Nature in the News

recedite · 28-08-2019 5:08pm

Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »

Were you?

No, but I have been to Africa, and so I think we'll just leave it at that.

Del.Monte · 28-08-2019 8:55pm

Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »

I spent many periods in Africa on environmental projects and they do them a heck of a lot better than we do in our "typical Irish way".

That's not saying much.

OpenYourEyes · 28-08-2019 10:54pm

Mod Note: Less discussion, more news, and much fewer personal digs thank you very much! If there's a desire for it, I can move the discussion to its own thread.

deise08 · 02-09-2019 8:01pm

https://www.birdguides.com/news/france-stops-hunting-curlews/?fbclid=IwAR3nhQYyTwge78XQMQEpq0HYLXTEv6aTu1BOw_lLn4EHNSL9UPW89Adi4d0

France stops hunting curlews.
I didn't know they ever started.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 02-09-2019 8:10pm

deise08 wrote: »

https://www.birdguides.com/news/france-stops-hunting-curlews/?fbclid=IwAR3nhQYyTwge78XQMQEpq0HYLXTEv6aTu1BOw_lLn4EHNSL9UPW89Adi4d0

France stops hunting curlews.
I didn't know they ever started.

They also shoot millions of thrushes and blackbird and hundreds of thousands of skylarks every year. Huge numbers of other waders also.

dodderangler · 02-09-2019 8:44pm

Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »

They also shoot millions of thrushes and blackbird and hundreds of thousands of skylarks every year. Huge numbers of other waders also.

Don’t forget the amount that come over to Ireland every year from France and Italy to shoot our woodcock.
Not so much their fault as much as it is the Irish lads selling them the permits. Seen videos of them shooting over fifty in a day. Disgraceful

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 02-09-2019 9:52pm

Climate change impact on birds: Winners and losers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-49512732

recedite · 03-09-2019 1:14am

Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »

Climate change impact on birds: Winners and losers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-devon-49512732

I know its trendy to bang on about climate change and global warming, but a lot of those conclusions just don't add up.

There have been some bad winters recently eg 2010 and more recently the Beast from the East.
Parakeets and blue tits exploit garden feeders and suburbia, hence its not climate change that favours them, its human habits.
Buzzards are not being shot and poisoned as much, hence its not climate change, its human habits.
Migratory birds have evolved to go north in summer when insects are most abundant. Urbanisation and intensive farming mean less insects and more people now in Europe.
Habitats have changed. Climate, less so.

magicbastarder · 03-09-2019 8:49am

recedite wrote: »

I know its trendy to bang on about climate change and global warming

not *quite* how i'd phrase it, but they do explicitly acknowledge your comment about bird being fed in suburbia:

Garden birds, such as the robin and blue tit, have seen numbers increase over the past few decades. This is thought to be because smaller birds tend to be fed by humans

and they also mention the parakeet being a very adaptable invasive introduction.

anyway, the article is vague at times about which birds are thriving/suffering, and which are thriving/suffering because of climate change.

New Home · 03-09-2019 10:17am

I remember watching a documentary a couple of years ago that talked about how global warming was causing caterpillars to hatch a couple of weeks earlier than they would have previously done, and how that was severely affecting the survival of nestlings (tits, I think, but I can't remember exactly), as the breeding season reached its peak too late for their usual food supply. It was also affecting plants, as caterpillars were eating through them almost undisturbed. I think that was in mainland Europe, though, not here.

I know, I'm not very precise.

OpenYourEyes · 03-09-2019 10:34am

recedite wrote: »

I know its trendy to bang on about climate change and global warming, but a lot of those conclusions just don't add up.

There have been some bad winters recently eg 2010 and more recently the Beast from the East.
Parakeets and blue tits exploit garden feeders and suburbia, hence its not climate change that favours them, its human habits.
Buzzards are not being shot and poisoned as much, hence its not climate change, its human habits.
Migratory birds have evolved to go north in summer when insects are most abundant. Urbanisation and intensive farming mean less insects and more people now in Europe.
Habitats and human habits have changed. Climate, less so.

Plenty of evidence of wintering waterbirds shifting their distributions based on climate and weather patterns in recent years, but these don't seem to have been included in the study.

There are those who think that some of our breeding wader declines can be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation, obviously made much worse by the habitat destruction etc in recent decades that means their populations aren't able to withstand a dip caused by the NAO that they could have previously persisted through.

dodderangler · 03-09-2019 10:41am

Not sure if I has anything to do with it but past few years I’ve noticed rabbits breeding all year round?
I know the winters aren’t nearly as cold as they used to be but even seeing leverets out earlier than normal.

recedite · 03-09-2019 12:26pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

There are those who think that some of our breeding wader declines can be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation, obviously made much worse by the habitat destruction etc in recent decades that means their populations aren't able to withstand a dip caused by the NAO that they could have previously persisted through.

I think that was mainly birds which feed at sea such as the puffins possibly being affected by changing ocean currents. Which would have been a more scientific example, as opposed to urban parakeets.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 03-09-2019 9:38pm

Geese changing routes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49551044

Just posting the news report. I know there is considerable cynicism here but somebody may wish to access the full report.

Birdnuts · 04-09-2019 1:11am

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

Plenty of evidence of wintering waterbirds shifting their distributions based on climate and weather patterns in recent years, but these don't seem to have been included in the study.

There are those who think that some of our breeding wader declines can be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation, obviously made much worse by the habitat destruction etc in recent decades that means their populations aren't able to withstand a dip caused by the NAO that they could have previously persisted through.

I think thats the key ie. we've had sharper "climate change" in the past but wildlife could adapt, now we are impacting so much of the planet this is becoming near impossible

Interesting though the trends that go against some of the above such as the increase in summering Whoopers in recent years, Great Skuas now breeding off Mayo etc.

recedite · 04-09-2019 8:33am

Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »

Geese changing routes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49551044

Just posting the news report. I know there is considerable cynicism here but somebody may wish to access the full report.

What surprised us is that it is mainly the young geese who have shifted. The youngsters are responding to a trend they could not have experienced during their short life."Adult geese are also increasingly shifting north, although they often return to the traditional areas in their old age

Climate change within the lifespan of an old goose.
I don't think so. More likely the geese have an in-built imperative to keep flying until they see the first patches of snow, and then stop to feed for a while. So that location is going to vary from year to year.

New Home · 04-09-2019 11:48pm

A Canadian goose lifespan is 10-24 years, according to the internet. A Brent goose's is up to 27 years. Is the weather now the same as 24 years ago?

OpenYourEyes · 05-09-2019 12:31pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

I think thats the key ie. we've had sharper "climate change" in the past but wildlife could adapt, now we are impacting so much of the planet this is becoming near impossible Interesting though the trends that go against some of the above such as the increase in summering Whoopers in recent years, Great Skuas now breeding off Mayo etc.

I'm slightly skeptical about how significant an increase there's been in summering Whoopers tbh (i.e. if there's increasing reporting rather than increasing numbers summering), though given that the Icelandic population has been increasing it would be expected.

Black-tailed Godwit and Whooper Swan are two of very few wintering waterbirds that have increased in Ireland in recent years - both breeding populations in Iceland have expanded significantly, likely facilitated by climate change and warming opening up habitats for them in Iceland. Of course, most of our wintering waterbirds come from the east and the majority are declining.

Capercaillie · 05-09-2019 1:00pm

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

I'm slightly skeptical about how significant an increase there's been in summering Whoopers tbh (i.e. if there's increasing reporting rather than increasing numbers summering), though given that the Icelandic population has been increasing it would be expected.

Black-tailed Godwit and Whooper Swan are two of very few wintering waterbirds that have increased in Ireland in recent years - both breeding populations in Iceland have expanded significantly, likely facilitated by climate change and warming opening up habitats for them in Iceland. Of course, most of our wintering waterbirds come from the east and the majority are declining.

Summering whooper swans are probably injured birds that would not be capable to migration to Iceland?

recedite · 05-09-2019 2:05pm

New Home wrote: »

Is the weather now the same as 24 years ago?

Yes. Allowing for normal fluctuations, some years colder some warmer.

New Home · 05-09-2019 2:07pm

That's something we'll have to agree to disagree on.

magicbastarder · 05-09-2019 2:11pm

if by 'some years colder, some years warmer', you mean '4 years colder, 20 years warmer', you're probably correct.
*that's a rough guess from looking at the global temperature graph.

05-09-2019 2:20pm

New Home wrote: »

A Canadian goose lifespan is 10-24 years, according to the internet. A Brent goose's is up to 27 years. Is the weather now the same as 24 years ago?

1995? Probably broadly. I think we focus on too small a sample. There was a three month drought in these island in 1975? Buried in snow in 1984?

"Since records began" is always the saying. "Hottest since records began" etc. The planet has been running a meteo for 100s of millions of years, but we are only seeing records for the last 100 or so.

Now I have remembered, there was a record from a couple of thousand years ago when the entire world was under water from flooding. :pac:

recedite · 05-09-2019 2:22pm

Karl Lagerfeld spider: New arachnid so stylish it's been named after fashion designer

Birdnuts · 05-09-2019 9:19pm

At a time when nature seems to be under pressure nearly everywhere its nice to read some positive stuff now and again - came across these 2 interesting stories this week:)

https://www.wolf.org/headlines/video-images-of-first-wolf-cubs-in-netherlands-for-200-years/

https://www.4vultures.org/europes-5th-vulture-species/?fbclid=IwAR1bdnOKc6s7yqJpS3YamYCH2pTOcyreW03T_cCxlnzXfRzi8pbsUynx-bg

recedite · 06-09-2019 12:15am

The wolf story is interesting in that the Netherlands is quite similar to us in latitude and climate, but far more densely populated by humans.
The reason they can have wolves and we can't, is simply because we're on an island. I doubt those Dutch farmers would ever have sanctioned a wolf reintroduction, but the wolves have bypassed all the bureaucracy by just walking in.
Some other places wolves have been busy recolonising are many states in the USA, Germany and Denmark (where there have been some sheep kills).

magicbastarder · 06-09-2019 8:55am

recedite wrote: »

The wolf story is interesting in that the Netherlands is quite similar to us in latitude and climate, but far more densely populated by humans.

i would be curious about the spread of that population density. NL as a whole is probably more densely populated, but IIRC the urban/rural population split in ireland is approx what it was in europe in the 60s - that is, i suspect NL is much more urbanised and the countryside may be less densely populated than ireland's.

recedite · 06-09-2019 11:15am

Its a national park area on the outshirts of Arnhem, with a lot of recreational use (walking and cycling) and surrounded by either suburbia or intensive farming.
Have a look here.

Stigura · 17-09-2019 3:14pm

This is a Real 'feel good' read!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/09/texan-hounds-fight-rhino-poaching/

Birdnuts · 18-09-2019 12:47am

https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/a-lifeline-for-the-last-leopards-commentary/?fbclid=IwAR2Ehls4KCOhhLVcJqW8eVinBopHpQOGkxcfA-MGrsz5WUOZAWLMLYHPYsk

Alot of species could benefit from this

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