Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

RED-SHANKED DOUC LANGURS MOVE THROUGH THE CANOPY IN SEARCH OF THE YOUNGEST LEAVES.Find out more on p36 The last house we lived in was close to a large rookery and ‘The Boys’ as I referred to them (whether male or female) often visited the garden. I gave them that nickname because they would swagger across the lawn like a scene from an avian Reservoir Dogs, intimidating the other birdlife with mob tactics. It was more than bullying that kept them well fed, though. Like all the corvid family, rooks are clever, as you can read on p46. However the food was presented they would work out how to get their beaks on it. I made my own fat balls in paper cups with a piece of string through the middle.…

EVENT SPOTLIGHT The bugs are back in town The Royal Entomological Society’s biennial Insect Festival returns this year and takes place in York’s botanic gardens. The event will be filled with activities, including interactive exhibits, bug hunts, and the chance to handle a range of invertebrates. The Yorkshire Schools Insect Art Competition entries will be on display, and the winner for each age category will be awarded their prizes. Visitors will also be able to view The National Insect Week Photography Competition 2016 entries. • 2 July, Yorkshire Museum Gardens. Adults £1, under 16s free, www.royensoc.co.uk/events/insect-festival-2017 Overnight Mothathon Join the reserve warden at RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes to learn about moth trapping and how to identify species, including the garden tiger moth ( below ). Attendees can help set up…

• BEHAVIOUR CUTTING DOWN THE COMMUTE GUILLEMOT PARENTS SAVE ENERGY WHEN THEIR CHICKS THROW THEMSELVES IN AT THE DEEP END. As youthful experiences go, few are as life-changing as the death-defying leaps made by guillemot chicks from breeding colonies on towering cliffs. When still a quarter of their adult size and incapable of flight, these little balls of down launch themselves from their lofty nests to plummet – if they are lucky – into the ocean below. But new research suggests that not waiting to fledge isn’t as reckless as it seems. For the first three weeks of life, the chicks are fed fish at the colony by both parents in the safety of a nest inaccessible to most predators. Should they survive the fall, they are accompanied at sea…

STEAM ROSE FROM THEIR BACKS AND PUFFS OF BREATH DISSOLVED IN THE COOL AIR AS THEY FOCUSED ON BREAKFAST. Excited officials cheer as a helicopter airlifts another metal container into place in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Park rangers swing open heavy crate doors before half a tonne of raging bison throws himself out like an angry bull entering a bullring. More than a dozen shaggy-brown bison with upturned horns regroup before standing with a bemused look, snorting at the cold winter air. Their hoof-prints in the glistening snow will be the first left by plains bison in this area for more than a century. The recent reintroduction of 16 bison to Canada’s oldest national park, more than a century after they were nearly hunted out of existence, rates…

“EFFORTS WERE DIRECTED TO PROTECTING HABITAT IN TWO AREAS.” FACT FILE WHOOPING CRANE GRUS AMERICANA HABITAT Freshwater wetlands in Canada and the US for breeding; fresh and salt marshes for overwintering DIET Tubers, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates such as clams THREATS Deterioration and loss of habitat, illegal shooting, and collisions with power lines IUCN RED LIST STATUS ENDANGERED Conservation efforts to rescue the whooping crane from the brink of extinction have been going on for some 50 years, but there are still just over 600 birds split into four separate wild flocks and some birds in captivity. So, why did this lovely, 1.5m tall species almost disappear, how did we save it and what more needs to be done? The whooping crane’s decline began towards the end of…

MCDONALD’S McDonald’s and Conservation International have worked together for more than 20 years. The fast-food chain has funded conservation efforts on pandas and bees and has put pictures of endangered species on kids’ Happy Meals. EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE The US NGO has worked with Starbucks since 2001, offering incentives to coffee growers to adopt more sustainable farming practices while increasing yields. RIO TINTO A multi-national whose operations include the Grasberg mega-mine in Indonesian Papua. It previously had partnerships with Birdlife International and Fauna & Flora International, although these ended in 2016. THE NATURE CONSERVANCY With revenues of $1bn, the USA’s largest conservation organisation protects more than 40m hectares of land worldwide. Partnerships include the Disney Wilderness Preserve in Florida. TOYOTA Toyota began a collaboration with BirdLife International last year – the…

The roar of machinery shattered the peace of the valley and the hairs stood up on the back of my neck. After years of advising people how to create wildflower meadows, it was time for me to put into practice what I’d been preaching. But I didn’t realise it would start quite like this. We moved to the Conwy Valley in north Wales in 2015. It’s a magical place, following the course of the Afon Conwy from the high Migneint moors down to the sea, where its mouth is guarded by the ramparts of Conwy Castle. Much of the valley is a verdant sliver of green, a pastoral antidote to the harsher mountain landscapes of Snowdonia to the south and west. Here, in countryside the colour of a mallard’s head,…

His 90th may have long come and gone, yet Sir David is busy as ever, with another new project launching this month. Richmond Park: Natural Nature Reserve (YouTube) is a short, sweet documentary about London’s largest NNR and SSSI, presented by the great naturalist and produced by top BBC film-makers. The video kicks off the new conservation campaign Tread Lightly in Richmond Park, which urges us to look after this gem of a space and its wild denizens for future generations. Away from the metropolis, head north to sample the rural delights of Yorkshire: A Year in the Wild (My5; www.channel5.com), which follows the animals of the Dales and North York Moors through all four seasons, with adders, roe deer (right), peregrines and salmon all making an appearance. If marine…

What does the SWLT do? We manage 50 sites across the southwest on behalf of the landowner, South West Water. Our main responsibilities are provision of public access, conservation of the natural and historic environment, education and recreational facilities. What sort of work do your volunteers get involved with? There’s a range of tasks on offer, from helping maintain the estate using skills such as fencing and stonewalling, through to cutting coppice, managing meadows and conducting species surveys. Do you focus on any species in particular? Yes – our volunteers have been heavily involved in a bat project at Burrator Reservoir on Dartmoor. We erected 120 boxes back in 2010 and check them once a month during the summer – to date we’ve undertaken more than 5,000 checks! The boxes…

1 BEAUTIFUL BEAST I visited Norway in February with some fellow wildlife photographers and film-makers to see musk oxen. Following a challenging walk from our basecamp to locate the bovids, we stayed with a group of males for several days. After some time, the mammals felt confident and we could get quite close. I lay on the snowy ground to take this picture, watching the musk ox’s body language as they can be unpredictable. To focus my image on the details of the creature’s face and thick coat I used a zoom lens and upped the exposure. Etienne Brunelle, Namur, Belgium 2 SEEING RED I visit the Baldha Garden, Dhaka, Bangladesh, every week in search of small subjects to photograph. In March I spotted this stunning oriental latrine fly. I…

JO WIMPENNY Jo is a natural history and science writer who has studied crows. “People tend to love or hate corvids,” she says. “I aim to help swing the balance towards these remarkable birds”. See p46 SARA MIZZI Writer Sara reports on the tension between elephants and people in India.“This is a story about endangered animals and farmers both struggling to survive,” she says. See p64 TREVOR DINES Botanist Trevor has spent two years creating a wildflower meadow. “I was so excited watching the meadow come to life, especially as the first yellow rattle seedlings appeared,” he says. See p72…

BATS AND BADGERS Report any wild mammals you see in urban areas – or their signs – to the annual ‘Living with Mammals’ survey that runs to the end of June: www.ptes.org/living-with-mammals MACHAIR IN BLOOM Swathes of red clover, lady’s bedstraw, buttercups, irises, harebells, marsh orchids… Hebridean machair bursts into a riot of colour this month. Explore a detailed new map of the habitat at: www.snh.gov.uk/aboutscotlands-nature PROJECT PUFFIN Calling all ‘puffarazzi’: June is a great time to experience the hubbub of a seabird cliff, and now an RSPB study into how puffins are faring needs your photos of these auks carrying fish. Try to make sure all of the bill and fish are in focus, and send your pictures to: www.rspb.org.uk/projectpuffin FEISTY BUTTERFLIES Speckled woods, feisty? These insects, the second…

RIVER THAMES TALK The River Thames was declared ‘biologically dead’ in 1958. It is now a global success story of a recovering urban estuary, home to common seals (right) and cormorants. 11 July, http://bit.ly/2oOhYZP DRAGON HUNT Join this British Dragonfly Society walk at Woodwalton Fen, Cambridgeshire, to see as many species as possible, including scarce chaser and white-legged damselfly. 17 June, http://bit.ly/2oYcFpi OLD BIRD, NEW TRICKS Visit this free Natural History Museum Tring exhibition to learn about recent dodo-related discoveries and see one of the very few skeletons of the extinct bird in existence. Until 25 June, http://bit.ly/1sOpdzV CLEANING COASTLINES Members of the public are being asked to spend two minutes picking up litter to protect the marine environment and its inhabitants. 11 June, http://bit.ly/2m3x1yD…

GAIA HYPOTHESIS Named after a Greek goddess of the Earth and proposed by British scientist James Lovelock in the 1970s, the Gaia hypothesis holds that the myriad ecological interactions between our planet’s animals, plants, microbes and chemistry serve to keep environmental conditions stable and fit for life – essentially, the Earth functions as a self-regulating “supra-organism”. The scientific evidence is scant and controversial but the idea remains influential.…

“THE LIGHT COMES EARLY AND FAST NOW, RUSHES INTO DAY, EAGER TO SHAPE AND SHARPEN.” Here in the dim it’s safe, comfortable. The black smudge is soft, edges blur, the starless sky is an easy bland and the traffic hum like a body drone – like the buzz blood makes in the brain when you think you are listening to silence. The wind’s not talking, the mice are in bed or dead and the foxes self-consciously choose to pad the path, picking their way through the purple velvet so that no twigs titter in their wake. The visual lessness, the meaness of sound make it smell big. I can all but taste the bitter bluebells I’ve scuffed from my seat and the raw earth my heels have holed… it’s dirt…

HEDGES Hedges are the archetypal line, the hedgehog home, and some of the richest wildlife habitat in the country as they provide corridors through both urban and rural landscapes. The approximately 500,000km of hedge in Britain benefit not just the wildlife within, but also species such as bats that feed above and along hedgerows. One Devon hedge, just 85m long, was carefully studied for two years and was found to be used by over 2,000 species. Another researcher found 280 species of fungi in a single hedge bank. RAILWAYS Railways often fragment the landscape, but sensitively managed these lines can be amazing. In the trackside wild space, free from interference, I have seen foxes and deer making their way into cities, brambles throbbing with bees and lizards basking. Railway lines…

NEW CALEDONIAN CROW Quickly and flexibly solves tool-related problems, such as choosing tools of the right size for a task, making new tools, using tools in the correct sequence, and (as in Aesop’s fable) using objects to raise the water level. EURASIAN MAGPIE May recognise itself in the mirror, suggesting an awareness of ‘self’. It the only bird known to possibly be able to do this. Can also identify individual humans, and respond accordingly. COMMON RAVEN Adapts its cache-protection strategies, including tactical deception, to suit each situation. Able, like domestic dogs, to follow the gaze of humans. Can also pull strings to retrieve food. WESTERN SCRUB JAY Has an episodic-like memory – it recalls what, when and where things are. Can plan for the future. Like the common raven, it…

“NOT ONLY ARE THEY GUARANTEED A TROPHY TO BRAG ABOUT BACK HOME, THEY PAY MUCH LESS THAN FOR TRADITIONAL TROPHY HUNTING.” WHAT IS CANNED HUNTING? Canned hunting is trophy hunting at its most indefensible: animals are bred in captivity specifically for hunters to shoot them under controlled conditions. A lion, for example, is taken from its cage and released into a small, fenced enclosure where there is very little cover and no chance of escape. A hunter is then driven into the enclosure, right up to the animal, to shoot it with a shotgun, handgun or crossbow. It’s akin to shooting a cow in a field. WHY IS IT SO POPULAR? The clue is in the name – canned means that the kill is guaranteed, or “in the can”. The…

FEBRUARY - JUNE 2015 * Carried out soil test, looking for low levels of phosphorus (0-3 mg/litre) and nitrogen (1 per cent or lower). * Installed stock-proof fencing to manage grazing livestock such as cows. * Undertook detailed vegetation survey. JULY 2015 * Controlled larger patches of invasive perennial weeds. Small patches left to enhance diversity. AUGUST 2015 * Field cut and baled for hay in late August. Two Highland cows arrive, living in top field while lower meadow is created. SEPTEMBER 2015 * Ground prepared using flail mower and tine harrow to open up at least 50 per cent bare earth. Next day, brush-harvested seed is transferred from donor meadow. OCTOBER 2015 * Seeds begin to germinate but grass also grows back strongly, so cows moved onto meadow to…

“I’VE EATEN TERMITE QUEENS THAT TASTE OF FOIS GRAS.” What is the book’s purpose? There are two: to share the results of the Nordic Food Lab’s research into insect gastronomy, and to start a broader conversation about what we do and don’t eat, and why – and how these choices profoundly shape our food systems. It’s about getting people to think about eating as diversely as possible, whether they already eat insects or not. Where do insects already feature in diets? On every continent and across every ecosystem, with a correspondingly huge range of flavours and textures. We did fieldwork in Italy, Kenya, Uganda, Peru, Australia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Japan, Norway and Thailand, and that’s only a handful of places. Insects tend not to be everyday fare – they’re more…

How did you find these gardens? Through a local horticultural society. We wanted to find a group of gardens with contrasting identities. Those we decided on are all very different – for instance, one is formal, another is geared around children, another overgrown. Any nice experiments? Yes. We investigate the homing instincts of snails by dabbing them with UV paint, then filming them at night to see where they go. The images are amazing – like disco snails. We also put RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags on several songbirds, along with readers at their feeders. These worked like Oyster cards [as used on London Underground], keeping a tally of how often a species visited a feeder, and when. Did you see anything unexpected? Yes. You don’t commonly see badgers in the…

Shut off your phone, enjoy the view, and get ready for one of the most epic photography trips you’ve ever been on. Are you looking for a spectacular destination to take your wildlife photography vacations? Tsylos Park Lodge offers you the comforts of our Canadian Wilderness Lodge with Professional Wildlife photography guides, small groups, and some of the world’s most stunning scenery. Just a one and a half hour charter flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, you’ll find one of the best photography destinations amidst the pristine beauty of Pacific Coast Mountains in the Canadian wilderness. A Photographer’s Wilderness & Wildlife Paradise The Chilko area is a photographer’s paradise. Known for its stunning beauty and many different species of wildlife, it offers you the perfect spot to shoot to your heart’s…

THE PANEL BOTANY Q A What is cleistogamy? A This is a self-pollination system in which the flowers remain closed, producing seeds with no help from insects. The opposite, in which the blooms open for pollination, is known as chasmogamy. Some plants, such as dog violet (above), use both strategies – cleistogamy restricts genetic diversity, but can offset poor seed production elsewhere on the plant. SM PRIMATES Q Why is the primate family so diverse? A Comprising approximately 504 species, the primates are an ancient and indeed diverse group of eutherian (placental) mammals spread across three major divisions: apes, monkeys and prosimians (lemurs, tarsiers, lorises, galagos and pottos). One reason for primates’ diversity is the sheer length of time they have had to evolve. The primates first emerged more…

“DOWN AMONG THE PLANT STALKS, MEADOWS ARE HUMMING, BRIMFUL OF ALL KINDS OF LIFE.” “How lovely it is to lie in a field and dream,” muses John Lewis-Stempel in his beguiling 2014 book Meadowland , which recounts the ‘private life’ of an English meadow. So many of our traditional wildflower meadows and natural grasslands have gone – 98 per cent in five decades – that such innocent pleasures almost seem like sacrilege, lest we trample any precious plants. Yet the only way we can hope to preserve these species-rich places is by visiting and celebrating them – and now’s the best time to do it. This June wildflowers are flavour of the month. The Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild project, back for its third year, has a meadows theme. In…

Even arachnophobes might be able to find a soft spot for zebra spiders, Salticus scenicus , common and widespread denizens of almost any warm, sun-baked wall, patio or fence post. They are dressed in a striking avant-garde pelage of highly contrasting black, white and golden hairs, the quantities of which vary from spider to spider and further add to the individuality of each animal. It is worth seeking them out for this aspect alone. But it is their uncanny habit of looking right at you that never fails to fascinate. When any animal turns to face you, it can unleash a variety of emotive responses, yet rarely does such a gaze originate from an invertebrate. But with two of their eight eyes being forward-facing and particularly large, they have an…

SPIDERS EAT AS MUCH AS CETACEANS All the world’s spiders eat as much as the world’s whales – 400–800 million tons of meat annually, according to research published in The Science of Nature. Indeed, they could polish off the entire human population in a year. Happily, they don’t seem to have worked that out yet. FINE OLD BIRD Few fossils are as well preserved as a 130-million-year-old bird unearthed in China. Described in National Science Review, the Eoconfuciusornis fossil – the second oldest fossil bird, after Archaeopteryx – displays remarkably intact plumage and soft tissues, including egg yolks developing in the ovaries. BEGGING: THE QUESTION Strawberry poison-dart frog tadpoles beg their mothers to feed them. The Journal of Evolutionary Biology reports that tadpoles in better condition beg more vigorously and…

CONVENTIONAL FARMERS ARE OFTEN BLAMED FOR DECLINING WILDLIFE POPULATIONS, BUT MANY OF US DO TRY TO BE RESPONSIBLE, SAYS DUNCAN FARRINGTON . What do you farm? A mix of wheat, rapeseed, fava beans and barley on 280ha in Northamptonshire. How do you care for wildlife on your farm? Rather than putting more pesticides or herbicides on our crops, we use other methods to improve the soil and increase yields. We sow winter cover crops, especially legumes, which fix nitrogen and boost microflora and fauna in the soil, and use companion plants to attract pollinators. Do you use pesticides? Yes, but sparingly. On rapeseed, for example, now that we can no longer use neonicotinoids, we do have to spray if there is a flea beetle infestation. In this situation, we go…

“WE WORK WITH COMPANIES TO DEVELOP WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS THAT DON’T HARM THE PLANET.” You may have been only dimly aware, if at all, that Coca-Cola has been supporting the global wildlife group WWF on a range of issues, including threats to river pollution, and the Arctic and its most iconic species, the polar bear, since 2007. Indeed, WWF has similar partnerships with HSBC, John West, Unilever and other corporate groups. In the year to 30 June 2016, WWF-UK alone took £6.8m in sponsorship from corporate donors. And – among conservation organisations – it is not alone. Such support and sponsorship is widely seen as symbiotic. Conservation needs cash and commitment, while businesses benefit from the association with good causes. But, according to Prof Bill Adams from the University…

Natural Histories RADIO BBC Radio Four Tuesdays 11am (repeated Mondays 9pm), starting 6 June. The classic radio series returns, brightening cars and kitchens across the land with 25 enjoyable and informative episodes that delve into our cultural relationship with wildlife. Narrated by naturalist and broadcaster Brett Westwood, the first four offerings look at starlings and their influence on art and music; that icon of extinction, the dodo; the hare and why it has bewitched and beguiled us for generations; and arguably the world’s toughest animal, the tiny tardigrade.…

It s difficult to find a better place to spot wildlife at its purest than at Napo Wildlife Center at Yasuni National Park. When you visit, always try to wake up early to see a marvelous sunrise and flocks of macaws flying from tree to tree in the rainforest. Now, imagine the same scene right from the window of one of the four cozy brand new suites, built in the shores of “Anangu” Lagoon each with its own private Jacuzzi with an amazing view to the forest. You might be familiar with the former Napo Wildlife Center suites, but there is a feature that make the new ones really incredible, a panoramic floor right in the middle of the living room, from where you can spot caimans, hoatzins fluttering around,…

1 RED-BREASTED GOOSE Lauwersmeer NP Spectacular numbers of barnacle and white-fronted geese overwinter here, along with rarities such as the red-breasted goose. Montague’s harriers and golden orioles both breed in the park too. 2 SAND LIZARD Hulshorsterzand, Veluwe This area of the Veluwe is the most important location for inland sand drifts in Europe and is a great place to encounter sand lizards. 3 BLUETHROAT De Groote Peel NP This unmistakeable, robin-sized songbird breeds throughout much of the Netherlands, but the wetlands of De Groote Peel are an excellent place to start. 4 BLACK WOODPECKER Grenspark de Zoom-Kalmthoutse Heide NP A mosaic of habitats make up this cross-border (with Belgium) national park, including pasture and dunes. The coniferous woods surrounding the central heathland area are home to this striking woodpecker.…