Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2016 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

The first osprey I ever saw was perched on a branch overlooking the man-made nest platform in Manton Bay, at one end of the gigantic Rutland Water reservoir in the East Midlands. His mate was hunkered down in the messy tangle of branches that contained her clutch of eggs, calling to him continuously to bring her something along the lines of a brown trout for supper. I had just moved to the area and was thrilled to discover what exciting birds spent half their year on my doorstep. A year and a half ago my husband and I were birdwatching in the Gambia and saw an osprey flying near the fishing village of Tanji. Having read the account of his West Africa trip by Tim Mackrill from the Rutland Osprey…

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Common sandpiper ACTITIS HYPOLEUCOS Summer visitor; arrives March–April. Breeds on upland rivers, mainly in north and west. Bobs tail vigorously. Sand martin RIPARIA RIPARIA Summer visitor; arrives March. Nests in banks on meanders. Told from house martin by chest band and lack of white rump. Goosander MERGUS MERGANSER Breeds on fast-flowing rivers in north, Wales and Devon, having wintered on lowland lakes. Dives for trout and other fish.…

WHERE Seaton Carew Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS2 1TU WARDEN Ed Pritchard WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT RSPB Saltholme is a green jewel nestled in Teesside’s industrial heart. In spring it’s time to say hello to many of our breeding birds – look for 50 pairs of lapwings on our grassland, and sand martins returning to their bank. WHAT YOU CAN SEE Our inland colony of common terns is one of the largest in the UK and provides plenty of entertainment. There’s also a chance of seeing great crested grebes on the main lake and boxing brown hares on the meadow early in the day. TOP WILDLIFE SPOT At the Haverton viewpoint there is a view over our oldest reedbeds with the chance to spot a bittern or marsh harrier. Last April I…

Scientists have unearthed what they believe are the first known sexual-display sites for dinosaurs. About 70 fossilised scrapes, grouped in clusters, have been discovered among dinosaur footprints in 100-million-year-old sandstone in Colorado. They are similar to those made by a variety of modern birds to impress rivals, potential mates or both. These, though, are bigger – some are the size of bathtubs. Clawmarks suggest that they were made by large carnivorous theropods – the dinosaur group from which birds evolved. Indeed modern birds provide clues as to just who might have been displaying to whom. “Based on what birds do, I would say these are probably male display arenas,” said Martin Lockley of the University of Colorado. “It is difficult to say whether females would have been watching or not.”…

A hint of DayGlo green one minute; a dash of sky blue the next. Their abdomens made patterns like disco lights across the floor. As they flew in and around the object of their affection they looked almost playful. This was their world. Their playground. It was their dead pig. This is the story of how I went from an innocent bluebottle-spotter to a death-obsessive and back again. I began by meeting Peter Cross, a forensic anthropologist who runs a unique project set up by the University of Central Lancashire. On a secret site in the north-west of England, he showed me his experimental research facility – a field of carefully arranged dead pigs intended to help forensics teams monitor the rates at which mammalian bodies decay. “Have you got…

GETTING THERE BY RAIL • A service runs from Inverness to Wick, calling at RSPB Forsinard three times a day (10.21am, 1.46pm and 5.10pm). The reserve’s visitor centre is open from April to October and located in the station building itself. Altnabreac is the next station after Forsinard and you can request a stop here. For more details visit www.scotrail.co.uk ACCOMMODATION • Station Cottage B&B is close to RSPB Forsinard (01641 571418/07999 529086). Prices start at £35 per person. There is also accommodation in Melvich and Helmsdale.…

IN UKWATERS THERE ARE ONLY THREE TINY ‘NO-TAKE’ ZONES WHERE BOTH FISHING AND SCALLOP-DREDGING ARE BANNED” WHAT IS A MARINE PROTECTED AREA ›MPA›? An MPA is any area of the sea where human activities are more strictly regulated than elsewhere. It is designed to protect marine habitats, wildlife and historical artefacts, while allowing varying degrees of sustainable use. Marine reserves, wildlife refuges and sanctuaries are all MPAs of one kind or another. HOW MANY ARE THERE? There are at least 5,000 MPAs worldwide. Most are in territorial waters, but some are in exclusive economic zones and international waters. They range in size from a 4,000m2 MPA in Canada, to a new 830,000km2 MPA around the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific. In the UK there are about 250 MPAs, with…

A BIRD’S OVUM IS RELATIVELY ENORMOUS BECAUSE IT CONTAINS A HUGE SUPPLY OF FOOD – THE YOLK. Birds’ eggs are not just beautiful – their form and function provide overwhelming evidence of the efficacy of natural selection. We are so familiar with the uniform appearance of supermarket hens’ eggs that we barely give them a second thought, yet the sight of the sky-blue, sparsely speckled egg of a song thrush still fills us with wonder. In a way this is a superficial wonder, for it is focused entirely on the egg’s appearance, with perhaps a nod to the fact that, all being well, it will hatch and produce a new thrush. However, even more remarkable than an egg’s external appearance is the way that it forms inside the mother’s body,…

“THE OIL WAS SOME OF THE WORST I HAVE EVER SEEN. ON THE BEACH THE SMELL WAS SO STRONG THAT WE CAME AWAY WITH HEADACHES.” “The oil had hit the shoreline the previous night, and the beach was covered in globules of crude. Birds were being washed up on almost every single wave. We parked the van and pulled on our green oilskins. Then, grabbing our nets, we made our way down to the beach to help try to catch the birds. Most were scoters – I’d never seen a wild one, let alone tried to catch one with a net. I watched as one duck came ashore. It was fairly weak and was being rolled in the surf. Once on the beach it sat down and started trying to…

What was the main filming challenge? The hugely unpredictable weather! We filmed over two years, and the production team was constantly glued to the forecast. In 2014 we had a fabulous run, but 2015 was a different story – finding the breaks in the rough conditions was very challenging. The unusually brutal spring storms also destroyed the lovely golden eagle’s nest we’d been filming, and we were left desperately searching for a similar one. Any scary moments? While filming the eagles I slept in my hide to reduce disturbance. One night there was an enormous storm – I’ve never known anything like it. There were 15,000 lightning strikes across Scotland. I was miles from anywhere and just had to sit it out, as four birds were roosting 12m away. Did…

OUR EXPERTS CHRISTIAN DUNN lectures in wetland science and ecology at Bangor University. STUART BLACKMAN is a science writer who is mildly obsessed with evolution. SAM HOBSON is a wildlife photographer who regularly contributes to BBC Wildlife . PAUL ROSE Based at WWT Slimbridge, Paul is studying for a PhD in flamingo social behaviour. PHIL GATES Senior lecturer in botany at Durham University, Phil regularly writes for BBC Wildlife . Q INVERTEBRATES Do butterflies lose the ability to fly if their wings are touched? A No – this is a myth. Butterflies are still able to fly with torn, battered, pecked, bitten and even severely damaged wings. The scales are actually greatly flattened and enlarged hairs, and their mosaic arrangement of different hues has allowed butterflies (and moths) to evolve…

ANSWERS ON OUR WEBSITE! 1. How high can ladybirds fly? 2. Why do a grass snake’s eyes turn a cloudy blue prior to moulting? 3. In winter, how many berries do waxwings typically eat per day? 4. At what age do badger cubs emerge from the sett? 5. Where is one of the best places in the world to see jaguars? 6. Which spring flowers should you plant for bees? 7. How many metres away from cover should you position your birdfeeder? 8. How do humpback whales find prey? 9. Do dock leaves really soothe nettle stings? 10. How quickly can a sting from a box jellyfish kill a human being? • Answers to the quiz can be found online at www.discoverwildlife.com/animals/april-2016-quiz-answers VISIT WWW.DISCOVERWILDLIFE.COM  TODAY TO JOIN AN…

MARK EVELEIGH Travel writer Mark has tracked tigers in four countries. He says, “It was a real inspiration to meet the Rajasthani farmer who forced the experts to rethink their strategies on tiger conservation.” See p22 MARK COCKER Mark is a naturalist and author – his latest book is Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet (Vintage, £8.99). He says, “What really makes Scotland’s Flow Country special is the very stu at your feet.” See p38 TIM MACKRILL Tim has been involved with the Rutland Osprey Project for 19 years. “Finding a Rutland osprey in Senegal was a fantastic way to celebrate the project’s 20th anniversary,” he says. See p68…

"STREAKING ALONG LIKE BLUE LIGHTNING, SWALLOWS FILL OUR FIELDS AND MEADOWS WITH WILD ENERGY” Few birds inspire such love and devotion as the swallow, a bona fide globetrotter that winters as far away as South Africa. Mark Cocker, the writer of our Flow Country feature (see p38), wondered in his book Birds Britannica whether these birds’ delightful twittering song and stunning blueness might explain their appeal: “Of British birds, only the kingfisher is bluer.” Whatever the reason, their return in April never fails to gladden the heart. Recent mild winters have tempted a handful of brave swallows to linger with us to the end of the year, or even try to overwinter (a feat that one bird actually achieved in Sussex in 2014/15). Yet the vast majority that turn up…

“THE PLANT’S WEIRD-LOOKING REPRODUCTIVE STEMS LACK GREEN PIGMENT” 14 FIELD HORSETAIL You may not realise it, but your garden or local park might shelter prehistoric relics. The coarse, bristly stems of field horsetail are a common feature of damp grassy places, especially on sandy soils. They’re seldom popular with gardeners, because of their tendency to spread – but as members of a group that has thrived unchanged for more than 300 million years, they deserve respect. In spring, among the lurid green bog-brushes of this plant’s normal growth, you’ll also find even weirder-looking reproductive stems. These lack green pigment and are topped with cones (more correctly strobili) bearing the spore-producing structures, or sporangia. At about 0.05mm across, individual spores are too small to admire even with a hand lens, but…

Tiny animals, such as ants, have a much greater surface area per unit volume than big ones, such as people. And a new study reveals the implications for their ability to climb. David Labonte of the University of Cambridge has found that the sticky pads on a gecko’s feet must be 200 times bigger, relative to its body size, than those of a climbing mite to carry its body weight. “Of course one can just make feet stickier rather than larger, but at least within climbing animals this strategy seems to be used to a much smaller extent,” said Labonte. Anything larger than a gecko would need impractically huge feet to support its body weight. A human-sized gecko, for instance, would require pads that covered 40 per cent of its…

THE SELFISH HERD Herds, schools and flocks can look like classic cases of mutual co-operation that benefits the group as a whole, and indeed they sometimes are. But they can often be explained as the result of individuals selfishly using each other for their own advantage. If you stick close to others, for example, then it is less likely that you’ll be the one eaten if a predator appears. And it’s no accident that dominant individuals often occupy the safest, central positions within a group. These eastern white-bearded wildebeest found strength in numbers in the Maasai Mara.…

SNAKES ALIVE Two species of ‘extinct’ sea snake have been rediscovered o Western Australia. Short-nosed and leaf-scaled sea snakes had been known only from a single reef complex where they were last seen in 1998. But Biological Conservation says that both species have now turned up hundreds of kilometres to the south. FROG RESURRECTION Another species raised from the dead is a hole-nesting tree frog that had not been seen since it was first collected in India in the 1870s. Frankixalus jerdonii is so unusual that it has now been assigned to its own genus, in a paper in PLoS ONE. The frog’s tadpoles feed on unfertilised eggs laid by the female. THRUSH DISCOVERY A new species of thrush discovered in north-east India is only the fourth bird species to…

• Steppes Travel (01285 601630, www.steppestravel.co.uk) o ers an Ultimate Tiger Safari that visits Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, three of the most rewarding national parks in India. • Exodus Travels (0845 287 7601, www.exodus.co.uk) o ers a variety of tiger-watching tours, including to Tadoba National Park, which has produced excellent tiger sightings in recent years. • Other tour companies that have signed up to responsible tiger-watching initiatives include Audley Travel (01993 838000, www.audleytravel.com), Cox & Kings (020 3797 4542, www.coxandkings.co.uk), Encounter the Wild (020 8432 6484, www.encounterthewild.com) and Natural World Safaris (01273 691642, www.natural worldsafaris.com).…

TRENTHAM MONKEY FOREST Celebrate the Chinese year of the monkey at Trentham Monkey Forest, one of the UK’s most unique attractions. Walk among 140 free-roaming endangered Barbary macaques in a 60-acre ancient woodland. The monkeys live just as they would in their native Morocco or Algeria and the three-quarters of a mile meandering pathway runs through the beautiful Staffordshire forest. Visitors are able to walk alongside the Barbary macaques as they get an in-depth insight into the lives of this fascinating species. Situated only 5 minutes from M6 Junction 15 Monkey Forest is a truly memorable experience. So don’t forget your cameras to capture those special moments, as you immerse yourself in the monkeys’ antics. Monkey Forest, Banana café, and the Jungle shop are open every day from 10.00 am…

RAT-FREE SCILLY Manx shearwaters and storm petrels have bred on Gugh and St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly for the first time in 40 years following a successful community-led programme to eradicate rats. The islands were o cially declared rat-free in February of this year. “MR CAMERON, YOU’RE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE, BECAUSE THERE’S NO FRACKING THAT CAN BE DONE SAFELY.”Actor Mark Ru alo brings his campaign against fracking (and for renewable energy) to the UK. SYNTHETIC HORN Conservationists are calling on the USA to ban the export of synthetic rhino horn, because they say that trade in the product could increase demand for the real thing in countries in the Far East. Synthetic horn is manufactured by inserting the rhino genetic code into yeast, which then produces keratin.…

WILDLIFE DOCUMENTARY-MAKING I WANT TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT NATURE AND WILDLIFE AMONG CHILDREN MY OWN AGE, SAYS 14-YEAR-OLD ASPIRING PRESENTER JAMES MILLER. When I was young I was (according to my parents) fascinated by our pet cats. The first wildlife I was interested in was tadpoles, because we were taught about them at school, and I thought that their transformation was amazing. As well as birds, mammals and insects, I love amphibians and reptiles, and I spent seven unsuccessful years searching for adders on my local heathland – until this year, when I saw three on the same day! I have been interested in badgers since I saw some emerge from their sett a few years ago, and more recently I have discovered that they have been visiting our garden…

ALBUMEN Composed of water and a little protein, albumen both prevents the embryo from dehydrating and protects it from microbes. Albumen is actually translucent – it only turns white when it is cooked. SHELL MEMBRANE This is in fact a double layer just beneath the shell. The air-cell at the blunt end of the egg lies between the two layers. At high magnification the egg membrane resembles coconut matting; it allows gases and water vapour to pass through but helps to keep microbes out. ALLANTOIS This e ectively does the job of a placenta. It is a layer of tissue whose blood vessels carry oxygen entering through shell pores to the chick, and release carbon dioxide from the chick to the outside world. YOLK Yellow due to sulphur compounds, the…

“CLIMBING TREES PROVIDES AN ESCAPE FOR THE WORLD-WEARY” Why did you write this book? I wanted to show people how easy it is to escape the city and reconnect with nature. Climbing trees gave me relief from a digital lifestyle. It also inspired my curiosity, and I wanted to share what I found. Why climb trees? When we climb trees we enter a wonderful limbo between Earth and sky – it’s a space to reflect on our surroundings with a new perspective, and an escape for the world-weary. Though climbing trees is often considered immature, there’s nothing better in life than being childish. Kids have a stronger connection to nature than most adults, and by climbing trees we can embrace the joy of adventure. What was your most memorable encounter?…

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Courting wolf spiders reveal a very di erent side to their nature. Wolf spiders, named for their dynamic hunting technique, are exceptionally attractive arachnids – and never more so than during courtship, which in Britain occurs between April and midsummer. The male, distinguished by his slightly smaller size and black ‘boxing glove’ pedipalps, approaches the female carefully, spinning a silk lifeline that will help him leap to safety if she attacks. He woos her with seductive performance art – part dance, part mime, part semaphore. She watches his hypnotic combination of expansive waves and staccato flicks, and if she approves will permit him to approach and deliver a silk-wrapped parcel of sperm with which to fertilise her eggs.…

“Take an open - top safari and seek out Bengal tigers leopards and sloth bears” From lush tropical jungle and thick teak forests to open grasslands and crashing waterfalls, the unspoilt habitats of central India are home to a vast diversity of wildlife, all thriving in some of the world’s most spectacular national parks. The state of Madhya Pradesh, located in the heart of central India, offers some of the best opportunities for wildlife encounters. Take an open-top safari and seek out Bengal tigers, leopards and sloth bears, search the skies for migratory steppe eagles in Bandhavgarh and venture into Satpura on a walking safari in the company of expert trackers. Visitors can also explore the bamboo forests and savanna grasslands of Kanha, the area that inspired the setting and…

“I WAS WAITING FOR A HERO WHO WAS REAL, WHO WORE T-SHIRTS AS SCRUFFY AS MINE” John Buckley Chris begins a new series celebrating unsung heroes with a friend, a mentor and an altogether brilliant naturalist. ensuing riot. He just about got us to sit down, and we all started drawing cells. My first impression was that John Buckley was a bit ‘hippy’, with long hair, a cheesecloth shirt, flares and funny shoes, but he was immediately interesting. He knew loads of stuff about biology – and British wildlife. When, a couple of months later, I showed John a grass snake that I’d smuggled into the class, he told me so much We all need heroes. When I was a kid Batman, Superman and a host of other (mainly male)…

The fabled city of Jaipur in Rajasthan does not seem like the birthplace of a new vision, but so it may prove. For a decade TOFTigers has campaigned for the country’s burgeoning nature-tourism industry to be used as a conservation tool, and the authorities at the Forest Department in Jaipur are finally waking up to the idea. ‘Tigernomics’ – putting a monetary value on these beautiful cats – is the force at work, and is perfectly illustrated by the Ranthambore female famous worldwide as Machali. As an entrepreneur, Machali is nothing short of incredible. During her reign in the park, the tiger has generated £70 million for the local economy and created thousands of jobs. She has produced lodges and services, built hospitals and schools, and commissioned films and books.…

The entire badger-vaccination programme for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in England and Wales has had to be suspended for 2016 because of a global shortage of the required BCG vaccine. Vaccinating badgers on the edge of areas where levels of bTB in cattle are high has been a key plank of Defra’s strategy for combating the disease for the past year. The work has been carried out by voluntary groups such as Wildlife Trusts but largely paid for by Defra. There has also been a Welsh Assembly initiative in North Pembrokeshire. It is hoped that vaccination campaigns in the Peak District, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire and Gloucestershire, among other places, will start up again in 2017.…

“BROWN BEAR NUMBERS HAVE INCREASED BECAUSE WE HAVE REDUCED PERSECUTION” FACT FILE BROWN BEAR URSUS ARCTOS HABITAT In Spain, mountainous areas in the north DIET Grasses, fruits, acorns, beechmast, invertebrates THREATS Persecution by poisoning and snaring, and the low rate of genetic variability in the small populations LIFESPAN Typically 25 years IUCN RED LIST STATUS LEAST CONCERN There are some 250 bears in northern Spain today, with the biggest population of roughly 200 individuals in the mountains of western Cantabria. Numbers have increased from a low of about 70 in the mid-1990s because we have managed to reduce illegal persecution. Indeed, today there is a genuine social acceptance of bears – local people see them as a driver of rural tourism. However, this change of heart is not as evident…

Buglife What are Buglife’s aims? To achieve sustainable populations of invertebrates and halt their extinction. What do your volunteers do? There’s a range of posts on offer – we need office support, fundraisers, website writers and researchers. We also need conservation volunteers to take part in bug surveys and meadow creation, and skilled volunteers in areas such as IT. How much time do volunteers have to commit? Office volunteers need to give at least one day a fortnight. Researchers are needed on a project-by-project basis, web writers on a sectional basis, and conservation volunteers on an as-needed basis. Do they need qualifications? Conservation knowledge and experience are welcome, but not always necessary. Training is given in areas such as systems and survey techniques. What have your volunteers achieved recently? Two…

It’s not just blackcaps Kate Risely’s interesting article about the blackcap (‘Evolution in action’, February) brings to mind other examples from the avian world, not least the ‘gardenisation’ of the woodpigeon. However, insects, with their rapid turnover of generations, offer even better examples. Perhaps the best-known is the peppered moth, which is sometimes known as ‘Darwin’s moth’. Before the Industrial Revolution most of England’s peppered moths were pale with dark speckles. However, as the buildings and trees in the north-west of England became black with soot, a better-camouflaged, almost black variety became dominant – up to 98 per cent in the Manchester area. Today the smoke-belching chimneys have gone, the air is clean and the landscape has returned to its pre-industrial beauty. So the now better-camouflaged light form of the…