Category Archives: News

News

Rare UK butterflies enjoy best year since monitoring began

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The Guardian reports hot summer of 2018 boosted large blue, and black hairstreak, but small tortoiseshell declined. The golden summer of 2018 saw two of the UK’s rarest butterflies, the large blue and the black hairstreak, enjoy their best years since scientific monitoring began.

More than two-thirds of British butterfly species were seen in higher numbers last year than in 2017, but despite the ideal butterfly weather, it was still only an average season – the 18th best in 43 years of recording.

Photo of female Large Blue ovipositing, by Paul Ritchie under creative commons 

News, Planning

Developer fined for destroying bat home in London

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The BBC report property developers who deliberately demolished a house containing protected bats have been fined £18,000.

Jenna Kara, 29, and Tina Kara, 34, directors of Landrose Developments Ltd, started tearing down the bungalow in Stanmore, north-west London, in 2016.

The company pleaded guilty at Willesden Magistrates’ Court to damaging or destroying the breeding site.

The court heard the developers had pressed ahead with the demolition despite an expert reporting the site was home to soprano pipistrelle bats – a protected species in the UK and Europe.

Photo by Michelle Stiller under creative commons 

Helping wildlife, News

Patrols are on hand to help toads hop to safety

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The Times reports they are the grassroots environmentalists. Volunteers are collecting thousands of toads and frogs in buckets and placing them near rivers in a bid to save them from cars and trucks thundering along Scotland’s roads.

Dozens of new “toad patrols” are being set up to help amphibians avoid being squashed flat as numbers decline. It is estimated 20 tonnes of toads a year are crushed by cars and lorries as they attempt to reach their breeding sites around the UK. Experts say the patrols’ efforts are saving about 80,000 toads annually.

News, Planning

Property developers row back on netting used to stop birds nesting 

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The Guardian reports some developers are reviewing their policies after protests from environmentalists. A grassroots uprising is forcing builders and councils to remove netting over trees and hedgerows installed to prevent birds nesting and hindering their developments.

Environmentalists have condemned the practice and say it has exploded in scale this spring. The use of netting to prevent birds nesting in hedgerows and trees allows developers to get around the law that prevents the removal and damage of birds nests, and avoid delays to development caused by the nesting season.

News, Spotting wildlife

Big Garden Birdwatch: Smallest birds ‘hit by Beast from East’

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The BBC report fewer of the UK’s smallest birds have been spotted this year by volunteers in the Big Garden Birdwatch, an annual survey run by the RSPB.

Long-tailed tits were down by 27% and wrens by 17% after being seen in large numbers in 2018. Last year’s very cold spell brought by the Beast from the East is thought to be a factor, as smaller birds would have been hardest hit by the blast.

House sparrows, meanwhile, are making a comeback after years in decline.

News

EU bans UK’s most-used pesticide over health and environment fears

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The Guardian reports one of the world’s most common pesticides will soon be banned by the European Union after safety officials reported human health and environmental concerns.

Chlorothalonil, a fungicide that prevents mildew and mould on crops, is the most used pesticide in the UK, applied to millions of hectares of fields, and is the most popular fungicide in the US. Farmers called the ban “overly precautionary”.

News

New ‘Wind in the Willows’ film trailer shows destruction of UK nature

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The Independent reports a  striking film “trailer” for The Wind In The Willows calling for action to help nature has been unveiled by environmental campaigners.
Sir David Attenborough and Stephen Fry are among the talents featured in the film, which shows the animal characters facing 21st century threats such as road building and plastic pollution.
‘This country of nature lovers needs to give its wildlife every chance to survive, thrive and expand its range,’ says Sir David Attenborough, who appears in new trailer.
Helping wildlife, News

Tell us: have you spotted any netting to stop birds nesting?

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The Guardian reports the RSPB is urging the public to sign a petition to help change the law on the practice of bird netting in the UK.

We would like your help exploring the practice of netting trees so they can be removed for construction.

Across the UK there are reports of builders and developers using nets on trees to stop birds nesting so that they can be removed in order for building work to take place.