We asked Dr Laura Foster, head of clean seas at the Marine Conservation Society, and Thomas Stanton, a PhD researcher at the University of Nottingham, questions about microplastics and what society can do to combat the problems they cause.
For 50 years, researchers have thought that moths evolved ears to detect the ultrasonic calls of attacking bats—but a new study shows that ears came first.
Many insects moving north in response to climate change find they have nowhere to go in Britain’s intensively managed landscapes, according to new research.
Once persecuted to extinction, white-tailed eagles are making a comeback in Scotland, following several reintroduction projects dating back over 40 years. And recently, some young white-tailed eagles have also been released in the south of England.
Red-Tailed Bumblebee by Harry Appleyard, Tattenhoe 11 April 2016
Bee nutrition and parasites are getting quite some attention these days. Which I’m very happy about, as I prefer to see bee health in a broader context than only the absence of diseases. I discussed this already in some posts like recently the one on honey bee welfare or the One Health Concept and the risks from managed bees for non-managed pollinators. However, I didn’t go in-depth with the role nutrition plays in bee health.
There are two distinct races of brent geese. Dark-bellied brent geese breed in northern Russia and spend the winter in southern and eastern England. Pale-bellied Brent geese breed mostly in Canada and Greenland and spend the winter mostly in Ireland.
The discovery of a female Florida panther lying with a broken leg on a verge outside the town of Naples, south of Tampa, triggered a widespread rescue dash.
Conservationists, who had previously fitted a tracking collar to the animal, were aware she had recently given birth. The kittens would not survive long on their own, they realised, and so an urgent search for them was launched.
Red deer, fallow deer and sika deer are most exciting to watch in the autumn, when the rut begins. But not all deer are the same, so what should you look out for?
One of the greatest conservation tools to emerge in recent years has been satellite-tagging technology. Whether following the journeys of migrating cuckoos or shedding light on the dangers facing UK birds of prey, these tiny pieces of technology are becoming increasingly valuable in the conservationist’s mission to save nature.
Remembering Lions is the fourth instalment in the charity book series by the Remembering Wildlife team, and features images donated by more than 70 of the world’s top wildlife photographers.
Butterfly Conservation Upper thames Branch Species Champion’s report on Silver-spotted Skipper summarising changes in distribution and first sightings is now available.
Nepal’s wild tigers increased to 235 in 2018 from only 121 in 2008 due to the conservation efforts of dedicated local people, the Nepali government and Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Over the last couple of years, I have been involved with the volunteer monitoring of the Chequered Skipper release in Rockingham Forest, firstly with the adult butterflies brought in from Belgium , and then with the butterflies that had emerged from those first adults.
An appreciation of how some species are becoming more common despite unprecedented anthropogenic pressures could offer key insights for mitigating the global biodiversity crisis. Research to date has largely focused on declining species, while species that are becoming more common have received relatively little attention. Macro-moths in Great Britain are well-studied and species-rich, making them an ideal group for addressing this knowledge gap. Here, we examine changes in 51 successful species between 1968 and 2016 using 4.5 million occurrence records and a systematic monitoring dataset. We employ 3D graphical analysis to visualise long-term multidimensional trends in prevalence (abundance and range) and use vector autoregression models to test whether past values of local abundance are useful for predicting changes in the extent of occurrence. The responses of Anthropocene winners are heterogeneous, suggesting multiple drivers are responsible. Changes in range and local abundance frequently occur intermittently through time, demonstrating the value of long-term, continuous monitoring. There is significant diversity among the winners themselves, which include widespread generalists, habitat specialists, and recent colonists. We offer brief discussion of possible causal factors and the wider ecosystem implications of these trends.
A partnership of 70 wildlife organisations, research institutes and government agencies has produced the third State of Nature report, the clearest picture to date of the status of UK plant and animal species. The 2019 report, which follows similar assessments in 2013 and 2016, has revealed average declines in distribution and abundance of five per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, since 1970. Dr Jack Hatfield of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, one of the co-authors of State of Nature 2019, says volunteer recorders are essential to this comprehensive analysis of the health of our natural world…
Understanding our garden wildlife is becoming increasingly important. Gardenwatch, the UK’s biggest-ever garden audit, was launched on BBC Springwatch in May 2019, and asked people for information on garden features and wildlife across the country. The responses have given us fascinating new information on how people help wildlife in their gardens, and where there is still more that can be done. For example, relatively few people reported leaving leaf litter piles, long grass or rock piles in their gardens, and only a small proportion of people provided homes for wildlife such as bat boxes or Hedgehog houses. The maps show interesting variation across the UK, including the fact that climbers, including autumn-flowering Ivy, are less common in gardens in northern areas.
Have you ever seen a colour-ringed Sanderling and perhaps wondered why it spends the non-breeding* season on a British or Irish beach rather than on one in Portugal, Ghana or even further south? Why fly from Greenland to Namibia, a distance of over 20,000 km, when spending the winter months in the UK or Ireland requires a flight of as little as 3,700 km? Perhaps the chance of survival is greater in other countries or perhaps birds that travel further have a larger lifetime breeding output? A paper by Jeroen Reneerkens and colleagues provides some of the answers.
Moths and other wildlife are being affected by climate change. Species have always evolved to adapt to changing conditions and will continue to do so. The problem with man-made climate change is that it is happening so quickly that our wildlife may not be able to evolve and adapt fast enough.
Meadow flowers by Peter Hassett, Sharpenhoe Clappers 4 August 2019
Governmental agri-environment schemes (AES) aim to improve pollinator abundance and diversity on farmland by sowing wildflower seed mixes. These often contain high proportions of Fabaceae, particularly Trifolium (clovers), which are attractive to some bumblebee species, but not to most of the ~ 240 solitary bee species in the UK. Here we identify wildflowers that are attractive to a greater range of wild bee species.
Each year, nature photographers and enthusiasts alike are brought out of their hides to awe at the amazing winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. 2019’s winning images have just been announced, and are a testament to the long-standing competition.
Many of us enjoy watching hoverflies as they dart around our gardens amongst the bees and wasps. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the difference as many hoverfly species mimic honeybees and bumblebees (there’s even a hoverfly that mimics a hornet!).
Bird songs are common sounds to us all, but why do birds sing? Imagine you’re a male willow warbler, and you’ve just flown 2,400 miles (4000 km) from Africa. It’s spring, and you need to find a mate quickly. However, your home is a woodland and you’re the colour of leaves. What better way of advertising to a passing female that you are here and would make a fine father for her chicks than by having a clear, loud and recognisable song?
Following the news that two of this year’s five brood meddled hen harriers had ‘vanished’ on grouse moors in the north of England in September 2019 (one in County Durham here and one in the Yorkshire Dales National Park here), we now learn that a third harrier has disappeared, also in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The Lesser Butterfly Orchid is a stunning creamy-flowered species which has seen awful declines in the last 50 years hence why Plantlife raised this species as a key priority for conservation. But the ask isn’t easy…
Birds of prey should be free to soar, enriching our lives as well as our ecosystems. But sadly, despite being protected by law, many of these birds are being illegally killed, particularly in upland areas of the UK as a result of the conflict with driven grouse shooting.
Although I’m mad-keen about wildlife-friendly gardening, I also have an unbridled passion for birdsong, which at last found its chance to shine when a compilation-track of my recordings got to number 18 in the pop charts this year in what we called Let Nature Sing. (Two hundred thousand You Tube views and counting, I’ll have you know!)
The modern approach to garden bird feeding is to use a range of foods that support the specific nutritional requirements of a wide range of species over the course of a year. There is a scientific evidence highlighting the positive effects that the provision of supplementary food can have on birds. For example, the provision of supplementary food has been shown to improve overwinter survival in a number of species.
A male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Fungie has secured his place in the record books as the longest lived ‘lone’ dolphin, as he is thought to be over 40 years old.
New Nature is the only natural history magazine written, edited and produced entirely by young people: by young ecologists, conservationists, communicators, nature writers and wildlife photographers each boasting an undying passion for the natural world. It is intended, foremost, as a celebration of nature, but also of the young people giving their time, freely, to protect it.
BTO has a strong reputation for delivering quality science, but it is important that we continue to monitor our processes and identify those aspects of our work that could be done better to deliver greater impact.
Click here to view the National Plant Monitoring Scheme newsletter for 2019
Features include examples from around the regions; an intro to Rachel, the new Volunteer Manager; info on the mentor programme; opportunities for volunteers& a summary of what your data tell us about UK wild flowers
State of Nature 2019 is published this week, updating everything we know about the state of populations – in terms of numbers or distribution – of more than 7,000 species of animal, plant and fungus within the UK. Inevitably, many of the headlines will be dire, highlighting the stark reality that 41% of the species whose numbers we can estimate are declining moderately or strongly.
It has to be said, for many of our common and scarce migrants September was a disappointing month with many species such as Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat, Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike being reported well below their historical reporting rates.
Adult butterflies and moths are increasingly scarce now that autumn has taken hold, but there are still plenty of caterpillars to spot. Indeed, this is one of the prime times of year to look for larvae.
The UK’s rarest amphibian is taking a huge leap forward thanks to scientists behind a pioneering breeding programme.
The pool frog (Pelophylax lessonae) became extinct in the UK in the 1990s but it was reintroduced to a site in Norfolk between 2005 and 2008 by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC).
Now the wildlife charity has carried out a ground-breaking scheme to increase the animal’s population.
The shy and elusive pine marten, a woodland creature almost hunted to extinction in the UK, has been reintroduced to a forest in the English west country.
Following the announcement of our news about the initial Chequered Skipper success (very exciting!), people have been curious as to why red spots can be seen on the wings of some of the butterflies. Hopefully this blog post will reveal all.
Bird populations in Asia and the US are “in crisis”, according to two major studies.
The first concludes there are three billion fewer birds in the US and Canada today compared to 1970 – a loss of 29% of North America’s birds.
The second outlines a tipping point in “the Asian songbird crisis”: on the island of Java, Indonesia, more birds may now live in cages than in the wild.
Britain is to have the toughest trophy hunting laws in the world as the Government announced they will be tabling a ban on the “morally indefensible” act.
The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and National Trust have today called on the UK government to support our farmers and land managers to help restore nature and tackle climate change on their land.
Britain could enjoy 400bn more flowers if road verges were cut later and less often according to guidelines drawn up by wildlife charities, highways authorities and contractors.
The national guidance for managing roadside verges for wildflowers calls for just two cuts a year – instead of four or more – and only after flowers have set seed, to restore floral diversity and save councils money. It would also provide grassland habitat the size of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh combined.
The recommendations have been produced by the wildlife charity Plantlife,
We have received many requests, pleas and some communications akin to demands, that we take legal action against Defra over its outrageous, cruel and unscientific Badger cull programme and against Natural England over its licensing of these culls.
The public is providing more than $1m per minute in global farm subsidies, much of which is driving the climate crisis and destruction of wildlife, according to a new report.
The dramatic rediscovery of the Antioquia Brush-finch – a species unseen for almost half a century – hit the headlines this past April. However, such incredible returns, although rare, are not unheard of. We explore some of the most miraculous examples of recent times, and what they teach us about the danger of presuming a species is extinct.
Scientists have discovered the first case of male bees babysitting, and it turns out that these males often aren’t biological bee dads but hopeful stepdads of the youngsters.
This year the annual butterbump survey has recorded another increase with 198 booming male bitterns found at 89 sites across England and Wales, of which 102 were found on RSPB reserves.
Historic gardens fighting against an invasive caterpillar that destroys formal box planting may have a new ally in the form of jackdaws, the National Trust has said.
The box tree moth is a destructive pest of the plant.
Himalayan balsam has rapidly become one of the UK’s most invasive weed species. A lack of natural enemies allows it to successfully compete with native plants for space, light, nutrients and pollinators, reducing biodiversity and contributing to erosion. Traditional control methods are inadequate. This project involves identifying an insect or plant pathogen that exclusively attacks Himalayan balsam, which can be released into the UK to control the plant while leaving indigenous species intact.
Everyone is looking at general licences following our successful legal challenge of the system, and in the knowledge that further legal challenges are possible from Wild Justice and from other interest groups. This unprecedented scrutiny is getting statutory agencies and governments to sharpen up their acts.
In Scotland, SNH has commissioned a report from the BTO which is now published
The review calls for a new national park in the Chilterns and a new “national forest” covering areas such as Sherwood Forest, to help increase woodland to fight the climate crisis.
One of the keys to maintaining a garden that is attractive to a wide range of insects and other invertebrates is the provision of pollen and nectar across as much of the year as possible. Fortunately, plants do not all flower at the same time; this means that the annual sequence of flowering times can be used as the basis for selecting particular plants for your garden. Do not equate flower size with value, since a big showy flower does not necessarily offer more rewards to a visiting insect than one that is much smaller and less showy. The small flowers of Holly on show in late spring are extremely well used by insects. Blossom is important for insects and other invertebrates, providing both nectar and pollen. Nectar is a sugar-based solution which provides a ready source of the carbohydrates needed to fuel insect flight. Pollen, which is rich in protein, is thought to be important for the production of insect eggs.
Here is a short visual essay on a wonderful addition to our parish. It is ivy time again and the lane down from the house has a hedge smothered in it. I always love to stop and examine the plethora of insects, which are intoxicated by its pollen and nectar. Last autumn I found a gorgeous addition to the village community called ivy bee Colletes hedera.
Culver is a male White-tailed Eagle, originally from a nest on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He was translocated to the Isle of Wight and released on 22nd August 2019. His ring number is G3 22.
After an extraordinary eight day, 680 km flight around southern England, Culver made it back to the Isle of Wight today. What’s more, he made landfall over Culver Cliff – the site of the last known breeding White-tailed Eagles in southern England in 1780; the place he’s named after.
Road verges are a common sight across the UK landscape, with 238,000 ha of road verges along our almost 400,000 kilometres of roads. These habitats can support a wide range of wildlife, in particular providing sources of food and shelter for insect species. This report reviews the scientific literature on the benefits road verges can provide to pollinators, as well as the costs caused by their proximity to roads and road traffic. Finally the report reviews the literature around road verge management in order to make recommendations that aim to provide the best habitats for pollinators. The management recommendations provide road verge managers with a hierarchy of management choices, with each step benefiting pollinators and from which action can be taken depending on their resource and commitment levels.
We asked Dr Laura Foster, head of clean seas at the Marine Conservation Society, and Thomas Stanton, a PhD researcher at the University of Nottingham, questions about microplastics and what society can do to combat the problems they cause.
Click here to view the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust newsletter.They are marching, flying and hopping in their droves because of climate change, say scientists.
For 50 years, researchers have thought that moths evolved ears to detect the ultrasonic calls of attacking bats—but a new study shows that ears came first.
The young pangolin had been illegally caught by poachers and kept in constant darkness.
Study finds that spending time in nature increases children’s wellbeing, motivation, and confidence.
Many insects moving north in response to climate change find they have nowhere to go in Britain’s intensively managed landscapes, according to new research.
Once persecuted to extinction, white-tailed eagles are making a comeback in Scotland, following several reintroduction projects dating back over 40 years. And recently, some young white-tailed eagles have also been released in the south of England.
There are two distinct races of brent geese. Dark-bellied brent geese breed in northern Russia and spend the winter in southern and eastern England. Pale-bellied Brent geese breed mostly in Canada and Greenland and spend the winter mostly in Ireland.
Chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans are able to understand what others see and believe
How do birds manage to fly so closely together without colliding, and what are the benefits of doing so?
One of the whale populations taken to the edge of extinction by commercial hunting in the early 20th Century has essentially recovered its numbers.
Red deer, fallow deer and sika deer are most exciting to watch in the autumn, when the rut begins. But not all deer are the same, so what should you look out for?
One of the greatest conservation tools to emerge in recent years has been satellite-tagging technology. Whether following the journeys of migrating cuckoos or shedding light on the dangers facing UK birds of prey, these tiny pieces of technology are becoming increasingly valuable in the conservationist’s mission to save nature.
Museums found to have a bias towards males in bird and mammal natural history collections.
Plantlife produce a number of interesting guides to wildflowers.Remembering Lions is the fourth instalment in the charity book series by the Remembering Wildlife team, and features images donated by more than 70 of the world’s top wildlife photographers.
The full statistics of how butterfly populations fared in 2018 are now available from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.Nepal’s wild tigers increased to 235 in 2018 from only 121 in 2008 due to the conservation efforts of dedicated local people, the Nepali government and Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
Over the last couple of years, I have been involved with the volunteer monitoring of the Chequered Skipper release in Rockingham Forest, firstly with the adult butterflies brought in from Belgium , and then with the butterflies that had emerged from those first adults.
More than a million volunteers are needed to tackle the spread of invasive non-native species in the UK, MPs say.
Welcome to our complete guide to protecting British hedgehogs.The abundance of species in Scotland is falling at a faster rate than the UK as a whole, according to a detailed study.
Understanding our garden wildlife is becoming increasingly important. Gardenwatch, the UK’s biggest-ever garden audit, was launched on BBC Springwatch in May 2019, and asked people for information on garden features and wildlife across the country. The responses have given us fascinating new information on how people help wildlife in their gardens, and where there is still more that can be done. For example, relatively few people reported leaving leaf litter piles, long grass or rock piles in their gardens, and only a small proportion of people provided homes for wildlife such as bat boxes or Hedgehog houses. The maps show interesting variation across the UK, including the fact that climbers, including autumn-flowering Ivy, are less common in gardens in northern areas.
Have you ever seen a colour-ringed Sanderling and perhaps wondered why it spends the non-breeding* season on a British or Irish beach rather than on one in Portugal, Ghana or even further south? Why fly from Greenland to Namibia, a distance of over 20,000 km, when spending the winter months in the UK or Ireland requires a flight of as little as 3,700 km? Perhaps the chance of survival is greater in other countries or perhaps birds that travel further have a larger lifetime breeding output? A paper by Jeroen Reneerkens and colleagues provides some of the answers.
Moths and other wildlife are being affected by climate change. Species have always evolved to adapt to changing conditions and will continue to do so. The problem with man-made climate change is that it is happening so quickly that our wildlife may not be able to evolve and adapt fast enough.
Aerial images enable researchers to determine the body mass of whales.
Each year, nature photographers and enthusiasts alike are brought out of their hides to awe at the amazing winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. 2019’s winning images have just been announced, and are a testament to the long-standing competition.
Many of us enjoy watching hoverflies as they dart around our gardens amongst the bees and wasps. Sometimes, it is hard to tell the difference as many hoverfly species mimic honeybees and bumblebees (there’s even a hoverfly that mimics a hornet!).
Following the news that two of this year’s five brood meddled hen harriers had ‘vanished’ on grouse moors in the north of England in September 2019 (one in County Durham here and one in the Yorkshire Dales National Park here), we now learn that a third harrier has disappeared, also in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
This is a quick summary of wader migration, for British and Irish birdwatchers.
The Lesser Butterfly Orchid is a stunning creamy-flowered species which has seen awful declines in the last 50 years hence why Plantlife raised this species as a key priority for conservation. But the ask isn’t easy…
Although I’m mad-keen about wildlife-friendly gardening, I also have an unbridled passion for birdsong, which at last found its chance to shine when a compilation-track of my recordings got to number 18 in the pop charts this year in what we called Let Nature Sing. (Two hundred thousand You Tube views and counting, I’ll have you know!)
More and more young people are feeling the thrill of fresh air, flashing wings and the sound of birdsongThe modern approach to garden bird feeding is to use a range of foods that support the specific nutritional requirements of a wide range of species over the course of a year. There is a scientific evidence highlighting the positive effects that the provision of supplementary food can have on birds. For example, the provision of supplementary food has been shown to improve overwinter survival in a number of species.
A male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Fungie has secured his place in the record books as the longest lived ‘lone’ dolphin, as he is thought to be over 40 years old.
Environmentalists are offering a €30,000 ($32,950; £26,789) reward for information about the presumed death of a wolf in Belgium.
BTO has a strong reputation for delivering quality science, but it is important that we continue to monitor our processes and identify those aspects of our work that could be done better to deliver greater impact.
Click here to view the National Plant Monitoring Scheme newsletter for 2019State of Nature 2019 is published this week, updating everything we know about the state of populations – in terms of numbers or distribution – of more than 7,000 species of animal, plant and fungus within the UK. Inevitably, many of the headlines will be dire, highlighting the stark reality that 41% of the species whose numbers we can estimate are declining moderately or strongly.
A conservation charity has estimated that at least 500 jaguars are left homeless or deceased due to the devastating wildfires.
It has to be said, for many of our common and scarce migrants September was a disappointing month with many species such as Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Whinchat, Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike being reported well below their historical reporting rates.
A new report has revealed that imports into this hub of wildlife trade have risen alarmingly.
Adult butterflies and moths are increasingly scarce now that autumn has taken hold, but there are still plenty of caterpillars to spot. Indeed, this is one of the prime times of year to look for larvae.
The UK’s rarest amphibian is taking a huge leap forward thanks to scientists behind a pioneering breeding programme.
A new survey has revealed that the corncrake population has decreased by over 30% in the last 5 years.
Populations of UK’s most important wildlife have plummeted since 1970.
Click here to view the latest Biological Records Centre Newsletter: Biological Records Centre NewsletterThe shy and elusive pine marten, a woodland creature almost hunted to extinction in the UK, has been reintroduced to a forest in the English west country.
Following the announcement of our news about the initial Chequered Skipper success (very exciting!), people have been curious as to why red spots can be seen on the wings of some of the butterflies. Hopefully this blog post will reveal all.
Bird populations in Asia and the US are “in crisis”, according to two major studies.
Britain is to have the toughest trophy hunting laws in the world as the Government announced they will be tabling a ban on the “morally indefensible” act.
Britain could enjoy 400bn more flowers if road verges were cut later and less often according to guidelines drawn up by wildlife charities, highways authorities and contractors.
View the winning images from the tenth British Wildlife Photography Awards.
DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt.
The dramatic rediscovery of the Antioquia Brush-finch – a species unseen for almost half a century – hit the headlines this past April. However, such incredible returns, although rare, are not unheard of. We explore some of the most miraculous examples of recent times, and what they teach us about the danger of presuming a species is extinct.
Five years of findings on which garden flowers are the most popular for British pollinators have been analysed in a recent paper.
Find out how you can help wildlife in your garden this autumn.
DNA analysis has revealed a record-breaking new species lurking in a museum’s archives.
Scientists have discovered the first case of male bees babysitting, and it turns out that these males often aren’t biological bee dads but hopeful stepdads of the youngsters.
This year the annual butterbump survey has recorded another increase with 198 booming male bitterns found at 89 sites across England and Wales, of which 102 were found on RSPB reserves.
Historic gardens fighting against an invasive caterpillar that destroys formal box planting may have a new ally in the form of jackdaws, the National Trust has said.
Himalayan balsam has rapidly become one of the UK’s most invasive weed species. A lack of natural enemies allows it to successfully compete with native plants for space, light, nutrients and pollinators, reducing biodiversity and contributing to erosion. Traditional control methods are inadequate. This project involves identifying an insect or plant pathogen that exclusively attacks Himalayan balsam, which can be released into the UK to control the plant while leaving indigenous species intact.
Everyone is looking at general licences following our successful legal challenge of the system, and in the knowledge that further legal challenges are possible from Wild Justice and from other interest groups. This unprecedented scrutiny is getting statutory agencies and governments to sharpen up their acts.
Who wants to help field test this ‘Grassland waxcap identification support tool’ that I’ve made?
Here is a short visual essay on a wonderful addition to our parish. It is ivy time again and the lane down from the house has a hedge smothered in it. I always love to stop and examine the plethora of insects, which are intoxicated by its pollen and nectar. Last autumn I found a gorgeous addition to the village community called ivy bee Colletes hedera.
Culver is a male White-tailed Eagle, originally from a nest on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He was translocated to the Isle of Wight and released on 22nd August 2019. His ring number is G3 22.
