The Mammal Society has revised its estimate of UK badger numbers down from 275,000 to 175,000. The previous 1995 figure was based on too many badgers per sett. Mink numbers have fallen from an estimated 110,000 to 36,950, due to the continued recovery of the otter. Sadly, numbers of the common dormouse and the water vole are still declining.
A young female great tit that was ringed in Fakenham, Norfolk, in January 2004 has been recorded by ringers in Lithuania – 1,359km from Fakenham.
Blackbirds still catching the worm. The BTO/BBC earliest rising birds survey conducted on December 21st showed that blackbirds were the first birds to arrive at feeders after daybreak. robins and blue tits were second and third. Full results on www.bto.org.
Eeyore in Winnie The Pooh.
A blackbird ringed by the BTO in Thetford in July 2003 was seen in Newton Abbott on December 26th 2003, back in Thetford on May 29 th 2004 and again in Newton Abbott for Boxing Day 2004.
Sandeel stocks of the North Sea, already depleted by industrial over-fishing, are now being further diminished by failure of their food supply – plankton, which are failing to adjust to rising sea temperatures. The seabirds that feed on sandeels had a very unsuccessful breeding year in 2004 and are predicted to do even worse this year.
Bilders (E Ang, Ire), brooklime (Bucks), carpenter’s chips (Glos), creese (Som), rib (E Ang), tang-tongues (Yks), tongue-grass (Ire), water-grass (N Ire), well-girse (Scot), well-karse (N’thum). Loaded withiron and vit C whatever it’s called!
Experts are concerned that red leg virus may have killed millions of frogs in Britain. The disease was first spotted 20 years ago, but Tom Langton, director of Froglife, says the disease may not yet have peaked. Fears are fuelled by many reports of the absence of frogs from many gardens in the southeast in 2004. Froglife are seeking government funding for a nationwide survey of 10,000 gardens to discover the extent of the disease.
Conservationists are worried because early flowering of their food plant endangers species that have a single food source. Examples are the larvae of some fritillary butterflies which eat only violets.
Nil returns for red-backed shrikes and wrynecksOrnithologists are worried that neither species has been sighted in Britain in the last three years. They cannot be said to be extinct in the UK as they are a migrant species that could turn up at any time.
Michael Majerus says that ladybirds waking two weeks early from their winter hibernation are faced with starvation because their aphid prey has not yet got going.
Sprat’s Water and Marshes, at Carlton Colville near Lowestoft is expected to receive 100% of a bid for funds now that the government has reviewed its flood defence policy. The money will be used to raise water levels, helping to restore numbers of waders such as snipe and redshank.
Common Swift, Peach Blossom, Small Scallop, Mallow,
Northern Spinach, Fern, Magpie, Nutmeg, Broom, Small Ranunculus, Viper’s
Bugloss, Chamomile Shark, Sword-grass, Chestnut, Knot Grass, Butterbur, Spotted
Clover.
They are not birds, fish or plants. They are all British
moths.
The prize for the most interesting article in White Admiral 59 was awarded to Colin Jacobs for his piece on the hoverfly invasion of July 2004.
© 2005 Suffolk Naturalists' Society
used by kind permision.