"What A Wonderful World" with David Attenborough

Million Ponds Project

Pond Conservation launched the Million Ponds Project yesterday. What is the Million Ponds Project? The Million Ponds Project will create an extensive network of new ponds across the UK. Ultimately the aim is to reverse a century of pond loss, ensuring that once again the UK has over one million countryside ponds. I have been considering creating a pond in our back garden but I keep procrastinating. I think this is the year that I will go ahead and create one. I would like to create a traditonal pond to attract frogs and other wildlife but I might start with something small like a barrel pond. Please share your tips and advice about creating a pond if you've created one yourself.

Plan to save London sparrows: turn parks into meadows

Parks plan to boost London's house sparrows Conservationists have launched a scheme to turn parts of London's parks into meadows in an attempt to reverse the decline of the once-common house sparrow. (link via independent.co.uk) Seeds and bugs experiement to save London's sparrows (link via the RSPB) House sparrow Red status - Red is the highest conservation priority, with species needing urgent action.

Recycle Christmas Cards to help the Woodland Trust plant a forest

Until the 31st January 2009, if you take your old Christmas cards to one of the following stores, they will be collected as part of the Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme to plant trees and create the largest new native forest in England - HEARTWOOD FOREST. The stores taking part are: WHSmith UK mainland high street stores Tesco All supermarkets including selected Express stores Marks and Spencer all stores including selected Simply Food stores TK Maxx

Do One Thing for Nature This Christmas

A video of forest animals singing for a better life at Christmas has attracted nearly two million hits on YouTube. (link via telegraph.co.uk) DoOneThingSong: Do one thing to help them out: BBC - Breathing Places

Why are the sparrows disappearing in Britain?

Mystery of the vanishing sparrow The Independent offered £5,000 for a convincing theory about why the house sparrow was dying out in cities. The answer seems to lie with falling insect numbers This excerpt from the article via the above link, further explains:

Dr Vincent, then of De Montfort University in Leicester, said: "This is one of the most mysterious and complex declines of a species in recent years. The study highlights that sparrow chicks are hatching but they aren't surviving. "This is partly down to the loss of green spaces within British cities through development on green space, tree removal and the conversion of front gardens for parking. The loss of deciduous greenery within urban areas may have made life much more difficult for birds like house sparrows that need large numbers of insects to feed their young."

I've noticed fewer and fewer birds (particularly sparrows) have been appearing in my garden this year even though I keep birdfeeders and birdbaths filled. I find it very sad and also quite disturbing. What about your garden (yard)? Have you noticed a decline in house sparrows and/or other birds where you live?

Parakeets destroying windmill that survived Blitz

Parakeets destroying precious windmill A windmill that withstood the Blitz and the worst of the English weather for 150 years is being destroyed – by parakeets. The grade II listed building has suffered £50,000 of damage courtesy of 12 rose-ringed parakeets, which are using its sails to sharpen their beaks. (link via metro.co.uk) The famous windmill is located in the London Borough of Croydon: Croydon's only windmill, Shirley Windmill is in Postmill Close, off the Upper Shirley Road, Shirley, Croydon, Surrey, UK. Built in the mid 1850's to replace an earlier post mill which was destroyed by fire in 1854, it worked until 1892 when it was abandoned. The mill is opened on the first Sunday of each month from June until October, between 1pm and 5pm. (link via geograph.org.uk) Ring-necked parakeets in the UK The ring-necked, or rose-ringed, parakeet is the UK's most abundant naturalised parrot - it became established in the wild in the 1970s after captive birds escaped or were released. (link via RSPB.org.uk)

Blue Bananas - nature is full of surprises!

I love learning fun facts like this (I bet it will be on QI - one of my favourite TV shows): Ripe bananas are blue - and no-one ever noticed before! Excerpts from New Scientist article: Bananas so ripe they're bright blue The really fascinating bit is why this might occur: Why would a banana want to be blue? Kräutler can think of two reasons. One, these chemicals are anti-oxidant, hence they may well defend the fruit from decay. Bananas do last an amazing time for a tropical fruit, ________________ The possibility I find most attractive, though, is that a lot of the things that eat bananas see in the UV range - including fruit bats, which love bananas and like it are native to southeast Asia. This bright blue must shout out the presence of nicely ripened fruit across the dimly lit forests where both the bats and the bananas grow. And before it became a seedless, sexless shadow of its ancestors, bananas, like all such plants, wanted their fruit eaten.

Bright magpies 'recognise mirror image'

Magpies are beautiful birds but incredibly noisy and also known for eating other birds' eggs and their young, so they aren't exactly popular birds, however they are very intelligent and magpies have been shown to possess the intellectual prowess necessary to recognise themselves in a mirror – a feat that, until now, has only been seen in humans, apes, elephants and dolphins. (link via independent.co.uk) The RSPB: Magpie

Prince Charles warns of GM catastrophe

I'm certainly not a royalist or monarchist, but I do agree wholeheartedly with Prince Charles' views about GM crops: Prince Charles has warned that the adoption of genetic modification in farming has set the world on course for "the biggest disaster, environmentally, of all time". (link via guardian.co.uk) A lot of scientists are worried and don't think genetic modification of crops is the solution to the world's food shortage. In fact, a major new study shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis. (link via independent.co.uk) I think planting GM crops are more likely to lead to a major disaster because GM crops cannot be contained so other crops will be contaminated. My belief is that once Pandora's box is opened, it will be impossible to maintain nature as it should be. Once the damage is done to our environment, what then? THE CASE AGAINST GM CROPS

National Insect Week 2008

I just found out that it's National Insect Week 2008 (23rd to 29th June). As a keen gardener, I also enjoy observing insects - especially bees and butterflies. The National Insect Week site provides a handy page profiling twelve of Britain’s fascinating insects and I was particularly interested to read about the Black Garden Ant – (Lasius niger) and learn this fascinating fact:

This species and a related Lasius species are essential for the conservation of the declining populations of the attractive Silver-Studded Blue Butterfly (Plebejus argus) on heathland because they protect the butterfly’s caterpillars from predators in return for feeding on secretions specially produced by the caterpillars.

There are more interesting insect facts on the site and if you wonder how to attract more insects to your garden, the site provides some tips about How To Make Your Garden Insect Friendly. If you take part in their fun competition and vote for an insect in four categories – Good, Bad, Beautiful and Ugly, you will be eligible for a chance to win a book or a DVD.