Whilst processing vane trap samples collected on 27 May 2018 from Sherrardspark Wood, an SSSI near Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire (TL2313 VC 20), DDA found a single specimen of an unfamiliar clerid, which was not in Hackston (2015). It was recognised by John Lamin via social media as the European species Dermestoides sanguinicollis (Fabricius), an identification later confirmed by MVLB. This beetle (Fig. 1) has not previously been reported in Britain. It is unmistakeable in the British fauna, resembling Tillus elongatus (Linnaeus) (Cleridae) in colour, but not in sha,
Click here to read the rest of the article.: (PDF) Dermestoides sanguinicollis (Fabricius, 1787) (Cleridae: Korynetinae), a rare saproxylic beetle new to Britain
This post is by Jenny Hawley, senior policy officer at Plantlife. Debate around the government’s Clean Air Strategy has been focused on whether it will cut the roadside nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollu…
A new paper shows that periods of polar night and midnight sun have little effect on reindeer circadian rhythm.
Metabarcoding, a technique of mass DNA sequencing, allows for tracing migratory routes of insects, an understudied subject due to technical limitations. A small DNA fragment of the pollen that insects transport is used as a barcode to identify the plant species they visited previously.
A three-year study, supported by EDF Energy and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), has been able to identify that dry summer weather may be putting some of our favourite bird species at risk as it triggers a significant drop in the availability of earthworms close to the soil surface during the breeding season. The research was undertaken by thousands of schoolchildren in a nationwide science project to understand the effects of climate change on our soils and ecosystems, helping to inspire the next generation of ecologists.
The ban on the outdoor use of metaldehyde, which is used to control slugs in a range of crops and in gardens, will be introduced across Britain from spring 2020.
Pollution from vehicle exhausts “devastating” the fragile wild plants that cling to the artic summits of Scotland’s highest mountains.
Today the Environment Secretary 
In the UK butterflies are synonymous with hot summer’s days with plenty of sunshine. To sit and watch such beautifully coloured insects flit from flower to flower is a true delight of the British summer. It may surprise you then, that Britain is also home to one species of butterfly that prefers a harder life. The mountain ringlet, as the name suggests, is unlikely to be found in your garden, unless you live high on the fells and mountains of the Lake District or the Highlands of Scotland. Colonies of these small brown butterflies are found mostly above 350m, on grassy slopes and plateaus, where they sip the nectar of small alpine flowers. For such a species to live in one of our toughest environments challenges the perception that butterflies are soft delicate creatures…
Wildlife lovers are in uproar after officials in charge of nature-protection gave gun owners permission to shoot dead some of Britain’s most treasured and rarest bird species. Welsh conservation chiefs gave the go-ahead for the slaughter of dozens of species including kestrels, curlew, linnets, sparrows and fieldfares. More than 1,000 birds may have been killed under the permits.
Hedgehogs in the UK are in serious trouble. Repeated studies have shown that the nation’s favourite animal is being wiped out. But there is something we can do to save them.
Scientists say there is hope that some ash forests will be able to survive a devastating tree disease.
What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?
We are pleased to tell you that our latest Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC) e-newsletter is now available here.
Volunteers catch and tag migratory waders as the birds arrive to spend winter on the East Anglian coast
In 2014 we the BTO organised a Peregrine Survey to record the number of occupied territories in the UK, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Read the provisional results.
Terrestrial isopods are soil macroarthropods that have few known parasites and parasitoids. All known parasitoids are from the family Rhinophoridae (Insecta: Diptera). The present article reviews the known biology of Rhinophoridae flies and presents the first record of Rhinophoridae larvae on a Neotropical woodlouse species. We also compile and update all published interaction records. The Neotropical woodlouse Balloniscus glaber was parasitized by two different larval morphotypes of Rhinophoridae. Including this new record, there are 18 Isopoda species known to be parasitized and 13 Rhinophoridae species with known hosts, resulting in 35 interactions. There are a total of 53 interaction records from Holarctic and Neotropical countries. Of the 18 known isopod hosts, only five species have more than one parasitoid, including the new Neotropical host record presented in this work.
A tiny hedgehog had a close call when it became trapped in a tin due to be collected for recycling.
Winter can be a very difficult time for wildlife, with plummeting temperatures and scarce food. Find out how you can help your local wildlife through this tough period.
When our homes become taken over by rolls of wrapping paper, mince pies and fairy lights it can only mean one thing. Moths may not be the first animal that springs to mind at this time of year but read on for our round up of the most Christmassy species…
Blushing was once considered a peculiar preserve of the human race. But scientists have discovered that man shares this involuntary reaction with none other than parrots, whose cheeks also redden in social situations.
As you may have seen in an earlier post, the extreme weather of spring and summer 2018 meant a tough year for farmers and wildlife alike, notably for our birds. Territory holdings and breeding success suffered for many species across the farm and now we can only hope to support as many birds as possible through the winter for a successful season next summer. However, the endless sunshine didn’t bring doom and gloom for everyone. For our pollinators the scorching summer sun brought great joy and a record year for us.
On the day Scotland’s grouse season ends, a new report has claimed the activity is the least economically effective alternative use of land, with…
New research shows that the giant rhino species was a victim of the last Ice Age.
Ringing had already suggested that Whimbrel might fly non-stop from Iceland to western Africa (see “Whimbrels on the move”). By using geolocators, Camilo Carneiro and his colleagues from the Univer…
ORCA’s 2018 annual report documenting results of its survey findings and drawing conclusions about whales and dolphins in the wild
Mistletoe is an iconic festive plant, and it is full of surprises!
Rather than replanting a vast northern forest, allow nature to do the job, says author Isabella Tree
There is a huge variety of animals that are active after sunset. The absence of light can make spotting them a challenge, especially when it comes to insects.
An international team of marine biologists has discovered a new species of the seahorse genus Hippocampus in the waters off southeast Japan.
The antlers are thought to be more than 10,000 years old and have a span of more than 3 metres.
A photographer managed to capture what could be the first-ever footage of a Javan rhino taking a mud bath.
A European storm petrel chick has been recorded calling on the Shiant Isles for the first time ever, following the eradication of black rats.
In previous years I’ve reported on the 6 mistletoe insects we have in Britain – and how we know very little about them. Indeed 2 of the 6 were only discovered here in the years since 20…
Growing up on Bardsey, a small remote island off the coast of North Wales, has inspired a love for the natural world in Ben Porter, an award-winning young wildlife photographer.
A striking new swallowtail butterfly has been found in Fiji, that puzzled lepidopterists around the world.
This month it’s all about birds! We’ve been joined by many species that have come to the UK to escape the colder winter on the continent. From lakes and rivers, to hedgerows and car parks there is always somewhere to see some bird life.
Butterflies and moths, the Lepidoptera, are among the most beautiful of insects, familiar to almost everyone through thousands of different species from all around the world. But how they evolved has been something of a mystery to scientists because of a surprising lack of Lepidoptera fossils.
Our native trees have been steeped in myth and legend for thousands of years, each having their own magical associations and stories.
Canadian researchers have discovered a new kind of organism that’s so different from other living things that it doesn’t fit into the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, or any other kingdom used to classify known organisms.
In the last edition of Nature’s Home magazine, in the section where I get to visit a gardener who is doing amazing things for wildlife, I included a letter from a family who had made a lovely bug house with Hedgehog nestbox incorporated in its base. I thought they had been really creative, and they clearly get a lot of pleasure from the Hedgehogs that come to visit.
Study of beetles could explain global decline – and also be a warning to humankind
Animals from six of the deepest places on Earth found to contain man-made fibres and plastic in their stomachs, scientists have shown.
In the latest assessment from the IUCN Red List, mountain gorillas have been reclassified to Endangered thanks to conservation efforts.
What’s happening to all the insects? And what can we do about it? Join Nick as he interviews Brad Lister , who recently published an article showing dramatic insect declines, and Helen Roy , a conservation biologist in the UK, as they discuss this important topic.
It is only in the last hundred years or so that we have really begun to understand migration. Before there were many theories about migration. Read more
Apples originated on the flanks of the Tian Shan Mountains on the border between Kazakhstan and China, where wild forests of them still grow to this day, their seeds spread by bears. The familiar fruit of the apple tree is of course a seed dispersal mechanism, intended to tempt a hungry bear or other large mammal to eat it entirely, with the hope that some pips are passed out undamaged and at a distance from the parent tree, along with a healthy dollop of fertiliser to help them grow. Bears are well known to have a sweet tooth (as both Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington would attest), and so it may well have been selection by bears for the sweetest fruit that resulted in the progenitors of the apples we love today.
Scientists have found that snow leopards are declining due to habitat loss and human persecution.
Upper layer above northern hemisphere should be completely repaired in 2030s
Horseshoe crab outlived dinosaurs but is no match for medicine’s hunger for its blood.
Protect the sleepy frogs, toads and newts hidden away in your garden this winter.
At the beginning of June, I landed a part-time job as a data entry assistant for, ‘Caring for God’s Acre’, a secular charity that conserves old cemeteries for wildlife and heritage. I am part of the Beautiful Burial Ground team over the next four years from May 2018 – May 2022. In which we have four main aims:
Humans have proven adept at wiping out vast numbers of animals. Can we atone by saving species through captivity breeding?
White-tailed Eagles were once widespread along the whole of the South Coast of England, from Cornwall to Kent, before being driven to extinction by relentless persecution that began in the Middle Ages. The last pair bred on Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight in 1780. Many parts of southern England remain highly suitable for the species, and following the reintroduction of White-tailed Eagles to Scotland – where there are now over 130 breeding pairs – we believe that an English reintroduction would be equally successful and the best way to re-establish these magnificent birds in their former haunts. Restoring a population of White-Eagles on the South Coast would help to link populations in Scotland and Ireland with those in the Netherlands and France.
A species of fly that has lived in the Cairngorms since the last Ice Age is at risk from climate change, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has said.
Moths are a mainstay food source for bats, which use echolocation to hunt their prey. Scientists are studying how moths have evolved passive defenses over millions of years to resist their primary predators. While some moths have evolved ears that detect the ultrasonic calls of bats, many types of moths remain deaf. In those moths, researchers have found that the insects developed types of “stealth coating” that serve as acoustic camouflage to evade hungry bats. Neil will describe his work during the Acoustical Society of America’s 176th Meeting, Nov. 5-9. This image shows a Madagascar bullseye (Antherina suraka), one of the moth species used in Thomas Neil’s research. Credit: Thomas Neil
Get children started with astronomy and open their eyes and minds to the universe around us and the sciences.
Find out how you can help wildlife in your garden this autumn. Make a banquet for butterflies. Red Admiral adults are often abundant during the autumn months and a frequent visitor to gardens if the weather is mild as they feed to build up reserves before the arrival of winter…
The BTO’s BirdTrends report is a one-stop shop for information about the population status of the common breeding birds of the wider UK countryside. The report is based on data gathered by the many thousands of volunteers who contribute to BTO-led surveys.
Movement of cattle and poor fencing hamper control efforts, says government review
Autumn is a very special time of year as the temperature cools and the days get shorter. Here’s a preview of what the natural world has to offer this season
Meet a host of scientists and discover a whole new world under the microscope in our science fair festival.
A pair of beavers are heading to a new home in a picturesque Essex village in a move which will see the species return to the county for the first…
Need help identifying a moth? Want to know which moth species might be on the wing tonight in your area? Now you can find out easily using ‘What’s Flying Tonight’, a new smartphone app. Lead
Renewable capacity has tripled in past five years, even faster growth than the ‘dash for gas’ of the 1990s
Introduced mice are responsible for two million fewer seabird chicks each year on Gough Island
RSPB Scotland says the birds’ satellite tags stopped transmitting close to grouse shooting land.
The world has two years to secure a deal for nature to halt a ‘silent killer’ as dangerous as climate change, says biodiversity chief
Understanding the value of our roadside hedges and verges. The Cornwall AONB Unit is working in partnership with the Environment & Sustainability Institute (University of Exeter) to study hedges and road verges. The four year project is exploring their role in conserving nature and providing…
There’s a whole rainbow of colourful fungi to discover in woodlands and grasslands this autumn