Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

In October 2018, the UK Government will host the latest in a series of international conferences aimed at combating the illegal wildlife trade, so devastating to Africa’s wildlife. At this conference, the African Wildlife Foundation will showcase its Canines for Conservation Programme – an initiative which teams up man’s best friend with dedicated handlers from African wildlife authorities – to sniff out rhino horn, ivory and other wildlife products all for a KONG toy rubber reward. Dogs noses are extraordinary. With 50 times more olfactory receptors than human noses, they don’t lie and they can’t be corrupted, and they can detect wildlife products even in sealed shipping containers. The results are remarkable. When able to fully access search areas, bust rates soar. AWF is the sector leader in the use…

Islands, points and headlands are ideal places to spot birds moving from breeding to overwintering grounds. Start exploring at one of these top locations: 1 Fair Isle is situated between Shetland and the Orkney Isles and its wonderfully isolated location makes it probably the best place to find rare Asiatic birds in Britain. 2 Spurn Point curls for over three miles from the Humber’s North Bank into the North Sea. With 391 different birds recorded there, the peninsula has the highest species count on mainland Britain. 3 Blakeney Point has as its main feature a 6.4km spit of sand and shingle that can hold huge numbers of migratory birds when conditions force them to land. 4 Portland Bill promontory at the southern edge of the Isle of Portland in Dorset…

Situated on the eastern slope of the Andes, the Tapichalaca Reserve covers around 3,300ha today, with terrain ranging from various types of forest to the high paramo at 3,400m. It supports thousands of species, among them over 130 endemic plants and 12 globally threatened species of frog, including the Tapichalaca tree frog that occurs nowhere else. One of the more striking mammalian residents is the Endangered Andean tapir, which is easily identified by its white lips – as though it has just been caught with its snout in a bowl of sugar.…

“Windermere’s Arctic charr become stressed at anything above 15ºC.” Ecologist Stephen Thackeray reveals the effects of ‘underwater heatwaves’ on freshwater wildlife and the most likely cause of the high temperatures we experienced throughout June and July this year. Daffodils flowering in December, oak trees coming into leaf in March and swallows arriving before spring should properly have sprung – we’ve all noticed changes such as these. Less well-known is that climate-change-linked phenomena are also happening beneath the surface of our lakes and rivers, unheralded. As an example of spring’s now untimely arrival below the water line, Stephen Thackeray, of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), cites how perch in Lake Windermere are spawning earlier. “It’s only a few days each decade, but if this is sustained over a long…

Leading mycologists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, have collaborated with an international team of experts to present a new report on our knowledge of fungi, highlighting its importance to life on Earth: the organisms decompose dead material, cycle nutrients and can even help prevent desertification. “When looking for nature-based solutions to some of our most critical global challenges, fungi could provide many of the answers,” says Prof Katherine Willis, director of science at Kew. The availability and efficiency of DNAbased methods has enabled scientists to detect thousands of new fungi species per year – 2,189 were described in 2017, predominantly from the phylum Ascomycota – but there are at least two million species yet to be described. The global market for edible mushrooms is worth approximately £32bn per year,…

GOOD YEAR Swallow (right) Swift House martin Spotted flycatcher Comma (above) Holly blue Purple emperor Black hairstreak Marbled white Early purple orchid (below, visited by an orange tip butterfly) POTENTIAL NEW COLONISTS European bee-eater (below) Glossy ibis Hoopoe Black-winged stilt Swallowtail butterfly (Continental subspecies gorganus) Various dragonflies and damselflies BAD YEAR Badger Red fox (right) Hedgehog Mole Large, small and green-veined white butterflies Speckled wood Ringlet Blackbird Starling Late-flowering orchids Wildflowers with shallow roots on shallow, dry soils South-facing chalk grasslands in south-east England (below) Montane habitats POTENTIAL LOSSES FROM THE UK Mountain ringlet Scotch argus (below) Dotterel Snow bunting Ptarmigan Specialist alpine flora…

“A single painting cost 2.5 times the total annual income of the RSPB.” How much money do we need to save the world’s most threatened species and protect the most important wildlife sites? I’ll give you a clue: it’s roughly the same as the amount paid out in bonuses to bankers in the UK, the United States and Canada last year. Or, to put it another way, roughly the same as Americans spend on fizzy drinks every year. A few years ago, experts from conservation and research groups around the world came up with a robust assessment of the cost of conservation. They estimated that it would cost £3.7 billion each year (at current exchange rates) to save threatened species from extinction, and £59 billion per year to protect the…

Not so much a monograph as an illustrated love-letter to the charismatic upland lagomorph, this slender but intimate tome is a passport to an austerely beautiful world. Photographer Andy Howard’s gorgeous images invite you to traverse a land of heather-purpled moors and stark, snowy mountains inhabited by eagles, pine martens, foxes and – naturally – hares in their various moods, postures and seasonal costumes. Blending memoir, photographic manual, field guide and conservation manifesto, The Secret Life tells the story of Andy’s relationship with mountain hares in the Cairngorms and Monadhliath hills of the Scottish Highlands, from his first attempt to capture a cowering individual on Slochd to his new life as a tour-leader. En route he provides an involving overview of the species’ ecology, covering breeding and reproduction, predators and…

Termites are small, but have grand effects. Their biomass in a tropical forest can match that of Serengeti wildebeest, they construct cities of cement and they digest all cellulose, from trees to cowpats. But this book explores more than just their ecology. The boundaries of Margonelli’s interest expand outwards to meet the programmers and roboticists looking to replicate termite building skills that might terraform Mars, and inwards to the geneticists unravelling the insects’ gut biochemistry with a view to creating fuel methane. An eminently readable melange of the termite microcosm.…

Of course you can create a perfectly good home for solitary bees with a bundle of bamboo canes, but you have to love the stylish dwellings designed by Cornish company Green&Blue. Standing out from the crowd of bee hotels on the market, these pleasingly minimalist products are cast in concrete, 75 per cent of which comprises waste material from China clay processing. The collection includes the renowned Bee Bricks and Blocks (coming to a new-build near you); Beepots (smart-looking planters with built-in nesting tunnels); and the newest addition – the Beepost, a striking, 230cm-tall nesting tower for the more ambitious landscaper. Prices start at£18.75.…

Britain’s post-Brexit food security has made headlines recently, with the National Farmers’ Union claiming that the UK – which today produces only 60 per cent of what it needs – would run out of food by August each year in the event of a no-deal Brexit. So this four-way debate on the nation’s farming future, hosted by Costing the Earth regular Tom Heap, is particularly timely. Join a farmer, an agricultural scientist, a green economist and a food campaigner as they discuss how public investment should best be spent to ensure both increased food production capacity and the raft of environmental benefits that the government says is its priority.…

A Lacking a protective exoskeleton, a hermit crab uses the vacated shell of a mollusc as a temporary safe house, but must find a series of bigger homes as it grows. Finding a shell exactly the right size can prove difficult, and can result in bizarre house-swap chains. If a crab locates one that’s not the right size, it will wait nearby until another crab looking for a new shell arrives. When that crab sheds its old home and takes the empty shell, our first crab moves in to that newly vacated one, casting off its own, which is then adopted by a smaller crab... and so on. The number of house-swaps each crab undertakes in its life varies depending on water temperature, habitat and species.…

DO OTHER SPECIES CARRY RACCOON ROUNDWORM? Raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis is a widespread parasitic worm found across North America. Its definitive host is the raccoon, and it reaches sexual maturity in the intestines of its host animal. Though the parasite tends to affect carnivores, it also infects small mammals and birds, and can cause severe neurological disease in humans if infections (contracted via the faeces) are untreated. WHY DID A RACCOON SCALE AN OFFICE BLOCK IN MINNESOTA? Raccoons are well-adapted to urban environments, but like all wildlife, they can experience stress, which they often respond to by climbing. The female that scaled the walls of the concrete tower in St Paul, Minnesota, was trying to escape the well-meaning humans attempting to rescue her from a second-story ledge. She climbed…

Thank you to Mark Carwardine for his very interesting and eye-opening article on conservationists being killed (My Way of Thinking, July 2018). It raised some very important points worth noting. I am just about to start an Animal Biology degree after a gap year working, and I have a keen interest and passion for conservation and activism. The prospect of pursuing such a potentially dangerous career, however, is daunting. However, despite knowing about the dangers of this field, I have not been put off – and neither should other people of my age. I believe that, while there is always an element of risk involved in activism, as long as there are those fighting to change things for the better, change is possible, and it is important that we all…

CHRIS HOWARD Chris is the series producer of BBC Two’s Autumnwatch . “It’s the hardest season to film,” he says, “and this year we’ve upped the ante: we’re coming live from New England with the most famous autumn on Earth.” See p18 RICHARD SMYTH “I’m fascinated by wildlife that’s not where it’s ‘supposed’ to be,” says Richard. “When controversy erupted recently over the urban kittiwake colony on the Tyne in Newcastle, I had to get to the bottom of it.” See p32 MARGO PIERCE “Sea turtles are barometers of the health of our oceans,” says science writer Margo. “Knowing about their lives and habitats can inform our stewardship of our shared environment.” See p70 HELEN ROY Ecologist Helen enjoys delving into the diverse behaviours of insects. “Watching Britain’s largest social…

Whether it be a new bird in the garden, a first for your local patch, or even a species you’ve never before seen in Britain, it’s time to admit there is probably a little bit of the ‘twitcher’ in all of us. For those with a penchant for tracking down rare and unexpected birds, October is the month when millions of our feathered friends relocate from their breeding to wintering grounds – with some getting lost along the way. During this time of mass avian movement across the northern hemisphere, the best locations to catch up with more unusual species are on points, headlands and islands on or around our coast. It is the location of these migration hotspots that puts them in the perfect spot to offer respite for…

If you are one of the 75,000 Brits who feed the birds in your garden, and you’re blessed with a little curiosity, you might have noticed that your avian visitors don’t just pitch in and eat – they behave strategically. To them, the feeder represents a patch resource: a weird metal tree bearing strange fruit hanging in Perspex tubes and wire cages. To them, it’s an ephemeral source of food, and they act accordingly to exploit it to the maximum. Watch carefully and you may notice a hierarchy, with certain birds displacing others. Close to the bottom of this pecking order will be the coal tit. This small, humbug-headed bird has to be sneaky to outwit the bullying blue and great tits. Coal tits dash and grab – flying in…

PROVIDE A BOWL OF WATER for birds and mammals to drink and bathe. It should be shallow or, if it’s a large bowl, arrange stepping stones so small animals can get out. CREATE A WILDLIFE POND Even the tiniest pool has enormous value, but a deeper area (with stepping stones so small animals don’t drown) is less likely to dry out. PLANT NECTAR-RICH FLOWERS to compensate for the lack of wildflowers in droughts. Top up from rainwater butts or use ‘grey’ water from baths or washing-up. MAKE YOUR GARDEN DROUGHT-RESILIENT by adopting plants, techniques and features that save and store water. Download a Rain Gardening Guide at www.wwt.org.uk.…

EUROPEAN HORNET Vespa crabro Spotability Nests are usually cylindrical, with a single wide opening at the bottom. Cavity nesters and generally found in chimneys, barns and other outbuildings along with attics and hollow trees. COMMON WASP Vespula vulgaris Spotability Beige and usually conical nest with a small opening at the lower end. Nests in cavities above or below the ground, though also behind fascia and soffit boards or roof cavities. MEDIAN WASP Dolichovespula media Spotability Grey conical nest, with a small opening positioned slightly off-centre at the base of the nest. Usually built at less than 2m above ground, often in bushes or trees and only rarely in buildings. ASIAN HORNET Vespa velutina Spotability Spherical or pear-shaped, nest, which can grow very large and has an opening to the side.…

“I tried using a tripod, but gusts of up to 50mph made it impossible to compose accurately.” A photograph can evoke a vivid sense of place – but one thing that’s tricky to capture on camera is wind. Yet it has a huge impact on animals and photographers alike, as Ben Hall discovered while tracking flamingos in the Torres del Paine massif in Chilean Patagonia. “We drove up to a point on Mont Almirante Nieto from where we hiked as high as we could, up to about 1000m,” he recalls. “The temperature dropped as we climbed – but it was the driving wind that made conditions most testing.” These jagged peaks experience powerful katabatic winds that Chilean flamingos must battle when migrating between alkaline lakes – and Ben found himself…

This series of highly scientific yet lyrical encounters with nature is a talisman for our ‘environmentally anxious’ era of losses. From the richness of sand martins who inhabit sands as unstable as our times, to intimate meetings with orb-weaver spiders, “adorned in the extra-terrestrial glow of their pearl diadems”, Evans moves us from concern to inspiration, blending close observation and revelation with characteristic passion and accuracy. We learn that ravens are undertakers, and that nightingales are ventriloquists (singing, according to Coleridge, from their own “wanton tipsy joy”). The ordinary becomes extraordinary, written with a heart-lifting mixture of literary and personal insights.…

How do you make a book on marine wildlife even more fun? Add stickers! In this lively follow-up to Zommer’s previous Big Books of Beasts and Bugs, kids are encouraged to think about how sea creatures communicate, swim and eat by sketching, colouring and sticking. They’ll learn how anglerfish use dangling lights to lure prey; how the flattened tails of sea snakes power them through the water; and how seahorses grip seaweed with their tails. Minor inaccuracies aside (‘humpbacks’ are clearly sperm whales), this is a colourful treat for youngsters.…

BEE BANQUETS Plant crocus and snakeshead fritillary bulbs, ready to bloom in time to offer a rich nectar buffet for early spring bees. CLEAN BIRD BOXES Take advantage of the last autumn sunshine to spruce up your bird homes ready for next year’s nesting season. By law you can clear old birds’ nests between 1 August and 31 January. GO WILD WITH WOOD Pile up some logs and dead wood, ideally in dappled shade, to create a winter shelter for a multitude of species. Dead wood is particularly important for stag beetles.…

The nature-writing memoir is a well-trodden path, but this story of a year of beginner-level beekeeping is beautifully written and informative. Author Helen Jukes moves from London to Oxford, where she starts a new job (that she hates) and, to effect change in her life, decides to keep honeybees in her back garden. Embarking on her journey, she obsessively researches the inner workings of the hive, immersing herself in her new wards and sharing what she learns from other beekeeping tomes. A charming, gentle and pleasant story that teaches a lot about honeybees.…

The treehopper is the cyborg of the insect world, with bizarre projections and protuberances sprouting from its thorax. The precise function of these extreme enhancements is rather mysterious. They may play a part in physical protection or mate attraction. Or they could serve as resonators for the amplification of acoustic signals. In the case of the tropical American species Alchisme grossa, though, camouflage is at least part of the story. And any predator that sees through the thorn-like disguise still has to contend with an arsenal of toxic chemicals harnessed from the sap that the bugs suck from wild potato plants.…

Enter our Your Photos competition at discoverwildlife.com/submit-your-photos Ready to land I travelled to a farm in Bedfordshire to spend the day in a hide photographing little owls that were nesting in a disused building. The birds occasionally popped out to sit on a broken window frame before flying away to hunt. This individual often used a gate post as a lookout spot, and as I had taken lots of portraits, I wanted to capture some flight shots. This action was captured using a fast shutter speed. I love the owl’s outstretched wings and lifted talons as it comes in to land on its favoured perch. Andy Edge, Essex, UK 1 Rays of light Manta rays come together to mate off the coast of the Socorro Islands in Mexico. For this…

“The kestrel often hunts by hovering over rough grassland. Around 70 per cent of their diet is made up of voles, whose numbers tend to peak every three years. This corresponds to bigger clutches of eggs. There have been significant population declines in the UK as a whole – around 35 per cent – and the RSPB suggests this is driven by a loss of habitat, often due to more intensive agriculture. Anti-coagulant rodenticides are another problem.” Staffan Roos is senior conservation scientist, RSPB…

Shrews don’t hoard food, and can’t hibernate in winter when food is scarce – so they have to do something drastic to survive. A large proportion of a shrew’s energy budget is expended on its brain, so it re-absorbs that organ for the winter, decreasing the volume of its head by 20 per cent. This is known as Dehnel’s phenomenon. If the shrew survives the winter, its brain grows again in the spring.…

By the late 1990s, the kittiwake colony on a high ridge of the Baltic Flour Mill had become the single largest colony on the river, but the mill’s redevelopment into an arts centre meant the kittiwakes had to be moved. “The Kittiwake Tower was constructed to provide an alternative nest site for birds displaced as a result of the redevelopment,” explains Gateshead Council ecologist Peter Shield. The remarkable tiered tower now stands on decontaminated industrial land at Saltmeadows Riverside and supports around 90 breeding pairs. It’s an unusual structure – but not quite unique. Helen Quayle enthuses about the remarkable tower at Middleton Island, an abandoned USAAF base in the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike the Gateshead tower, that wasn’t built for the kittiwakes – it’s a derelict Cold War radar…

Antpittas are skulking denizens of dense, dark forest floors in Central and South America. They form their own family, Grallariidae, and are stocky birds with their legs set well back. Much like our familiar European robin, they hop along the ground in search of insect or earthworm prey. Some species, together with a variety of antwrens, antthrushes, antshrikes and antbirds, often hang around army-ant swarms, where they pick off any fleeing invertebrates the ants haven’t captured and devoured. Antpittas are usually difficult to see, though a few enterprising lodges have trained local birds to take worms being offered, as described in August’s BBC Wildlife .…

A pesticide poised to fill the gap left by neonicotinoids – banned by the EU earlier this year on the basis of the danger they pose to pollinating insects – has been found to have similarly harmful effects on bumblebees. Biologists at Royal Holloway, University of London have found that bumblebee colonies exposed to Sulfoxaflor, in a class of pesticides called sulfoximines, produce significantly fewer workers and reproductive males – an effect similar to that caused by neonicotinoids. “We’d like to understand more about why Sulfoxaflor has the effects that it does,” says Elli Leadbeater, one of the researchers. “Is it because bumblebee larvae that are exposed to the insecticide fail to develop, or because exposed worker bees are less efficient?” There’s also the question of whether the EU’s banning…

FEEDING BREAD TO the ducks is a fond pastime for many of us, reminiscent of happy childhood trips to the local park. But did you know that bread actually poses a danger to birds, as well as the environment? Eating it can cause our feathered friends to develop a condition called Angel Wing, which is when too much bread makes birds’ feathers grow too quickly. This additional weight puts a strain on their muscles, causing their wings to twist and drop open, and if not treated fast, they can lose the ability to fly. “Angel Wing can be remedied if we reach birds before it has developed too severely,” says Caroline Simpson, a trustee of UK charity Swan Lifeline, which has rescued and treated more than 30,000 birds over the…

Cull suspended Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) suspended a cull of ravens in Perthshire on finding it “didn’t provide robust scientific conclusions”. A licence was granted earlier this year to see if reducing raven numbers boosted wader breeding success. Cooperative corals Tiny coral polyps that usually feed on microscopic planktonic prey can work together to subdue much larger creatures. Reports suggest corals from Sicily work cooperatively to trap, dismantle and consume large jellyfish. Breeding success The removal of invasive rats and goats from the Caribbean island of Redonda (see our May 2018 feature) has yielded spectacular results for its seabirds. The island’s frigatebirds and boobies (several species) are having their best breeding year on record. Penguin peril The world’s largest king penguin colony, on Île aux Cochons, has plummeted from two…

ON SEA TURTLE BEACHES • Avoid taking chairs and cool boxes as they can inadvertently crush turtle nests. • Dim mobile phones from dusk to dawn, or keep them off the beach altogether. Artificial lights disorientate turtles. • Choose watersports with care as turtles may be drawn to the sound of outboard motors and sometimes don’t see boats until it’s too late. • Don’t fish near nesting beaches or, better still, visit fish instead by going snorkelling or scuba-diving. ELSEWHERE • Use reusable containers to avoid the single-use plastics in food-wrappers and carrier bags. • Say no to the use of plastic straws since plastic never disintegrates, but merely breaks down into microplastics. • Don’t release balloons as they can entangle and choke sea life; turtles often mistake deflated balloons…

The Asian, or yellow-legged, hornet is native to South-east Asia, and was first seen in Europe in south-west France in 2004, probably having been introduced as a stowaway in pottery imported from China. It has since spread across France, and there are now records from the Channel Islands, too. Since 2016 there have been isolated sightings in southern England, but any nests were rapidly eradicated. There are concerns about the species’ impact on biodiversity, particularly pollinating insects, because of its wide range of prey. A recent study showed that the Asian hornet is more effective than the European hornet at establishing new nests, and it is also considered bolder and more active and exploratory than its European cousin. • Report sightings using the free ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app, or online…

This award-winning app from the Marine Conservation Society is an essential tool to help you identify the best (and worst) in sustainable seafood. Its USP is a searchable, colour-coded list of edible fish and seafood, identifying which can be eaten in good conscience (green) and those that are least sustainable (red). There’s also a wealth of information on fishery methods, conservation management and biology, plus a vast collection of recipes. Whether you’re surfing supermarket shelves or perusing a menu, you are mere clicks away from knowing whether you should tuck into anchovy (right, yes), seabass (maybe) or shark (absolutely not).…

So, why raise a clutch of geese? I was working on a long-term project at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology to research whether geese could be trained to carry tiny data-loggers. The aim was that they would collect real-time meteorological data and information on the flight mechanics of birds. To ensure we could fit and remove the devices easily, the birds had to be raised – and taught to fly – by a human. Because I can fly a microlight, I was chosen as ‘Papa Goose’. How did you get the birds to imprint? I read to the incubating eggs for a couple of hours a day so they knew my voice, and made sure I was the first thing the hatchlings saw. I held them and put them…

A The ancient relationship between flowering plants and pollinators is based on cooperation: one is given help with reproduction, while the other earns a high-energy meal. Delve deeper, though, and it becomes clear that this is a complicated relationship. Flowers use an astounding array of shapes, colours and scents to entice their preferred pollen porters; for example, deep, tubular flowers are accessible to only the longest tongues. However, many short-tongued bees have learned to sidestep this inconvenient anatomy. These resourceful foragers bite holes through the corolla to gain access to nectaries. Flowers such as comfrey, aquilegia and honeysuckle commonly bear the mark of a thief. Buff-tailed and red-tailed bumblebees are known to pilfer, and can learn this behaviour from one another; other bees are not averse to using the holes…

The concept of evolutionarily stable strategies emerged from the mathematical discipline known as game theory. A strategy is evolutionarily stable if it cannot be bettered – as long as most of the population adopts it. This helps explain, for example, the evolution of cooperation; how animals make decisions about when they should fight or flee; and why most species produce equal numbers of males and females, even though a minority of males in many species (such as walrus) father the majority of offspring.…

Relief on the redesign I was a little concerned when I read that BBC Wildlife was to be updated. In my experience, updating does not necessarily mean an improvement – all too frequently it means a smaller magazine at the same price as the older version. However, I am pleased to say that the updated magazine is even better than the older version. There were so many interesting and thought-provoking articles in the July magazine, amazing photography, as always – and you have still retained the crossword and quiz. Well done! Anne Eaves, via e-mail Spider spotting Following your inclusion of a wasp mimic (Wild Month, July 2018), I was thrilled to spot my first wasp spider at Pett Level in East Sussex. The area encourages breadth of vision with…