SNIPPETS
AUTUMN 2007

        Beetles date back to the dinosaurs ~ a new study led by Prof. Alfried Vogler of Imperial College London has shown that beetles appeared on Earth at the same time as the earliest dinosaurs. DNA sequencing and fossil records put beetles’
origins in the early Jurassic.

        A new theory claims that biting insects might have brought down the dinosaurs rather than a cataclysmic meteor impact. Disease spread by ancient mosquitoes, mites and ticks was probably the major factor that finished off the extinct reptiles. Insects could have also made it harder for dinosaurs to survive by changing the nature of plant life on Earth. Bees and other pollinators helped to promote the rapid spread of flowering plants, leading to the loss of vegetarian dinosaurs’ traditional food sources. As the plant-eating dinosaurs declined, so would their predators. The theory helps to explain why dinosaurs took so long to die off, according to husband and wife team George and Roberta Poinar.

        ‘Bugs Britannica’ ~ is the title of a new book Peter Marren is co-authoring with Richard Mabey. In a similar format to Birds Britannica, Peter aims to collect as much information as possible about the ways in which the British people interact with British invertebrates, whether as visitors to their gardens and homes, as objects of superstition or symbolic power, or as a significant presence in poetry, art, film and fiction. If you are interested in contributing material such as local names or folklore, then look for more detail of the project at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/bugsbritannica.

        On 13th March, after 17 years in the organisation, Nick Sibbett is leaving Natural England to become an ecological consultant. Immediately after Easter he will start work with The Landscape Partnership based in Woodbridge.

        Plans to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle, led by Natural England and supported by the SWT and the RSPB, are still at the consultation stage but could
be implemented as early as 2009. Claims that it could bring an extra 100,000
visitors a year to East Anglia seem rather optimistic.

        Muntjac numbers ~ have reached a level (150,000) at which they pose big threat to nesting birds and woodland diversity by destroying underscrub.