A wildlife
officer has been appointed to stem the rampant spread of Rhododendron ponticum
bushes, which threaten to overwhelm large swathes of Scotland's landscape.
The resurgence of otters,
once threatened with extinction, is causing a headache for anglers amid claims
the predators are emptying rivers and lakes of fish.
The
wildlife of Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve will be going under the microscope
when a crack team of experts head for Holy Island to take part in BioBlitz 2009.
Out
of the dark they come, whispering into our lives in a bewildering number of forms
- soft, feathery, fluttering things, flying at the lights as if their one ambition
in life was death.
Out with the new, in with the old as
Britain's native species return
It
has been a fine week for David Walters. After 10 years' work, and the investment
of more than £100,000 of his own cash, his great bustard project reaped rich dividends
last Sunday.
Bats can recognise other bats
from their voices, claim scientists, who said this explains how they remain in
a group when flying at high speeds in darkness, and how they avoid interference
with one another's echo-location calls.
Scottish lochs
and waterways branded ‘a national disgrace’
Delays
in cleaning up Scotland's polluted rivers, lochs and coastlines will breach European
law, leaving vast areas of water contaminated for many years.
Great garden wildlife count will help
struggling species
Homeowners are
being urged to monitor what is crawling, hopping, fluttering and flying in their
gardens this week, as part of a survey of how wildlife is faring this summer.
The first casualties of a recession are the ‘nice to have' elements
of a business, the things that drop down the agenda faster than a stone as managing
operational costs becomes the prevailing concern.
Tourists
are to be banned from the heartlands of the 37 national tiger reserves in India
amid fears that their presence is hastening the demise of an increasingly endangered
species.
Feral
dogs may be culled to protect wildlife in Sikkim forests
Dogs, which once lived near army and paramilitary
camps in Sikkim and survived on leftovers, have turned feral, killing and devouring
wild animals, forcing authorities to consider the option of culling them.
Minister worry about degradation of
forest reserve
Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo,
Eastern Regional Minister, has expressed worry about the deforestation of the
country's forest reserves through human activities.
In
God's fields rats are the problem. They crawled under the old maize stalks that
Paul Kiongo Thuo carefully placed on his soil as mulch, as the missionary had
shown him, and ate the seeds he had planted in neat rows the day after the rains
came.
Detroit River island goes from wasteland
to sanctuary
For roughly six decades
until 1980, Fighting Island in the Detroit River was a white, desolate moonscape,
80% of it covered with 20 million cubic yards of highly acidic brine waste dumped
there from a soda ash plant.
Winning over
wary consumers in Europe and elsewhere to genetically modified wheat hinges on
scientists finding a direct benefit to the public, not just to farmers or seed
companies, experts in wheat breeding and genetics said.
Global warming to push London temperatures up to 105F
London could regularly see temperatures of 105F (41C) and south-west
England could be hot enough to grow grapes and sunflowers, according to a map
of how climate change will affect Britain in 2080.
Nine alien insects to cause pain, illness and even death in Britain
as climate warms up
Insects which
harbour tropical diseases, inflict painful rashes and bites, and can even undermine
the foundations of buildings, will become a growing problem due to climate change,
scientists are predicting.
Our
present lifestyle cannot be sustained on Britain’s own renewable energy resources
unless we are prepared to cover huge areas of land and sea with wind turbines,
tidal farms or solar cells.
A combination of a warmer climate, increased rainfall and a ban
on the use of chemicals has created an epidemic of weeds causing hundreds of thousands
of pounds worth of damage to homes and public buildings.
China, Japan seek more cooperation
on energy, environment
Japan and
China pledged to promote cooperation on the energy conservation and environment
protection during their second high-level economic dialogue held here on Sunday.
Levy on international air travel could fund climate change fight
Britain and other rich countries
will be asked to accept a compulsory levy on international flight tickets and
shipping fuel to raise billions of dollars to help the world's poorest countries
adapt to combat climate change.
