The dredging for and collection of wild mussel seed
resumed yesterday after a two-year gap at Castlemaine harbour in Dingle
Bay, one of the biggest natural mussel beds in the country.
In this week's Planet Earth podcast, Sue Nelson goes
to the Eden Project in Cornwall, southwest England and to the South
Downs in southeast England to find out what butterfly research is
telling us about climate change.
A tiny wading bird has led to a surge in birdwatchers
at a nature reserve in Gloucestershire. The last Red-necked phalarope
visited WWT Slimbridge in 2005, so this juvenile is a rare treat for
bird enthusiasts and it is only the sixth to have visited the site
since record keeping began in 1949.
Barn owl baby a welcome arrival at Saltholme wildlife
reserve
A Barn owl chick at Saltholme takes an inquisitive
first glance into the big wide world. And its appearance at the wildlife
reserve and discovery park, near Billingham, was something of a surprise
for staff, volunteers and visitors, since the secretive birds had
kept their presence hidden for almost three months!
Work on part of a multi-million pound rail bridge project
is set to be delayed until the autumn after the discovery of a colony
of great-crested newts.
Police issue warning after Highland big cat sightings
A cat seen in Dornoch at the weekend was described
as panther-like Police have issued a warning to the public after reports
of big cats in Easter Ross and Sutherland.
Announcement on Severn Tidal project due this
Autumn
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
has confirmed that an announcement on the government's plans
for a Severn Tidal project is due this Autumn.
A Llansanffraid farmer has been named by the
Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) Cymru as the winner
of the Mid Wales, FWAG Cymru- National Grid 2010 Silver Lapwing
Farm Conservation Award, which is supported and sponsored by
the National Grid.
Foresters plea for join-up approach in massive
new woodland creation
Proposals to plant millions of new trees could
deliver massive economic and environmental benefits for Wales
– providing ministers work with forest businesses on a
joined-up strategy.
A decade of achievements are being celebrated
by Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. Charged 10 years ago
with caring for some of the Bay's best loved open spaces and
coastline and its wildlife, the trust has developed into a charity
whose work is recognised around the country as ground-breaking.
Search launched to find the nation’s best
loved and most neglected river
With only 5 per cent of rivers in England and
Wales described as being in a pristine condition a new survey
has been launched by a coalition of conservationists to celebrate
and bring attention to some of Britain's best loved and long
forgotten rivers.
Nearly 25 years after the worst nuclear accident in
history, new scientific findings suggest that the effects of the explosion
at Chernobyl have been underestimated.
An endangered sedge, found in Europe in only two sites
in southern Italy, has benefitted from a multi-faceted conservation
project carried out by Rome Botanical Garden, the Italian Institute
for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the regional
body for protected areas (RomaNatura).
The Canadian government has announced it is taking
action to protect one of the world’s largest seasonal populations
of beluga whales by establishing the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected
Area in the country’s Arctic region.
U.S. health officials are set to rule on whether a
faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat in a decision
that could deliver the first altered animal food to consumers' dinner
plates.
With a simple click of the camera, scientists from
the Wildlife Conservation Society and Zoological Society of London
have developed a new way to accurately monitor long-term trends in
rare and vanishing species over large landscapes.
Oil sands polluting Alberta river system, study finds
Oil sands operations are polluting the Athabasca River
system, researchers said on Monday, contradicting the Alberta government's
assertions that toxins in the watershed are naturally occurring.
Friends of the Earth urges end to 'land grab' for biofuels
European Union countries must drop their biofuels targets
or else risk plunging more Africans into hunger and raising carbon
emissions, according to Friends of the Earth (FoE).
From Agent Orange to deliberate oil spills, conflict
carries massive environmental costs. But apart from high-profile cases
such as Rwanda's mountain gorillas, the impact of war on animals and
biodiversity remains a largely unexplored and underfunded area, despite
the United Nations naming 2010 the 'International Year of Biodiversity'.
Bjørn Lomborg: climate change is a problem
after all
He's back and generating as many headlines as
ever. After years as the world's leading climate change critic,
"sceptical environmentalist" Bjørn Lomborg
is now saying that we need to put it at the top of our priority
list.
Why failure of climate summit would herald global
catastrophe: 3.5°
The world is heading for the next major climate
change conference in Cancun later this year on course for global
warming of up to 3.5C in the coming century, a series of scientific
analyses suggest.
IPCC report raises fresh questions over Dr Rajendra
Pachauri's leadership
The UN's climate change panel must introduce
a structure to prevent conflicts of interest, according to a
report by the world's top science group that raised fresh questions
over the leadership of the body.
Tiny marine creatures found on the seabed on
opposite sides of the vast West Antarctic ice sheet give a strong
hint of the risks of sea level rise caused by climate change,
scientists said Tuesday.
Japan forsees starting carbon-emissions trading
in 2013, panel reports
Japan plans to start emissions trading in 2013,
as the government revived a climate-protection draft law that
was scrapped earlier this year when then Prime Minister Yukio
Hatoyama resigned.
Climate panel must 'fundamentally reform' to
survive
The world's climate science authority must "fundamentally
reform" its organisation and how it operates if it is to
regain the public's trust, according to a major review.
Climate change implicated in decline of horseshoe
crabs
A distinct decline in horseshoe crab numbers
has occurred that parallels climate change associated with the
end of the last Ice Age, according to a study that used genomics
to assess historical trends in population sizes.
The fear that global temperature can change very
quickly and cause dramatic climate changes that may have a disastrous
impact on many countries and populations is great around the
world. But what causes climate change and is it possible to
predict future climate change?
German solar-power capacity may exceed wind by
2020, state adviser says
Germany probably will have more production capacity
at solar power plants than from wind-energy turbines within
a decade, a government energy adviser said.
