Nature in the News

V_Moth · 19-12-2011 2:24pm

Saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16241658

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon-billed)

Traonach · 30-12-2011 8:28pm

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/mink-puffin.html

‘Quite how far mink can swim is not really known, but they have certainly reached Puffin Island, which lies only 300-400 metres off a very inaccessible section of the Kerry coast,' said Dr Newton. ‘The island is a BirdWatch Ireland reserve, protected for its large breeding colonies of Manx shearwater, storm petrel and, not surprisingly, puffins.'

‘Unfortunately, even as this work was underway, another BirdWatch Ireland member of staff discovered what is almost certainly a mink scat (dropping) on Great Saltee. This island lies a little further, about 5km, off the Wexford coast near Kilmore Quay.

joela · 30-12-2011 10:14pm

cameramonkey wrote: »

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.

I think there are two pairs of sea eagles showing signs of marking territory and looking as though they are likely to breed all going well this year. Fingers crossed there will be a successful attempt!

recedite · 31-12-2011 3:36pm

a mink scat (dropping) on Great Saltee. This island lies a little further, about 5km, off the Wexford coast near Kilmore Quay.

Still, you have to admire the tenacity of the little blighters. Imagine one wandering along the Wexford shoreline when he gets the faint whiff of seabirds on an easterly breeze. then after sniffing the air for a few minutes, he sets off into the surf, swimming out to sea. Risking all, for the promise of Paradise island.

Birdnuts · 31-12-2011 6:28pm

recedite wrote: »

, swimming out to sea. Risking all, for the promise of Paradise island.

Soon to become the island of Dr Moreaux:(

Cork boy 55 · 07-01-2012 6:22pm

Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said.

An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years.

As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the climate.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16428306

whyulittle · 21-02-2012 3:21pm

Ancient plants back to life after 30,000 frozen years

Scientists in Russia have grown plants from fruit stored away in permafrost by squirrels over 30,000 years ago.

The fruit was found in the banks of the Kolyma River in Siberia, a top site for people looking for mammoth bones.

The Institute of Cell Biophysics team raised plants of Silene stenophylla - of the campion family - from the fruit.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they note this is the oldest plant material by far to have been brought to life.

Prior to this, the record lay with date palm seeds stored for 2,000 years at Masada in Israel.

Full story at BBC.

Cork boy 55 · 24-02-2012 7:54pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Full story at BBC.

Seen that amazing like something out of jurassica park

Russian scienists doing crazy stuff all over the place
it like the fivties again
MOst be all the money Mededav throws at them he is a bit
of tech/science geek by all accounts

lets hope they don;t find anthing dodgy down in that lake
(see link) if it has up to me I would leave it alone.

It has lain, silent and unseen, buried under miles of ice for 20 million years. Now, after more than two decades of drilling, Russian scientists have reached the pristine surface of a gigantic freshwater lake - Lake Vostok in Antarctica - and what they find there could change everything.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/9069588/Lake-Vostok-Russia-scientists-reach-underground-Antarctic-lake.html

whyulittle · 30-04-2012 1:38am

Some great news from GET.

White-tailed Sea Eagles nest for the first time in 100 years

A pair of White-tailed Eagles has been confirmed breeding near Mountshannon, Co Clare. This is the first documented nesting attempt for the species in Ireland in over 100 years.

Nest building began in recent weeks with the birds spending much time in and around the nest site before laying eggs. The breeding pair, a four year old male and three year old female collected on the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway, settled in the Mounshannon area in early 2011.

The birds were released in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry, as part of the White-tailed Eagle reintroduction programme managed by the Golden Eagle trust in partnership with the National Parks & Wildlife Service. Although some pairs have established themselves in Co. Kerry in 2012, the nesting attempt in Co. Clare is the first known nesting since the reintroduction programme began.

Full story at goldeneagle.ie.

Birdnuts · 30-04-2012 12:48pm

I had mixed feelings about the project going public on this so early in the breeding season, but I think cos the birds have chosen to breed in such a prominent place( near the dock in Mount Shannon) they felt they had no real choice. In any case as the the link suggests - the chance of this pair succesfully raising a chick in their first attempt is rather low, before we all get too excited!!;)

recedite · 30-04-2012 12:52pm

whyulittle wrote: »

Full story at goldeneagle.ie.

We would caution people not to approach the nest area but instead watch from the viewing area onshore where we will have a telescope for close viewing. Information on the birds, their ecology and conservation will be available

Any feedback on the viewing area? ie where is it, what distance from the nest, is it crowded etc..
Thinking of making the trip to Clare.

whyulittle · 30-04-2012 2:14pm

Well, it has a white tail at least.....

They took it from their own page, where they have plenty of proper pics.

http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/the_eagles_return.html

Alun · 30-04-2012 3:13pm

Birdnuts wrote: »

Check out the photo in the link below:rolleyes:

http://www.aertel.ie/news/2012/0430/white-tailed-eagles-breeding-site-confirmed.html

They've changed it

Birdnuts · 30-04-2012 3:29pm

Alun wrote: »

They've changed it

I've removed my post to prevent confusion;)

recedite · 30-04-2012 9:01pm

There was a clip on RTE news today about the nest. It appears to be on an Island about 900m off the harbour. Being a harbour, there is plenty of space and parking, but you will need a powerful telescope at that distance, even though it's "a flying barn door" sized bird.

E39MSport · 01-05-2012 7:27am

More from the IT about the nest and the public

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0501/1224315407261.html

AFTER CONFIRMATION yesterday that a pair of young white-tailed sea eagles have finally nested and bred in Ireland – the first such occurrence in more than 100 years – the public were urged to respect an exclusion zone around a small island in Lough Derg on the river Shannon.

“A truly momentous event for Clare and Ireland,” is how Dr Allan Mee, the Golden Eagle Trust’s project manager for the Irish White-tailed Sea Eagle Reintroduction Programme, described the development yesterday.

See full story at irishtimes.com

E39MSport · 01-05-2012 7:30am

On Mull, the public take part in protecting the nesting sites. There are posters everywhere displaying hotline numbers for people to call if anybody is seen approaching a nesting site.

Cork boy 55 · 01-05-2012 4:07pm

disgusting!!!!! :mad:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17892708

Oxford nightclub scraps plan for live zebra appearance
A nightclub manager said he has been forced to cancel plans to hire a live zebra after complaints from animal welfare groups.
Carbon bar had printed posters promising a zebra at its Zoo club night as a "first" for the Oxford club scene.
Manager Jan Zarecky said it had been planned as "a bit of fun".

Cork boy 55 · 06-05-2012 5:18pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17730971

Orangutans show remarkably advanced engineering skills when making nests, researchers say.
The researchers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester, followed and filmed the apes in the forests of Sumatra.
The team also took orangutans' nests apart to see how they were constructed.
Their study, in the journal PNAS, reveals that the apes select thick branches for a scaffold and thinner branches for a springy mattress.
Continue reading the main story Bedding down

All great apes make nests - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, as well as orangutans. Unlike birds, apes make a new nest each night. They also often construct day nests - perhaps for a nap following a big feed. These are slightly more "haphazard" in their construction
Young orangutans often build "practice nests", apparently honing their technique. But they will share a bed with their mother for up to eight years before they move into their own nest

Great apes videos, news and facts

Roland Ennos from the University of Manchester, a senior member of the research team, told BBC Nature that the behaviour revealed the animals' "sophisticated tool use and construction skills".

Cork boy 55 · 07-05-2012 4:59pm

Weird mass death events in Peru

Peru’s Health Ministry is urging people to stay away from Pacific beaches from Lima northward after recent large-scale deaths of pelicans and dolphins.

Neither the Health Ministry nor Peru’s oceanographic institute has determined the cause of the deaths, and there is no indication the deaths of the birds and the mammals are related.

And the warning did not indicate why it might be dangerous to visit beaches.

Peru’s agricultural safety service ruled out that the pelicans could have died of avian flu, which could be contagious to humans.

Since February, some 877 dolphins and, more recently, at least 1,200 pelicans have been found dead on Peruvian beaches for unexplained reasons.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/peruvians-warned-to-stay-off-pacific-beaches-after-sea-life-deaths-550532.html

tricky D · 17-05-2012 6:11pm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/series/urban-wildlife

A spotter's guide to urban wildlife – proving that wildlife doesn’t simply survive in urban areas, it thrives.

Paper supplement on Saturday also.

E39MSport · 20-05-2012 9:57pm

I heard on Radio 1 Friday that gun clubs around the country are offering to shoot 'vermin' for farmers etc so that the latter don't have to use poison and risk more Raptor deaths.

Birdnuts · 20-05-2012 10:40pm

E39MSport wrote: »

I heard on Radio 1 Friday that gun clubs around the country are offering to shoot 'vermin' for farmers etc so that the latter don't have to use poison and risk more Raptor deaths.

Yeah - fare play to the NARGC on this one. Though the vast majority of sheep farmers already use safe and legal methods of vermin control like shooting, trapping etc.. Its just a few rotten apples that are doing this type of damage to the image of the industry, protected wildlife etc.

magicbastarder · 24-05-2012 9:08am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18186423

Traonach · 24-05-2012 10:21am

Cull a native species species because they are a "threat" to a non-native species? All research to date shows they are not a significant threat to pheasants.

magicbastarder · 24-05-2012 11:00am

some more info here:
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/buzzard-management-trial-gets-govt-approval-and-375k-funding/

Birdnuts · 24-05-2012 11:07am

I think its more about issueing capture and release licences rather then "culling" - but I agree that it is a daft idea given that raptors in general are responsible for barely 1-2% of losses in pen reared pheasants according to research by the BASC(British Association for Shooting and Conservation), tiny compared to losses from foxes, road casualties, bad weather etc. It also suggests that pheasants are being classed as "livestock" by DEFRA which is in itself daft given that pheasants are essentially released into the "wild" and can go anywhere. Does this mean every bird will have to be tagged incase they cause road accidents,damage to crops??

etc. I'm afraid this is likely to be serious own goal by DEFRA and the minority of pheasant shoots pushing this. Even DEFRA admit in that article that they have no proof that buzzards or any other raptor are causing signficant losses in such shoots and are essentially ignoring research already carried out on this topic. It also sets a very dangerous precident given that many parts of the UK already have serious problems with the illegal persecution of raptors with some species declining or on the point of extinction in England.

magicbastarder · 24-05-2012 11:30am

the biggest cause of mortality in pheasants is probably people with shotguns - so maybe there should be a cull there instead!

Birdnuts · 24-05-2012 11:54am

Theres a growing storm of protest over this in the UK - all the main conservation bodies and figures have come out against it. Indications too that DEFRA are in the process of backing down on this with their latest Twitter feed claiming the they "don't want to cull buzzards". The fact that they were going to spend nearly half a million pounds of tax payers money on this at a time when money is short for a whole host of pressing conservation issues concerning native species, really beggers beleif:mad:

E39MSport · 24-05-2012 1:09pm

I must say that from patroling the M4 twice a week every week for 6 years, Buzzards are quite common in the skies of the South West of England.

It's amazing to see them and I hope this doesn't take place.

I've certainly never seen a pheasant even flinch when a Buzzard is overhead. Sparrowhaws and Kites yes, but not Buzzards.

Even large dogs that I have walked with have cowered when a Kite shows up.

Nature in the News

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