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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Cutting edge technology to provide new insight into lives of Scotland’s
Golden Eagles – Cairngorms National Park
Authority An innovative new type of satellite tag has been designed to provide
a boost to understanding raptor movements and behaviour, as well as help
understand the fate of birds which die in the Cairngorms National Park
and more widely across Scotland.
(c)
Lorne Gill/SNH Over the next 18 months some young Golden Eagles in and around the
Cairngorms National Park will be fitted with a novel ‘Raptor Tracker’
tag, as part of a trial which will provide key information on movements
and behaviour, such as whether a bird is feeding or resting. Most
importantly, it will provide an instant fix on any birds which die. Tags in current use are limited in what information they can provide
on the exact location of any bird which dies. This new tag uses
the ‘geostationary Iridium’ satellite network and ensures that signal
information is always available. Crucially, it has been developed
with multiple sensors; these immediately send a ‘distress’ signal,
with an exact location, back to base if unusual behaviour is detected.
This early warning system has the added benefit of helping to rapidly
identify and recover birds which have died. Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “This is great news
for improving our understanding of eagle behaviours, and in the fight
against wildlife crime. The tags should make a real difference in
deterring would-be criminals, as well as playing a key role in
establishing exactly what happened, should any of these magnificent
birds of prey disappear or die in unusual circumstances.”
Scotland’s natural capital worth £273 billion
– Scottish Government An Experimental Statistics Publication for Scotland. A comprehensive assessment has been carried out for the first time of
the monetary value of Scotland’s natural capital. The assessment has discovered that in 2015 the asset value of
Scottish natural capital was an estimated £273 billion. This figure equates to 34% of the total UK asset valuation for
natural capital. A quarter of the asset value was attributable to items not directly
captured in gross domestic product, namely carbon sequestration,
pollutant removal and recreation. The assessment includes information on ten ecosystem services:
agricultural biomass, fish capture, timber, water abstraction, mineral
production, oil and gas production, renewable energy generation, carbon
sequestration, air pollutant removal, and recreation. Accounting for natural capital is important as many of the most
valuable services it provides are intangible. This means that they are
often not captured in conventional measures of economic activity. Other results include:
The
value of Scotland’s natural environment has been estimated for the first
time. © Mark Hamblin / 2020 Vision The Trust has welcomed the publication by the Scottish Government and
the Office of National Statistics of estimates of the quantity and value
of ten services being supplied by Scottish natural capital. Our Chief Executive Jonny Hughes said: “The Scottish Government and
Office for National Statistics should be congratulated on this important
piece of work. We now have detailed information that will help the
Scottish Government deliver on its commitment to protect and enhance our
natural capital, and meet international obligations including the
Sustainable Development Goals. This new data provides useful insights
into how everyone in Scotland benefits from our natural assets,
including forests, wetlands and green spaces. For the first time we can
see that even the partial value of natural capital in Scotland is more
than £270 billion – a third of the UK’s total. A quarter of this value
is found in non-material benefits that are not captured in traditional
economic measures such as Gross Domestic Product.”
Overland migration of Arctic Terns revealed –
Newcastle University Data from a landmark study of the world’s longest migrating seabird
reveals how overland migration is an integral part of their amazing
journey.
Image:
Newcastle University Analysing the data from electronic tags retrieved from 47 Arctic
Terns, the Newcastle University-led team has been able to characterise
in unprecedented detail the route and stop-off points during this
record-breaking bird’s 90,000 km annual migration. This includes:
Led by scientists at Newcastle University in collaboration with BBC’s
Springwatch, 53 adult birds nesting on the Farne Islands off the
Northumberland coast were fitted with geolocators over a three year
period. Weighing just over 100 g the Arctic Tern has the longest migration of
any bird, travelling all the way to Antarctica for the winter and back
to the Farnes, which are owned and managed by the National Trust, to
breed in the spring. So far, 47 tags have been retrieved and the research team, led by Dr
Chris Redfern of Newcastle University, are starting to analyse the data. “Technology is revealing details of the movement and behaviour of
these amazing birds in unprecedented detail,” says Dr Redfern, whose
initial findings in collaboration with Dr Richard Bevan are published
today (25 March) in the academic journal Ibis. “Arctic Terns feed on
surface fish and other marine animals so it has always been assumed they
would migrate via a coastal route, down the North Sea and through the
English Channel. But instead our data has shown their regular route is
to travel overland across the UK to the Irish Sea and some are going
even further crossing Ireland to the North Atlantic.” Access the Paper: ‘Overland movement and migration phenology in relation to breeding of Arctic Terns, Sterna paradisaea’ Chris Redfern and Richard Bevan. Ibis DOI: DOI:10.1111/ibi.12723
Phase-out single-use plastics by 2025 not 2042
– Wildlife and Countryside Link 19 organisations are calling on Government to phase-out single-use
plastics by 2025 not 2042 to stop 4,000 billion more single-use plastic
items being thrown away. The Government must phase-out all non-essential single-use plastics
by 2025 to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution, say 19 leading
environment charities, coordinated by Wildlife and Countryside Link.
This could save more than 4,000 billion pieces of unnecessary single-use
plastic waste being consumed in the UK between 2026 - 2042, helping to
slash the ‘toxic plastic soup’ ending up in our oceans, rivers and
countryside.
Found: Europe’s largest collection of ancient oak trees… and it’s in
Oxfordshire! – Woodland Trust
Conservation charity the Woodland Trust is challenging people across
the UK to find and map ancient trees, after its Ancient Tree Inventory
project helped confirm the biggest collection of ancient oak trees in
Europe.
Ancient
oak in Blenheim's grounds (Photo: Blenheim Palace) Staff at Blenheim Park have been surveying oak trees for several
years, and have recorded an astonishing 291 living oak trees with a
girth of at least 5m. 220 of these veterans stand in High Park, a
fragile Site of Special Scientific Interest which is currently closed to
the public. 71 can be seen elsewhere in Blenheim Park. This data –
collected primarily by Kew’s oak researcher Aljos Farjon – has been
compared with other records on the Woodland Trust’s ancient tree
inventory, revealing that the collection ranks highest across all of
Europe. It is vital that ancient trees are mapped; ancient and veteran trees
were recently given the same protection as built heritage under the
National Planning Policy Framework – but if they are left unidentified,
they cannot be protected. Anyone can search for and record trees on the inventory – which has
been running for over a decade. There are already 160,000 trees listed,
but thousands more to add. Kylie Harrison-Mellor, citizen science officer for the Woodland
Trust, said: “Ancient and veteran trees are the fattest, knobbliest, and
most fascinating specimens of trees. They have countless stories to tell
and support huge networks of native flora and fauna. They were recently
given better protection under the National Planning Policy Framework...
but unless we know where they are, we can’t campaign against their
damage and destruction. By recording with the ancient tree inventory,
members of the public can take an active part in defending some of our
most valuable habitats. We know there are thousands out there we haven’t
found yet – who knows, there could still be a bigger collection of
ancients waiting to be discovered.”
Results Day: Records smashed in 2019 Big Farmland Bird Count
– Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust A fantastic effort from farmers have helped secure a best-ever year
for the Big Farmland Bird Count (BFBC). Results show 1,400 people – a 40% increase on last year – recorded
140 species over 1 million acres in the Game & Wildlife Conservation
Trust (GWCT) initiative which took place between February 8th to 17th. Encouragingly, a total of 30 red-listed species were recorded, with 5
appearing in the most-commonly seen species list. These included
fieldfares, starlings, house sparrows, yellowhammers and song thrushes,
with the first four seen by over 30% of the farms taking part. The five most abundant birds seen were woodpigeons, starlings,
lapwings, black-headed gulls and rooks. A total of 148,661 were found,
making up nearly 50% of the total number of birds recorded. “It’s brilliant to see an increase in the number of participants,”
said Jim Egan, who has co-ordinated the count for the past six years.
“I’m particularly pleased by the way the facilitation funds and farmer
clusters have worked together to embrace this across a landscape scale.
The fact that in, many cases, farmers and birders have worked together
and inspired each other shows the power of sharing our skills and
knowledge. A huge congratulations to everyone involved.” To view the results in full, visit www.bfbc.org.uk/2019results
Caged flowers could save rare bee in one of its last strongholds
– Bumblebee Conservation Trust A first-of-its kind project offering hope for one of the UK’s rarest
bumblebees has been launched on the Peak District moors near Sheffield
this month, with support from the National Lottery.
Picture:
Sally Cuckney, Project Manager and Rebecca Wood (Ass Warden Eastern
Moors Partenership) The Bumblebee Conservation Trust and the Eastern Moors Partnership –
a joint initiative between the National Trust and the RSPB – aim to
boost populations of the threatened Bilberry bumblebee by planting 1,000
bilberry plants inside specially designed grazing-proof metal cages on
Hathersage Moor. Bilberry is a vital food source for the declining bumblebee. It
flowers in the spring and early summer, before heathers and other
moorland plants, and is essential for the bees and their larvae as the
nests are established. Sally Cuckney, Pollinating the Peak Project Manager for the Bumblebee
Conservation Trust, said: “Grazing animals such as sheep and deer find
tender young bilberry plants especially tasty, and their constant
browsing stunts the plants’ growth. That’s bad news for the Bilberry
bumblebee. If grazing is reduced, bilberry does much better. This
hands-on project is the first attempt to help Bilberry bumblebees and
bilberry plants survive and thrive together like this.” This month, bilberry has been planted across 60 acres of Hathersage
Moor, then protected by cages built by Bumblebee Conservation Trust and
Eastern Moors volunteers and youth rangers.
Did someone say cheese? – The Mammal Society
Small mammal wins biggest prize in this year’s Mammal Photographer of
the Year competition The
results of the Mammal Society’s annual photography competition are in.
The winner of Mammal Photographer of the Year 2019 is Roy Rimmer from
Lancashire with his atmospheric photograph “Woodmouse Shut that Door”. Woodmouse shut that door by Roy Rimmer Roy explains how he managed to capture the perfect shot “…I baited
the entrance of the shed door and placed one flash outside the entrance
to replicate the moonlight and one flash inside the entrance which I
diffused just enough in order to keep a rim light. I struggled for
several nights to get the mice in the right place so I decided to smear
chocolate near the bottom of the door. This encouraged the mice to stand
for a while whilst it licked the bait giving me the opportunity to
create the image.” MPOY judge, nature and conservation photographer Peter Cairns said of
the winning photograph “This image stood out for me as soon as I set
eyes on it. It’s great to see an under-represented species so creatively
captured. The lighting is spot on and, perhaps more importantly, there’s
a story delivered with a splash of humour.”
Widespread losses among pollinating insects in Britain
– Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Many insect pollinator species are disappearing from areas of Great
Britain, a new study has found. The research, led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, measured the
presence of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across the country, from
1980 to 2013. It showed one third of species experienced declines in
terms of areas in which they were found, while one tenth increased. For
the remainder of species, their distribution was either stable or the
trend was inconclusive. A positive but unexpected finding of the study was the increase in
key bee species responsible for pollinating flowering crops, such as
oil-seed rape. This could be in response to the large increases of
mass-flowering crops grown during the study period and
government-subsidised schemes that encourage farmers to plant more of
the wildflowers they feed on. The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, also
showed that on average, the geographic range of bee and hoverfly species
declined by a quarter. This is equivalent to a net loss of 11 species
from each 1km square. Overall losses were more notable for pollinator species found in
northern Britain. This may be a result of climate change, with species
that prefer cooler temperatures reducing their geographical spread in
response to less climatically suitable landscapes. Access the paper: Gary D. Powney, Claire Carvell, Mike Edwards, Roger K. A. Morris, Helen E. Roy, Ben A. Woodcock and Nick J. B. Isaac. 2019. Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain. Nature Communications (open access). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08974-9
Minsmere’s status as “most important bird reserve in the UK” at risk
from Sizewell C - RSPB Award set for renewal on condition that Sizewell C will not be
detrimental to flagship RSPB nature reserve Minsmere nature reserve’s status as one of Europe’s most important
areas for nature and biodiversity could be at risk if EDF fails to
adequately mitigate adverse impacts from Sizewell C, the RSPB has
revealed. The renewal of Minsmere’s European Diploma for Protected Areas has
been approved in draft on the condition that “the construction of the
new reactor will not be at the detriment of the Minsmere Reserve.” The European Diploma for Protected Areas is a prestigious
international award granted since 1965 by the Committee of Ministers of
the Council of Europe. It recognises natural and semi-natural areas and
landscapes of exceptional European importance for the preservation of
biological, geological and landscape diversity and which are managed in
an exemplary way. Minsmere is one of only five sites in the UK to have been awarded the
European Diploma. The others are Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve,
Fair Isle National Scenic Area, Peak District National Park, and Purbeck
Heritage Coast. The Council of Europe’s website describes Minsmere as
“the most important bird reserve in the United Kingdom.” The RSPB’s flagship nature reserve on the Suffolk Coast was first
recognised with the award in 1979. Earlier that decade the extinction of
the marsh harrier as a breeding bird in the UK had been prevented thanks
to a single pair nesting at Minsmere in 1971.
Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad strike out for a wilder future
- The Wildlife Trusts Stars speak up for wildlife in new film trailer hitting cinemas this
weekend Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, Catherine Tate, Alison Steadman
and Asim Chaudhry have backed a new campaign from The Wildlife Trusts
that calls for a wilder future and for nature’s recovery in the UK. The
conservationist and actors have starring roles in a new The Wind in the
Willows film trailer which brings to life the 21st century threats
facing the much-loved characters from Kenneth Grahame’s children’s
classic. The animated trailer calls on everyone to help bring our
wildlife back before it’s too late, so that we can all enjoy a wilder
future. The film trailer shows how the lives of Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad
are disrupted by roads, river pollution and intensive agriculture – many
habitats have been destroyed and others have been broken up. Toad hangs
a picture of a puffin entangled in plastic on the wall in Toad Hall.
“Farewell old friend” he says.
Watch the trailer and help us create a Wilder Future. Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows just over a hundred
years ago. Since then, many of the UK’s wild places and the plants and
animals that depend on them have been lost. For example: 97% of lowland
meadows and the beautiful wildflowers, insects, mammals and birds that
they supported have disappeared; 80% of our beautiful purple heathlands
have vanished – with their blaeberries, sand lizards and the stunning
nocturnal birds, nightjars. Rivers are in deep trouble too: only 20% are
considered as healthy and 13% of freshwater and wetland species in Great
Britain are threatened with extinction.
Stone-curlews still vulnerable even after decades of recovery
- RSPB The RSPB has warned that the East Anglian population of one of the
UK’s rarest breeding birds, the stone-curlew, remains vulnerable despite
decades of recovery. Numbers of the rare migratory wading bird nesting in the East have
fallen in recent years after reaching a peak of around 290 breeding
pairs in 2012. Last year, possibly as few as 202 pairs are thought to have nested in
the East of England. The majority – around 165 pairs – in the Brecks,
with a small number of birds breeding in other parts of the region,
including the Suffolk Coast close to RSPB Minsmere nature reserve. Tim Cowan, RSPB Eastern England stone-curlew project manager, said:
“The fall in breeding numbers of stone-curlew in the last six years is a
troubling trend. To lose up to 30% of the breeding pairs is a major
setback to decades-long conservation efforts. “The weather played a significant part in 2013, when a late cold snap
sadly wiped out a lot of birds that had arrived back early from
migration, but more worrying is the failure of the population to recover
from that bad winter. The fact that a one-off weather event like this
can leave the population still struggling to bounce back years later
highlights the precarious situation the UK’s stone-curlews are still
in.”
Earth Hour 2019: A Single Hour to Inspire a Movement to Protect Our
Planet - WWF This Saturday, March 30 at 8:30 PM local time, individuals,
businesses and cities around the world will switch off their lights for
one hour to celebrate Earth Hour and recommit to protecting the planet. From the Sydney Opera House to the Empire State Building and the
Eiffel Tower, thousands of iconic landmarks will join millions of people
to show their support for the fight against climate change and the
conservation of the natural world. Earth Hour comes at a critical juncture in the history of the planet
and humanity. From devastating wildfires to unprecedented hurricanes,
the negative impacts of accelerating climate change exact a terrible
economic and human toll. “By going dark for Earth Hour, we can show steadfast commitment to
protecting our families, our communities and our planet from the
dangerous effects of a warming world,” said Lou Leonard, senior vice
president, climate and energy, World Wildlife Fund. “The impacts of
climate change are already all around us. The rising demand for energy,
food and water means this problem is only going to worsen - unless we
act now.” Meanwhile, the planet’s rich biodiversity - the vast web of life that
connects the health of oceans, rivers, and forests to the prosperity of
communities and nations - is threatened. Wildlife populations monitored
by WWF’s Living Planet Report have experienced an average decline of 60
percent in less than a single person’s lifetime, and many unique and
precious species are at risk of vanishing forever.
New strategic licensing for developers in Cheshire to better protect
great crested newts An innovative approach by Natural England to protect great crested
newts and support sustainable development was today (28 March) launched
in Cheshire. Developers in Cheshire can now apply for a licence under District
Level Licensing for great crested newts. This follows our announcement
of a nationwide roll-out of great crested newts District Level licensing
in 2017, which was officially launched in Kent last month. District
Level Licensing is now available across 23 local planning authority
areas, including in Woking and the South Midlands. Whilst great crested newts are found throughout lowland England, the
species needs suitable ponds to thrive. Although strictly protected by
law, great crested newt populations continue to decline - over the last
century there has been a dramatic decline in ponds within the UK.
Approximately 50 per cent of ponds in the UK have been lost, and 80 per
cent of current ponds are in a poor state leading to large declines in
great crested newt populations. The previous licensing system was focused on preventing harm to great
crested newts on individual development sites rather than addressing the
wider health of newt populations. Through District Level Licensing,
developers can invest in mitigating the impact of a development by
restoring and creating offsite compensatory ponds in areas of the county
suitable for newts, rather than the species being squeezed in around the
margins of a development. Importantly, this means the species benefits
from an overall increase in breeding grounds to better support their
populations over time.
Humane trapping standards: March 2019 update
- defra The Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards has come
into force and will now apply across England, Scotland and Wales.
A number of animal species in Great Britain will be better protected
from today as new international humane trapping standards regulations
come into force. The
Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS) seeks
to improve the welfare of fur-bearing animals trapped for their pelts as
well as for conservation and pest control purposes. It sets out clearly-defined minimum trap humaneness standards and
trap testing procedures, creating an internationally recognised
benchmark for trap welfare. The government supports this objective and shares the British
public’s high regard for animal welfare. Since the consultation closed in July 2018 the government has moved
to implement the AIHTS via the Humane Trapping Standards Regulations
2019 and from Thursday 28 March a number of species will be protected
from any trap or snare under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. A licence will now be required to trap any of these species: otter,
badger, beaver, pine marten Any trap used under the authority of a licence must be certified as
meeting the international trap humaneness standards and suitable for the
humane live capture of the above species.
Single-use plastics ban across EU member states by 2021
- Marine Conservation Society A ban on a whole range of single-use plastic items will come into
force by 2021 following a vote approving a new, wide ranging law in the
European parliament Among those items set to be banned are single-use plastic cutlery
(forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks), plastic plates, straws, cotton
bud and balloon sticks. Oxo-degradable plastics and food containers and
expanded polystyrene cups are also included in the list.
According to the European Commission, more than 80% of marine litter
is plastics. The products covered by this new law constitute 70% of all
marine litter items. Almost 30% of the litter found during the MCS
Great British Beach Clean last September came from the public –
including these items, whilst almost 50% of litter was ‘non-sourced’ -
that’s stuff that’s too small to be identified but much of which will
almost certainly have originally started life as many of the items on
this list. Dr Laura Foster, MCS Head of Clean Seas, says it’s great news to see
the overwhelming approval by the parliament on the single use plastic
directive: “The directive was a direct result of the monitoring of beach
litter over a number of years which clearly showed that measures needed
to be taken to tackle it. It also highlights the value of the data
collected by our volunteers and how this can result in huge changes.” Member states will also have to achieve a 90% collection target for
plastic bottles by 2029, and plastic bottles will have to contain at
least 25% of recycled content by 2025 and 30% by 2030.
New edition of good practice guide to prevent diffuse pollution in
forests A 2nd edition of a hugely popular on-the-ground guide for forest
workers has been released, to help protect Scotland’s rivers and streams
from pollution. The pocket sized booklet called ‘Know the Rules’ conveys
straightforward messages for all those who work in forests to protect
water quality. It is accompanied by a 2nd edition of the ‘Keep your
Distance’ vehicle sticker. These useful reminders aim to get operators to raise the bar on how
forestry operations are planned, communicated and managed in order to
minimise diffuse pollution risk and protect the water environment. The
key message is prevention rather than cure. The straightforward messages remind all forest workers about minimum
legal and UK Forestry Standard requirements, which all those working in
forests should comply with. Download the guides free here:
www.forestrywaterscotland.com
New study models the proposed reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx to
Scotland - University of Stirling media
release circulated by Bangor University Experts have used an innovative approach to model the proposed
reintroduction of the Eurasian lynx to Scotland. Researchers used state-of-the-art tools to help identify the most
suitable location for lynx reintroduction in Scotland – and how this
choice might affect the size of a population and its expansion over
subsequent decades. Significantly, they believe their model will inform
and enhance decision-making around large carnivore reintroductions
worldwide.
The
Eurasian Lynx.: Magnus Johansson [CC BY-SA 2.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)] The work was led by Tom Ovenden who said: “Reintroducing large
carnivores is often complicated and expensive, meaning that getting
things right first time is extremely important. Therefore, advances in
modelling approaches, as utilised during our study, are extremely
valuable. Our research considered several proposed reintroduction sites,
showing how these models can be used as a safe and relatively
inexpensive way of assessing the suitability of reintroduction proposals
and providing the evidence required to inform decision-making at an
early stage. Recent advances in both ecological theory and modelling
approaches have made the incorporation of individual species’ complex
behaviours in novel environments more realistic. We applied this
approach to the potential reintroduction of Eurasian lynx in Scotland –
and demonstrated the power of this new, sophisticated model. Our
research demonstrates the potential of this approach to be applied
elsewhere to help improve reintroduction success in large carnivores,
from the safety of a modelling environment.” The results showed that Scotland possesses sufficient, connected
habitat to offer a realistic chance of population establishment and that
some sites are more suitable than others. Access the paper: Thomas S. Ovenden, Stephen C.F. Palmer,
Justin M.J. Travis, John R. Healey,
Improving reintroduction success in large carnivores through
individual-based modelling: How to reintroduce Eurasian lynx (Lynx
lynx) to Scotland, Biological Conservation, Volume 234, 2019,
Pages 140-153, ISSN 0006-3207, doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.03.035.
Mass amphibian extinctions globally caused by fungal disease
- The Australian National University An international study led by ANU has found a fungal disease has
caused dramatic population declines in more than 500 amphibian species,
including 90 extinctions, over the past 50 years. The disease, which eats away at the skin of amphibians, has
completely wiped out some species, while causing more sporadic deaths
among other species. Amphibians, which live part of their life in water
and the other part on land, mainly consist of frogs, toads and
salamanders. The deadly disease, chytridiomycosis, is present in more than 60
countries - the worst affected parts of the world are Australia, Central
America and South America. Lead researcher Dr Ben Scheele said the team found that
chytridiomycosis is responsible for the greatest loss of biodiversity
due to a disease. The study is
published in Science and was supported by the Threatened
Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government's National
Environmental Science Programe Marvellous Mud Snails, a Heritage Fund - funded community engagement
project by Buglife Scotland, concludes two successful years on 31st
March. A rare freshwater species, the Pond mud snail (Omphiscola
glabra), has been the focus of the project.
Pond
mud snails (Scott Shanks / Buglife) Over the course of the project, Marvellous Mud Snails has directly
engaged with over 2,130 people through public events, talks, school
sessions, habitat creation days and workshops across Central Scotland.
350 pupils from 9 schools were involved in a schools learning programme
with the project, the majority of which also took part in a captive
breeding programme by looking after Pond mud snails in their classrooms.
Feedback from the sessions highlighted that children strongly valued the
opportunity to observe and interact with live specimens, enhancing their
learning experience and understanding of the natural world. Joanna Lindsay, Buglife Scotland Conservation Officer said:
“Marvellous Mud Snails has been a fantastic project which has allowed
people to connect with their local environment and discover the wondrous
world of freshwater life, all while contributing to the conservation of
a rare and threatened species in Scotland. Raising awareness of the
small things and how they are equally, if not more, important than
bigger, more charismatic species is a core part of our work at Buglife
and Marvellous Mud Snails has been an excellent example of this.”
Scientific Publication Andreas Lang, Franz Kallhardt, Marina S. Lee, Jacqueline Loos, Mikael
A. Molander, Iulia Muntean, Lars B. Pettersson, László Rákosy, Constantí
Stefanescu, Antoine Messéan,
Monitoring environmental effects on
farmland Lepidoptera: Does necessary sampling effort vary between
different bio-geographic regions in Europe?, Ecological Indicators,
Volume 102, 2019, Pages 791-800, ISSN 1470-160X, doi:
10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.03.035.
Ziter, C., Pederson, E. J., Kucharik, C. J. & Turner, M. G.
Scale-dependent
interactions between tree canopy cover and impervious surfaces reduce
daytime urban heat during summer. PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1817561116 Dayer, A. A. et al.
Observations at backyard bird feeders influence the emotions and actions
of people that feed birds (open access) People & Nature. DOI:
10.1002/pan3.17 Pettorelli, M. W., Barlow, J., Cadotte, M. W., Lucas, K., Newton, E.,
Nuñez, M. A. & Stephens, P. A.
Applied ecologists in a landscape of fear (open access) Journal of
Applied Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13382
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