on BBC’s Countryfile. This work focussed on the rare Tree Lungwort lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria) – a superstar of the lichen world. This large and vibrantly coloured species has drastically declined due to air pollution and acid rain and the UK has an international responsibility to conserve it.
This large, powerful butterfly is usually seen flying swiftly over the tops of bracken or low vegetation in woodland clearings. In flight, the males are almost impossible to separate from those of the Dark Green Fritillary, which often share the same habitats. However, both species frequently visit flowers such as thistles and Bramble where it is possible to see their distinctive underside wing markings. The Dark Green lacks the orange ringed ‘pearls’ on the underside of the hindwing.
At the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science there are around 60 full time scientists working on conservation problems around the world. My team specialise in tackling the problems faced by breeding waders and Project Godwit is one of our big projects over the next few years. This project aims to secure the future for breeding black-tailed godwits in the UK.
The month of June began with the appearance of some old moth friends showing their faces for the first time this year. It is always reassuring to see them, to see that they have survived the rigours of the past year and are in good shape to continue. Things have rather slowed down over the past week with the heavy rain, winds and sometimes cool temperatures. My mothing has been confined to the garden in Newport Pagnell and Linford Lakes Nature Reserve using Robinson Moth Traps (See previous notes of for information about traps).
On the night of June 1st, 294 moths of 76 species visited the trap at Linford Lakes and amongst the catch was a lovely Oak-Hook-tip. It is one of seven Hook-tip moths to be found in Britain and as the name suggests its caterpillars feed on the foliage of oak trees and the Hook part refers to the wing shape. It is able to complete its life cycle twice in the year and will be on the wing again in late July to mid September.
Another on the 1st at Linford Lakes was one of the carpet moths, a Green Carpet. There are 54 species of Carpet moths and none of them eat carpets. They are named so because of the delicate patterns on their wings. It too has 2 generations in a year and the caterpillars feed on Bedstraws and Cleavers.
June 3rd was not quite as busy as the June 1st with some 221 moths of 50 species at Linford Lakes. One that took the eye though was the Cream-bordered Green Pea. A friend of mine observed that it sounded more like something that should be on a restaurant menu rather than the name fora moth. It is a nationally scarce moth whose caterpillars feed on Willows and Sallows and seems well established at Linford Lakes.
The China-mark moths are emerging and have been visiting the trap too. There are 4 species: Small China-mark, Brown China-mark, Beautiful China-mark and photographed here, the Ringed China-mark. They have aquatic or sub-aquatic caterpillars. The Ringed China-mark caterpillar feeds on Pondweeds, Canadian Waterweed and other plants and spins leaves together and lives in an open web.
In the garden this week it was good to see the return of the Orange Pine Tortrix. It is a micro-moth whose caterpillar feeds on Scots Pine where it makes a silk tube along a twig. The moth was first recorded in Britain in Surrey in 1945 so it has been here just 3 more years than me.
Text and photos kindly supplied by Gordon Redford. Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes
The Case for Caddisflies and much-maligned Molinia.
Over the past few years I have developed an interest in caddisflies – their life-cycles and ecology in particular – thanks in part to the enthusiasm of friend, neighbour and seasoned entomologist Graham Vick. All caddis are tied to water in one way or another by the aquatic or semi-aquatic requirements of their larvae and in Britain the group comprises some 200 species. Larval cases arouse a passing curiosity in most naturalists but the adults must be one of the most overlooked and neglected insect groups going.
The news from the UN that the global rate of extinction is accelerating – with at least a 20% decline over the last century – caused reverberations around the world when it was published earlier this month.
Although the news shocked and surprised a lot of people, conservation organisations have long been aware of the challenges facing our natural heritage. We caught up with James Harding-Morris of Back from the Brink, a groundbreaking National Lottery-funded project set up to help reverse this decline.
The UK’s swifts return every year to nest here after spending the winter in Africa, but have been arriving late this year and the RSPB have received numerous calls and emails from concerned people.
Mammal recording was introduced to the BBS in 1995 with a view to help improve our knowledge of the distribution and population trends of some of our commoner mammals.
Compared with birds, the population trends of mammals are relatively poorly known. Even though mammal recording has always been a voluntary addition to the scheme, around 90% of BBS squares now hold mammal data.
Every fall, millions of monarch butterflies engage in one of nature’s great spectacles, migrating from sites across North America to refuges in either central Mexico or coastal California, where winter temperatures are more tolerable. They fly south for thousands of miles, propelled by some innate sense of direction to places that neither they nor their parents have ever visited. But not all of them make the journey. Not all of them know the way.
Thousands of you helped make our single of pure bird song, Let Nature Sing, a chart success! To thank you, we’ve created Birdsong Radio
A YouGov poll for wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation revealed that 64 per cent of people surveyed associated moths with eating clothes and 33 per cent with being pests.
That old adage about waiting for buses comes to mind… we have been waiting for years for good news about UK marine protected areas (MPAs), and so far, in just ten days, June has seen three big announcements come our way.
Curlews have various requirements in terms of the ‘patchwork’ of habitats they choose to call home.
Animal abusers could now face up to five years in prison under the new Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), today.
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to turn farmland into a haven for breeding waders. The only tools you have at your disposal are tractors and cows and we will give you permission to pump water out of nearby rivers when conditions allow. That’s how it started. These days the diggers look big enough to use on a motorway construction site!
The British Trust for Ornithology have produced a number of bird identification videos.
Thousands of species could go extinct over the next decade according to a 2019 UN report.
Can be seen feeding at flowers, such as Bugle, louseworts and Marsh Thistle. Can be confused with the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk-moth (H. fuciformis), although that species has broader bands on the outer edges of the wings, in particular on the hindwing.
Habitat loss and climate change are the two culprits most regularly blamed for the decline of butterflies and moths, but now a third suspect, nitrogen deposition, is increasingly coming under the spotlight as a key driver of decline.
Greenhouse gas emissions in the UK will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the terms of a new government plan to tackle climate change.
The woodland landscape in Britain has changed enormously over the last century, most notably through the planting of large areas of North American conifers (Sitka spruce and lodgepole pine) and larches from Europe and Japan. Prior to these plantations, the native Scots pine was the only conifer available to common crossbills when irrupting crossbills arrived from the European continent.
The UK Wild Otter Trust has just received hugely exciting news: we have the chance to turn a site near Winkleigh, Devon, into one of the UK’s largest rehabilitation centre for otter cubs!
The RSPB and dozens of environmental groups have resigned from the government’s pesticides forum after two decades claiming the use of dangerous chemicals is now far worse than when they joined.
Six parliamentary committees have announced plans for a citizens’ assembly to discuss how the UK should tackle climate change.
Unfortunately, 2019 has seen more problems with the illegal use of rail traps posing a risk to birds and other non-target animals. The RSPB is increasingly concerned about the lack of consistent enforcement action in relation to these reports.
Red squirrels are Scotland’s native squirrel species, instantly recognisable by their distinctive ear tufts, rust coloured fur and bushy tails. The tail is particularly important as it’s used for balance, communication and as a cosy blanket.
The naked mole-rat is perhaps one of the most bizarre beasts on the planet. At first glance, it looks like little more than a cocktail sausage with legs and teeth. But beneath its wrinkly pink skin, this creature’s strange and beautiful biology has me fascinated – so much so that I set up a whole research group devoted to studying them. Largely immune to cancer, impervious to some forms of pain, and seemingly blessed with the elixir of life, you may well owe your life to them one day.
Click here to view the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust newsletter.
Dealers looking to illegally export European eels from the UK have been exposed by BBC Countryfile.
Recently, Health Canada announced a move to ban the use of certain pesticides containing chemical substances known as neonicotinoids. Scientists have long known such pesticides decimate bee populations, which is bad enough, considering several species have made the endangered list of late. However, current evidence exists showing how these substances harm more than just bees.
The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) is the main scheme for monitoring population changes of the UK’s common and widespread butterflies. It is important in both assessing the changing status of widespread butterfly species and in providing an indicator of the health of the wider countryside. Data from this scheme feeds into the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS).
Although we are all familiar with the important role that bumblebees and honeybees play in pollination, over 90% of the UK’s 267 bee species are in fact solitary bees. Pollinating animals are responsible for one third of the food we consume and solitary bees are particularly efficient pollinators. Unlike other bees solitary bees do not have pollen baskets and so transfer much more pollen between flowers, meaning a single red mason bee provides a pollination service equivalent to 120 worker honey bees. This makes them a critical resource in our gardens and wider countryside and one that we should all be keen to protect. We have collated some information below on how to help encourage and preserve these fascinating creatures.
Swifts take incredible migration journeys each year, but sadly they’re in trouble, with breeding numbers plummeting.
Young Wildlife Photographers UK is an exciting project unveiling wildlife and nature photography and stories to a broader audience. Social networking is our tool to expose young talent and the next generation of British wildlife photographers.
No British summer would be complete without the screech of Swifts darting overhead. This distinctive call is incomparably evocative of a blissful, warm summers day; for me a trigger of childhood memories playing out in the fields during ever-lasting school breaks or later, time spent in a third-floor apartment in St Ives, Cornwall (heaven!) where, once evening fell, a group of overzealous Swifts would rise up steep streets from the town below and erupt volcano-like inches from the old wooden window frames, plucking insects from the humid air at what seemed a million miles per hour, screeches reverberating so loud as if they were all but in the room before squealing excitedly back into the streets below, their whistle trailing off like a distant firework.
1. Swifts migrate here from Africa
Conservationists concerned about late swift return
Bird songs are common sounds to us all, but why do birds sing? Imagine you’re a male willow warbler, and you’ve just flown 2,400 miles (4000 km) from Africa. It’s spring, and you need to find a mate quickly. However, your home is a woodland and you’re the colour of leaves. What better way of advertising to a passing female that you are here and would make a fine father for her chicks than by having a clear, loud and recognisable song?
By Gwen Potter, Countryside Manager for Northumberland Coast and Farne Islands, National Trust
If you’re a fan of feeding the birds in your garden I imagine you’ll know a starling when you see one, but there’s more to these beautiful birds than meets the eye!
A close look at pesticide use reveals we’re treating crops more frequently and with a greater variety of chemicals than ever before – it’s time to reverse this trend and put the UK onto a trajectory of pesticide reduction.
Great spotted woodpeckers make themselves at home at some of our reserves across Scotland, and can be seen visiting gardens over winter to have a go at the feeders. RSPB Scotland’s Allie McGregor shares five facts about this great species.
Back in 2004, when Rothamsted Research and Butterfly Conservation first uncovered the significant, long-term decline in moth abundance, artificial light at night (ALAN) was highlighted as a potential contributor to the observed trends1.
A new study finds that almost 600 plants have become extinct in the wild, more than twice than the number of mammals, birds and amphibians.
Swallows are summer visitors to the UK. They start to arrive here from Africa in April. By early June most swallows have started breeding and by July, the first brood of young has usually left the nest and flown away. The parents will normally then go on to raise a second brood, sometimes even a third.
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip to:Around three quarters of the UK population (74%) have some negative opinion of moths, with many people believing the majority eat clothes and are pests, a study has revealed.
Famed for its minute size and extra shiny coat the shining guest (Formicoxenus nitidulus) is a real gem to behold, particularly when you spot one in amongst a group of larger, acid-spraying wood ants – which the former treats as its ‘hosts’.
Our current project, FSC BioLinks, is all about invertebrates. Invertebrates provide us with many useful ecosystem services which we cannot survive without but their numbers are declining. Few people know how to identify or record invertebrates meaning there is a lack of records, making it difficult for conservationists to address these declines. The BioLinks project teaches people how to identify and record invertebrates by providing subsidised training courses, learning opportunities and digital tools to generate more records.
One of the joys of spring is the burst of bird song it brings, but telling birds apart by sound alone can be tricky for beginners. Start by learning the repertoire of some of the UK’s most familiar songsters and you’ll soon get your ear in.
Many shark populations are in decline, primarily due to overexploitation. In response, conservation measures have been applied at differing scales, often severely restricting sales of declining species. Therefore, DNA barcoding was used to investigate sales of shark products in fishmongers and fish and chip takeaways in England.
The Duke of Burgundy is back from the brink – and the work to conserve it has helped other declining species. Does this mean there is hope in the face of Insectageddon?
Ptarmigans live in the mountains, and can survive quite happily at altitudes of up to 4,000 feet! To deal with the conditions in this part of the country ptarmigans have a range of fascinating adaptations, which are perhaps most evident come winter. Here are five interesting facts we thought you would enjoy about these birds.
Water brings a magical quality to your garden, and is the key to life for so many creatures that live in it.
With their characteristic black and white-striped face and grey fur, the badger looks like no other UK mammal. Stocky, powerfully-built creatures, they typically weigh 10-12kg, with a whole body length of about 90cm.
Here are some tips to help you be bee friendly even if you’re not a beekeeper! With a changing climate and increasing habitat loss, bees need all the help they can get.
We are home to a quarter of the entire global population of curlew. If the curlew dies out in the UK, they are in real danger of disappearing from the earth all together. The scary news is that UK’s curlews are in serious decline. The British countryside is no longer a safe place for curlews to raise their young. With too few chicks surviving to fledge, there are not enough youngsters joining the population to replace the adults. We’re facing a future without our wader – that’s if nobody does anything about it.
In my last blog piece I wrote about the lichen translocation work that we carried out at Tarr Steps National Nature Reserve on Exmoor as part of Plantlife’s Building Resilience in South West Woodlands project, as recently featured on BBC’s Countryfile. This work focussed on the rare Tree Lungwort lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria) – a superstar of the lichen world. This large and vibrantly coloured species has drastically declined due to air pollution and acid rain and the UK has an international responsibility to conserve it.
This large, powerful butterfly is usually seen flying swiftly over the tops of bracken or low vegetation in woodland clearings. In flight, the males are almost impossible to separate from those of the Dark Green Fritillary, which often share the same habitats. However, both species frequently visit flowers such as thistles and Bramble where it is possible to see their distinctive underside wing markings. The Dark Green lacks the orange ringed ‘pearls’ on the underside of the hindwing.
The Case for Caddisflies and much-maligned Molinia.
Almost 600 plant species have been lost from the wild in the last 250 years, according to a comprehensive study.
The news from the UN that the global rate of extinction is accelerating – with at least a 20% decline over the last century – caused reverberations around the world when it was published earlier this month.
Mammal recording was introduced to the BBS in 1995 with a view to help improve our knowledge of the distribution and population trends of some of our commoner mammals.