Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Nature in the News

Options
12467…82

Comments

  • Options
    #92
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5678963/Big-flap-over-little-dead-bird
    DNA confirms it: the New Zealand storm petrel is officially back from the dead.
    The tiny, enigmatic seabird was considered extinct for more than 150 years, meaning its comeback eclipses that of other "extinct" birds such as the takahe and Chatham Islands taiko.
    It was rediscovered by birdwatchers Ian Saville and Brent Stephenson, near the Mercury Islands in the Hauraki Gulf.
    "It was a complete fluke," Saville said. "We'd seen heaps and heaps of the common storm petrels, the white-faced storm petrels, and then I just saw this little black and white thing. It raced toward the boat, did a quick circle, raced off again and that was it."
    That sighting was in January 2003. Since then the birds, in flocks of up to 40, have been seen every summer in the gulf, "almost within sight of the Sky Tower", Saville said.
    But there has been confusion in the scientific community as to how and where the bird survived, and whether it is in fact a separate species, or just a more common species of storm petrel, with odd colouring.
    Bruce Robertson of the University of Otago has just matched DNA from birds caught and released in the gulf, to tissue fragments from three museum specimens in England and France.
    That confirms that the birds in the gulf are the same as those last seen in the 1800s, and that the New Zealand storm petrel is a distinct species.


  • Options
    #93
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    thats pretty mad!

    it has been said before and it will be said again... the million if not billions spent on discovering space and we havent even finished discovering earth!


  • Options
    #94
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15034520

    "An isolated population of rare land snail last recorded in Fife 110 years ago has been rediscovered.
    The plaited door snail (Cochlodina laminata) sighting was received by Fife Nature Records Centre, following a report from a member of the public."


  • Options
    #95
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    "A new plant that "bends down" to deposit its seeds has been discovered in the Atlantic forest in the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil.
    The new species has been named Spigelia genuflexa after its unusual adaptation.
    After fruits are formed, the fruiting branches bend down, depositing the capsules of seeds on the ground and sometimes burying them in the soft cover of moss"


    _55542921_36137_web.jpg

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15033695


  • Options
    #96
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14974236

    "A disease that is killing greenfinches and chaffinches in the UK has now spread to Europe, scientists report.
    A paper in the journal Ecohealth confirms that the disease has been found in Finland, Norway and Sweden and is at risk of moving further afield."


    _55458390_z8920253-greenfinch._lowerjpg.jpg


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #97
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/wolf-belgium.html#cr


  • Options
    #98
    Funsterdelux
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭Funsterdelux


    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0928/1224304857053.html

    Damn Chipmunks!


  • Options
    #99
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    http://www.birdwatch.co.uk/channel/newsitem.asp?c=11&cate=__11164
    :(:(


  • Options
    #100
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    One for Mothman to watch out for and re-write the reference books:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15200608

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/10/07/sizzling-autumn-sees-rare-moths-flock-to-britain-115875-23471899/


  • Options
    #101
    bogtreader
    Registered Users Posts: 350 ✭✭bogtreader


    Its that time again Veolia wildlife photographer of the year found this slide show
    http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/competition/preview.jsp


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #102
    trebor28
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭trebor28


    bogtreader wrote: »
    Its that time again Veolia wildlife photographer of the year found this slide show
    http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/competition/preview.jsp

    a few very good ones there.

    the mountain goat and ants were probably my favs.


  • Options
    #103
    bogtreader
    Registered Users Posts: 350 ✭✭bogtreader


    The goat looked very precarious its amazing how they climb mountainsides


  • Options
    #104
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    bogtreader wrote: »
    http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/competition/preview.jsp

    Best; partly submerged frogs
    Worst; the out of focus deer


  • Options
    #105
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    10 year Overview of the Golden Eagle Trust
    The European population of the Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, has a widespread but discontinuous distribution across much of Europe. The European breeding population is small, and it is estimated to be as few as 8,400 pairs. Its range has been drastically reduced over the past century as a result of persecution and loss of breeding habitat. Breeding areas are now restricted to remote mountain areas in Sweden, Finland, Scotland and parts of southern Europe. Golden Eagles once bred on the north-west coast of the Republic of Ireland in County Donegal, where the landscape essentially consists of uplands and mountains dominated by blanket bogs. In its heyday, Donegal held up to 12 Golden Eagle home ranges.

    Full story at goldeneagle.ie.


  • Options
    #106
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    Funsterdelux wrote: »
    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0928/1224304857053.html

    Damn Chipmunks!




    Only read that link today and am really surprised that carp made the list.


  • Options
    #107
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭Cork boy 55


    http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/750-orang-utans-killed-in-past-year-528262.html


    At least 750 endangered orang-utans have been killed by villagers on the Indonesian side of Borneo over a year-long period, according to a new survey.

    Some were killed in order to protect farmers’ crops, while others were killed for their meat, researchers found.

    Erik Meijaard, main author of the report that appeared in the journal PLoS One, said he believes the killings pose a more serious threat to the apes’ survival than previously thought.
    :mad::confused::eek:


  • Options
    #108
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Kenny rules out reversing stag-hunt ban

    By Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor

    Tuesday November 08 2011

    TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has firmly ruled out any reversal of the ban on stag hunting, leaving one of his ministers embarrassingly isolated.

    Fine Gael did promise to overrule the previous government's ban, but the commitment never made it into the Government's plans for its term in office.

    Officially representing the Government on another piece of animal welfare legislation recently, Junior Minister Shane McEntee indicated that the stag-hunting ban would be lifted "shortly".

    But Mr Kenny's spokesman said Mr McEntee was merely expressing "an opinion" and there is "no commitment" to reverse the ban.

    Full story at Independent.ie.


  • Options
    #109
    E39MSport
    Registered Users Posts: 3,730 ✭✭✭E39MSport


    Great news ^.

    Saw a hunt in Prosperous last weekend. No regard for traffic etc., or indeed the poor fox.

    Waltzed through red lights on road and footpath then off to prove their worth.


  • Options
    #110
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    E39MSport wrote: »
    Great news ^.

    Saw a hunt in Prosperous last weekend. No regard for traffic etc., or indeed the poor fox.

    Waltzed through red lights on road and footpath then off to prove their worth.



    I must admit that I have nothing but disdain for that practise, and like yourself I have seen incredible ignorance shown towards others by some of the people involved in what they try to pass off as hunting.


  • Options
    #111
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Photographers convicted for White-tailed Eagle disturbance

    Two photographers have been found guilty of disturbing a pair of nesting White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Mull. Yuli Panayotov, 32, from London, and Ivaylo Takev, 36, from Norwich, were charged at Oban Sheriff Court with disturbing the breeding birds of prey near Killechronan in May 2010. The pair were fined a combined total of £1100.

    The court heard how police were alerted to the pair after a number of witnesses had spotted both the adult birds circling over the nest and alarm-calling. It later emerged Panayotov and Takev had erected a photography hide a short distance from the nest. Speaking following the conviction, Sheriff Douglas Small remarked that the pair had disregarded warnings from RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton and local holidaymakers.

    Full story at BirdGuides.com.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #112
    E39MSport
    Registered Users Posts: 3,730 ✭✭✭E39MSport


    whyulittle wrote: »
    Full story at BirdGuides.com.

    They would have been better off poisoning them - would have got away scot (see what I did there) free.

    Joking aside, there's a great community spirit on the Island when it comes to protecting the birds. Of course the people realise the value of the birds to their economy but it seems to be deeper than that.


  • Options
    #113
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,135 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    A 13m Fin Whale was beached in Sligo last Monday. They're the 2nd biggest species next to the blue whale if I'm not mistaken: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/carcass-of-13m-whale-beached-by-gales-2949431.html

    Its kind of a strange one, seems to have gotten battered by the stormy seas, poor thing must have been pretty disorientated.


  • Options
    #114
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    http://westcorktimes.com/home/?p=3294

    i heard on the radio that this dolphin has died.
    Gerret Van Geldren did a nice programme on this lake about 20 years ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lough_Hyne


  • Options
    #115
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    cameramonkey wrote: »
    i heard on the radio that this dolphin has died.
    Gerret Van Geldren did a nice programme on this lake about 20 years ago.

    Yes; found washed up on the shore, probably couldn't find his way out. The lough (not a lake BTW) is like a lobster pot; all sorts get washed in on an incoming tide and trapped there. I snorkelled there and found it to be fairly barren, except for the narrows at the tidal race. The fiord on the ocean side however has lots of interesting creatures, as you would expect with the twice daily flow of fresh nutrients past them.


  • Options
    #116
    robp
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,934 ✭✭✭robp


    Kess73 wrote: »
    Only read that link today and am really surprised that carp made the list.

    A bit saddened that wild boar made the list but otherwise its sorely needed legislation.


  • Options
    #117
    ThunderCat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,385 ✭✭✭ThunderCat


    http://www.fingal-independent.ie/news/seal-pup-on-the-road-to-recovery-2948114.html?start=2


  • Options
    #118
    ThunderCat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,385 ✭✭✭ThunderCat


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxY3fAybBYU

    dog in siberia stands guard over pregnant canine pal for over 2 weeks in freezing -50 degree temperatures.


  • Options
    #119
    mgwhelan
    Registered Users Posts: 328 ✭✭mgwhelan


    A man has been sentenced to six months in jail after being caught in possession of more than 700 rare birds’ eggs- stealing them from nests across the UK. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-jailed-after-stealing-more-than-700-rare-eggs.html


  • Options
    #120
    whyulittle
    Registered Users Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭whyulittle


    Anyone see the squirrel/chipmunk running through the background of Richard Downes' report in front of the White House on RTE this evening!? :)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #121
    cameramonkey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭cameramonkey


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16139760

    wonder what the numbers were for golden eagles in ireland this year. soon hopefully we will see the first sea eagle breeding in ireland.


Advertisement