The findings from a survey of the wintering waterbirds on the UK's non-estuarine coast, delivered by a network of volunteer observers, has revealed significant changes in the numbers of several waterbird species, including Lapwing, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, and Sanderling.
The latest BirdTrends report, published by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) provides valuable information on the changing status of the UK's bird populations. Updated annually, this year’s report is especially significant in that it provides an early indication of one of the periodic revisions of the UK's “Red List” due to be published at the end of this year.
February’s rainfall was average, falling on only 12 days, while temperatures were about normal as well, no snow being recorded in my garden. The usual spring drought seems to have arrived early, with high pressure and wall-to-wall sunshine prevailing from 25th.
A new online tool, just launched by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), opens up the previously hidden world of bats, bush-crickets, and small mammals. The BTO Acoustic Pipeline brings cutting-edge sound identification of bats and other nocturnal wildlife to new audiences, enabling Internet users to find out which species are present in audio recordings they have collected. This will help both interested naturalists and those involved in assessing the importance of sites for rare or protected species.
The National Agromyzidae Recording Scheme has announced that its website, Agromyzidae of Great Britain & Ireland, is now officially live.
This species first appeared in Liverpool at Springwood Crematorium in October 2019, a single fruitbody under some Cupressus leylandii near the access road. There are only 38 previous UK records on the national database. A rarity in this area, the only previous record for the North West was in 1953 at Blundellsands. This was also the first UK record.
Following on from a rainy December, January was another wet month. Although it rained on only about 14 days, there were two exceptionally wet periods, from 13th-16th and 18th-20th, the latter coinciding with named storm Christophe. This storm produced the wettest 3-days in Northwest England and North Wales since records began in 1891.
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