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Headlines from week beginning 4 November 2019 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Microplastics, microbeads and single-use plastics poisoning sea life and
affecting humans - United Nations Each year, an estimated eight million tonnes of plastic end up in the
ocean – equivalent to a full garbage truck dumped into the sea every
minute - the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday
4 November. Between 60 to 90 per cent of the litter that accumulates on
shorelines, the surface and the sea floor is made up of plastic.
The most common items are cigarette butts, bags, and food and beverage
containers. Consequently, marine litter harms over 800 marine species,
15 of which are endangered. And plastic consumed by marine species
enters the human food chain through fish consumption. Alarmingly,
in the last 20 years, the proliferation of microplastics, microbeads and
single-use plastics have made this problem even more pronounced.
Most people associate marine plastic pollution with what they can
see along coastlines or floating on sea surfaces. But microplastics and
microbeads pose a hidden challenge as they are out of sight and,
therefore, out of mind.
Clean Seas Campaign “What’s in Your Bathroom?”, UNEP asked on Monday, as part of a
campaign to raise awareness on the harm caused by plastics in personal
care products and shifts that can be made to reduce plastic footprints. UNEP launched the Clean Seas Campaign in 2017 to galvanize a global
movement that tackles single-use plastics and microbeads. Now in
its second phase, it is shining a light on specific aspects of marine
litter, such as plastic pollution generated by the cosmetic industry. Microbeads have been banned in England and
Scotland since June 2018
World leading microbeads ban comes into force
- defra Ban on the sale of products containing microbeads comes into effect.
Cross-party MP report hails health & wellbeing benefits of London’s
Green Belt - CPRE A new report by a cross-party Parliamentary group shows that London’s
Metropolitan Green Belt not only protects against urban sprawl but also
provides vital countryside on our doorstep for health and well-being
benefits, including:
A new report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London’s Green
Belt shows that the London Metropolitan Green Belt (LMGB) not only
protects against urban sprawl, it’s also the ‘countryside on our
doorstep’, containing much of the capital’s natural reserves and
wildlife, which is vital for Londoners to spend time in for their health
and well-being. Findings highlight the value of ‘green-prescribing’ and the positive
impact of the Green Belt on people’s mental health, physical well-being,
local food production, and the capital’s ability to address the climate
emergency, such as supporting the target’s set out in the Government’s
25 Year Environment Plan. However, despite these benefits, research also shows that the purpose
of London’s Green Belt is under threat from new housing development
Government launches new scheme to boost tree-planting
- defra & Forestry Commission £50 million Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme will encourage farmers
and landowners to plant more trees and help to tackle climate change
The government today (Monday 4 November) launched a £50 million scheme
to help boost tree-planting rates. The new Woodland Carbon Guarantee will encourage farmers and
landowners to plant more trees and create new woodland in return for
payments as those trees grow. It gives land managers in England
the long-term financial income they need to invest in carbon
sequestration - the process by which trees lock up and store carbon from
the atmosphere. Successful participants will be offered the option
to sell Woodland Carbon Units to the government over 35 years at a
guaranteed price set by auction, providing new income for land managers
who help businesses compensate for their carbon emissions. Trees are a precious natural asset and, as a natural carbon sink, are
a vital part of the fight against climate change. Woodlands and forests
will play an important role in the UK’s efforts to hit net zero carbon
emissions by 2050, which is why the government is committed to planting
11 million trees by 2022. Funding for this scheme was announced by HM
Treasury in the 2018 Autumn Budget. By planting more trees and
creating new woodland, land managers also provide a range of other
ecosystem benefits such as preventing flood risk, soil conservation and
boosting biodiversity.
Puffins making poor diet choices when the chips are down
- University of Southampton A new study has shown that Britain’s puffins may struggle to adapt to
changes in their North Sea feeding grounds and researchers are calling
for better use of marine protection areas (MPAs) to help protect the
country’s best known seabirds. Britain’s coasts support globally
important populations of many species of seabird, but they face many
challenges as their established habitats change.
Scientists at the University of Southampton and the Centre for
Ecology & Hydrology studied the diet and distribution of Atlantic
puffins and razorbills on the Isle of May National Nature Reserve, off
the coast of southeast Scotland. They studied the seabirds’ over-winter feeding habits and found that
during the 2014 to 2015 winter, when conditions were good, both species
foraged close to their breeding colony eating a diet consisting mostly
of lipid-rich fish such as sandeels. However in the 2007 to 2008 winter,
conditions were not as good and the small fish populations were mainly
concentrated further out in the southern North Sea. Whilst the
razorbills flew further away from the breeding colony in order to
maintain their healthy diet, the puffins stayed closer in, eating a
poorer quality diet of crustacea, polychaete worms and snake pipefish.
The researchers found that fewer birds survived to return to the colony
in the spring of 2008 compared to 2015, with puffins being more severely
affected than razorbills. Read the paper: St. John Glew, K.,
Wanless, S., Harris, M.P. et al. Sympatric
Atlantic puffins and razorbills show contrasting responses to adverse
marine conditions during winter foraging within the North Sea. Mov
Ecol 7, 33 (2019) doi:10.1186/s40462-019-0174-4 (open access)
And finally there's £100,000 on offer for
three charities, all they need is your vote:
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Animal Friends Pet Insurance,
last year they donated a massive £100,000 to the charity StreetVets. In December 2018, the public voted for StreetVets, who deliver free
veterinary care to the homeless and their dogs from a short list of
three animal charities. The award-winning practice currently provides
assistance in 15 areas of the UK. This year we are excited that we are through to the public round of
voting in the Animal Friends £100K giveaway. We are up against Whale and
Dolphin Conservation and Four Paws – both worthy charities but we love
BATS! Thank you to everyone who helped to get us selected as one of the
three finalists who could potentially win a £100K donation from Animal
Friends Pet Insurance. Because of our incredible supporters, we’ve made it through to the
grand final of the Animal Friends Pet Insurance ‘£100k giveaway’. We’re
in with a real chance of securing a game-changing donation that could
genuinely make all the difference in our fight to end captivity. To
vote for any of the three chosen charities click here. Voting closes on 24 November.
New research competition challenges 11-19 year olds to help save the
UK’s bumblebees – Bumblebee Conservation
Trust
Volunteers
gather vital data about bumblebees on a BeeWalk survey (Bumblebee
Conservation Trust) As part of the conservation charity’s Big BeeWalk Data Research
Competition – which runs from 5 November 2019 to 7 February 2020 –
hundreds of thousands of bumblebee records gathered over the past decade
are being made available to students for the first time. Those taking part will have access to the records of almost 400,000
bumblebees, gathered since 2010 through the Trust’s BeeWalk national
recording scheme. This citizen science survey – in which volunteers
identify and count bumblebees they see while walking the same route
monthly from March to October – builds a national picture of bumblebee
health, and provides early warning of declines. The vast set of BeeWalk data includes information on different
bumblebee species and factors such as the weather, location, habitat
type, and time of day of sightings – allowing a huge range of new and
different research questions to be analysed, from how temperature
affects bumblebee behaviour to how availability of specific plants can
increase bumblebee numbers. “By drawing on our unique BeeWalk data and using fresh thinking to
design their own innovative research projects, students will be able to
get involved in real-life science and develop skills desirable to
universities – while potentially producing findings that could be used
to boost practical conservation action to help bumblebees,” said Andy
Benson, Education Officer at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Over 700,000 free trees for communities –
Woodland Trust Nearly three quarters of a million trees are winging their way across
the UK as part of the Woodland Trust’s Big Climate Fightback. Almost 4,000 schools and community groups will be taking delivery of
the free saplings over the next two weeks, and while each group has its
own reasons for planting, every tree will count towards the Trust’s
campaign to help tackle climate change. The Big Climate Fightback aims to get more than a million people
to pledge to plant a tree on the run up to a mass day of planting across
the UK on November 30. Everyone that applied for a tree pack will be
added to the list of pledges. John Tucker, director of woodland outreach at the Woodland Trust
said: “Tree planting has never been higher on the social and political
agenda. From school children to MPs, people are waking up to the message
that trees are a big part of the solution to tackling climate change.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, as well as filtering out
other harmful pollutants from the air that we all breathe. Quite simply
we need more of them. The government has committed to act on the
Committee on Climate Change recommendations and legislate for net zero
emissions by 2050. To do this we need to plant 50 million trees each
year. The Woodland Trust is pleased to be sending out this huge number
of trees to schools and community groups that are eager to get planting
and be part of the Big Climate Fightback.”
Evolving deer give birth earlier as climate warms
- University of Edinburgh Red deer on a Scottish island are providing scientists with some of
the first evidence that wild animals are evolving to give birth earlier
in the year as the climate warms. Genetic changes to red deer on the Isle of Rum – located off the west
coast of Scotland – have played a key role in a rapid shift in birth
dates in recent years, new research shows.
Previous studies have shown that the deer have been giving birth
earlier since the 1980s, at a rate of about three days per decade,
partly due to the effects of warmer temperatures on the deer’s behaviour
and physiology.
Now, a team involving Edinburgh scientists has revealed that genetic
changes caused by natural selection – the theory of evolution developed
by Charles Darwin – are also involved. The study provides a rare example of evolution happening quickly
enough to be detected over only a few decades. “This is one of the few cases where we have documented evolution in
action, showing that it may help populations adapt to climate warming.”
Dr Timothée Bonnet Australian National University Long-term study The team made the discovery using field records and genetic data
collected on Rum over a 45-year period since 1972. Female red deer – called hinds – give birth to a single calf each
year, and those that reproduce earlier in the year have more offspring
over their lifetime, researchers say. Their findings show that this is partly because of an association
between the genes that make hinds give birth earlier and higher overall
reproductive success. As a result, genes for breeding earlier have
become more common in the Rum deer population over time. “Long-term studies of individual lifetimes are one of the few ways to
understand how populations respond to environmental change and how to
manage its effects.” Professor Josephine PembertonSchool of Biological
Sciences Nature reserve The Isle of Rum National Nature Reserve is managed by Scottish
Natural Heritage.
Rare hazel dormice prepare for winter sleep as National Trust asks
public to help this endangered species The National Trust is today calling on people to assist struggling
dormice in a bid to boost numbers of the endangered species. While dormice are typically found in rural areas, there are a few
simple things people can do to encourage the elusive animals,
particularly if they live near a wood. Allowing bramble to grow, leaving ivy on trees and piling up logs can
all help, according to the conservation charity, which is also asking
people to report any sightings. Hazel dormice populations in the UK have fallen by around a third
since 2000 and are now extinct in 17 English counties. Habitat loss is believed to be the main reason for the decline, but
increasingly warm winters are also having a negative effect, with
dormice awaking from hibernation too early and hazel trees, their main
habitat, showing signs of stress. Rangers on the wooded Cotehele Estate in Cornwall found this sleepy
pair during their monthly monitoring check of the local dormouse
population, conducted each year from April to October. George Holmes, Lead Ranger at the National Trust, said: “Finding a
snoring dormouse inside a nesting box is an amazing feeling – they’re
such gentle and charismatic creatures. Sadly, they’re so rare now that
most people will never see one in their lifetime. We’re working hard to
improve numbers on the estate. Dormice are a key indicator species of
the health of a woodland – so if the dormice are thriving, chances are
other wildlife is too. Everyone can do their bit to encourage dormice
and other wildlife, whether it’s by letting the ivy grow on a tree in
your garden or stacking up a pile of logs as shelter.”
The Wildlife Trusts call for every child to have a daily one-hour
nature boost The Wildlife Trusts commissioned a study by the Institute of
Education at UCL to evaluate the impact that experiencing nature has
upon children. The study focused on over 450 primary school children and
the effects of Wildlife Trust-led activities on their wellbeing. This is
one of the largest studies into the effects of outdoor activities on
children’s wellbeing and views about nature. Overall, the research revealed that children’s wellbeing increased
after they had spent time connecting with nature: the children showed an
increase in their personal wellbeing and health over time, and they
showed an increase in nature connection and demonstrated high levels of
enjoyment. The children also gained educational benefits as well as wider
personal and social benefits:
One of the UK’s largest youth-led environmental programmes is calling
young people to take part in Outdoor Classroom Day this Thursday
- Our Bright Future Our Bright Future, a partnership of 31 projects across the UK, is
calling young people to spend an hour of their school day outdoors, this
Thursday (7 November), in order to improve wellbeing and engage with
nature.
Following consultation with 300 young people from across the
programme, Our Bright Future found that 11-24 year olds wanted to
campaign for more time spent learning in and about nature. To make this
a reality the programme is calling on policy makers to produce guidance
to schools stating that at least an hour of lesson time per day should
be spent outdoors.
LGA – Clearer labelling and higher charges for hard to recycle products
needed to help boost recycling rates - Local
Government Association “Councils want to increase recycling rates. Clearer labelling and
increased charges for hard to recycle products would help councils,
manufacturers and the public be part of a vital recycling revolution."
(image: LGA) The LGA said councils have used successful initiatives to try and
help increase recycling rates in their local areas, maintaining them at
the current national rate of around 45 per cent in recent years, against
a target of recycling at least 50 per cent of household waste by 2020. It says recycling labels on packaging are often unclear and
conflicting, resulting in many recyclables ending up in landfill and
preventing manufacturers being able to use recyclable materials. Research by one council alone shows that more than 40 per cent of
household rubbish it sends to landfill could be recycled, but there are
more than 20 different recycling labels in the UK that can appear on
packaging. The LGA says that clearer labelling would make it easier for
people to know what can be recycled and increase recycling rates. The LGA is also calling for the next government to commit to measures
to charge manufacturers more to cover the end of life costs to councils
of packaging that is more difficult to recycle, which would encourage
manufacturers to switch to recyclable alternatives
The Countryside Alliance responds to the latest Government statistics on
fly-tipping - Countryside Alliance Today's statistics by the government, which were collated by the
Environment Agency, reveal that fly-tipping has increased by 8% in
England. This amounts, overall, to over 1 million instances in 2018/19. The Countryside Alliance has longed campaigned on the blight that is
fly-tipping and lobbied for these figures to be released annually. Responding to the new figures, Sarah Lee, Head of Policy at the
Countryside Alliance said: "Fly-tipping has been a serious issue in the
countryside, and there is no quick fix but it is an issue many people
feel strongly about and they want to see stronger enforcement action
taken by the police and local authorities. The UK has a fly-tipping and
litter problem and in 2018-2019 there were 1,072,000 incidents of
fly-tipping in England, the equivalent of nearly 122 incidents every
hour, and at a cost to local authorities of £12.9 million." The Countryside Alliance calls for: Improved access to Civic Amenity sites: extension of opening hours;
locations; and overhaul and standardisation of admission policies, to
encourage lawful disposal of waste.
Glimmers of hope for UK's wild birds
- BTO Published today, the Wild Bird Populations in the UK, 1970-2018
report shows that after years of decline, and despite a poor 2018
breeding season, there are the signs of recovery for at least some of
our wild birds.
Song Thrush by Edmund Fellowes/BTO The indicators are intended to broadly reflect
the environmental condition of different landscapes and these are
presented alongside an 'all species indicator', which is made up of
trends for 130 different widespread bird species. The 'all species'
indicator shows that over the long-term (1970-2018), positives and
negatives are balanced - with 29% of species on the up and 28%
experiencing decline. The short-term trend, 2012-2017 delivers a similar
story, with 35% of those species increasing and 33% decreasing. Within the farmland group, Skylark, Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting and
Linnet populations have all shown short-term increases and Tree Sparrow,
Starling, Lapwing and Kestrel have all remained stable over the
five-year period. Grey Partridge populations are still in decline and
showing no sign of recovery.
NFU backs new national waste crime unit The NFU has welcomed Environment Agency plans to launch a Joint Unit
on Waste Crime in December. The latest fly-tipping statistics for the year 2018/19 show that
local authorities in England dealt with just over one million incidents,
an increase of 8% from the 998,000 incidents reported in 2017/18. NFU Vice President Stuart Roberts said: “These new figures highlight
a situation that continues to spiral out of control - now affecting two
thirds of all farmers with potentially a large number of unrecorded
incidents taking place on private land. We need tougher penalties for
those who carry out this crime. It’s not widely known that 95% of fines
for fly-tipping are lower than the cost of hiring a skip. What we need
are punitive, exemplary fines to ensure the people who are fly-tipping
don’t see fines as an irrelevance. We are pleased that the Environment
Agency will set up the Joint Unit on Waste Crime next month, involving
police and HMRC. But it’s imperative that farmers and landowners are
involved at every stage as they are the ones at the sharp end. By
working together, we can tackle this continual blight on our countryside
and allow farmers to concentrate on what they do best, producing safe,
traceable and affordable food for us to enjoy.”
Forest Holidays and National Parks UK launch #GiveNatureABreak Bees, butterflies and red squirrels in the UK’s National Parks are
set to benefit from Forest Holidays’ #givenatureabreak campaign that
starts on November 8th with a target to raise £50,000. Forest Holidays and the National Parks have launched the
#GiveNatureABreak campaign as a way to support threatened bees,
butterflies and red squirrels. From 8th November until December 2nd, £20
from every Forest Holidays booking will support these endangered species
in the National Parks. Using the code ‘NATURE’customers will also
receive a 20% discount on their booking not just on ‘Black Friday’ but
for the whole campaign. Projects to benefit include ‘SaveReds’
in the Lake District National Park, working to protect endangered red
squirrels; the ‘Dartmoor
2020 Butterfly Project’; ‘Beelines’
in the South Downs National Park; ‘Make
More Meadows’ in the Pembrokeshire Coast and the North York Moors
'Rare Butterflies Project’. Forest Holidays already support the UK’s National Parks through
‘National Park Futures’ a project that launched in May 2019 and is
connecting 20,000 young people with nature over the next five years. Find out more about the
#GiveNatureABreak offer
Millions of seabirds rely on discarded fish -
University of Exeter Millions of scavenging seabirds survive on fish discarded by North
Sea fishing vessels, new research shows. University of Exeter scientists estimate that 267,000 tonnes of fish
was discarded in the North Sea in 2010 – enough to feed 3.45 million
birds. This discard figure is down from almost 510,000 tonnes – enough for
an estimated 5.66 million birds – in 1990. Discarding in the North Sea – one of the places in the world with the
highest levels of this – is thought to have peaked around 1990. The study examined eight species, including northern gannets and
herring gulls, and the figures are based on birds that rely to some
extent on discarded fish (based on observations of how much discarded
fish different bird species eat).
“Commercial fishing has a variety of effects on marine life, but the
impact of discards is one of the least studied and least understood,”
said lead author Dr Richard Sherley, of the Environment and
Sustainability Institute on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall. “Our
study highlights the sheer number of scavenging birds potentially
supported by discards and thus the importance of understanding the wider
ecological consequences of dumping fisheries waste. With discards
declining over the period we studied, the number of birds able to rely
on this has also declined.” The researchers estimate that the largest declines were in northern
fulmars (1.4 million), black‐legged kittiwakes (1.3 million) and herring
gulls (630,000). These declines also coincide with population declines
at some North Sea colonies in each of these species. However, the
reasons for these declines are not entirely clear, and may not
necessarily be underpinned by changes in discards, though changes in
herring gull numbers at some sites have been linked to declining
discards. The paper, published in the journal Fish and Fisheries, is entitled:
“Scavenger communities and fisheries waste: North Sea discards support 3
million seabirds, 2 million fewer than in 1990.” Scientific Publications Bennett, E. M., Hauser, C. E. and Moore, J. L. (2019),
Evaluating conservation dogs in the search for rare species.
Conservation Biology. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/cobi.13431 Ida M. Kragh, Katherine McHugh, Randall S. Wells, Laela S. Sayigh,
Vincent M. Janik, Peter L. Tyack, Frants H. Jensen
Signal-specific amplitude adjustment to noise in common bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Journal of Experimental
Biology doi: 10.1242/jeb.216606 Philipp H.Boersch-Supan, Amanda E.Trask, Stephen R.Baillie,
Robustness of simple avian population trend models for semi-structured
citizen science data is species-dependent
Gonçalves da Silva, A. , Barendse, W. , Kijas, J. , England, P. R.
and Hoelzel, A. R. (2019),
Genomic data suggest environmental drivers of fish population structure
in the deep sea; a case study for the orange roughy (Hoplostethus
atlanticus). J Appl Ecol. Accepted Author Manuscript. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13534
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CJS is not responsible for content of external sites. Details believed correct but given without prejudice. Disclaimer: the views expressed in these news pages do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CJS. |
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Trash
at a beach in Bali where the UN Environment Programme launched the
Clean Seas Campaign.(image: UNEP/Shawn Heinrichs)
puffin
with fish (James Glen / Pixabay)
School and college students across the UK are being challenged to
generate new scientific discoveries that could be used to help protect
the country’s struggling bumblebees, though a competition being run by
the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, with support from the National
Lottery Heritage Fund.
(image:
University of Edinburgh)
Clearer
labelling on all products, increased charges for hard to recycle
products and measures to force producers to pay the full cost of
disposing of their waste are needed to help councils boost recycling
rates and tackle a growing environmental crisis, the Local Government
Association says today.
The
Wild Bird Populations in the UK 1970-2018 report is an annual
stocktake of a suite of species groups, termed 'indicators', of which
farmland, woodland, breeding wetland, wintering wetland and seabirds are
included.
Image
taken by a camera on the back of a northern gannet (image: University of
Exeter)
