Nest Record Scheme - 30,000 records from 500 volunteer nest-recorders are sent each year to the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme. To date 1.3 million records have been collected, which provide vital information about changes in the productivity of the UK’s birds. For more information about the scheme contact Nest Records Office, BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, IP24 3BT

        Welcome to new bird recorders - SNS is pleased to welcome two new bird recorders. They are Eddie Marsh for the SE area and Andrew Green (northeast).

        Cranes breed again after 400 years - RSPB staff have found a nest of the common crane Grus grus at Lakenheath Fen Nature Reserve. The reserve was created from farmland to provide a wetland habitat for bitterns 11 years ago. Large scale drainage of fens for agriculture led to the disappearance of cranes in the 1600s.

        Fewer garden birds may not be bad news – results from this year’s RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch survey show a large fall in numbers of songbirds in gardens. However, the decline could be due to higher temperatures and bigger fruit crops in hedgerows and woodlands encouraging more birds to stay and feed in the countryside.

        Call for hare close season - the British Brown Hare Preservation Society has drawn up a petition seeking a close season from hunting hares. Hares are the only UK game animals that are not protected by a ban on shooting in the breeding season. About 300,000 hares are shot in February and March each year leaving an estimated 37,000 leverets to starve to death.

        Prozac kills mussels - Prozac levels in American rivers can disrupt the reproductive cycles of freshwater mussels and may be responsible for huge declines of the mollusc in the USA. The Environment Agency says in the UK Prozac is the third-highest risk chemical threat to aquatic environments.

        The first recorded butterfly names appeared 300 years ago. - John Ray was a leading figure; he was the first to use a classification system for butterflies. Ray and James Petiver together described about two-thirds of our native butterflies, the latter using English names of which ‘Brimstone’ was the first. The Small Skipper was originally ‘The Spotless Hog’. Ray’s book “The wisdom of God” is reviewed in this issue.

        Adrian Knowles - was elected to the post of Hon. Secretary of the SNS at the AGM in April 2007. He can be contacted c/o The Museum, High Street, Ipswich IP1 3QH.

        On 12th June Biodiversity Minister Barry Gardiner launched Biodiversity indicators in your pocket 2007, a set of 18 indicators which tracks the UK’s progress against international biodiversity targets. See www.defra.gov.uk/news.