The Garden Butterfly Survey allows you to record and report the butterflies that visit your garden over the course of a year. Create a free account, submit your sightings and help us learn more about how butterflies are faring in UK gardens.
Click here for more information.
Linford Lakes Nature Reserve showing observation deck by Peter Hassett
Wednesday 8 May at Linford Lakes NR
19.00 – 20.30 hrs
Presentation in the Centre
Cost: £2 per adult, £1 for children – payable on the night.
The relationship between bees and flowering plants goes back to the early Cetaceous period, and different species of bee have, over 100 million years or so, developed a number of different physiological adaptations and behavioural traits to enable them to collect pollen.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
The silphid beetles are a very interesting group of insects, many of them associated with carrion. Species in genus Nicrophorus, commonly referred to as Sexton beetles, are well known for their habits of burying small vertebrate carcasses. This group also display bi-parental care, a rare trait among beetles and for this reason are increasingly being used in behavioral research. Other carrion dwellers include Necrodes littoralis and the Thanatophilus species. The very distinctive species Oiceoptoma thoracicum is less specific, and can be found on carrion, dung and fungi. The group also contains some predatory species; Phosphuga atrata (hunts snails) and Dendroxena quadrimaculata(hunts caterpillars).
Click here for more information.
Study shows dramatic fall in baby coral numbers but also change in type of coral
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Great Barrier Reef suffers 89% collapse in new coral after bleaching events | Environment | The Guardian
Every one of the beautiful butterflies that grace our gardens and countryside during the year began life as an egg. So while butterfly eggs may lack the glamour of adult butterflies, they are an essential part of the life cycle; no eggs, no butterflies.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Easter Eggs
Diptera expert Erica McAlister talks to Tom Ireland about the awesome diversity and unappreciated beauty of flies
Click here for more information.: Fantastic flies
Scientists warn that social and economic price of plastic waste to global society has been underestimated
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Marine plastic pollution costs the world up to $2.5tn a year, researchers find | Global development | The Guardian
ATM has been painting on the streets since 2014. Known for his giant murals of birds and animals, his work draws attention to them. Often linking the paintings to the nature of the local area itself. This is about raising awareness of the natural world but in a local, community setting.
Click here for more information.: Ten of the Best Nature Murals by Street Artist ATM – Inspiring City
According to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the right amount of tree cover can lower daytime temperatures in city landscapes by more than 5°C.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Trees are crucial for the temperature and future of our cities – Discover Wildlife
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.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: RSPB resigns from government’s pesticides forum after chemical use soars
Avoiding meat and dairy products is one of the biggest ways to reduce your environmental impact, according to recent scientific studies.
But what is the difference between beef and chicken? Does a bowl of rice produce more climate warming greenhouse gases than a plate of chips? Is wine more environmentally friendly than beer?
Click here for more information.: Climate change food calculator: What’s your diet’s carbon footprint? – BBC News
Butterflies have declined by at least 84% in the Netherlands over the last 130 years, according to a study, confirming the crisis affecting insect populations in western Europe.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Butterfly numbers fall by 84% in Netherlands over 130 years – study | Environment | The Guardian
A ground-breaking collaboration is harnessing technology used to study stars, to carry out detailed monitoring of orangutan populations in Borneo.
Liverpool John Moores University (LMJU), WWF and the HUTAN orangutan conservation programme came together to examine ways of detecting the great apes in the Bornean forest canopy.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Counting orangutans using star-spotting technology – Discover Wildlife
A glance at my notebook in which I record moths in my garden in Newport Pagnell shows very clearly that there have been some cold nights and not many moths recorded. Moths do not like cold, wind and rain and we have had some of all three since I last wrote. I was wondering what am I going to write about in these notes when a fellow mother came to my rescue. Andy Harding has permission from the owners (Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust) and the Warden of Little Linford Wood to trap and record moths there and he asked if I would like to join him at opening up time on April 17th.
I am not sure either of us was expecting much judging by our results at our homes but what a surprise was in store for us. The white sheet upon which the trap had been placed had one on there to make us gasp. It was a Lunar-marbled Brown (pictured above). It is nationally regarded as a common species but in my 24 years of mothing in this area I have recorded it just 7 times. It’s caterpillars feed on Oaks of which there are plenty at Little Linford Wood.
There was better to follow because on an oak tree adjacent to the trap was a Frosted Green whose caterpillars are also oak feeders. This was a new moth for me.
There were 2 other moths that had us salivating, neither rare, but both rather nice to see. The first was a Water Carpet which I first saw in Northumberland in the 1980’s. The caterpillars of this moth feed on bedstraws.
The second was a Purple Thorn, a beautiful moth that manages to get through the life cycle of egg-caterpillar-pupa-flying insect twice in the year so watch these notes in August for a re-appearance.
Nature Reserves and land owned and managed by the Wildlife Trusts are very important for moths because the plants and trees upon which they rely during their life cycles should have some measure of protection. Moths themselves are very important not least because all parts of their lives provide food for other wildlife.
I need not have worried really about having moths to show and talk about because today, Good Friday, at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve, a Chocolate-tip. Just right for Easter I thought.
Text and photos kindly supplied by Gordon Redford.
Photos:
Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes
To celebrate its centenary, Forestry England is encouraging people to discover and celebrate its woodlands’ wildlife with a new citizen science survey.
The Big Forest Find aims to collect data from forests across the country and provide experts with the information needed to manage the land.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Largest ever survey of England’s forest wildlife – Discover Wildlife
More than 100 dead and injured ringtail possums have been found by wildlife rescuers along a single stretch of beach in Victoria in what ecologists say is becoming an annual occurrence due to extreme heat.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: ‘Falling out of trees’: dozens of dead possums blamed on extreme heat stress | Environment | The Guardian
The English and scientific names of this moth are derived from the distinctive yellowish colour of the antennae. The forewings of the English subspecies are grey or greenish-white with a large pale spot near the centre of the leading edge. The Scottish subspecies is a darker grey.
The caterpillars can be found from mid-May to mid-July feeding at night and resting between two leaves spun flat together during the day. They overwinter as pupae on the ground amongst leaf litter.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Yellow Horned
A record number of dolphins have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast in the last three months, many with devastating injures.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Mutilated dolphins wash up on French coast in record numbers | Environment | The Guardian
On a sunny summer’s day you might have noticed day-flying moths in your garden, such as the Humming-bird Hawk-moth buzzing around the Buddleia, but have you been out after dark with a torch to see which flowers the night-flyers are favouring?
Some adult moths don’t feed at all, such as the Eyed, Lime and Poplar Hawk-moths, but most moths do have to consume nectar to give them the energy needed for flying. While visiting plants they accidentally carry pollen between flowers, so playing an important role in pollination. Flowers that have evolved to attract moths as pollinators are often shades of white, lilac or pale pink so they can be seen at night and they emit their scent more strongly after dark.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Dig it – April Tips from the Secret Gardener
I have a large and well known soft-spot for the bee-flies in family Bombyliidae; it’s not just their adorable looks that have caused my heart to become theirs, but also, they have the most fascinating of life cycles.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Fly of the month – bee-flies – Discover Wildlife
The Morrison government has formally recognised the extinction of a tiny island rodent, the Bramble Cay melomys – the first known demise of a mammal because of human-induced climate change.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: The Bramble Cay melomys is climate change’s first mammal extinction victim
Six members of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt will appear at Nottingham Magistrates Court, accused of hunting fox cubs.
Dutch elm disease caused a catastrophic decline for the butterfly that relies on the elm to feed its caterpillars. But help is at hand
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Butterflywatch: hope for the rare white-letter hairstreak | Environment | The Guardian
Academics have mapped out a network of sanctuaries they say are required to save the world’s oceans, protect wildlife and fight climate breakdown.
The study, ahead of a historic vote at the UN, sets out the first detailed plan of how countries can protect over a third of the world’s oceans by 2030, a target scientists and policy makers say is crucial in order to safeguard marine ecosystems and help mitigate the impacts of a rapidly heating world.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Campaign to save oceans maps out global network of sanctuaries | Environment | The Guardian
Despite the rather unsettled weather, spring is definitely in the air. In just a matter of weeks migrating birds will be making their way back to the UK, and wintering birds will be heading to the Arctic. The annual migration that some of our most loved birds take is often rather hard to comprehend. Take the Swallow…
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Giant Tesco and the Tiny Swallow | RDS Conservation
Honeybees can learn to add and subtract, according to research showing that while the insects have tiny brains, they are still surprisingly clever.
Researchers behind the study have previously found that honeybees can apparently understand the concept of zero, and learn to correctly indicate which of two groups of objects is the smaller.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Spelling bees? No, but they can do arithmetic, say researchers | Environment | The Guardian
Giant 42.6m-year-old fossil was found along coast of Peru and suggests creature could walk on land
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Fossil of ancient four-legged whale with hooves discovered | Science | The Guardian
The restoration of natural forests and coasts can simultaneously tackle climate change and the annihilation of wildlife but is being worryingly overlooked, an international group of campaigners have said.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Let nature heal climate and biodiversity crises, say campaigners | Environment | The Guardian
Live bird nests have legal protection, but nest sites do not. Swallows, Swifts and Martins return to the same nesting site year after year. If these nesting sites are destroyed, with few alternatives available, local extinctions are likely.
Click here for more information.: Grant legal protection to Swallow, Swift and Martin nest sites not just nests. – Petitions
The Wildlife Trusts and the RHS set up Wild About Gardens to celebrate wildlife gardening and to encourage people to use their gardens to take action to help support nature. Many of our common garden visitors – including hedgehogs, house sparrows and starlings – are increasingly under threat. But together we can make a difference.
Help us turn the UK’s 24 million gardens into a network of nature reserves, and invite our wildlife back.
Click here for more information.
Help us celebrate our centenary by discovering and recording the wildlife in your local forest.
Click here for more information.: The Big Forest Find | Forestry England
One of the world’s most common pesticides will soon be banned by the European Union after safety officials reported human health and environmental concerns.
Chlorothalonil, a fungicide that prevents mildew and mould on crops, is the most used pesticide in the UK, applied to millions of hectares of fields, and is the most popular fungicide in the US. Farmers called the ban “overly precautionary”.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: EU bans UK’s most-used pesticide over health and environment fears | Environment | The Guardian
Weight of 1.75m signatures persuades German state to bypass referendum and order action to protect pollinators
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Bavaria to pass ‘save the bees’ petition into law in landmark move | World news | The Guardian
When at rest the Red Sword-grass is brilliantly camouflaged as a bit of wood. Indeed its scientific name Xylena vetusta means ‘old wood’. It is a widespread species in northern and western parts of the UK, but is capable of long-distance flights so can turn up anywhere.
Red Sword-grass moths hibernate through the winter, starting to emerge in March. The moths visit early blossom such as sallow to drink nectar as well as feeding on the sap of birches.
Click here for more information.: Red Sword-grass
Researchers used state-of-the-art tools to help identify the most suitable location for lynx reintroduction in Scotland – and how this choice might affect the size of a population and its expansion over subsequent decades. Significantly, they believe their model will inform and enhance decision-making around large carnivore reintroductions worldwide.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: New study models the proposed reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx to Scotland | About | University of Stirling
Sexism. Is it a dirty word? It often feels that way – something that people don’t really want to talk about, or if they’re going to, they do it quietly. There’s no doubt that sexism continues to persist in many areas of society – but what about nature conservation? Is our house in order?
Click here to read the rest of the article.: “We must inspire women to fight for nature” – Lucy McRobert discusses sexism in conservation – Discover Wildlife
A deadly disease that wiped out global populations of amphibians led to the decline of 500 species in the past 50 years, including 90 extinctions, scientists say.
A global research effort, led by the Australian National University, has for the first time quantified the worldwide impact of chytridiomycosis, or chytrid fungus, a fungal disease that eats away at the skin of amphibians.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Deadly skin-eating fungal disease wipes out 90 amphibian species in 50 years | Environment | The Guardian
Water Works Project Awarded £1 million
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire working with partners Cambridgeshire ACRE, the University of East London and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has been awarded £1 million by the People’s Postcode Lottery Dream Fund to pioneer sustainable wet farming in the Cambridgeshire Fens and create a Fen Biosphere.
Click here to read the newsletter: £1million for new project, wildlife sightings and upcoming events
Hockeridge Wood (Royal Forestry Society). On the Bucks / Herts border, this site has an interesting mix of trees with some unusual species. Meet at SP 974 064 at the gated entrance towards the southern end of the wood, parking judiciously on the verge in John’s Lane. From the Chesham direction turn left off the A416 at Ashley Green into Hog Lane, then first right into John’s Lane. From the Berkhamsted direction turn left off Shootersway into Denny’s Lane, pass under the A41, then left fork into John’s Lane, continuing half a mile or so to the gate on your left. (NB Please note that this is NOT where we’ve met in the past at the northern end of John’s Lane at the fork!). Leaders Kerry Robinson, Derek Schafer & Penny Cullington.
Click here for more information.
The first ever publicly released trail
camera video of an ocelot in Arizona provides a glimpse into the life of this rare feline.
Click here for more information.: Extraordinary footage released of a rare wild ocelot in Arizona – Discover Wildlife
Property developers who deliberately demolished a house containing protected bats have been fined £18,000.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Developer fined for destroying bat home in London – BBC News
One of the UK’s rarest bumblebees is being given a boost – by putting the flowers it feeds on in cages.
Conservationists and volunteers have planted 1,000 bilberry plants inside specially-designed metal cages that will protect them from grazing so they can provide food for the bilberry bumblebee in its Peak District stronghold.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Rare bumblebee to get boost from bilberries in cages – ITV News
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip to:
Location: Paxton Pits, Little Paxton, TL 195 629
Postcode: PE19 6ET (Google map)Our visit to this vast and still expanding gravel pit complex is timed for nightingales. Paxton Pits is one of thr best remaining sites for this declining species, and they can be amazingly bold, even in daylight. Paths level but variable quality. Toilets after 10.00 when visitor centre opens.
Meet in the car park. off High St, Lt Paxton for an 8.30am start
Walk Leader – Pete HowTime: 8.30am to 12 noon
Price: Free event
See the RSPB North Bucks Local Group website for more information
Work has started to remove some of the netting put up over cliffs at Bacton in North Norfolk. The nets were put up ahead of a multi-million pound scheme to stop coastal erosion.
Environmentalists claimed it was putting migrating sandmartins at risk. Today they welcomed the removal of some of the netting but said it could have come too late for the birds.
Source: Specialist abseilers remove parts of controversial cliff netting at Bacton | Anglia – ITV News
The number of heatwaves affecting the planet’s oceans has increased sharply, scientists have revealed, killing swathes of sea-life like “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest”.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Heatwaves sweeping oceans ‘like wildfires’, scientists reveal | Environment | The Guardian
A grassroots uprising is forcing builders and councils to remove netting over trees and hedgerows installed to prevent birds nesting and hindering their developments.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Property developers row back on netting used to stop birds nesting | Environment | The Guardian
The Orange Underwing flies around the leafless canopy of mature birch trees on sunny, still days in early spring. The moths rarely descend low enough for close inspection and are best observed through binoculars. They appear orange in flight, although as the name suggests this colour is largely restricted to the hindwings. The forewings are blackish-brown with white markings.
Click here for more information.: Orange Underwing
Sand martins could get stuck and die as a result of netting put on cliffs by a council, the RSPB has warned.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: RSPB warns Bacton cliffs netting ‘could kill’ birds – BBC News
Conservation groups say Trump administration plan that would scale the wolves’ protected area and allow people to shoot the species on private land will snuff out the species
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Red wolf: the struggle to save one of the rarest animals on Earth | Environment | The Guardian
From eel and sturgeon to pangolin and turtle, hundreds of species are threatened by human hunger or greed. Here are some of the most at risk
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Deadly appetite: 10 animals we are eating into extinction | Food | The Guardian
The temperatures in the evenings over the 12 days or so since I last wrote have generally been on the low side and this along with winds and rain have tended to keep the numbers of moths visiting my traps often down to single figures. I have been moth-trapping in my garden in Newport Pagnell every night, at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve most nights and one night each at Hollington Wood and Goosey Bank, both near Olney. The owners/managers of the last 3 sites mentioned have granted me permission to leave traps on their land and my wife allows me to keep one in the garden.
I am often asked why do you do what do with moths? Setting up moth traps, carrying heavy batteries up hill and down dale and the getting up early in the morning to check them out, identifying them and then releasing them. Well, there are many reasons and one of them occurred at Hollington Wood on the that one night mentioned above.
I had left 2 battery operated traps there on the night of April 1stand it was a coolish night, lowest temperature at 2.3 degrees at home and probably a little higher in the shelter of the woodland. The 2 traps yielded just 23 moths of 11 species one of which was a White-marked ( a poorly named moth really because the white mark is more creamy-yellow).
I have mothed in this area since 1994 when we moved here from the North-East of England where I had also mothed for some years and never before had I seen a White-marked. So one reason that I pursue this strange hobby is that even after 30+ years, there is always a chance that something new might turn up. Every morning is just a bit like Christmas.
The others recorded on that morning at Hollington Wood were in order of appearance Dotted Border, Diurnea fagella, Pale Pinion, Common Quaker, Small Quaker, Hebrew Character, Satellite, Brindled Beauty, Clouded Drab and the Engrailed.
Text and photos kindly supplied by Gordon Redford.
Photos:
Beautifully marked Dotted Border
White-marked
Pale Pinion
Brindled Beauty
Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes
Juvenile Cuckoo by Harry Appleyard
Many migratory bird species are undergoing population declines as a result of potentially multiple, interacting mechanisms. Understanding the environmental associations of spatial variation in population change can help tease out the likely mechanisms involved. Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus populations have declined by 69% in England but increased by 33% in Scotland. The declines have mainly occurred in lowland agricultural landscapes, but their mechanisms are unknown…
Click here for more information.: Breeding ground correlates of the distribution and decline of the Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus at two spatial scales – Denerley – 2019 – Ibis – Wiley Online Library
The male of this common species has a brownish forewing that is quite variable but can be distinguished by a row of black dots along the edge of both fore- and hindwing. The similar looking Mottled Umber lacks these markings and are less conspicuous in the Scarce Umber.
Click here for more information.: Dotted Border
Tree Bumblebee by Harry Appleyard, Tattenhoe 24 February 2017
Welcome to Bucks Buzzing, and your chance to help the insect pollinators that help all of us.
Pollinators come in a range of shapes and sizes from bumblebees to butterflies, moths, hoverflies, and of course, honey bees.
We depend on pollinators for much of our food including apples, pears, strawberries, plums, peas, beans, and for other important plants like wildflowers.
But our pollinators are falling in numbers and are in severe decline across Buckinghamshire and nationally.
You can help!
Click here for more information.
The Danish billionaires who are now Scotland’s largest private landowners are trying to restore the Highlands for generations to come, one of their closest advisers has said.
Tim Kirkwood said that Anders and Anne Holch Povlsen, who own more than 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) across Sutherland and the Grampian mountains wanted to become pioneers of rewilding by reversing years of mismanagement by previous lairds.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Danish billionaires plan to rewild large swath of Scottish Highlands | UK news | The Guardian
Some say the common frog, our most familiar amphibian, is no longer quite so common.
While the common frog (or Rana temporaria to use its formal scientific name) is distributed throughout the UK and Ireland and can be found almost anywhere with suitable breeding ponds nearby, its habitat is shrinking and facing pressures such as development, lack of habitat management and disease.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Hop to it: caring for the common frog | The Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust
2016 Photo Competition 2nd Golden-ringed Dragonfly by Julie Lane
A new study by Tim Termatt et al examines shifts in dragonfly species distribution across Europe in response to a warming climate. Data from a total of 10 European regions and 99 species were studied and compared to changes in climate over recent decades.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Distribution trends of European dragonflies under climate change | british-dragonflies.org.uk
UK butterflies bounced back in 2018 following a string of poor years, thanks in part to last year’s heatwave summer, a study has revealed.
Click here for more information.
Butterfly Conservation
The Guardian
The Independent
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
A young whale that washed up in the Philippines died from “gastric shock” after ingesting 40kg of plastic bags.
Marine biologists and volunteers from the D’Bone Collector Museum in Davao City, in the Philippine island of Mindanao, were shocked to discover the brutal cause of death for the young Cuvier’s beaked whale, which washed ashore on Saturday.
New research suggests that the decline of at least 501 amphibian species over the last 50 years is due to chytrid fungus.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Chytrid fungus threatens even more amphibians than previously realised – Discover Wildlife
Emitting ultrasound upon hearing an attacking bat is an effective defence strategy used by several moth taxa. Here we reveal how Yponomeuta moths acquire sophisticated acoustic protection despite being deaf themselves and hence unable to respond to bat attacks. Instead, flying Yponomeuta produce bursts of ultrasonic clicks perpetually; a striated patch in their hind wing clicks as the beating wing rotates and bends. This wing structure is strikingly similar to the thorax tymbals with which arctiine moths produce their anti-bat sounds. And indeed, Yponomeuta sounds closely mimic such arctiine signals, revealing convergence in form and function. Because both moth taxa contain noxious compounds, we conclude they are mutual Müllerian acoustic mimics. Yponomeuta’s perpetual clicking would however also attract bat predators. In response, their click amplitude is reduced and affords acoustic protection just as far as required, matching the distance over which bat biosonar would pick up Yponomeuta echoes anyway – advanced acoustic defences for a deaf moth.
The RHS Cellar Slug Hunt is being used to help the charity locate a beneficial garden slug that could be on the verge of extinction in the UK.
The yellow cellar slug has been in the UK for more that 130 years and feeds on decaying plants without harming live plant material.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Gardeners asked to help on springtime slug hunt – Discover Wildlife
Click on the play button for more information
Spring is the perfect time of year to start paying more attention to our magnificent moths. There are far more spring moths around than butterflies, so there is plenty of interest, but the variety and numbers have not yet built up to the sometimes dizzying diversity of summertime moth watching.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Moths to see in spring
Taking part in the National Moth Recording Scheme is simple and everyone is welcome. Any larger (macro-) moth that you see, whether you are moth trapping on a Scottish mountain or relaxing in your garden, can be recorded and submitted to form part of this important scheme.
Click here for more information.
The Trump administration is eroding protections for America’s endangered species. Here are five species under threat in the age of Trump.
A new study suggests that removing invasive species, such as mice, goats, cats, dogs and pigs, from islands around the world would benefit over nine per cent of the most endangered species.
The introduction of invasive species, usually by humans, has been responsible for hundreds of extinctions, with the majority of these being on islands.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Save endangered species by culling invasive animals – Discover Wildlife
Tree and female House sparrows ©Janice Robertson, RSPB Ouse Washes 12 January 2019
When studying dominance between different species at bird feeders, House Sparrows were found to be the most dominant species among the smaller birds.
Click here to download the BTO Bird Table article on this research.
How did you Big Garden Birdwatch? Thanks to the 472,758 of you who took part, we’ve got a good idea on how wildlife in our gardens is faring.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Big Garden Birdwatch Results 2019 – The RSPB
Aerial view of Linford Lakes Study Centre
Calling all Quizzers!
WaderQuest is a locally based charity which raises funds for the conservation of wading birds world wide. It is run by Rick and Elis Simpson, who will be known to Society members for the very enjoyable talks that Rick has given us in recent years (and indeed, another one in the pipeline for 2020!)
The Parks Trust is hosting a special fund-raising quiz night for WaderQuest at Linford Lakes Study Centre on the evening of Monday 29thApril (7.30 to 10pm). Tickets are priced at £5 and snacks and soft drinks will be served (and quizzers can bring their own wine or beer if they chose). All profits from the night will go to wader conservation.
If you are interested in coming along, please contact Martin Kincaid and order your tickets; mkincaid1971@outlook.com
Click here if you would like to take part in the
National Plant Monitoring Scheme.
In their paper in Wader Study, the journal of the International Wader Study Group, Barry O’Donoghue and his colleagues reveal the results of the 2015-17 survey of breeding Curlew in the Republic of Ireland. The emerald isle used to be a haven for Curlew but there are now dire warnings that the species could be lost as a breeding species. Various estimates suggest that there were between 3,300 and 12,000 pairs in the 1980s but the current number may be as low as 138 pairs. That’s a fall of 96% in about thirty years.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Ireland’s Curlew Crisis | wadertales
Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust Logo
Click here to see forthcoming events for the North Chilterns Chalk section of the Wildlife Trust BCN.
Natural England has issued a licence to allow the release of white-tailed eagles on the Isle of Wight.
The release is part of a project, led by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, to establish a breeding population of white-tailed eagles in southern England.
Click here for more information:
BBC
Discover Wildlife
Natural England press release
Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation
Linford Lakes Nature Reserve visitors enjoying an Open Sunday
Open Sunday (Easter activities) at Linford Lakes NR 10:00 – 16:00hrs
Tea and coffee, home-made cakes available.
Second-hand books on sale as well as crafts and many other items.
The weather is getting warmer and our spring migrant birds are arriving.
Bring friends and family to enjoy the reserve.
Take part in our Easter Duck Hunt (prizes for children).
Organised walks at 11.00 hrs from the Centre around the reserve.
More than 1,200 species globally face threats to their survival in more than 90% of their habitat and “will almost certainly face extinction” without conservation intervention, according to new research.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: ‘Almost certain extinction’: 1,200 species under severe threat across world | Environment | The Guardian
Insect populations are crashing around the world. Prof Dave Goulson summarises what the science is telling us, and what we can do about it.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Fantastic mini-beasts (and how to revive them) – Rewilding Britain
Islay, Oronsay and Colonsay are the southernmost islands of the archipelago known as the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. They provide habitat for many permanent and migratory species of birds and are the sites of the only remaining breeding colonies of red-billed chough (chough, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) in Scotland. The islands are characterised by very heterogeneous geology, soil, habitat and land-use patterns. Much of the land is grazed by sheep and cattle in low-intensity, ‘high nature value’ farming systems1. This system of grazing, which fosters a combination of short grassland vegetation and a rich soil, dung and epigeic invertebrate fauna, is ideal for chough. However, in recent years the population of chough on Islay, Oronsay and Colonsay has been in severe decline, considered likely to be due to declining feed resources
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Adverse effects of routine bovine health treatments containing triclabendazole and synthetic pyrethroids on the abundance of dipteran larvae in bovine faeces | Scientific Reports
A new study contradicts fears that using solar geoengineering to fight climate change could dangerously alter rainfall and storm patterns in some parts of the world.
They are often said to have a three-second memory, but the brain power of fish has been considerably underestimated, according to scientists who found some fish can recognise themselves in the mirror.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Scientists find some fish can ‘recognise themselves’ in mirror | Environment | The Guardian
In order to avoid males of the species bothering them for sex, female dragonflies fake their own deaths, falling from the sky and lying motionless on the ground until the suitor goes away.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Female Dragonflies Fake Death to Avoid Males Harassing Them for Sex
Great excitement today because my Emperor Moth pupae, which I have kept in the garden since late July, last year were waking up. Yesterday, mid-afternoon, a female chewed her way out of one of the cocoons and crawled her way up the net that I had placed her in. This morning I placed the net on a some fencing in the garden and, lo and behold, when I was in the shower, my wife called, “ there are males in the garden and I have netted one”. We have been married 47 years so I knew she meant moths.
If you are reading this with no knowledge of moths you may be thinking what is this man on about? Well, here’s the thing (Where has that come from? Everyone is now saying here’s the thing, me included). Moths and Butterflies, the Lepidoptera, have a life cycle of egg-caterpillar-pupa-adult. Some can achieve these 4 stages a couple of times a year, some it takes a year and some 3, 4 or more years. The Emperor Moth though, a native moth, is one of those that does it all in one year usually.
I was given Emperor eggs some ten years ago as a gift and have been rearing them each year since so the sequence of events is well practised. When moths emerge from the pupae ( usually in mid to late April , so note they are early this year) I separate the males from the females, which is simple with Emperor Moths not the least because they are visually different but also the male moths have feathery antennae while the females do not. The females are then placed in a net hanging from the washing line. The males are placed in a net too but locked up in the garage.
Where I am now with my female Emperor is that she is in the net on the washing line and, by emitting pheromones, has attracted a “wild” male which my wife has caught. This is part of the plan because I want the female mated with a “wild” male rather than with her brothers who are in the garage.
I, now dried and clothed I must say, have come down into the garden and have introduced the netted “wild” male to the net containing the female. He flaps around in a frenzy, it seems every where the female is not (oh! the passion of youth) but what is this? Another male is in the garden, attracted by the pheromones, who is caught and put in the net with the male and female and this boy knows what is what. He couples up with the female almost immediately. I leave them to it, not sure if insect porn is a crime. One hour later they are uncoupled. This troubles me a little because in the past those that have coupled stay that way for two to three hours. Has he done the business? I have done though as I usually do, which is once uncoupling is completed, placed the female in a box with egg laying material, and hope for the best. The males have been released. It is the best I can do for them.
I am writing this on the night of the 29thMarch so will not know till tomorrow whether eggs have been laid. I need not have worried though- the eggs are laid, I just hope they are fertilized. It usually takes three weeks for caterpillars to emerge from the eggs. Just watch this space.
Text and pictures kindly provided by Gordon Redford
Pictures from top to bottom:
Emperors in cop
Emperor Moth Eggs
Female Emperor Moth
Male Emperor Moth
Click here to read the previous edition of Moth Notes
One of the best ways to encourage wildflowers in your garden is to forget the lawnmower and just let your grass grow.
Leave a patch of lawn to its own devices during spring and summer, and the chances are that at least some wildflowers will appear in your new mini-meadow.
What comes up in your no-mow mini-meadow depends very much on what you start with.
If, like me, your lawn is old, rather weedy, and probably hasn’t encountered weedkillers or fertilisers for years, a bit more conscious neglect could transform it into a thriving mini-meadow.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
A living member of species of tortoise not seen in more than 110 years and feared to be extinct has been found in a remote part of the Galápagos island of Fernandina.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Giant tortoise believed extinct for 100 years found in Galápagos | Environment | The Guardian
As long as an adult thumb, with jaws like a stag beetle and four times larger than a honeybee, Wallace’s giant bee is not exactly inconspicuous.
But after going missing, feared extinct, for 38 years, the world’s largest bee has been rediscovered alive on the Indonesian islands of the North Moluccas.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: World’s largest bee, missing for 38 years, found alive in Indonesia | Environment | The Guardian
BBOWT Logo
Click here to read the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trusts Nature Notes for April 2019
Julie Lane asked for help in identifying this funds. It was seen in Salcey Forest on 31 March 2019.
Justin Long has identified the subject of Julie’s picture
“I’m pretty sure she has the immature form of the slime mould Enteridium lycoperdon. This will shortly coalesce and form a silvery coloured skin, before the spore mass inside turns into a brown powdery mass, with the skin eventually splitting to release the spores.”
Bluebells by Alan Piggott taken in Kings Wood across the road from Stockgrove Park car park.
Plantlife produce a number of interesting guides to wildflowers.
The animals that I love – the animals that stop me dead in my tracks to watch, the animals that make me grin at their crazy life histories – and the animals that most folks would kill without a second thought, are the flies. For most people, flies conjure up revulsion: images of pestilence, rotting bodies or spoilt food; bloodsucking mosquitoes invading our bedrooms … most would say nothing good can come of these creatures.
Click here to read the article.: Guest blog – Why Flies? by Erica McCalister – Mark AveryMark Avery
The European parliament has voted to ban single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and stirrers as part of a sweeping law against plastic waste that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans.
The vote by MEPs paves the way for a ban on single-use plastics to come into force by 2021 in all EU member states. The UK would have to follow the rules if it took part in and extended the Brexit transition period because of delays in finding a new arrangement with the EU.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: The last straw: European parliament votes to ban single-use plastics | Environment | The Guardian
The Society’s current programme of walks and talks can be viewed on the Programme page of the website.
Relatively few illustrators achieve the high standards that naturalists crave when trying to identify a plant. Many of us sketch in our own field journals but we all depend upon greater artists to help us learn.
To portray wildlife for illustrative keys requires an elusive crossover of art and science: painstakingly accurate artistic skill in drawing, shading and rendering, partnered with a rigorous understanding of which distinguishing features of a species should be magnified.
When shining a spotlight on finer details, illustration frequently trumps photography…
Click here to read the rest of the article.: The best botanical illustration books – Discover Wildlife
Red-Tailed Bumblebee by Harry Appleyard, Tattenhoe 11 April 2016
We’d like to invite you to take part in this survey about pollinators. The survey will ask you about your personal views, knowledge and actions relating to pollinators, nature and the environment, and will contribute to research at the University of Exeter. We would really value your participation, whether or not you have an interest in pollinators or the environment.
Click here for more information.: People & Pollinators
A wildlife charity is calling for volunteers to take part in its annual Living with Mammals survey.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Look out for Britain’s ‘Big Five’ this spring – Discover Wildlife
The wing shape, markings and pink and green colour are unlike those of any other Hawk-moth found in the UK. Adults can be seen between May and early July.
Click here for more information.: Lime Hawk-moth
Will you be at our UK Butterfly Recorders’ Meeting on Saturday 30th March 2019?
If not, follow the link below to watch our live stream and take part using the hashtag #UKBRM
It’s not too late to bring our wildlife back
Sadly, since we first met Badger, Ratty and friends in 1908, the UK has become one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world. The Wildlife Trusts have re-imagined Wind in the Willows in 2019, shedding light on some of the problems our wildlife faces every day. We’ve reached a point where our natural world is in critical condition and needs our help to put it into recovery.
It’s not too late to bring our wildlife back, but we must act now. Join the campaign and receive simple actions you can take for nature’s recovery.
Click here for more information.: Campaign for a #WilderFuture with us | Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants
Human activity is having a devastating impact on our planet. But while most people understand how pollution, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity are pushing the natural resources to the brink, the reality can seem distant and difficult to quantify. Many of us find it hard to grasp the real pace of decline happening in the natural world. Sir David Attenborough has witnessed it first hand, and calls humans a plague on earth — encapsulating in just a few words the widespread destruction we are responsible for.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: We’ve lost 60% of wildlife in less than 50 years | World Economic Forum
New research shows that a third of British insect pollinator species have declined in the last 30 years.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Widespread losses of pollinating insects across Britain – Discover Wildlife
