Volume 36, Number 6
This issue opens with “Next steps for the GCSE in Natural History” by Mary Colwell. A fantastic idea , first made public in 2021. Progress has been painfully slow and there have been many hoops to go through but it does look as though it could yet become a reality. It is reassuring to know that Nick Acheson (passim) has been involved. The author’s concern is that there has been a drift from the original proposal, with perhaps just one day a year devoted to studies in the field and concentration on the more ‘glamorous’ species, whereas encouraging students to observe and identify their local wildlife on even a daily basis, in towns and cities as well as the countryside, should be key. Also that it should be habitat-based to give the broader picture of what needs to be done by the next generation if we are to survive our current environmental crises.
From: Meyer (Henry Leonard). Illustrations of British Birds, c.1835-1844.
Brett Westwood writes about Goshawks of which there are now an estimated 1,200 pairs in Britain. They are not home and dry yet but it is a massive improvement on the state of affairs in 1976 when raptor researcher Leslie Brown wrote that there were so few that they were barely worth writing about (gamekeepers, landowners and pesticides). I have never seen one and it occurred to me that I had no idea how big they are. They are dimorphic with the males larger than the females, but a male Goshawk is bigger than a Buzzard, smaller than an Eagle.
Jonathan Mullard tells us all about the internationally important wildlife site, Flamborough Headland where the chalk of the Yorkshire Wolds meets the sea. It is of particular geological interest too and is a fabulous place for marine life, clifftop vegetation, invertebrates and breeding birds and the study of bird migration. Oil pollution, plastic waste and a rise in surface sea temperatures are taking their toll however.
From the RSPB on habitat management, bat boxes are shown to be better than nothing but they have limitations. They require regular checking and replacement and are more suitable for some species than others. In an ideal world, they need mature trees with natural crevices.
Yesterday I stated to a friend “Ents are real”. He is probably one of the few people I know who completely agreed rather than laughing. Ents are a Tolkien creation, walking (slowly), talking (very slowly) trees. But we are learning that trees really do communicate with each other, not least through the still little understood ‘wood wide web’, fungal (mycorrhizal) networks. Not all scientists believe in them. David M. Wilkinson carefully examines both sides of the argument. They can also give off airborne warning chemicals when under insect attack for example. I strongly suspect that accusations of anthropomorphism will be shaken off as they have finally been, for the most part, with animals.
There’s a piece on the differences between rewilding and restoring, followed by Ross Piper’s musings on the natural history of British pot beetles (21 species), as per the magazine’s cover illustration.
There’s also confirmation that butterflies are having a much better year. Adders, on the other hand, are not.
There’s been quite a bit of good news for a change. Natural England has refused to issue a Hen Harrier Brood Management licence to the Moorland Association (the grouse moor owners’ lobby group in England) following continuing high levels of persecution. There will be a government consultation at least on making trail hunting illegal and from elsewhere I read that lead shot will finally be banned, although not until the summer of 2026 and there will be a three-year transition period as if this hadn’t already dragged on long enough. This has been fiercely resisted by the shooting industry who vowed to self-regulate but, as usual, didn’t. They are quite happy dumping 7,000 tonnes of it into forests, wetlands and fields every year, killing possibly as many as 100,000 wildfowl, also per year and putting raptors and many other birds at risk. I wish these things could happen more quickly – the government can legislate at speed when it wants to (against peaceful protestors for example). Also more and more hunts are having to merge this year.
The Wildlife Trusts have argued against the absurdity of the outdated legislation regarding Ragwort (passim) which dates back to 1959. As they say, “It’s time to end the war on wildflowers.”
It seems nothing short of tragic that Greenpeace is even now having to shout above the noise “Save the Whales!” Populations have been recovering but deep sea mining poses a new and huge threat. There has been a victory for protecting our marine environment however: “The government has finally announced its plan to ban destructive bottom-trawling in parts of 41 UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)! While this is not a total ban, it is a great victory for some of the UK’s most precious underwater habitats, beloved sea creatures and small-scale fishing communities.
Bottom-trawlers are ships that drag vast, weighted nets across the sea floor, destroying everything in their path, from seagrass meadows to delicate coral reefs. Their trawl nets capture huge numbers of fish as well as other unwanted sea creatures, which are then often left to die. It’s hard to believe that this has been completely legal in UK MPAs until now. In 2023 alone, industrial bottom-trawlers spent an equivalent of four years tearing through UK offshore MPAs.
This ban isn’t perfect. It doesn’t apply to every UK MPA, and it won’t stop other industrial fishing ships like supertrawlers and fly-shooters. So while this is a big step in the right direction, we need a total ban on all forms of destructive industrial fishing in every UK MPA.”
Thames Water with grim predictability has announced a downturn in its environmental performance and a loss of £1.65bn. Needless to say they want punitive legislation softened or removed altogether. Reuters reports: “The loss reported by the company for the year to end-March included a 1.27 billion pound provision against a loan from its parent company that it does not deem recoverable, 122 million pounds in fines, 198 million pounds of restructuring plan fees and 151 million pounds of restructuring costs.” Insanity.
Amongst highlights from BirdGuides e-mails there’s news of the death of a White-tailed Eagle who reached the age of 32 and raised 25 chicks with her long-term mate. There’s a fascinating report on White-beaked Dolphins and sad news of a failed Osprey nest, originally home to two female and one male adult. The male left and the four chicks unfortunately starved – their upbringing is precarious at best. But breeding Ospreys have returned to East Anglia for the first time in 250 years.
The amazing (and controversial in parts) Avilist, the new unified global check-list is now, excitingly, published and freely available to view and download here AviList: The Global Avian Checklist
Gannet populations at Bass Rock continue to decline suggesting they have not yet recovered from the Avian flu epidemic. Sizewell C, the nuclear power plant to be built hard by RSPB Minsmere is going ahead despite inevitably huge environmental cost.
A study has revealed yet another problem brought about by the pheasant shooting industry: in the release areas there is a much higher prevalence of ticks bearing Lyme’s disease. We are surely the most careless of species.
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