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Headlines from week begining 8 May 2017 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Swans unfairly singled out for yobbish behaviour - Wildfowl & Wetlands Trusts Mr Asbo and other headline-grabbing swans may be being unfairly
stigmatised according to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), which is
behind the world’s largest study of aggression among birds.
The study, published in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour, left
researchers under no doubt that some swans are aggressive. However,
after studying 555 groups of birds from 65 different species they found
that swans are no more or less aggressive than any other birds. They found that aggressiveness in birds varies hugely, with some
individuals spending as much as a third of their lives strutting about
and trying to fight their neighbours. Although there was no significant difference between birds, what does
make a difference is being male and an adult. The study confirmed that
males are more aggressive than females, and that adults are more
aggressive than youngsters, which is to be expected as most of the time
it is the adult male that has to win and defend food and nesting sites. WWT have written a blog post to accompany this
research:
Are some birds more aggressive than others? Access the paper: Kevin A. Wood,
Jessica Ponting, Nathan D'Costa, Julia L. Newth, Paul E. Rose, Peter
Glazov, Eileen C. Rees,
Understanding intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of aggressive behaviour in
waterbird assemblages: a meta-analysis, Animal Behaviour, Volume
126, April 2017, Pages 209-216, ISSN 0003-3472, DOI:
10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.02.008.
Birds choose their neighbours based on personality
- University of Oxford Birds of a feather nest together, according to a new study which has
found that male great tits (Parus major) choose neighbours with similar
personalities to their own. Oxford University researchers investigated whether the personality of
birds influences their social lives – in particular who they choose to
nest near. The study involved analysing social network structure in a
population of wild great tits at Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, over six
consecutive breeding seasons.
Lead author and doctoral student Katerina Johnson explained: 'We
found that males, but not females, were picky about personalities, with
males opting for like-minded neighbours. Our results emphasise that
social interactions may play a key role in animal decisions.' This tendency for males to associate with other males of similar
personality may be particularly important during the breeding season
when aggression peaks. Males fiercely defend their territories and
compete for opportunities to mate with females and so shyer males may
avoid setting up home near bolder, more aggressive individuals. Females,
however, likely choose where to nest based on the attractive qualities
of males. The results also showed that this personality assortment amongst
males was not affected by local environmental conditions. 'Just like
students choosing their flatmates”, Katerina commented, 'birds may pay
more attention to who they share their living space with than simply
location.” She added: “Animal personalities can influence their social
organisation and humans are likewise known to form social networks based
on shared attributes including personality.' Access the paper: Katerina V.-A. Johnson et al. Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season, Animal Behaviour (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.04.001 Scottish badgers highlight the complexity of environmental change - Uppsala University In a new study researchers have found that although warmer weather
should benefit badger populations, the predicted human population
increase in the Scottish highlands is likely to disturb badgers and
counteract that effect. These results emphasise the importance of
interactive effects and context-dependent responses when planning
conservation management under human-induced rapid environmental change. The new findings, published in the scientific journal Diversity and
Distributions, result from a collaboration between researchers from
Uppsala University in Sweden and Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research
Unit. Building on data from 168 camera trap stations actually collected
originally to look at Scottish wildcat distributions, the team was also
able to detect local badger (Meles meles) presence and absence. They
found that different factors, such as weather conditions, land cover
type and human disturbance interact to determine which locations badgers
choose to populate across the Scottish Highlands.
Overall, badger occupancy was more likely at sites with higher
minimum winter temperature and lower elevation. But when study areas of
similar temperature and elevation were grouped together, more complex
patterns emerged. While medium estimates of a 1–3°C increase in mean
minimum winter temperature for Northern Scotland by the 2050s would lead
to better conditions for badgers in Highland Scotland, forecasts based
on this factor alone are likely to prove simplistic and naïve.
Disturbances associated with a predicted parallel 5% increase in human
population in the Scottish Highlands by 2037 may counteract the benefits
of increasing temperatures. Access the paper: Silva A.P. et al.
2017.
Climate and anthropogenic factors determine site occupancy in Scotland's
Northern-range badger population: implications of context-dependent
responses under environmental change. Diversity and
Distribution DOI. 10.1111/ddi.12564
Tillage farming damaging earthworm populations, say scientists
- University College Dublin The digging, stirring and overturning of soil by conventional
ploughing in tillage farming is severely damaging earthworm populations
around the world, say scientists. The findings published in the
scientific journal Global Change Biology show a systematic decline in
earthworm populations in soils that are ploughed every year. The deeper
the soil is disturbed the more harmful it is for the earthworms. The scientists from the University of Vigo, Spain, and University
College Dublin, Ireland, analysed 215 field studies from across 40
countries dating back as far as 1950. Each of the studies investigated
earthworm populations under conventional tillage and other forms of
reduced tillage. “What we see is a systematic decline in the earthworm population in
the soil after continued ploughing and a significant increase in the
abundance of earthworms in less disturbed soil,although some soils would
need more than 10 years to show good signs of recovery” says Associate
Professor Olaf Schmidt, from the UCD School of Agriculture and Food
Science, University College Dublin. According to the findings, the earthworm populations most vulnerable
to tillage are larger earthworms that move between layers of soil and
create permanent burrows between them (anecic earthworms). Small
earthworms that live in the top layers of soil and convert debris to
topsoil (epigeic earthworms) were also found to be highly susceptible. Farming practices that involve no-tillage, Conservation Agriculture
and shallow non-inversion tillage were shown to significantly increase
earthworm populations. The scientists note that these reduced tillage
practices are increasingly being adopted world-wide due to their
environmental benefits in terms of erosion control and soil protection. Access the paper: Maria J. I. Briones,
Olaf Schmidt.
Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms
and alters their community structure in a global meta-analysis.
Global Change Biology, 2017; DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13744
Councils failing to protect countryside in growth plans
- CPRE The Campaign to Protect Rural England today (8/5/17) shows that
councils are failing to apply planning guidance that is designed to
protect precious countryside. Councils are expected by Government to establish and have a plan to
meet an 'Objectively Assessed Need' (OAN) for housing in their area,
which takes into account issues such as projected population growth and
future employment opportunities. Yet planning rules also state that this
number should take into account constraints such as protected
countryside. CPRE research today shows that, since 2012, 24 councils out of the 62
local authorities for which there is clear data have heeded national
policy and established housing targets in approved local plans lower
than their OAN, with the majority reducing their targets due to
environmental or countryside constraints
Consumers asked to challenge supermarkets on the source of Scottish
farmed salmon – Salmon & Trout
Salmon & Trout Conservation UK (S&TC UK) is inviting consumers to
help identify those supermarkets that are stocking salmon from farms
which are failing to control deadly sea lice parasites.
The inexorable growth of the salmon farming industry in recent years
has occurred at considerable environmental cost, particularly the impact
of high numbers of sea lice parasites spreading from fish farms to
threaten highly vulnerable juvenile Scottish wild salmon and sea trout
populations. In many areas, despite the intensive use of aggressive
chemicals and other methods to control sea lice on salmon farms, numbers
of the parasites are frequently over the industry’s recommended Code of
Good Practice threshold for treatment. Research by leading fisheries charity S&TC UK indicates that there
are some 120 salmon farms in Scotland within regions where the
industry’s own aggregated sea lice figures exceed the recommended
threshold limits. Fish farm cages can contain hundreds of thousands of farmed salmon,
which, where treatments fail, act as efficient hosts for the sea lice
parasite, which then reproduces, releasing huge numbers of mobile
juvenile sea lice out into the local marine environment.
New paths for people and nature across the South
- Sustrans Thousands of miles of paths across the south of England are being
improved for nature. We created the National Cycle Network in 1995 and
now, 22 years later, we are turning 22 cycling and walking routes across
the south into wildlife friendly ‘greenways’. If you’re out on foot or on your bike over the summer you may see
teams of volunteers improving greenspace and surveying the wildlife
living
Further south, sections of Devon’s Plym Valley Trail will receive a
green makeover, as will the Thames and Medway Canal path between
Gravesend and Rochester in Kent and the wildlife-rich Phoenix Trail in
Oxfordshire. We survey, protect and enhance biodiversity along
traffic-free sections of the National Cycle Network (Sustrans) Stretching more than 14,000 miles across the length and breadth of
the UK, the National Cycle Network has served pedestrians, cyclists,
joggers, dog walkers and horse riders for more than 20 years. But, says James Cleeton, Sustrans’ Director for England South, it
isn’t only people who require a network to move around safely. “Since
the creation of the Network in 1995, our understanding of nature has
improved hugely,” says Cleeton. “We now know that wildlife uses
corridors to find its way much in the same way that people use cycling
and walking routes. So the National Cycle Network really is a perfect
framework for a hands-on project that can benefit both people and
nature.”
Global warming kills gut bacteria in lizards
– University of Exeter Climate change could threaten reptiles by reducing the number of
bacteria living in their guts, new research suggests. Scientists from the University of Exeter and the University of
Toulouse found that warming of 2-3°C caused a 34% loss of microorganism
diversity in the guts of common lizards (also known as viviparous
lizards).
In the experiments, lizards were put in temperature-controlled
enclosures and samples of their gut bacteria were tested to identify
which bacteria were present. The diversity of bacteria was lower for lizards living in warmed
conditions, and the researchers found this had an impact on their
survival chances. By raising the temperature by 2-3°C in their experiment, the
researchers reflected warming predicted by current climate change
models. “Our research shows that a relatively small rise in temperature can have a major impact on the gut bacteria in common lizards,” said Dr Elvire Bestion, of the Environment and Sustainability Institute on the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall. “More testing is now needed, and it is highly possible that we will see similar effects in other ectotherms (cold-blooded animals such as reptiles and amphibians which depend on external sources of body heat).”
Plans for habitat and wildlife conservation need to consider the risk of
Lyme disease – University of Glasgow Lyme disease – an infection contracted from the bite of an infected
tick– is an important emerging disease in the UK, and is increasing in
A new study, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society B, found that some types of conservation action could increase
the abundance of ticks, which transmit diseases like Lyme disease. The research – led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with
Scottish Natural Heritage, the James Hutton Institute and Public Health
England – examined how conservation management activities could affect
tick populations, wildlife host communities, the transmission of the
Borrelia bacteria that can cause Lyme disease and, ultimately, the risk
of contracting Lyme disease. The paper, ‘Effects of conservation
management of landscapes and vertebrate communities on Lyme borreliosis
risk in the United Kingdom’ is published in the journal Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B. The paper was funded by the BBSRC.
England's first 'Swift City' takes flight -
RSPB
Ahead of UN World Migratory Bird Day on 10 May, the RSPB has teamed
up with nine partners to launch England’s first ‘Swift City’ in Oxford. The ambitious two-year project will see current nesting sites
protected and more than 300 new sites created throughout the historic
city to allow the charismatic bird to thrive. To help reverse the decline in swift numbers and nesting sites
Europe’s biggest conservation charity has teamed up with nine partners
to launch England’s first ‘Swift City’ in Oxford. Every year the enigmatic swift announces the arrival of the British
summer as they complete a 6,000 mile migration from central and southern
Africa to nest and raise their young in the UK. These iconic species are
truly Olympian birds; landing only to breed, they fly up to 500 miles
per day often eating, sleeping and even mating in the air. However with
falling population numbers there are now less than 87,000 breeding pairs
arriving in the UK, down from almost 150,000 (-47%) pairs just two
decades ago. Researchers from the universities of Cambridge, Hull and the Open
University have discovered that native brown hares may be benefiting
Aware that changes in agricultural practices over the past century
have contributed to major declines in various species of farmland
wildlife, the research team led by Dr Silviu Petrovan, set out to
investigate what effects biomass energy crops might have on one of
Britain’s most charismatic but threatened farmland species, the brown
hare.
Estimating the Size of Animal Populations from Camera Trap Surveys
- Max Planck Society via British Ecological
Society Camera traps are a useful means for researchers to observe the
behaviour of animal populations in the wild or to assess biodiversity
levels of remote locations like the tropical rain forest. Researchers
from the University of St Andrews, the Max Planck Institute for
Evolutionary Anthropology and the German Centre for Integrative
Biodiversity Research recently extended distance sampling analytical
methods to accommodate data from camera traps. This new development
allows abundances of multiple species to be estimated from camera
trapping data collected over relatively short time intervals –
information critical to effective wildlife management and conservation. Remote motion-sensitive photography, or camera trapping, is
revolutionising surveys of wild animal populations. Camera traps are an
efficient means of detecting rare species, conducting species
inventories and biodiversity assessments, estimating site occupancy, and
observing behaviour. If individual animals can be identified from the
images obtained, camera trapping data can also be used to estimate
animal density and population size – information critical to effective
wildlife management and conservation.
Researchers recently extended distance sampling analytical methods to
accommodate data from camera traps. “Distance sampling is a very
well-established statistical framework for estimating animal density and
population size that is already familiar to many ecologists”, says
Hjalmar Kühl of the MPI-EVA and iDiv. “This development will pave the
way for researchers to estimate abundances of multiple species from
camera trapping data collected over relatively short time intervals,
without identifying individuals, and with minimal additional field
work.” Kühl adds: “This new approach can be easily integrated into our
ongoing camera trap surveys across a broad range of habitats and
species; we will also apply it in our monitoring work.” The models are
implemented in the free, Windows-based software Distance, and various
packages of the statistics software R. Detailed documentation and advice
from statisticians is also freely available via the Distance
project
website. Read the full article (freely available for a
limited time): Howe, E. J., Buckland, S. T.,
Després-Einspenner, M.-L. and Kühl, H. S. (2017),
Distance sampling with camera traps. Methods in Ecology and
Evolution. doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12790
The review of designated landscapes in Wales
- Welsh Government ‘Future Landscapes: Delivering for Wales’ is the outcome of the
review of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and National Parks
in Wales. The Independent Review of Designated Landscapes in Wales,
commissioned by the Welsh Government, reported in the summer of 2015.
This report made many recommendations covering proposals and
observations on purposes, principles, vision, governance models,
planning and funding. Download the
Future Landscapes: Delivering for Wales - 9 May 2017 (PDF) Response:
Future Landscapes Wales and the missing C-word
- Snowdonia Society The long-awaited report of the Future Landscapes Wales programme was
published today: ‘Future Landscapes; Delivering for Wales‘ report. The report includes statements of commitment to National Parks and
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty by Welsh Government and the Cabinet
Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths; such
commitment is welcome. There is little scope for comment on the report’s content. It is a
deeply confusing document, rich in jargon but with little substance.
Even after reading it 5 or 6 times it is hard to pin down what it is
trying to say; it would undoubtedly benefit from greater clarity. Of greater concern is what is missing from the document. Sixty years of work have vanished into thin air – the six decades of
work and collaboration driven by the National Parks’ statutory purposes
– to conserve natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage and to
promote opportunities for public understanding and enjoyment of those
special qualities We searched the Future Landscapes document for the key words in
National Parks’ existing purposes – ‘natural beauty’, ‘conservation’,
‘wildlife’, ‘cultural heritage’ ‘enjoyment’ ‘access’, ‘recreation’ None of the words occurs in the body of the document. ‘Conservation’
is the C-word spectacularly missing from the Future Landscapes document.
New project launched to save Scotland’s rarest insects - Buglife A new project is being launched in the heart of the Cairngorms
National Park to save six of Scotland’s rarest invertebrates. The shining guest ant, dark bordered beauty moth, small scabious
mining bee, northern silver-stiletto fly, pine hoverfly and Kentish
glory have all been identified by experts as needing urgent conservation
action, with many of them having their last strongholds within the
national park Wood Ant Nest (© Gabor Pozsgai via Buglife) RSPB Scotland, the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA),
Buglife, Butterfly Conservation and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) will
work in partnership on the Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms project
over the next three years to improve the conservation fortunes of these
six insect species.
The lead article in our Focus on Overcoming Barriers last autumn was
titled Nature–based interventions for mental health and wellbeing
written by Jane Houghton and Sarah Preston of Natural England on behalf
of the Outdoor Recreation Network.
Read it here. Mental illness is a large and growing challenge in the UK, often with
heart-breaking consequences for countless numbers of individuals and
families, and poses a strategic economic and social challenge for 21st
Century Britain. Today in the UK, 1 in 4 people experience a ‘significant’ mental
health problem in any one year, with 1 in 10 of school aged children
suffering from a diagnosable mental health disorder - that is around
three children in every school class. The annual total cost of mental
illness is currently estimated to be £105 billion (The Centre for Mental
Health, 2010). Studies show that simply spending time in or being active in natural
environments is associated with positive outcomes for attention, anger,
fatigue and sadness, higher levels of positive affect and lower levels
of negative affect (mood/emotion)2 and physiological stress.
More about
National Walking Month here and
Mental Health Awareness Week here. And a blog post by the CJS Ed about the solace found on the North York Moors.
Modernising Forestry - Scottish Government Forestry and Land Management Bill introduced to parliament. The Scottish Parliament will consider forestry legislation for the
first time in its history after the introduction of a Forestry and Land
Management (Scotland) Bill. Scotland’s £1 billion forestry sector, which supports 25,000 jobs,
will benefit from the bill’s modern approach to forestry development,
support and regulation. New organisational structures for forestry
in Scotland are also being announced. Together these changes will enable the Scottish Government to better
support the industry to create growth in the rural economy, mitigate
climate change and develop the role forestry plays in health, education
and recreation. The bill will deliver:
Read the Forestry and Land Management Bill (Scotland)
Second discontinued prosecution for alleged raptor persecution offences
- RSPB Scotland RSPB Scotland has expressed its frustration and disappointment after
another prosecution of an individual charged with alleged wildlife crime
offences was discontinued by the Crown Office in Scotland. The latest case began on 9th July 2015 when RSPB Scotland staff,
walking on the Brewlands Estate in Glen Isla, Angus, discovered an
illegally set spring trap placed on top of a pheasant carcass that had,
in turn, been placed a post just a few metres inside a pheasant pen. The
trap was in effect a baited “pole trap”, which has been illegal since
1904, and is designed to snap shut and break the legs of a bird of prey,
holding the victim until it can be dispatched by the trap operator. The RSPB team, having no mobile phone signal to allow contact with
the police, made the trap safe to ensure no birds would be caught. They
then deployed a video camera focussed on the area, with a view to
securing the evidence until the police could attend and recover the
trap. A few days later, RSPB Scotland staff accompanied a police wildlife
crime officer to the scene, where it was found that the trap had been
reset. The police seized the trap as evidence, and the camera was
recovered. RSPB Scotland’s Head of Species and Land Management, Duncan Orr-Ewing
said: “For one case, where there was excellent video evidence to support
the prosecution, to be discontinued inexplicably by the Crown Office so
close to the trial was baffling. For a second case to be discontinued,
again with no explanation from the Crown Office, and again without the
opportunity for the evidence to be tested in court, is deeply
concerning, and significantly undermines our confidence in the ability
of Scotland’s justice system to bear down on the criminals who continue
to target our protected birds of prey.”
Response from
Scottish Gamekeepers Association A statement was made by RSPB Scotland this morning (May 12th)
regarding the handling of a legal case by the Crown Office.A Spokesman
for The Scottish Gamekeepers Association said: "The SGA has no
membership interest in this case and has an unequivocal approach to
wildlife crime. Our members are made acutely aware of what is required
in setting traps. Those who fail to comply should consider the affects
this has on the reputation of others in the profession. Judgements on what is admissible or not in terms of deploying video
surveillance are judgements to be made by independent law officers,
qualified to make them, not membership organisations like ourselves.”
Information on the first discontinued
prosecution can be found here:
Alleged illegal killing of a protected hen harrier
- RSPB Scotland
In his interview Gareth praised the Scottish vicarious liability
statute, saying: "If a gamekeeper commits an offence against wildlife
the owner of the estate is equally liable and will be prosecuted for the
same offence, their single farm payments are also reduced. There was an
estate in Dumfries & Galloway where a raptor was killed by a gamekeeper
and the estate lost a large sum of money in subsidies from the EU as a
result of that one case so it is very powerful legislation." Read the interview in full here.
Iconic seabird colony polluted with ocean plastic, Greenpeace expedition
finds - Greenpeace A research expedition by the crew of Greenpeace’s ship the Beluga II
has revealed high levels of plastic pollution on the iconic Bass Rock in
the Firth of Forth, home to the world’s largest colony of Northern
gannets. With studies showing that 90% of seabirds have ingested plastic,
these shocking images reveal plastic around eggs in nests and strewn
across the island, and even in the beaks of seabirds.
Plastic waste and gannets at Bass Rock in
Scotland.Greenpeace is there working on the campaign to highlight the
problem of ocean plastics. Studies have shown that 90% of seabirds have
ingested plastic. (Image: Kajsa Sjölander / Greenpeace) This week scientists aboard the Beluga II conducted sea surface
sampling for microplastics around the Bass Rock, finding suspected
plastics in the water which will undergo further analysis on board and
at Greenpeace’s Research Laboratories at Exeter University. The Beluga
II’s crew then accessed the Bass Rock, accompanied by experts from the
Scottish Seabird Centre, and investigated nests and surrounding areas
for plastic.
Scotland sees newest nature reserves - Scottish Natural Heritage The Board of Scottish Natural Heritage today (11/5) approved the
award of the National Nature Reserve accolade to Glencoe and Mar Lodge
Estate. SNH chief executive Ian Jardine said: “The Board took the view that
both sites were deserving of National Nature Reserve status in
recognition of their outstanding nature and the chance for people to
enjoy it. They represent some of the finest natural visitor experiences
that Scotland has to offer.” National Trust for Scotland chief executive Simon Skinner said: “We
are delighted to hear of SNH’s decision and very grateful to its Board
Members. NNR status gives recognition to one of the Trust’s very first
properties, Glencoe, in which we initially acquired land in 1935, and
our largest, Mar Lodge Estate.” Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate
Change and Land Reform said: “I congratulate Scottish Natural Heritage
on this positive decision. Glencoe and Mar Lodge are two of Scotland's
most cherished landscapes and it is our duty to protect and enhance
these special places. We are already witnessing the biodiversity
benefits which careful land management in these areas is delivering and
I look forward to seeing that work continue in the years ahead.”
The Proportion of Scotland's Protected Sites in Favourable Condition
2017 - Scottish Natural Heritage Scottish Natural Heritage has today (12/5) released the latest
figures tracking the proportion of Scottish protected natural features
in favourable or recovering status. The main findings show that of the over 5,000 natural features on
protected nature sites in Scotland, 80.3% are either in favourable
condition, or unfavourable but recovering towards a favourable
condition. This figure represents a 0.1 percentage point decrease in the
proportion of natural features in favourable or recovering condition
between 2016 and 2017. here has been an 8.9 percentage point increase since assessment
reporting began in 2005. Invasive species and over-grazing are the main challenges to
improving condition from unfavourable to favourable. The proportion of
assessments recording invasive species as a negative pressure has risen
for the past 5 years to 20.5% in 2016/17. This includes both non-native
species, such as rhododendron in woodlands, and native species, such as
birch encroaching on to raised bog habitats. The proportion of assessments recording over-grazing by wild
herbivores and/or domestic stock has decreased from 18.4% in 2015/16 to
18.0% in 2016/17. The full statistical publication can be accessed here.
Scientific Publications Douglas, D. J. T. et al. (2017)
Changes in upland bird abundances show associations with moorland
management. Bird Study.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2017.1317326
Martin, S. A., Rautsaw, R. M., Bolt, R., Parkinson, C. L. and Seigel,
R. A. (2017),
Adapting coastal management to climate change: Mitigating our shrinking
shorelines. Jour. Wild. Mgmt.. doi:10.1002/jwmg.21275 O’Mahony, D.T., Powell, C., Power, J. et al.
Non-invasively determined multi-site variation in pine marten Martes
martes density, a recovering carnivore in Europe
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CJS is not responsible for content of external sites. Details believed correct but given without prejudice. Disclaimer: the views expressed in these news pages do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CJS. |
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Moorhens
fighting (image: WWT)
Great
tits (image: University of Oxford)
Heat-
and motion-activated camera-traps were used to document badger presence
in Northern Scotland. 
Conservation
UK
along
the path network. Some walking and cycling routes in the West Country
are due to benefit from this green-fingered approach, including Bath’s
Two Tunnels path and the popular Bristol and Bath Railway Path.
Image:
University of Exeter
incidence
in people in the UK and large parts of Europe and North America. 
Known
for their aerobatic displays over our gardens, swifts fly over 6000
miles from central and southern Africa every year to the UK to nest and
raise their young. Although numbers of the migratory bird have almost
halved in the past twenty years. 
from
exotic, non-native crops growing across Britain’s farmland. The study,
published today [Monday 8th May 2017] in the European Journal of
Wildlife Research, and funded by wildlife charity People’s Trust for
Endangered Species (PTES), shows that how crops are planted is just as
important as to which crops are grown in determining their effects on
farmland wildlife.
A
Maxwell's duiker photographed using a camera trap. (Image: Marie-Lyne
Després-Einspenner)
National
Walking Month meets Mental Health Awareness Week.
The
findings come on the first day of research during the Beluga II’s
scientific voyage around Scotland, which runs until the end of June,
documenting the impact of plastic pollution on some of the UK’s most
precious wildlife like puffins, gannets and basking sharks. 
