A visit to Mousells Wood near Frieth on Saturday September 29th and are privileged and delighted that Geoffrey Kibby and Mario Tortelli will be joining us.
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.
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.
September is one of the biggest months of the year for bird migration in the UK. Not only are hundreds of thousands of birds making their way past, over and through the UK, they’re arriving from all corners of the globe. To help you get ready for this magic month, I’ve picked out five star September species to look for, with a few tips on how to find them. Good luck!
From banning weedkiller and excluding dogs from nature reserves, there are cheap and practical ways to transform Britain, says naturalist Chris Packham
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip to:
SUMMER LEYS NATURE RESERVE, Northamptonshire
Location: Meet in car park signed off Wollaston-Gt Doddington road, SP 885 634,
Please note Postcode NN29 7PT is nearest only – using this code in SatNav may not take you exactly to the site.
Postcode: NN29 7PT (Google map)
Wednesday 3 October 2018, 10.00 – 13.00 Leader: Pete How
SUMMER LEYS LOCAL NATURE RESERVE, NORTHANTS
Deservedly one of our favourite sites, and always something of interest.
Great white egrets are regular. Five hides. Paths level but some rough, and a
full circuit is two miles.
Walk leader : Pete How
Time: 10am to 1pm
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.
Twenty environmental NGOs, co-ordinated by Blueprint for Water, and nine water companies are announcing a set of shared principles setting out how they will work together to help leave the environment in a better state.
One of only three species of this family that are found in the British Isles. The adults are incapable of feeding. The caterpillars live inside the trunks of a variety of broadleaved trees feeding on the wood. They …
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Goat Moth
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
Known as ‘the meadow maker’ or ‘nature’s lawnmower’, yellow rattle is the single most important plant you need to establish when creating a wildflower meadow.
Without it, vigorous grasses grow unchecked and smother the flowers you want to encourage.
2018 has been an interesting one for Diptera in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Garden in South Kensington. The stand out highlight has to be David Notton’s find in May of a specimen of not just a new species, but a new family for Britain!
It’s peak season for migrating Ortolan Buntings in northwest Europe and in addition to several sightings and ringed birds, several have been recorded by the UK’s fledgling ‘nocmig network’. As well as the now regular locations of Portland/Weymouth and Poole Harbour area, birds have also been recorded (so far) over London, Surrey and Cambridge. They’re being recorded in several locations that don’t have any history of visual records of Ortolans, prompting lots of head-scratching about the likelihood of detecting such species and questions about identification criteria. The Sound Approach have produced two very detailed blog posts on the identification criteria (here and here), describing the common call types and their potential confusion species. With reference to the commonly used plik call they say:
The Critically Endangered Fen Orchid has flowered for the first time in Suffolk since 1975, while populations in Norfolk and South Wales have gone from strength to strength.
Robin by Peter Hassett, College Lake 29 December 2016
Individuals often differ in competitive ability, which can lead to the formation of a dominance hierarchy that governs differential access to resources. Previous studies of dominance have predominently focussed on within-species interactions, while the drivers of between-species competitive hierarchies are poorly understood. The increasing prevalence of predictable anthropogenic food subsidies, such as that provided by garden bird feeders, is likely to intensify between-species competition. However, the consequences for resource acquisition await detailed study, and in particular, whether competitive interactions are influenced by food quality is not known. Here, we examine competitive interactions amongst ten passerine species of birds utilising supplementary food sources of differing quality. We show that dominance rank is strongly predicted by body mass across species. Socially dominant, heavier species monopolised access to a food that had a relatively short handling time (sunflower hearts), spent longer on supplementary feeders, and pecked at lower rates. In contrast subordinate, lighter species were constrained to feed on a food that had a relatively long handling time (sunflower seeds with the hull intact). Our findings suggest that differences in body mass may result in between-species dominance hierarchies that place the heaviest species in the greatest control of supplementary feeding sites, gaining superior access to higher value foods. This may have important implications for the use of supplementary feeding as a conservation tool.
Please report any sightings of Water Primrose – Ludwigia grandiflora
An invasive non-native plant from South America which has become a serious pest in other countries, including France, where it smothers water bodies reducing the numbers of native species and potentially increasing the risk of flooding.
It has started to be found in some parts of England and Wales.
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip:
Meet in The Parks Trust car park off Haversham Rd near railway
viaduct: SP 816 42
Visit our top wader site at this passage time! An easy circular walk with three
hides.
Walk Leader – Pete How
Time: 10 am to 12.30pm
Price: Free
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.
See the Wildlife section of our website for more information about the reserve.
Many people are commenting on the absence of birds in their gardens. There’s always a lull in birds visiting gardens after the breeding season. It’s a time when the birds will replace their feathers and are a little less manoeuvrable on the wing. As a result, birds can be more secretive. This time of year also offers plenty of natural foods for birds in the wider countryside, including a berry crop ripe for the taking.
To mark the publication of SCOTLAND: A Rewilding Journey, a book I’ve been working on for three years, we’re releasing a series of behind-the-scenes films, the first of which follows my attempts to capture ospreys in camera.
Over the last few years there has been a growing interest in large-scale, commercial seaweed harvesting, in particular the kelp species Laminaria hyperborea.
In 2016, Marine Scotland opened a public consultation asking for views on ‘Wild Seaweed Harvesting’ (the Trust’s response can be found here), and recently Marine Biopolymers Ltd submitted a scoping report for harvesting L. hyperborea from Scotland’s west coast.
Even more impressively, to my knowledge this makes Fenns and Whixall Moss the only site in the whole of Britain, where both species are known to occur on the same site.
Nesting Hedgehog by Susie Lane, Skelton, Cumbria 20 May 2017
Why is farmland important for this species?
Hedgehogs are found throughout the UK in all habitats. They have historically been associated with farmland for centuries. Hedgehogs are insectivores, foraging in fields and on grassland for worms, and along field margins and at the base of hedgerows for beetles, snails and other invertebrates. They are considered a generalist species, inhabiting most areas of our countryside, our villages and many areas of our towns too. However, as the dominant habitat in the U
Ravens have been culled in Scotland as part of an unscientific experiment. They are being killed in England in larger numbers than Natural England appear to be prepared to admit. What about Wales? I couldn’t find any information on the website of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) so I submitted a Freedom of Information Request. I’m very grateful to NRW for taking the time to answer my questions. The questions were largely the same as I asked of Natural England a while back so I can compare the answers if need be.
New research using data from Garden BirdWatch has revealed that bird food provided in British gardens has helped Blackcaps to rapidly evolve a successful new migration route. This is the first time that garden bird feeding has been shown to affect large-scale bird distributions. The research uses data from volunteer Garden BirdWatchers.
Butterflies and moths may be tiny but to save them you have to think big.
Colonies of butterflies surviving in small isolated pockets of land are vulnerable. Research has shown that they can be encouraged to spread their wings and expand but only if they don’t have to fly too far.
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are hosting a talk:
Location: Cruck Barn, City Discovery Centre, Alston Drive, Bradwell Abbey, Milton Keynes
Postcode: MK13 9AP (Google map)
New Zealand is home to some of the world’s rarest and endangered birds and the talk will concentrate on the country’s endemic land birds and nesting sea birds, their protection and conservation. The talk will be accompanied by lots of excellent photos, from both Gina & Brian, of birds like kiwis, keas, kakas and albatrosses.
Time: Doors open 7.15pm for a prompt 7.45pm start, ends at 10pm
Price: Group members £3, Non-group members £4, Children £1
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.
The Buckinghamshire Bird Club have published a very interesting article on theSpotted Crake at Willen Lake
A few regular visits to Willen Lake (north) by Mike and Ted Wallen turned up trumps when they found a Spotted Crake early on the bank holiday Monday. Unfortunately it was rather distant at about 350 metres range! News was soon out and the bird was seen by many local birders as well as others from further afield. The bird remained all day and was again present on 28th August. Hopefully it will stay around for a while.
Dear member(s),
Herewith my first event notification of the Autumn fungus season! We visit Finemere Woods on Sat, Sept 8th and then follow it up with an identification session back at Derek’s house in Whitchurch. If you’d like to come to either part of the day please check the details on the website at www.bucksfungusgroup.org.uk/events.htmlwhere arrangements for this event – somewhat different from our norm – are fully explained.
You might be interested to take a look at our recently overhauled ‘Find a fungus image’ page at www.bucksfungusgroup.org.uk/image_list.html . Peter Davis, our webmaster, together with Joanna Dodsworth and myself have been working hard to update this handy search facility which now contains over 500 different species, all of which we’ve found in Buckinghamshire. The vast majority of the photos were taken within the county, all by BFG members over the last 20 years. When identifying fungi one can never have too many images of a species, and this page is so convenient to use. Furthermore, when you click to view one of the images there’s often useful information in the text alongside which gives added insight into the species. Why not give it a try?
Listen up everyone!!! Big Wasp Survey 2018 is launching…see link below. Last year we caught zero queens (so impact on wasp populations) and our limited bycatch has gone to other studies. So become a wasp sampler please! Some very exciting data in 2017 and we need more this year
Information on the status of biodiversity is crucial for species conservation and management. Large scale assessments are only feasible through citizen science but some taxa are poorly monitored because few people specialise in them. This paper explores how to alleviate this problem by using data collected for poorly monitored species as an add-on to existing bird surveys.
A long-awaited project to boost the population of golden eagles in the south of Scotland has taken off.Three young golden eagles have been released into the wild at a secret location in the Moffat Hills.
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip:
RUTLAND WATER – Anglian Water Birdwatching Centre
Location: Meet in (free) car park at SK 877 072, LE15 8BT signed off A6003 1 mile south of Oakham.
Postcode: LE15 8BT (Google map)
We start our season at England’s premier inland water site. Passage waders and osprey are likely. Many hides, toilets, shop incl. books, bins and ‘scopes (but snacks only so bring lunch). Most paths wheelchair/buggy friendly. Entrance fee £6 (concessions £5).
Mobility scooter available to hire – Please telephone the reserve on 01572 770651 to book in advance (hire fee plus refundable deposit).
Walk leader Paul Tucker
Time: 10am to 3.30pm
Price: Entrance fee £6 (£5 concessions)
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.
On 12 July this year, a fell runner was out on a large driven grouse moor in Northumberland when he came across this trap containing a crushed merlin. These traps are commonly referred to as a rail or bridge trap. They typically consists of a log or pole across a small burn on which a spring trap is set and covered with a mesh cage. These traps are routinely used to kill rats, stoats and weasels. However, the images he took and sent to us (along with a precise ten figure grid reference – very helpful, thank you!) painted an unpleasantly graphic picture of the problems that rail traps can bring.
Justice for Ravens! have issued the following update”
Dear supporter,
This morning we have instructed our legal team to withdraw our application for judicial review of the Strathbraan raven cull licence.
The reasons for this are as follows:
Our initial objectives for applying for judicial review were to (a) establish that the process and scientific justification for the SNH raven cull licence (i.e. ‘just to see what happens’) was flawed and should not be permitted to be used as the basis for this or for any future cull licences for ravens or other protected species; and (b) to have the 2018 raven cull licence stopped.
We have succeeded in achieving both objectives.
At the end of July, SNH published a review conducted by its own Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) which utterly condemned the scientific justificiation and design of the ‘study’, calling it “completely inadequate”, “seriously flawed” and “will fail to provide any meaningful scientific evidence”.
As a result of this damning review, SNH also announced that the licence holder (Strathbraan Community Collaboration for Waders, SCCW) had agreed to ‘voluntarily suspend’ the raven cull from the end of July until the licence expires on 31 December 2018, having killed 39 of its licensed quota of 69 ravens. On a superficial level this appeared, initially, to be a satisfactory response, but we had concerns that the ‘voluntary suspension’ was not legally binding and so the SCCW could continue to kill ravens at any time for the remaining duration of the licence.
However, since this public announcement from SNH it has been revealed privately (via correspondence between SNH ‘s lawyers and our lawyers) that the phrase ‘agreed to voluntarily suspend’ was misleading and SNH’s lawyers have apologised for this. A more accurate description of what happened was that the SCCW made an ‘undertaking to voluntarily suspend’ the raven cull. In the legal world, the choice of language is everything. According to our lawyers, the word ‘undertaking’ has far more legal significance than the word ‘agreed’, which means if the SCCW does decide to continue killing ravens under the terms of the current (flawed) licence, even though it has undertaken not to, this would open an opportunity for us to launch a further legal challenge.
As we have successfully achieved both our objectives, our application for judicial review becomes just an academic exercise with no tangible benefits, as the SAC has already declared the scientific justification as being “completely inadequate” and SNH will not be issuing any further licences without substantial review, and an undertaking has been made by SCCW not to kill any more ravens for the duration of the licence. If we were to proceed with our application for judicial review on this academic basis alone, there is a risk the judge would consider our case unfavourably and dismiss it, leaving us exposed to a demand for legal costs from SNH.
We feel we have a responsibility to use our crowdfunded donations wisely and pursuing an academic exercise just to prove a point would not be a prudent use of these funds, nor a good use of court time. On balance, we would have more to lose than gain. Instead, we intend to hold the remaining funds as a war chest so that if/when SNH decides to issue a further licence permitting the killing of ravens in Strathbraan, we will be in a strong position to react quickly and launch another legal challenge if it is deemed necessary. Our funds are currently being professionally audited and we have a significant amount remaining, which will be held by our lawyers in a ring-fenced account.
Our fight to get #Justice4Ravens is not over. SNH indicated that the 2018 raven cull licence was part of a proposed five-year ‘study’ at Strathbraan and although SNH has admitted it has to review and amend its “seriously flawed” study design, we are well aware that future licences are quite likely, if not in time for 2019 then probably for 2020. We consider the withdrawal of our application for judicial review as a temporary measure and will not hesitate to apply for a further judicial review if SNH’s incompetence continues.
We’d like to record our sincere thanks to our legal team, Sindi Mules (Balfour & Manson) and Aidan O’Neill QC (Matrix Chambers) for their hard work and commitment to our case. They have been fantastic to work with and we look forward to seeking their advice again as SNH’s future raven cull plans become clearer.
We’d also like to thank you, our donors, whose generous support allowed us to launch this legal challenge. It’s a cliche but our success in this case would not have been possible without your trust and support (and of course, your donations!). Thank you all.
We will continue to keep you informed of any new developments.
Ruth Tingay & Logan Steele, on behalf of Scottish Raptor Study Group
Mant thanks to Sue Hetherington letting us know this news.
Culling by grouse moor managers is being blamed for the drastic decline of mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands to less than 1% of the level recorded more than 60 years ago.
Common cranes have been an annual sight along the coast of Aberdeenshire for a number of years, during spring passage. However, breeding was only proven in 2012, when a pair nested and fledged one chick. This was the first confirmed breeding attempt of cranes in Scotland for over 400 years!
What a year it has been! When I wrote Special Black-tailed Godwits last year, I finished by saying, “Imagine how exciting it will be if one of this year’s head-started birds is found breeding in the Nene or Ouse Washes next year”. Amazingly, nine of the 26 head-started birds from 2017 were back this year and two females definitely had nests, with one fledging a chick, and a further two paired together are suspected to have attempted to nest. From data shared with me by Roos Kentie, this return-rate is comparable to wild-breeding Limosa Black-tailed Godwits in her Dutch study-area.
The researchers studied the birds at sewage works where they flock to feed all year round. The worms, maggots and flies at sewage treatment plants have been found to contain many different pharmaceuticals, including Prozac.
The study showed that dilute concentrations of Prozac similar to those measured at sewage works appeared to make female starlings less attractive to the opposite sex.
Sand dunes across England are set for a golden future following £4.3 million worth of funding to help restore and protect these at risk habitats.
The funding – awarded to a partnership led by Natural England as part of the European Union’s LIFE programme – will help deliver a major conservation project to explore how to re-establish the natural movement within dunes and create the conditions that some of our rarest wildlife relies upon.
Only 12 hours after Sir David Attenborough explained the personal and scientific benefits of Big Butterfly Count to the watching nation, I was standing under a tree in the pouring rain…
The Mammal Society have produced an app to monitor mammals:
Most wild mammals, including rabbits and iconic species like hedgehogs and mountain hares, are very poorly monitored. This makes it difficult to know which regions or habitats are most important, or to detect changes in their population sizes. The Mammal Mapper is designed to record information on the location and number of animals spotted on walks or bicycle rides.
Normally, any news relating to hen harriers is bad news. For the past few years they have been on the brink of extinction as a breeding bird in England. Last season there were only three successful nests in the whole of England, all of which were in Northumberland. 2016 told a similarly dismal story.
But now there’s a small chink of light; the tiniest ray of light perhaps signalling hope. As we reported earlier in the week, this season there has been a threefold increase with nine successful nests this year, fledging a total of 34 chicks, and across a much wider geographical area, with four counties in England hosting hen harrier nests.
New BTO research uses information collected by bird ringers to investigate large-scale differences and flexibility in the timing of feather moult across 15 passerine species that breed in the UK. Different moult strategies were found between migrant and resident species, alongside within-species regional variation in moulting schedules.
It’s usually a good day if you see a Spotted Redshank in Britain or Ireland. How about a flock of 60?
On 27 July 1975, I was fortunate to be part of a Wash Wader Ringing Groupcannon-netting team that caught 60 Spotted Redshanks at Terrington, on the Lincolnshire border of Norfolk. When we fired the nets, we knew that there were some Spotted Redshanks in the catching area but, as these birds were part of a mixed catch of 414, most of which were Redshank and Dunlin, the total number of these elegant ‘shanks came as a very welcome surprise. Why so many, what did we learn about Spotted Redshanks and what do we know now?
Linford Lakes NR BioBlitz by David Easton. 24 June 2016
As part of the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group’s work to improve species monitoring for conservation (Stephenson 2018; Oryx 52: 412-413), and parallel efforts to improve the monitoring of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), we are conducting a global audit of biodiversity monitoring to identify gaps in data, coverage and capacity in long-term species monitoring. This project is funded by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) Collaborative Fund, and involves partners and collaborators from around the world.
Conserving and making such data accessible is vitally important. The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is the custodian of a wealth of ecological datasets. In some cases, these date back to the days of the Nature Conservancy in the 1950s and 1960s. Thanks to the efforts of our Environmental Informatics Liaison scientists, with a bit of help from CEH Fellows, many of these historic datasets are now being saved for long term re-use in the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre.
International photographic competition, which runs in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, awards special prize for the best close-up images
A strong argument can be made that the European Union has the most rigorous regulatory system for pesticides in the world, and that modern pesticide use poses fewer environmental threats than older regimes. Nevertheless, the impacts of pesticides on bees and other non-target organisms are much debated in Europe as elsewhere. Here we document changing patterns of pesticide use in arable and horticultural crops in Great Britain from 1990 to 2015. The weight of pesticides used has approximately halved over this period, but in contrast the number of applications per field nearly doubled. The total potential kill of honeybees (the total number of LD50 doses applied to the 4.6 million hectares of arable farmland in Great Britain each year) increased six-fold to approximately 3 × 1016 bees, the result of the increasing use of neonicotinoids from 1994 onwards which more than offset the effect of declining organophosphate use. It is important to stress that this does not mean that this number of bees will be killed, and also to acknowledge that our simple analysis does not take into account many factors such as differences in persistence, and timing and mode of application of pesticides, which will affect actual exposure of non-target organisms. Nonetheless, all else being equal, these data suggest that the risk posed by pesticides to non-target insects such as bees, other pollinators and natural enemies of pests, has increased considerably in the last 26 years.
Almost one in five of British mammal species face a high risk of extinction, according to the first comprehensive review of their populations for more than 20 years launched today by The Mammal Society and Natural England.The red squirrel, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat are all listed as facing severe threats to their survival.The review – commissioned by Natural England working
Following on from the very successful BTO Owl Appeal this year will be the start of our Project Owl research. With new surveys starting from autumn 2018, we need your help to learn more about our nation’s fascinating but often mysterious owl species.
A special cricket and grasshopper event will take place this Sunday.
Also
Tea and coffee, home-made cakes available.
Second-hand books on sale as well as crafts and bird seed.
Great views through the Centre’s windows and balcony
Plenty to see: ducklings, dragonflies, butterflies, the first returning migrant birds.
Bring friends and family to enjoy the reserve.
A wealth of wildlife can be found and experienced in our parks and green spaces across Milton Keynes. The land in our care includes ancient woodlands and recent plantations; old hedgerows and ‘veteran’ trees; grazing pastures and hay meadows; areas of scrubland; ponds, lakes, rivers and streams.
Click here to find out more and to download the Parks Trust Biodiversity Action Plan
New research has identified the species of shark currently found in hotter parts of the world that could migrate to UK waters by 2050 as the oceans warm
Small, spiky and seriously endangered, the hedgehog is a much-loved mammal in Britain, and further afield. Four hundred years ago, however, things were very different
Be part of this nationwide survey and help take the pulse of nature. Butterfly declines reveal the poor health of the environment. We need your sightings
It seems a shame to mention the autumn whilst we are enjoying an amazing summer but autumn migration is gathering pace already. All of the BTO satellite tagged Cuckoos had left the UK by the end of June but since leaving some of them have had a rapid migration south; five have already successfully crossed the Sahara
From the nut-cracking crows of Sendai to ‘Turdus urbanicus’ (the new urban blackbird), animals are changing their behaviour and evolution in cities – and in dramatic and surprising ways
Our planning and preparation for the second year of Poole Harbour Osprey Project, a partnership between the Foundation, Birds of Poole Harbour and Wildlife Windows, started at the end of winter when we checked nests that looked fragile the previous year, and others that had been damaged by winter storms. In early March 2018 we […]
Silver-washed-Fritillary by Julian Lambley Bernwood Butterfly trail 24June 2017
Butterflies are benefitting from environmental action to increase their habitats, scientists have argued following a pioneering government report.
Research published today by Defra on the ability of butterflies to move around the countryside shows butterflies, including much-loved species like the Speckled Wood butterfly, have recovered significantly since a worrying decline at the end of the last millennium.
The northern bald ibis is critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 existing in the wild. But a German group is reintroducing these birds in Europe, where they once thrived, and is using ultralight aircraft to lead them on migrations south toward the Mediterranean.
Ambitious conservation project underway to save England’s forgotten farmland flowers and wildlife.
The poppy, one of the nation’s favourite wildflowers, is as iconic as the Brown Hare, Harvest Mouse and Skylark – endearing species we associate with England’s golden cornfields in summer. But did you know colourful cornfield flowers that characterised our farmland abundantly 100 years ago, are now the fastest declining group of wildflowers in the country and risk disappearing altogether if urgent action isn’t taken?
A newly discovered bandy bandy snake species, jumping sweetfish and baby tarantulas in Derbyshire are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
The evidence of negative impacts of agricultural pesticides on non-target organisms is constantly growing. One of the most widely used group of pesticides are neonicotinoids, used in treatments of various plants, e.g. oilseed crops, corn and apples, to prevent crop damage by agricultural insect pests. Treatment effects have been found to spill over to non-target insects, such as bees, and more recently also to other animal groups, among them pas- serine birds. Very little is known, however, on the presence of neonicotinoids in other wild species at higher tro- phic levels. We present results on the presence of neonicotinoid residues in blood samples of a long-distant migratory food-specialist raptor, the European honey buzzard. Further, we investigate the spatial relationship be- tween neonicotinoid residue prevalence in honey buzzards with that of crop fields where neonicotinoids are typ- ically used. A majority of all blood samples contained neonicotinoids, thiacloprid accounting for most of the prevalence. While neonicotinoid residues were detected in both adults and nestlings, the methodological limit of quantification was exceeded only in nestlings. Neonicotinoids were present in all sampled nests. Neonicotinoid presence in honey buzzard nestlings’ blood matched spatially with the presence of oilseed plant fields. These are the first observations of neonicotinoids in a diurnal raptor. For better understanding the potential negative sub- lethal of neonicotinoids in wild vertebrates, new (experimental) studies are needed.
Today the Government has published a revised version of its National Planning Policy Framework which now includes some reinstated protection for Local Wildlife Sites following a campaign supported by 25,000 people.
The aviary will protect the flock of ravens at the historic tower, ensuring that the ‘kingdom will never fall’.
September is one of the biggest months of the year for bird migration in the UK. Not only are hundreds of thousands of birds making their way past, over and through the UK, they’re arriving from all corners of the globe. To help you get ready for this magic month, I’ve picked out five star September species to look for, with a few tips on how to find them. Good luck!
The Sri Lankan Government has announced the immediate protection of Colombo’s wetlands from development.
Modern farming methods have exacted a terrible price on insects and birds, says naturalist and author Michael McCarthy
From banning weedkiller and excluding dogs from nature reserves, there are cheap and practical ways to transform Britain, says naturalist Chris Packham
Initiative lays out practical steps we can all take to help halt destruction of species and habitats in Britain
The RSPB North Bucks Local Group are leading a field trip to:A revolt is brewing over the planned road link between Oxford to Cambridge that will destroy wetlands
Since the 1930s, the vast majority of Britain’s wildflower meadows have been destroyed through ploughing, intensive grazing and development.
One of only three species of this family that are found in the British Isles. The adults are incapable of feeding. The caterpillars live inside the trunks of a variety of broadleaved trees feeding on the wood. They …
150 ‘Ratty’ river creatures to be released in Somerset estate where they had become extinct
Something ‘fundamentally wrong’ in rural landscape, scientists say, with numbers thought to have fallen 80% since 1950s
Known as ‘the meadow maker’ or ‘nature’s lawnmower’, yellow rattle is the single most important plant you need to establish when creating a wildflower meadow.
2018 has been an interesting one for Diptera in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Garden in South Kensington. The stand out highlight has to be David Notton’s find in May of a specimen of not just a new species, but a new family for Britain!
It’s peak season for migrating Ortolan Buntings in northwest Europe and in addition to several sightings and ringed birds, several have been recorded by the UK’s fledgling ‘nocmig network’. As well as the now regular locations of Portland/Weymouth and Poole Harbour area, birds have also been recorded (so far) over London, Surrey and Cambridge. They’re being recorded in several locations that don’t have any history of visual records of Ortolans, prompting lots of head-scratching about the likelihood of detecting such species and questions about identification criteria. The Sound Approach have produced two very detailed blog posts on the identification criteria (here and here), describing the common call types and their potential confusion species. With reference to the commonly used plik call they say:
Few conservation issues generate as emotional a response as whaling. Are we now about to see countries killing whales for profit again?
The first significant steps towards legally protecting the high seas are to take place at the UN in New York.
Many people are commenting on the absence of birds in their gardens. There’s always a lull in birds visiting gardens after the breeding season. It’s a time when the birds will replace their feathers and are a little less manoeuvrable on the wing. As a result, birds can be more secretive. This time of year also offers plenty of natural foods for birds in the wider countryside, including a berry crop ripe for the taking.
Over the last few years there has been a growing interest in large-scale, commercial seaweed harvesting, in particular the kelp species Laminaria hyperborea.
Even more impressively, to my knowledge this makes Fenns and Whixall Moss the only site in the whole of Britain, where both species are known to occur on the same site.
In their second article for our #summerofbeauty, Froglife provide a guide to the UK’s only venomous snake!
Ravens have been culled in Scotland as part of an unscientific experiment. They are being killed in England in larger numbers than Natural England appear to be prepared to admit. What about Wales? I couldn’t find any information on the website of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) so I submitted a Freedom of Information Request. I’m very grateful to NRW for taking the time to answer my questions. The questions were largely the same as I asked of Natural England a while back so I can compare the answers if need be.
New research using data from Garden BirdWatch has revealed that bird food provided in British gardens has helped Blackcaps to rapidly evolve a successful new migration route. This is the first time that garden bird feeding has been shown to affect large-scale bird distributions. The research uses data from volunteer Garden BirdWatchers.
Butterflies and moths may be tiny but to save them you have to think big.
A rare butterfly species has returned to an Oxfordshire beauty spot after an absence of 30 years.
The Buckinghamshire Bird Club have published a very interesting article on theSpotted Crake at Willen LakeNightjars are breeding at RSPB HQ, The Lodge, for the first time in 45 years.
Listen up everyone!!! Big Wasp Survey 2018 is launching…see link below. Last year we caught zero queens (so impact on wasp populations) and our limited bycatch has gone to other studies. So become a wasp sampler please! Some very exciting data in 2017 and we need more this year
Fearsome predator was extinct in England but Scottish relatives have crossed the border and set up home in Northumberland
Information on the status of biodiversity is crucial for species conservation and management. Large scale assessments are only feasible through citizen science but some taxa are poorly monitored because few people specialise in them. This paper explores how to alleviate this problem by using data collected for poorly monitored species as an add-on to existing bird surveys.
A long-awaited project to boost the population of golden eagles in the south of Scotland has taken off.Three young golden eagles have been released into the wild at a secret location in the Moffat Hills.
On 12 July this year, a fell runner was out on a large driven grouse moor in Northumberland when he came across this trap containing a crushed merlin. These traps are commonly referred to as a rail or bridge trap. They typically consists of a log or pole across a small burn on which a spring trap is set and covered with a mesh cage. These traps are routinely used to kill rats, stoats and weasels. However, the images he took and sent to us (along with a precise ten figure grid reference – very helpful, thank you!) painted an unpleasantly graphic picture of the problems that rail traps can bring.
Justice for Ravens! have issued the following update”A rare species of jumping spider never recorded in the UK before has been discovered living in a nature reserve in Cheshire, scientists have said.
Culling by grouse moor managers is being blamed for the drastic decline of mountain hares on eastern Scottish moorlands to less than 1% of the level recorded more than 60 years ago.
Slavc is a wolf. In 2011, he began an epic 2,000 kilometre migration across Europe from Slovenia to Italy via the Austrian Alps
The RSPB have launched the Raptor Persecution Map Hub.Common cranes have been an annual sight along the coast of Aberdeenshire for a number of years, during spring passage. However, breeding was only proven in 2012, when a pair nested and fledged one chick. This was the first confirmed breeding attempt of cranes in Scotland for over 400 years!
The number of mountain hares on moorland in the eastern Highlands is at less than 1% of their levels in the 1950s according to new research.
What a year it has been! When I wrote Special Black-tailed Godwits last year, I finished by saying, “Imagine how exciting it will be if one of this year’s head-started birds is found breeding in the Nene or Ouse Washes next year”. Amazingly, nine of the 26 head-started birds from 2017 were back this year and two females definitely had nests, with one fledging a chick, and a further two paired together are suspected to have attempted to nest. From data shared with me by Roos Kentie, this return-rate is comparable to wild-breeding Limosa Black-tailed Godwits in her Dutch study-area.
The researchers studied the birds at sewage works where they flock to feed all year round. The worms, maggots and flies at sewage treatment plants have been found to contain many different pharmaceuticals, including Prozac.
Sand dunes across England are set for a golden future following £4.3 million worth of funding to help restore and protect these at risk habitats.
The Mammal Society have produced an app to monitor mammals:Normally, any news relating to hen harriers is bad news. For the past few years they have been on the brink of extinction as a breeding bird in England. Last season there were only three successful nests in the whole of England, all of which were in Northumberland. 2016 told a similarly dismal story.
New BTO research uses information collected by bird ringers to investigate large-scale differences and flexibility in the timing of feather moult across 15 passerine species that breed in the UK. Different moult strategies were found between migrant and resident species, alongside within-species regional variation in moulting schedules.
In his second blog on the subject, our Chief Executive Brian Eversham discusses the long-term effects the long hot summer could have on our wildlife.
It’s usually a good day if you see a Spotted Redshank in Britain or Ireland. How about a flock of 60?
The photographer who took the pictures says it is “very exciting” to have the birds nesting in Hoy.
Conserving and making such data accessible is vitally important. The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is the custodian of a wealth of ecological datasets. In some cases, these date back to the days of the Nature Conservancy in the 1950s and 1960s. Thanks to the efforts of our Environmental Informatics Liaison scientists, with a bit of help from CEH Fellows, many of these historic datasets are now being saved for long term re-use in the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre.
International photographic competition, which runs in association with the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, awards special prize for the best close-up images
The Angus Glens’ wildlife is “impoverished” according to a leading animal charity investigator.
A strong argument can be made that the European Union has the most rigorous regulatory system for pesticides in the world, and that modern pesticide use poses fewer environmental threats than older regimes. Nevertheless, the impacts of pesticides on bees and other non-target organisms are much debated in Europe as elsewhere. Here we document changing patterns of pesticide use in arable and horticultural crops in Great Britain from 1990 to 2015. The weight of pesticides used has approximately halved over this period, but in contrast the number of applications per field nearly doubled. The total potential kill of honeybees (the total number of LD50 doses applied to the 4.6 million hectares of arable farmland in Great Britain each year) increased six-fold to approximately 3 × 1016 bees, the result of the increasing use of neonicotinoids from 1994 onwards which more than offset the effect of declining organophosphate use. It is important to stress that this does not mean that this number of bees will be killed, and also to acknowledge that our simple analysis does not take into account many factors such as differences in persistence, and timing and mode of application of pesticides, which will affect actual exposure of non-target organisms. Nonetheless, all else being equal, these data suggest that the risk posed by pesticides to non-target insects such as bees, other pollinators and natural enemies of pests, has increased considerably in the last 26 years.
Almost one in five of British mammal species face a high risk of extinction, according to the first comprehensive review of their populations for more than 20 years launched today by The Mammal Society and Natural England.The red squirrel, wildcat and the grey long-eared bat are all listed as facing severe threats to their survival.The review – commissioned by Natural England working
Following on from the very successful BTO Owl Appeal this year will be the start of our Project Owl research. With new surveys starting from autumn 2018, we need your help to learn more about our nation’s fascinating but often mysterious owl species.
A wealth of wildlife can be found and experienced in our parks and green spaces across Milton Keynes. The land in our care includes ancient woodlands and recent plantations; old hedgerows and ‘veteran’ trees; grazing pastures and hay meadows; areas of scrubland; ponds, lakes, rivers and streams.
It’s more important than ever to protect sharks and rays, says Global FinPrint’s lead principal investigator, Dr. Demian Chapman.
Researchers studying silk moths have found that the shape of their hindwings contributes to their survival.
Satellite imagery shows hundreds of glaciers shrinking as average annual temperature rises 3.6C in 70 years
By resurrecting a proposal to allow trophy hunters to shoot 250 hippos annually, Zambia stirs controversy.
New research has identified the species of shark currently found in hotter parts of the world that could migrate to UK waters by 2050 as the oceans warm
Small, spiky and seriously endangered, the hedgehog is a much-loved mammal in Britain, and further afield. Four hundred years ago, however, things were very different
Be part of this nationwide survey and help take the pulse of nature. Butterfly declines reveal the poor health of the environment. We need your sightings
From the nut-cracking crows of Sendai to ‘Turdus urbanicus’ (the new urban blackbird), animals are changing their behaviour and evolution in cities – and in dramatic and surprising ways
Our planning and preparation for the second year of Poole Harbour Osprey Project, a partnership between the Foundation, Birds of Poole Harbour and Wildlife Windows, started at the end of winter when we checked nests that looked fragile the previous year, and others that had been damaged by winter storms. In early March 2018 we […]
The northern bald ibis is critically endangered, with fewer than 1,000 existing in the wild. But a German group is reintroducing these birds in Europe, where they once thrived, and is using ultralight aircraft to lead them on migrations south toward the Mediterranean.
Ambitious conservation project underway to save England’s forgotten farmland flowers and wildlife.
A newly discovered bandy bandy snake species, jumping sweetfish and baby tarantulas in Derbyshire are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
A photographer in Minnesota recently captured an adorable shot of a Common Merganser followed by dozens of fuzzy babies.
Today the Government has published a revised version of its National Planning Policy Framework which now includes some reinstated protection for Local Wildlife Sites following a campaign supported by 25,000 people.
