Animals suspected of being illegally left in ‘extremely harsh’ environment near where lynx were found last month
Rangers in the Cairngorms are searching for a herd of feral pigs believed to have been illegally released in the national park.
The animals were spotted near the Uath Lochans area, close to the village of Inch and only 5 miles from where four lynx were illegally released last month.
Continue reading...Birds observed going to lengths to flavour food, with particular penchant for blueberry-flavoured soy yoghurt dip
Whether you savour Ottolenghi’s recipes or prefer a feast from Nigella’s cookery books, humans enjoy mixing flavours and textures when preparing food. Now research suggests some cockatoos do too.
Researchers have previously discovered that some of the birds dunk dry rusks in water before eating them, just as some people enjoy dunking a biscuit in tea, apparently reflecting a penchant for a soggy texture.
Continue reading...Exclusive: The new Queensland government reversed Labor’s decision to set limits on visitor numbers
K’gari’s world heritage advisory committee (KWHAC) has advised the Queensland government the island’s ecology risks being “destroyed” by “overtourism”, putting pressure on the LNP’s promise not to cap visitation to the island.
The recommendation was contained in the body’s world heritage strategic plan released on Friday and contradicts the policy adopted by the new government.
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Continue reading...Video posted online is said to show Trump Jr with a ruddy shelduck while on hunting trip
Donald Trump Jr has been accused of killing a protected duck while hunting in the Venice lagoon.
Andrea Zanoni, a regional councillor in Veneto, said a video of a hunting trip in northern Italy showed Trump Jr with the body of a rare ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea).
Continue reading...Minister says there was error when Manningtree station car park extension was approved under last government
Campaigners have celebrated an “important victory” in a closely watched case that will determine whether the government will enforce new legislation aimed at protecting national parks and landscapes in England.
Dedham Vale is a designated “national landscape” on the border of Essex and Suffolk, home to increasingly rare species including hazel dormice and hedgehogs. Within it is Manningtree station, where the train operator Greater Anglia built an extension to the car park to cope with increased traffic.
Continue reading...Brown trout unlikely to survive in most rivers at height of summer by 2080, says Environment Agency
It has been native to Britain for thousands of years and was heralded as the national fish on the BBC’s Springwatch, but a government report suggests the brown trout risks being wiped out in large parts of England within decades.
The first national temperature projections for English rivers by the Environment Agency forecasts that by 2080 the water will be too warm almost everywhere in England at the height of summer for the Salmo trutta species to feed and grow.
Continue reading...Analysis by dozens of scientists internationally notes urgent conservation efforts could halt or even reverse losses
Genetic diversity in animals and plants has declined globally over the past three decades, an analysis of more than 600 species has found.
The research, published in the journal Nature, found declines in two-thirds of the populations studied, but noted that urgent conservation efforts could halt or even reverse genetic diversity losses.
Continue reading...Steve Reed says plans for 1km curved structure to protect bats from high-speed railway are ‘batshit crazy’
A bat shelter costing more than £100m near HS2 has been described by the environment secretary as “batshit crazy”.
HS2 Ltd is spending the sum on the protection structure in Buckinghamshire, it emerged last year. All bats are legally protected in the UK.
The curved structure, which has been described by the HS2 Ltd chair, Sir Jon Thompson, as a “shed”, will run for about 1km alongside Sheephouse Wood to create a barrier allowing the creatures to cross above the high-speed railway without being affected by passing trains.
But Steve Reed has criticised the plans and told the Fabian Society’s new year conference: “I mean, (to spend) that vast amount of money on a tunnel for bats when there were so many other public services crying out for funding – it’s batshit crazy.
“And it happened because the previous government didn’t have a grip on the public finances, didn’t have a grip on infrastructure projects, and didn’t really have a grip on what was happening to nature either.”
Asked about the potential for tension between prioritising wildlife and the environment and pushing through planning projects, as the government has promised to do to boost economic growth, Reed said both could be achieved.
“It’s not either or, it’s not growth or nature or the environment. We can do the two together,” he said.
Reed also suggested any plans to build a third runway at Heathrow airport would be subject to a “proper consultation” to ensure “mitigations” were in place to make it work.
Asked about the prospect of expanding the airport, which reports suggest the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will back, the MP for Streatham and Croydon North in London said: “Of course, it’s speculation that you’re talking about … but if there were any proposal like that, then there would be a proper consultation, hopefully not lasting decades as it has done previously, because you don’t have to take that amount of time to get to good decisions.
“But it would take into account all of those factors, mitigations, what we will need to do to make sure that it could work.
“Since you mentioned my voting record on that one, I voted against expanding Heathrow last time because I was in favour of expanding Gatwick because it would provide economic growth that would benefit south London, where my constituency is. So I see the link.”
Birdwatch survey comes as concerns grow over infection risks posed by garden bird feeders
People are being urged to spend an hour this weekend counting the birds in their garden, park or local green space for the world’s largest survey of garden wildlife.
More than 9m birds were counted last year by 600,000 participants in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, providing a vital snapshot of how wild birds are faring.
Continue reading...Emergency use of Cruiser SB, a neonicotinoid pesticide highly toxic to bees, to be outlawed in UK in line with EU
Bee-killing pesticides have been banned for emergency use in the UK for the first time in five years after the government rejected an application from the National Farmers’ Union and British Sugar.
The neonicotinoid pesticide Cruiser SB, which is used on sugar beet, is highly toxic to bees and has the potential to kill off populations of the insect. It is banned in the EU but the UK has provisionally agreed to its emergency use every year since leaving the bloc. It combats a plant disease known as virus yellows by killing the aphid that spreads it.
Continue reading...Bird snapped by Newhaven wildlife sanctuary ecologist is likely a juvenile on risky 1,500km journey away from parents, expert says
Recent wet weather in the arid plains of central Australia prompted the wildlife ecologist and bird enthusiast Dr Tim Henderson to stop last week at a small lake to see if any waterbirds had shown up.
While there, above his head came a sight many birdwatchers wait a lifetime for: the red goshawk, Australia’s rarest bird of prey. It had a throat full of food, and was in a location it had never been photographed and had not been recorded at for about 30 years.
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Continue reading...String jellyfish species that has killed millions of salmon in Norwegian sea farms reported in Scotland
A jellyfish species that has been wreaking havoc on Norway’s salmon industry has made its way to Scotland, causing significant damage and prompting calls for urgent action.
The string jellyfish has killed millions of salmon in Norwegian sea farms with officials urging an extermination of affected stocks.
Continue reading...Scientists say frog’s journey shows difficulty of spotting insects or fungi spread by global plant trade
A tiny tree frog hitchhiking in a bunch of roses to Sheffield from Colombia has inspired a study into invasive species reaching the UK’s shores.
Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s zoology department and a senior author of a paper published today in the journal BioScience, had his interest piqued when he was asked to identify a live frog found in roses in a florist’s shop in Sheffield.
Continue reading...Australian mainland states permit killing of nearly 5 million annually as part of industry supplying meat and leather products
Wildlife advocates are calling for a halt to the commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Victoria’s Grampians region after bushfires there.
Wildlife Victoria warned of “long-term impacts” on native plants and animals due to the fires, which burned through 76,000 hectares of national park and farmland, and called for a stop to the controversial practice until the impact on kangaroo populations could be fully assessed.
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Continue reading...‘The animals that don’t die need total nursing care,’ wildlife rescuer says, ahead of a potential spike in cases in coming weeks
Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe.
Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was identified in flying foxes five years ago.
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Continue reading...More than 7,000 hectares logged in planned park area since Chris Minns won 2023 election with commitment to deliver new sanctuary, conservationists say
Logging of native forest in the proposed great koala national park (GKNP) in northern New South Wales has intensified since the Minns government took office, according to new analysis by conservation advocates.
The report, which the state’s forestry corporation disputes, found 7,185 hectares (17,700 acres) were logged within the promised park in the 21 months since the March 2023 state election.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: The kaputar slug, which can grow longer than a human hand, was almost wiped out in the black summer bushfires of 2019-20
A giant, fluorescent pink slug’s comeback on Mount Kaputar has been mapped by eager citizen scientists.
The kaputar slug grows up to 20cm long – outstripping the average human hand – and 6cm wide. The only place it exists in the entire world is on an extinct volcano in NSW’s Mount Kaputar national park.
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Continue reading...Step aside, Colossus. Be gone, Hercules. The Australian Reptile Park has recorded its largest male specimen so far
First there was Colossus, then Hercules … now, Thor.
Among the Australian Reptile Park’s tributes to the gods, one is newly pre-eminent, bearing the title of “Hemsworth”.
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Continue reading...Experts say sighting of orca in Puget Sound with second deceased calf is ‘devastating’ for ailing population
An apparently grieving killer whale who swam more than 1,000 miles pushing the body of her dead newborn has lost another calf and is again carrying the body, a development researchers say is a “devastating” loss for the ailing population.
The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research said the orca, known as Tahlequah, or J35, was spotted in the Puget Sound area with her deceased calf.
Continue reading...Five entire families can be killed, totalling 30 wolves, in move campaigners say is illegal under EU law
Sweden’s wolf hunt starts on Thursday, with the country aiming to halve the population of the endangered predator.
The Swedish government has given the green light for five entire wolf families, a total of 30 wolves, to be killed in a hunt campaigners say is illegal under EU law. Under the Berne convention, protected species cannot be caused to have their populations fall under a sustainable level.
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