The RSPB wants to see nests and not nets, and is appalled to see netting used once again to prevent birds nesting. We are facing a twin nature and climate crisis: wildlife must be allowed to thrive and we all have a role to play in not letting this practice go unchallenged.
Click here for more information:
Discover Wildlife
RareBirdAlertUK
Click here to view the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust newsletter.
Recent research shows that basking sharks, the world’s second biggest fish, travel with family to familiar feeding sites.
Click here for more information.: Family matters for basking sharks – Discover Wildlife
Tree Bumblebee by Harry Appleyard, Tattenhoe 24 February 2017
Bumblebees are in drastic decline across Europe and North America owing to hotter and more frequent extremes in temperatures, scientists say.
Source: Bumblebees’ decline points to mass extinction – study | Environment | The Guardian
Blossom and butterflies, birds and basking snakes; March brings a change for our wildlife as winter fades and a new season begins.
Source: Our top 10 wildlife sightings for March | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust
How Ecobat can help:
1. Quantify bat activity relative to local and national datasets – to help identify sites at risk from development
2. Assess nightly variability in bat activity – to help identify sites with roosts nearby
3. Produce easy-to-use, report-ready summaries – to make your life easier
Click here for more information.
Click here to read the RSPB’s Notes on Nature March 2020
Both hawthorn and blackthorn can be seen across the countryside and even in our towns and cities, but how do you tell them apart? Our expert guide explains the differences and best places to see.
Click here for more information.: Identifying hawthorn and blackthorn – with annotated pictures – Discover Wildlife
The latest report, Population estimates of birds in Great Britain and the United Kingdom shows that the Wren continues to hold the title of our commonest bird – the last report in 2013 also had Wren at the top of the list but with a population of just over 8.5 million pairs. Wren numbers are known to fluctuate according to environmental conditions and it may be that generally milder winters are benefitting one of our smallest birds.
Source:
Discover Wildlife
Rare Bird Alert UK
The puffin population of the Farne Islands remains stable despite the severe downpours of summer 2019, and the resulting loss of many young pufflings.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Puffins show resilience to extreme weather on the Farne Islands – Discover Wildlife
Peat is plant material which is partially decomposed and has accumulated in waterlogged conditions.
Peatlands include moors, bogs and fens, as well as some farmed land.
Peat bogs are particular types of wetlands waterlogged by direct rainfall. Peat bogs grow slowly, accumulating around 0.5 to 1 mm of peat each year, and the water prevents the plants from decomposing. As a result, many areas of UK peat bog have been accumulating gradually for as much as 10,000 years, and can be up to 10m deep. Due to its slow accumulation, peat is often classified as a fossil fuel.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Plantlife :: Why we need to keep peat in the ground – and out of our gardens
Hundreds of India’s bird species, including eagles, vultures, migrating shorebirds and warblers have decreased significantly in the last 25 years.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: India’s bird population in serious decline, finds new study – Discover Wildlife
A new study analysing the relationship between pine martens and squirrels highlights the important role native predators play.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Pine martens help to restore red squirrel population in UK and Ireland, finds research – Discover Wildlife
In a 2020 paper, Mark Whittingham and colleagues show that, in one area of northeast England, the decline in Turnstone numbers is more obvious on mainland sites that are subject to human disturbance than on offshore refuges. Whilst national declines are probably linked to factors affecting productivity in breeding areas in Greenland and Canada, it is interesting that Turnstone seem to be withdrawing into areas where they are subject to less winter disturbance.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Disturbed Turnstones | wadertales
Bee-fly by Harry Appleyard, Tattenhoe 22 March 2016
Bee-fly Watch is now into its fifth year, following a bumper year in 2019 when more bee-flies than ever before were recorded, and they broke all previous records by first appearing on 17 February (two sightings), about two weeks before their normal emergence date! These distinctive furry flies are more usually on the wing from March to June, often hovering over flowers and using their long ‘nose’ (proboscis) to feed on nectar. Once again we are asking people to look out for bee-flies and add your records to iRecord.
Click here for more information.: Bee-fly Watch | Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme
New research shows how insect symmetrical patterns have evolved to become less obvious to predators.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Moths and butterflies shift their symmetry to improve camouflage – Discover Wildlife
Estimates of population size are a key tool, used alongside population trend information and that on other aspects of bird ecology (such as survival and productivity rates) to assess conservation status. Periodic assessments of the size of breeding and wintering bird populations in the UK and in Great Britain are made by the Avian Population Estimates Panel (APEP). Their fourth assessment ‘APEP 4’ is published in the journal British Birds, and summarised here.
Click here for more information.: APEP 4 – Population estimates of birds in Great Britain and the United Kingdom | BTO – British Trust for Ornithology
Winter is the biggest challenge for British butterflies. Most species tackle it in their vulnerable caterpillar form, burrowing into leaf litter, while others such as the purple emperor gamble by lying on an exposed branch with only camouflage for protection.
Source: Butterflywatch: shedding new light on hibernation tactics | Environment | The Guardian
One of the big questions raised in the analysis of New Year Plant Hunt (NYPH) results by Kevin Walker, BSBI Head of Science, is around what the impacts of changes in flowering times of wild and naturalised plants might have on pollinators and other insects.
Source: BSBI News & Views: Pollinators in Winter: Go native or not?
From fruiting fungus to winter birds, here is selection of the month’s best wildlife spectacles from around the British countryside in February.
Source: Best British wildlife to spot in February – Discover Wildlife
Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly by Peter Hassett , Shenley Church End 17 February 2017
Once abundant, the UK’s small tortoiseshell butterfly has experienced a population decline of three quarters since the 1970s.
With 97% fewer wildflower meadows now than in the 1940s, and intensive farming practices removing lots of hedgerow habitat, it’s easy to see why these colourful invertebrates need our help.
Source: BBC Blogs – Winterwatch – Naturehood: transform your garden into a butterfly paradise
Rising temperatures mean that phenology is changing.
Scientific studies using Nature’s Calendar data have indicated how phenology is changing and some are beginning to suggest what the impact of this will be:
• Spring events like budburst, leafing and flowering are getting earlier
• Fruiting of trees and shrubs is getting earlier
• Late autumn events such as leaf fall may be delayed
Click here for more information.: Changing phenology – Nature’s Calendar
ur climate is changing, and we need your help to track its effects on Nature.
From snowdrops flowering to frogspawn appearing, from the first time you mow your lawn to the first ladybird you see – we want to know when events like these happen across the UK!
Your help will give scientists a clearer picture of how nature is responding to changing weather patterns. Register online and become a recorder: Natures Calendar
The Breeding Bird Survey started in 1994, and a report is produced every year containing population changes and other results from the scheme.
Click here for more information.: BBS reports | BTO – British Trust for Ornithology
The issue of climate change is in the news on an almost daily basis. We are seeing growing evidence of its impacts on the natural world, from the bleaching of corals in the Indian Ocean, to raging wildfires in Australia, to shrinking ice-sheets affecting polar bears in the Arctic. Closer to home, the fingerprints of climate change are all over the British countryside, but here, the impacts on species are not always negative.
Source: BBC Blogs – Winterwatch – Climate change – is it all bad?
Five-year study of animals in Devon finds measurable benefits to wildlife and people
Click here to read the rest of the article.:
Devon Wildlife Trust
The Guardian
Butterflies and sunshine are as synonymous as polar bears and snow. Think of butterflies and you are instantly transported to a summer’s day. In the UK we are lucky if we get more than a few weeks each year when we can enjoy butterflies, blue skies and colourful flowers. Seeing a butterfly before April and after September is an unusual occurrence. So where do our butterflies disappear to when it is too cold and wet for them to be able to fly?
Click on the link to read the rest of the article: Butterfly Conservation – The Secret Life Of Butterflies
This article describes the hibernation behaviour of Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies in my St Albans shed during 2019. It provides an update on an article first published in an abridged form in Butterfly Conservation – Herts & Middx Branch Newsletter in April 2019.
Britain has a new farmed animal, which is kept in barns, milked and moved between high and low pastures – but not by humans.
The pale giant oak aphid, Stomaphis wojciechowskii, has lived undiscovered for thousands of years on English oak trees, where it has been looked after by brown ants.
Source: Ants run secret farms on English oak trees, photographer discovers | Environment | The Guardian
Why would anyone choose to spend a winter’s night out on a cold Orkney moor? Ben Darvill gives an insight into the dedication of Short-eared Owl fieldworkers, and their amazing discoveries.
Source: Tracking Short-eared Owls: Notes from the field | BTO – British Trust for Ornithology
Bank Vole by Mark Lynham, Linford Lakes NR, 14 March 2017
What’s the difference between a mouse, vole and shrew?
Source: House Mouse or Field Mouse? Types of Mice – Woodland Trust
Find out all about the chaffinch with these five facts from RSPB Scotland’s Jen Mullen.
Source: Five facts about chaffinches – Scottish Nature Notes – Our work – The RSPB Community
If you ask British birdwatchers to name the nine wader species that are causing the most conservation concern in the UK, they would probably not include the Ringed Plover. Curlew may well be top of the list, even though we still have 58,500 breeding pairs in the UK*, but would people remember to include Ruff? This blog is written to coincide with the publication of Red67, an amazing collaboration of artists and essayists that highlights and celebrates the 67 species on the current UK red list, nine of which are waders.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Nine red-listed UK waders | wadertales
Orca, or killer whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. These enigmatic animals are apex predators, positioned right at the top of the food chain. No other animals hunt orcas except for humans.
No two days are the same in my role as meadows advisor at the conservation charity Plantlife. My job is to help others create meadows – from small community meadows to large estates – and I am delighted my work is supported by The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.
India is home to a diverse variety of wildlife and has its own ‘Big Five’ must-see mammals. Our photo gallery features Asian elephants, Bengal tigers, greater one-horned rhinos, Indian leopards, and gaurs.
Source: Indian mammals photo gallery – elephants, tigers, rhinos, leopards – Discover Wildlife
We’re delighted to announce that on 10th January Natural England granted our application to release beavers into an enclosed area at Knepp. This is one of a number of beaver licenses granted in England for similar introductions so far this year, in a move which could, eventually, see beavers back in the landscape after an absence of around 500 years.
Click here for more information.: Bringing beavers back to Sussex — Knepp Wildland
Individuals within a species may all look alike to the average insect, but one paper wasp species has evolved specialized cognitive abilities to recognize individual faces among their peers. How did complex cognition evolve in just this species?
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Fears grow over HS2’s potential impact on biodiversity | UK news | The Guardian
One of the good things about recording beetles is that you can do it at any time of the year, since many beetles overwinter as adults. In summer techniques like sweeping and beating are used to find active insects, but in winter the emphasis shifts to finding insects that have tucked themselves away in various hideouts to await more favourable conditions. Habitats like litter piles, loose bark, crevices and rotholes in trees, and particularly the base of grass tussocks, are all worth exploring.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Click here for more information:
BBC
The Guardian
Scientists have discovered why climate change may be contributing to the decline of some British butterflies and moths, such as Silver-studded Blue and High Brown Fritillary butterflies.
Source: Scientists identify British butterflies most threatened by climate change
Scotland’s peatlands are host to characteristic species of plants and animals that have adapted to living in harsh conditions. Peat forms in areas of high rainfall and most often where there is low availability of nutrients. Consequently, peatland habitats are waterlogged, acidic and nutrient poor.
Study finds 29,000 butterflies, compared with 4.5 million during the 1980s, as experts point to habitat destruction
Source: Monarch butterfly population critically low on California coast – again | Environment | The Guardian
A beautiful infographic showing marine life at different depths in our oceans.
Source: The Deep Sea
BTO have produced a 6 minute video to help you identify female dabbling ducks.
Click on the play button to watch the video
Dandelion seedhead in the sun by Paul Lund, taken near Bradwell windmill. 3 October 2016
Gardeners should avoid mowing over dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees, according to the new president of the British Ecological Society.
Source: Help bees by not mowing dandelions, gardeners told | Environment | The Guardian
Where would you expect to find a voyager from the High Arctic? Probably not a Dublin park, but that’s exactly what happens every winter when thousands of little geese descend. It’s the light-bellied brent goose: arguably the toughest bird on the British Isles. So why does this wild creature pop up here?
Source: BBC Blogs – Winterwatch – Brent geese: urban explorers
Martens are small to medium-sized mammals, relatives of the (larger) badger and otter and of the (smaller) stoat and weasel. These are all part of a wider group of animals called mustelids.
Source: All about pine martens – Scottish Nature Notes – Our work – The RSPB Community
The flight navigation strategy of moths can be used to develop programs that help drones to navigate unfamiliar environments, report Ioannis Paschalidis at Boston University, Thomas Daniel at University of Washington, and colleagues, in the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Moths’ flight data helps drones navigate complex environments
Love is in the air in February! Listen out for birds singing and look out for spring flowers
Source: Our top 10 wildlife sightings for February | Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust
Click here to view the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust newsletter.
Citizen scientists are being sought to help carry out the first survey in decades of Britain’s slug populations.
Source: Wanted – volunteers to monitor Britain’s growing slug population – BBC News
An average garden accommodates more than 2,000 different species of insect! Very few of these creatures cause significant damage to our prized plants, and there are many more insects that actually help us to control the ones that do! By providing the right habitats, we can greatly increase the number of ‘beneficial’ insects in the garden.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: How to build a bug mansion | The Wildlife Trusts
A new method for measuring avian extinction rates has highlighted both good and bad news for global conservation efforts.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Measuring avian extinction rates around the world – Discover Wildlife
The Mammal Society has published research using road kill data to predict where, when and why hedgehog deaths are most likely to occur.
Click here for more information.: Predicting hedgehog danger zones on British roads – Discover Wildlife
A new study undertaken by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), the UK Centre for Ecology and Conservation (UKCEH) and a team of international scientists provides a list of 13 species most likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula region.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Predicting the next wildlife “invasions” heading for Antarctica – Discover Wildlife
You might think that prey would invariably flee in terror from a predator. But what if an animal was apathetic in the face of danger?
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Scientists find that unappetizing moths make less effort to escape attacking bats
Blue tit, CC BY_NC_SA Peter Hassett, Rhayader 14 May 2014
Information collected by British Trust for Ornithology volunteer bird ringers and nest recorders provides an insight into how some of our resident and migratory birds fared during the 2019 breeding season.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: The 2019 breeding season; a year to remember for Blackcaps and Blue Tits, news via @RareBirdAlertUK
Few cities offer the chance to swim with grebes and walk among falcons. Matthew Maran photographs London’s wildest gem.
Click here to see the photos: Wildlife of Hampstead Heath – Discover Wildlife
The RSPB has used hotspot mapping techniques to learn more about the life of Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and Shags as they forage at sea during the breeding season.
Click here for more information:
Rare Bird Alert UK
Discover Wildlife
It is hard to ignore 622,000 people with hedgehogs on their mind – at least that is what Bovis Homes have discovered. The lobbying work done by you all – and in particular those individuals who have made direct contacts with developers – has born great fruit. Here is what Bovis had to say:
“In an industry-first initiative, Bovis Homes, part of the newly-formed Vistry Group, will install hedgehog highways to its existing developments and all future sites wherever possible, as part of a campaign that will also help other small mammals, birds, frogs and insects.”
Click here for more information.: Petition update · Petition success story! · Change.org
Song Thrush by Harry Appleyard, Howe Park Wood 30 April 2016
Brightly coloured male songbirds not only have to attract the female’s eye, but also make sure their sperm can last the distance, according to new research.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Male songbirds can’t survive on good looks alone, news via @RareBirdAlertUK
As winter sets in over Punjab, one can hear the humdrum of hundreds of machines harvesting rice across lakhs of hectares of paddy fields. In Maharashtra, villages in Vidarbha lug their snowy cotton harvest to the market. Years ago, these landscapes were a sprawling array of forests, grasslands, wetlands and multiple crops cultivated on a shifting basis. But in the last five to six decades, many such natural landscapes have been converted into permanent farms that grow only one or two crops while extensively using resources such as water and chemicals in the form of pesticides and herbicides.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Friendly neighbours? Study shows crop yield increases when biodiverse environments surround farms | Research Matters
Winter is a wonderful time to see wildlife, particularly for fans of our feathered friends. As the cold grip of the Arctic winter takes hold on the lakes, pools and marshes of Northern Europe and Russia, huge numbers of swans, ducks and geese retreat to the relative warmth of the UK. Our lakes, rivers, reservoirs and coasts are a winter home for an estimated 2.1 million ducks!
Click here for more information.: Dip into the world of dabbling ducks | Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants
Almost two-thirds of Northamptonshire’s protected sites for nature conservation are in a poor state, analysis has found.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Northamptonshire’s natural treasures ‘under threat’ | Northamptonshire Telegraph
Beetles, beetles, beetles. I love beetles and one of the best places to look for these animals is in and around deadwood. This often overlooked habitat positively bristles with a splendid variety of these insects.
Click here for more information.: Saproxylic beetles – Dr. Ross Piper
The fantastic butterfly season during 2018 was always going to be a difficult act to follow and although some species were down in 2019 the year still held some great success stories. Among 2019’s achievements was a very welcome spike in Peacock numbers, a Painted Lady invasion, the continued colonisation by Dark Green Fritillaries and the incredible news of the first Chequered Skippers to emerge in the wild in the county for nearly half a century.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
This report provides a preliminary assessment of the 2019 breeding season in terms of population sizes and breeding success, comparing this year’s results to the averages recorded over the previous five seasons.
Source: Preliminary report on the 2019 breeding season | BTO – British Trust for Ornithology
Wildlife Trust Logo
The Wildlife Trusts are disappointed that the new report from the Committee on Climate Change fails to recognise the full array of natural solutions available in the UK, and their immense value for achieving net zero emissions.
Click here for more information.: New report from Committee on Climate Change doesn’t go far enough | The Wildlife Trusts
Come springtime, the RTBF reports, the Brussels region’s environment agency Bruxelles Environnement will take up the beehives it manages at nature sites in Brussels, and remove them permanently.
The move forms part of a plan by the region to tackle the recent huge growth in members of the public keeping bees – a trend inspired by concerns about pollution, climate and biodiversity. Bees have become something of a mascot for this movement, in part because they are an excellent barometer of environmental conditions, and in part because of their crucial role in maintaining biodiversity.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Brussels wants to stop unfettered growth in beehives
We’ve all heard of species brought back from the brink of extinction, but have you ever wondered how impactful conservation actually is? A new study shows that global conservation action has reduced the effective extinction rate of birds by an astonishing 40%. But is it all good news?
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Conservation action has reduced bird extinction rates by 40%, #ornithology #conservation news via @RareBirdAlertUK
So a young sea eagle’s choice of landlocked Oxfordshire as its home is unexpected. More surprising still is that the bird has lived for four months almost completely unnoticed by the public close to the M40 and the commuter belt.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Young sea eagle takes up residence among Oxfordshire’s red kites | Environment | The Guardian
Harlequin Ladybird ©Peter Hassett at Preston Montford 4 August 2015
While climate change and habitat loss seem to keep making all the headlines when it comes to environmental damage, invasive species are still chugging along comfortably as the second biggest threat to our planet’s biodiversity. New cases are popping up all the time, with the Burmese python, Crucian carp and the emerald ash borer beetle recently reaching new levels of notoriety.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: Breaking Down the Social Stigma of Invasive Species with Professor Helen Roy | Ecology for the Masses
Figwort Sawfly (Tenthredo scrophulariae) ©Ian Saunders in garden, Stoke Goldington 26 June 2018
Steven Falk has expanded his sawfly identification pages.
Click here for more information.
Could this be the first step in the elimination of mink, a non-native species, from the UK?
Source: Conservationists plan complete eradication of mink from East Anglia – Discover Wildlife
The Dragonfly-like Meganeuropsis was a giant insect that plied the skies from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Permian, some 317 to 247 million years ago. It had a wingspan of some 28″ with a body length of around 17.”
Click here to read the rest of the article.: The largest insect that ever lived, the Dragonfly-like Meganeuropsis, had a wingspan of 28″ / Boing Boing
Birds bring a wonderful soundtrack to spring, and even in towns and cities the array of voices can be quite dazzling. If you are trying to develop your skills in identifying bird songs, you are best off initially trying to familiarise yourself with a few of the more frequent songsters. In early spring, four of the key species to listen out for are Robin, Song Thrush, Great Tit and Dunnock.
Click here for more information.: Get your ear in | BTO – British Trust for Ornithology
A growing number of studies are providing evidence that a suite of anthropogenic stressors — habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution, invasive species, climate change and overharvesting — are seriously reducing insect and other invertebrate abundance, diversity and biomass across the biosphere. These declines affect all functional groups: herbivores, detritivores, parasitoids, predators and pollinators. Insects are vitally important in a wide range of ecosystem services of which some are vitally important for food production and security (for example, pollination and pest control). There is now a strong scientific consensus that the decline of insects, other arthropods and biodiversity as a whole, is a very real and serious threat that society must urgently address. In response to the increasing public awareness of the problem, the German government is committing funds to combat and reverse declining insect numbers. This funding should act as a clarion call to other nations across the world — especially wealthier ones — to follow suit and to respond proactively to the crisis by addressing the known and suspected threats and implementing solutions.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: International scientists formulate a roadmap for insect conservation and recovery | Nature Ecology & Evolution
A promise to do more to protect the soil will form part of a vision for the UK farm industry being unveiled by the government later.
Click here for more information.:
BBC News
DEFRA
The Ecologist
Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust Logo
Click here to view the winter update : North Chilterns Chalk winter update
The American coot is a somewhat drab water bird with gray and black feathers and a white beak, common in wetlands throughout North America. Coot chicks, however, sport outrageously bright orange and red feathers, skin, and beaks. A new study explains how the bright coloring of coot chicks fits in with the reproductive strategy of their less colorful parents.
Click here for more information.: Solved: mystery of ‘ornamented’ coot chicks has surprising explanation, #ornithology research news via @RareBirdAlertUK
Unfortunately, yet another mass poisoning incident occurred in Africa, ending 2019 on a sad note for vulture conservation. Two days before Christmas in Northern Zululand, 16 vultures met a tragic fate. The continuation of such poisoning incidents are causing alarm for the region’s diminishing vulture populations fearing that they could face extinction. This has been an overall unfortunate year for vultures affected by poisoning in Africa, with more than 1,200 vultures estimated to have been deliberately poisoned across Southern and Eastern Africa, according to the Endangered WildLife Trust (EWT).
Click here to read the rest of the article.: UN draft plan sets 2030 target to avert Earth’s sixth mass extinction | Environment | The Guardian
The main topic is what pond creatures, such as the pond oilve mayfly, do to survive the cold in winter, and give some tips on how to look after your pond when it freezes over.
Neil and Victoria’s News
Victoria talks about a trip to German museum with a amber collection and Neil mentions his productive Christmas period photography trips, with sparrowhawk, cattle egret and kestrel photos.Readers questions
We answer questions on kestrels decline, and what our first memory of wildlife in the garden was, along with what surprises us about nature.Click here for more information.
Extremely acute vision and the ability to rapidly process different visual impressions — these two factors are crucial when a peregrine falcon bears down on its prey at a speed that easily matches that of a Formula 1 racing car: over 350 kilometres per hour.
Source: Falcons see prey at speed of Formula 1 car, #ornithology research news via @RareBirdAlertUK
Orb spider (Tetragnatha montana) on Agrimony by Peter Hassett, Bucknell Wood 26 July 2019
While the ubiquitous garden cross spider (Araneus diadematus) perishes in late autumn, another species of orb-weaver remains active throughout the winter. Common and widespread, Zygiella x-notata is typically found close to human habitation, its webs strung under guttering, and spanning door and window frames. Though similar in appearance to the two-dimensional, concentric-circle webs constructed by its more familiar relative, its orbs usually have a distinctive wedge-shaped segment missing from an upper quadrant, hence the spider’s common name, missing-sector orb-weaver.
HS2 risks dividing and destroying “huge swathes” of “irreplaceable” natural habitats, including 108 ancient woodlands, a report has warned.
The Wildlife Trust said the high-speed rail line linking London and northern England could wipe out rare species.
Click here for more information:
HS2 could threaten irreplaceable natural habitats, report warns – BBC News
The Guardian
England’s first beavers to live in the wild in 400 years are positively affecting the community and the environment, experts have said.
Great White Egret and Little Egret by Harry Appleyard, Floodplain Forest NR 23 August 2016
Britain’s milder weather is attracting exotic guests. While we may celebrate their arrival now it should also alert us to what’s ahead
Source: A warm welcome? The wildlife visitors warning of climate disaster | Environment | The Guardian
Dave Goulson, author of The Garden Jungle, reveals some of the best plants you can grow to give garden pollinators a helping hand.
Source: Top plants for pollinators in your wildlife garden – Discover Wildlife
Click here for more information.: HS2 destroyed trees in way of train line without permission | UK news | The Guardian
After the darkness of winter, snowdrops are a welcome and early sign that spring is on its way. Our snowdrop guide looks at the best snowdrop walks in the UK, snowdrop facts and how to grow your own.
Click here for more information.: Snowdrops guide and walks: facts, how to grow and the best places to see snowdrops around the UK – Countryfile.com
Species on the verge of extinction have been handed a lifeline as £7.4million from The National Lottery is awarded for nature projects across the UK.
Source: Lifeline for species on verge of extinction | The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Short winter days may restrict your birdwatching time, but if you’re canny you can just wait for the birds to come to you. Use this guide to improve your roosting bird ID skills.
Source: 12 roosting birds to spot this winter and how to identify them – Discover Wildlife
As we head into January we look forward to our upcoming talks. Please do get in touch to book your place(s) or use the “Book Now” tabs to book online to benefit from our member discount. I look forward to seeing you at an event soon!
Click here for details of future events: North Chilterns Chalk – Upcoming Events
Gall formation by plants is a commonly-seen phenomenon that occurs in response to foreign entities (here called “gall-inducers”) such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, etc. In this review Harris and Pitzschke set out criteria for what is and is not a gall;
A year ago, as I set out to explore the life of Alice Balfour and her moths, I didn’t give much thought to what I might find or where it might lead. I wanted to discover more about the moths she encountered and was interested to learn more about the pursuit of natural history in the Edwardian era, but mostly I was starting ‘a project’ to add purpose to my own everyday moth recording in East Lothian. Making lists of moths from different sites is all very well, but it is much more rewarding to put these lists into some sort of context. Scientific or otherwise.
Click here to read the rest of the article.: 2019 – Lessons learned – Rediscovering the moths of Whittingehame
The world’s rarest wader has been thrown a lifeline after two Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks hatched at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.
Click here for more information.: Fresh hope for Spoon-billed Sandpipers after chicks hatch, news via @RareBirdAlertUK
2019 has seen extraordinary sightings of minke whales and bottlenose dolphins in UK waters, restoration of vital saltmarshes and conservation action by thousands of marine and coastal volunteers.
Click here for more information.: Thousands wade-in to protect UK seas – The Wildlife Trusts’ marine review 2019 | The Wildlife Trusts
