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s I write this, and could pose a threat to our Megan, our Editorial biodiversity if it gains a foothold. Assistant, has been Thinking of invading creatures, reading out an our Talking Point this issue (p28) Aonline news item raises the knotty problem of how about an Asian hornet having a nature lover deals with animals been spotted in Cornwall. It may that are viewed as pests by the rest be a coincidence, or a matter of of humanity. It certainly chimes our senses being attuned to the with my quandary over flies in my subject, but hornets are the stars kitchen this summer. My answer of an article in this issue (p78) to the problem has been to develop written by ecologist Helen Roy my stealth skills to the point where and illustrated with some amazing I can catch them in a glass and images by photographer Stephen eject them from the premises! Powles. It is mostly about our native hornets but included is a section about the invading Asian
species which has been slowly Sheena Harvey making its way across Europe Editor
Our plastic Get your Contact us Q Advertising packaging digital copy [email protected]; 0117 300 8276 Immediate Media Co Q Subscriptions (publisher of BBC Wildlife) uy a digital edition of [email protected]; is exploring non-plastic BC Wildlife Magazine for 03330 162 121 wrapping options for OS, Android, Kindle Fire, Q Editorial enquiries subscriber copies by looking C or Mac. Visit iTunes, [email protected]; 0117 314 7366 at alternatives. Our current he Google Play store, Q Syndication wrappers can be recycled at mazon or www.zinio. [email protected];
COVER: Bear: Mark Raycroft/M nden chipmunk: Marie Read/naturepl.com P ctures/Getty; Sanker/naturepl.com; kGeorge tt wake: Andrew cardinal: Mason; plastic bag recycling points. om to find out more. 0117 314 8782
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 3 70
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CONTENTS 78 FEATURES WILD NEWS 18 Autumnwatch USA COVER STORY 70 Turning turtle Keep up to date with the big nature ‘Watch’ producer Chris Howard previews It takes all sorts of volunteers – with stories and latest wildlife discoveries the wild delights of New England in the fall varied motivations – to monitor and 51 News protect loggerheads on a Florida beach 28 Everyday ethics COVER STORY Persecution of birds of prey in Scotland Is it ever OK to squash a fly, or is ‘live 78 A sting in the tale has fallen following new legislation and let live’ the absolute imperative? Explore the social world of the hornet 54 Conservation report with a photographer who gets a buzz 32 Newcastle’s urban kittiwakes The elusive Central Asian sand cat out of these striped insect predators COVER STORY Why seabirds nesting on 57 Meet the Scientist Tyneside are ruffling feathers 84 Photo story: Eye on the tiger Lake ecologist Stephen Thackeray on Extraordinarily candid images from a the effects of ‘underwater heatwaves’ 42 The bird that saved forestsRY new exhibition reveal the lives of the big How the discovery of Ecuador’s jocotoco cat and efforts in their conservation 58 Truth or Fiction? antpitta led to the creation of a reserve Do the stripes of a zebra actually help it and influential conservation foundation stay cool under the searing African sun? Share 60 News: How heat hits wildlife 69 Mark Carwardine COVER STORY The UK’s long, dry summer and win Is fine art really so much more valuable has been welcomed by some – but it Complete our than conservation? has had a serious impact on nature reader survey Page 108 4 BBC Wildlife October 2018 The people behind our stories Antpitta: Xavier Munoz; turle: Ben Watkins; moose: Michael Quinton/Minden/Alamy; kittiwakes: Andrew Mason; Steven Allain: Charles Best; illustration by Peter David Scott/The Art Agency
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 18
115 32 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 OUR WILD REGULARS writer Margo. “Knowing about their lives and habitats can inform WORLD 6 Wild Month our stewardship of our shared Find out the answers to your wild Seven species to look out for in October environment.”See p70 questions and share your stories 13 Mike Dilger’s wildlife watching 109 Q&A How to enjoy migration hotspots Why are birds of paradise so spectacular? 17 Nick Baker’s Hidden Britain Plus, do wild animals get cancer? COVER STORY The coal tit’s stashing strategy 114 Travel: National Parks 40 In Focus: Oxpeckers What to spot if you visit Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia 92 Behind the Image Chilean flamingos fly high in Patagonia HELEN ROY 115 Volunteer: Working for Nature Ecologist Helen enjoys delving into Steven Allain surveys amphibians and 95 Wild at Home: natural history the diverse behaviours of insects. reptiles in Cambridgeshire TV,books, puzzles and more “Watching Britain’s largest social 116 Your Photos 122 Wildlife Champion insect, the hornet, my captivation was matched by the seeming nonchalance Why the renowned wildlife street artist 118 Feedback of these creatures,” she says. See p78 ATMloveskestrels Your letters and Tales from the Bush
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 5 WILDMONTH Seven essential wildlife events to enjoy this month, compiled by Ben Hoare.
1 | SHORT-EARED OWL Angels of the north With long wings beating slowly, in Scotland and northern England, these owls bring to mind large, pale though numbers fluctuate naturally moths. Seemingly without any effort, according to the boom-and-bust cycle they fly low over rough grassland of vole populations. In October many or saltmarsh, patiently tacking back of our birds head to coasts for the and forth as they search for voles. In winter, while the rest migrate south as her recent book Owl Sense (Guardian far as the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, Faber), Miriam Darlington coined the more of the owls are arriving from term ‘earsight’ to describe the way in northern breeding grounds in which owls such as these hunt using Scandinavia. It’s impressive to think 3D mental maps built entirely from that these beautiful birds, with their sound. When a ‘shortie’ finally hears floaty flight style, are capable of the faint rustle of tiny paws, it twists crossing the churning brown waters suddenly, then drops like a stone to of the North Sea. snatch its hidden prey. Its talons may grip fur before it even sees the meal. FIND OUT MORE Watch a Around 1,400 pairs of short- BTO video about owl identification:
Simon Litten eared owls nest in Britain, mostly bto.org/about-birds/bird-id WILD OCTOBER WILD OCTOBER
2 | SEA TROUT Homeward bound Atlantic salmon aren’t the only fish heading upstream to spawn in gravelly riverbeds at this time of year – there are sea trout, too. Technically the same species as the brown trout that remain in fresh water, these are muscular, powerful fish. Like salmon, they migrate mainly at night, guided by a combination of chemical and magnetic cues. As Paul Evans writes in his new book How to See Nature (Pavilion Books), their “whole physical being is a sensory organ”. Each fish is so sensitive to its aquatic environment that it can even “taste the rinsing of human hands in the water”.
FIND OUT MORE Learn more about wild trout at wildtrout.org
3 | GUELDER ROSE Autumn colour Though much less well known than rowan, or mountain ash, the guelder rose arguably bears the brightest fruit. This small tree or shrub grows in hedgerows, scrub and woodland
edge, reaching a few metres tall, Trout: Jack Perks; guelder rose: John Bebbington; teal: James Lowen and is widely planted too. It is native to the British Isles, but, curiously, is named after the region of the Netherlands where an ornamental variety was first grown. The scarlet berries, which hang in plump clusters, are enjoyed by bullfinches, making a popular subject for wildlife photographers.
FIND OUT MORE Discover more UK flora at plantlife.org.uk
8 BBC Wildlife October 2018 WILD OCTOBER
4 | TEAL ON RADIO Fresh feathers TWEET OF Male ducks spend midsummer looking THE DAY rather dowdy. Before moulting their all- Weekdays at 05.58 important wing feathers, which renders them flightless, the birds adopt a brown, female-like plumage known as ‘eclipse’ to hide them from foxes and other predators. But now their moult is complete and the drakes are once again resplendent. Male teal in fresh breeding colours are some of our most handsome wildfowl – bottle- green eye patches provide a stunning contrast with chestnut-brown heads. They are also the smallest British ducks, weighing only a third or quarter as much as the much chunkier mallards.
TOP TIP Listen to a teal’s whistle at xeno-canto.org WILD OCTOBER 6 | LESSER HORSESHOE BAT Hanging around
5 | SYCAMORE Halloween invariably turns public attention Native or not? to bats, yet most stories about these mammals are far from the truth. For one Naturalists are often sniffy about the thing, the popular image of bats hanging sycamore owing to uncertainty over its upside-down, wings wrapped around their status in Britain. The late, great dendrologist bodies like pashminas, is misleading. Oliver Rackham pointed out that the lack of Only two British bats do this – the greater Celtic and Saxon names for this European and lesser horseshoes, named for their tree suggests it did not grow here in ancient strange ‘nose leafs’ (flaps of skin) that times. But debates about whether sycamore aid echolocation. Lesser horseshoes are a is native have made no difference to the speciality of south-west England, Wales and enjoyment of generations of children playing western Ireland, and this month enter their with its winged seeds in autumn. Sycamore hibernation roosts. As seen on the BBC’s ‘helicopters’ are more bent than those of field Winterwatch last January, they favour cellars, maple – the Woodland Trust describes them tunnels and caves with consistently cool air. as more like “Frank Zappa’s moustache” than the “Clark Gable” of field maple. FIND OUT MORE Learn more about UK bats at bats.org.uk GET INVOLVED Join the survey: naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk ON RADIO NATURAL HISTORIES Bat episode
7 | SILVER Y Migrant moth When mosquitoes invaded the England vs Tunisia match at this summer’s
FIFA World Cup in Russia, it wasn’t Bat: Oliver Smart; sycamore: Sylvain Cordier/naturepl.com; moth: Laurie Campbell the first time insects had made their presence felt at a televised sporting event. The silver Y enjoyed its moment in the limelight when one landed on Portuguese striker Ronaldo during the final of UEFA Euro 2016. This abundant migratory moth with its diagnostic silver squiggle travels in vast ON RADIO swarms in some years, when adults hatched in Britain are boosted by large NATURAL numbers from the Continent. Look for HISTORIES them in most habitats, including parks Moth episode and gardens – as well as sports fields.
FIND OUT MORE Learn more about moths at ukmoths.org.uk
10 BBC Wildlife October 2018
African Wildlife Foundation and the Illegal Wildlife Trade
In October 2018, the UK Government will host the latestinaseries ofinternationalconferences 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 of dogs to detect illegal wildlife contraband combined with training Africa’s wildlife prosecution teams to bring traffickers to justice. AWF has active programmes in 6 countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but the need to expand to other countries is urgent. Help support AWF and its partners to tacklethis global trade by donating to www.awf.org/uk-gift and making sure 2018 is a year that counts. Kirstin Johnson – UK Director [email protected]
Bear Photography Tours in Finland
April May June
July August September 2019 coming new bird hide and bird program
Wild BrownBearLtd www.wbb.i +358 40 5469008 [email protected] facebook.com/WildBrownBearFinland/ Warbler: Markus Varesvuo/naturepl.com; birdwatcher: Dave McAleavy Images/Alamy otees os o good chance of seeing one. a for coast east the to Head south. migrate they h Ki h uunas autumn the in UK the in up turn warblers Barred October 2018 IN OCTOBER MIGRATION W pwt oeuuulseisaeon are points, headlandsand islands onor species unusual more with catch up to locations best the hemisphere, northern the across movement way. the along lost getting with some – grounds wintering to their breeding from relocate friends of feathered millions our when month the is birds, October unexpected and for rare penchant down a tracking with those For in ‘twitcher’ us. the of of all bit little there a admit probably to is time it’s Britain, in seen uigti ieo asavian mass of time this During o’envrbefore never you’ve species a even or patch, local your for first a garden, the bird in new a be it hether MIKE DILGER’S IDIEWATCHING WILDLIFE migrating birds, with usefultips on when andwhere of to look. star the UK, the in One's wildlife BBC watch to places great of series his In h n Show One The their chancesof maximise to disorientated. become or course off blown have that individuals any for landfall first the be to tend sites these their of journey. part long regular a as seas the traversing after or marker, as navigational coast a the any using for either respite birds offer migratory to spot perfect the them in puts that of hotspots location migration the these is It coast. our around idr keen Birders Additionally, hsmnhtksu na uigt view to outing an on us takes month this birdwatchers. for destination popular a is Point Spurn utie atrissol enthat mean should easterlies as sustained migration, on heavily impact can Winds October. in weather-watchers avid become frequently locations prime these at species extraordinary encountering idn ntees os ilb adto hard be will coast east the on birding et ovrey fteprevailing the if Conversely, beat. idi lwn across blowing is wind the mrcs hnws west then Americas, means migratorybirds ilb best. be will tatcfo the from Atlantic h K hsoften this UK, the odtoshr in here conditions winds ‘right’ the e n foggy and wet cold, with combine oevr if Moreover, BBC Wildlife WILD OCTOBER 13 WILD OCTOBER
The Isles of Scilly provide a place to stop and rest for exhausted birds.
“If an unusual or unknown migratory bird appears, it’s important to make every second count.”
must sit out the inclement conditions before moving on. This should increase your chances of seeing them. The key to finding and identifying out of place birds is to make sure that you know the run-of-the-mill species well in their respective plumages. This intimate knowledge of ‘the common’ should mean SPECIES TO LOOK OUT FOR that anything out of the ordinary will stand out more easily. Be mindful that birds in Red-backed shrike individuals spotted in and dumpy flycatcher is the throes of migration can, confusingly, This was once a breeding eastern Britain are young in southern Scandinavia. be seen away from where you’d normally bird in Britain. Most that birds approaching their expect to spot them, meaning firecrests turn up along Britain’s east first winter, with distinctive Red-eyed vireo can be found in bramble patches and ring coast are juveniles, with buf fringes to their wing The size of a great tit, with a ouzels might be spotted among blackbirds. brown-barred upper parts feathers. Breeding in grey cap, red eyes (in adults) and pale bellies adorned eastern Europe, about 150 and a white eye stripe, these Broadcast your find with crescent marks along are recorded annually along warbler-like birds breed in Any weary migrant needing to rest will look each flank. our east coast, en route North America’s forests. for cover, and as many coastal locations to East Africa. Britain gets at least one are sparsely vegetated, any bushes, Yellow-browed bird each autumn, which copses, walls and watercourses can prove warbler Red-breasted has mistaken the Isles productive. If an unusual or unknown bird Small and paler than lycatcher Scilly for South should suddenly make an appearance, it’s a chifchaf, and with a No larger than a blue merica. important to make every second count. conspicuous pale stripe tit, most individuals Many birders reach for their camera in the over the eye and a dark travelling to West first instance, but equally the old-fashioned line below, this tiny warbler Africa via Britain’s method of making detailed field notes and breeds in eastern Russia coast don’t have sketches can also help clinch identification and China. Around 300 are the orange-red once the bird has retreated from view. recorded each autumn on chin, but all Finally, the more birders who catch sight Britain’s east coast. plumages have of the bird, the more chance it has of being two distinctive correctly identified and accepted by the Barred warbler white patches at the base county recorder (you can find the local A little bigger than a house of a constantly flicking one at bto.org) or rarities committee, so sparrow, and with a long tail. The nearest breeding do broadcast your find. Plus, it’s always so tail and large head, most population of this dinky much more rewarding to share the love.
14 BBC Wildlife October 2018 Sc y: Merryn Thomas/naturep .com; v reo: Dan e e Occh ato/ Bu ten-bee d/ M nden/Getty; barred warb er: O ver R chter/ BIA/ M nden/Getty; Ye ow-browed Warb er: Dr. An rban S nha/Getty; flycatcher: Tony M s/A amy; shr ke: Sandra Standbr dge/Getty 15 3 OCTOBER 2 (iOS (iOS Met WILD WILD BBC Wildlife 4 1 archipelago has archipelago has as its mainhas as its promontory at the promontory curls for over three miles three over curls for Downloading the Downloading app weather Oice it to Use Android). and winds check prevailing your to heading before destination. birdwatching 5 is situated between Shetland between is situated Portland Bill Portland The Isles of Scilly of The Isles Spurn Point Point Spurn Blakeney Point Blakeney Fair Isle Fair from the Humber’s North Bank into the North Bank into the Humber’s from recorded birds diferent 391 With North Sea. species the peninsula has the highest there, on mainland Britain. count and the Orkney Isles and its wonderfully and its Isles and the Orkney the best it probably makes location isolated in Britain. birds Asiatic find rare to place a strategic position of the southwestern of the southwestern position a strategic as a magnet and is famed Cornwall tip of all originating from unusual birds for the compass. of points 5 WITHOUT: GO DON’T Islands, points and headlands are are points and headlands Islands, from moving to spot birds places ideal Start grounds. to overwintering breeding top locations: these at one of exploring 1 2 3 4 CHOICE LOCATIONS CHOICE feature a 6.4km spit of sand and shingle sand spit of a 6.4km feature migratory of numbers hold huge that can land. them to force when conditions birds southern edge of the Isle of Portland Portland the Isle of of edge southern all for landfall is the perfect in Dorset rest needing to migrants manner of the Continent. of to heading before shrike used to breed to breed used shrike in Britain; the red- is a rarity vireo eyed and a sighting to be Centre: treasured. the yellow-browed has a yellow warbler and coal ‘eyebrow’ call. tit-like Clockwise from from Clockwise the barred above: stop may warbler on its of in the UK Africa; to East way the red- at a glance, flycatcher breasted a robin; resembles the red-backed October 2018 October ReDiscover Dominica Book 4 nights, pay for Limited time offer. 3
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f you are one of the 75,000 Brits who feed the birds in your garden, and you’re blessed with a One for later: coal I tits often flit of with little curiosity, you might have nuts from garden noticed that your avian visitors feeders to stash in don’t just pitch in and eat – they NICK tree-bark crevices. behave strategically. To them, the feeder represents a patch BAKER resource: a weird metal tree Reveals a fascinating bearing strange fruit hanging in world of wildlife that Perspex tubes and wire cages. we oten overlook. To them, it’s an ephemeral source of food, and they act Making continuous repeat This strategy creates one accordingly to exploit it to the visits allows them to dodge the obvious challenge for the maximum. Watch carefully and COAL TIT competition. By hiding each caching bird: how to re-find you may notice a hierarchy, with prize discreetly in moss, leaf its stash. How, up to a year certain birds displacing others. litter, crevices in the bark of a ater, does a species with a Close to the bottom of this tree, or cracks in a wall or fence ea-sized brain perform these pecking order will be the coal post, they can accumulate more mental gymnastics? tit. This small, humbug-headed food than birds that simply bird has to be sneaky to outwit peck away until full. Brain food the bullying blue and great tits. This strategy is so effective In fact, the hippocampus Coal tits dash and grab – that related species, such as (the part of the brain associated flying in and quickly out. Follow the marsh tit, can cadge up to with spatial memory) of food- them and you’ll see that though a morsel a minute – that’s a storing species grows up to they might sometimes sit away staggering 50–60,000 food 30 per cent bigger over autumn from the feeding frenzy and items each autumn. and winter, swollen with newly delicately dismember a snatched DID YOU This number might generated brain tissue and peanut or sunflower heart for KNOW? be as much as three nerves. As the bird reaches immediate consumption, most In winter, coal tits form times as high in a peak memory capacity, it is often they’ll whizz off to some large flocks to scour bumper ‘mast’ year thought that parts of the brain secret corner of the garden and woods and gardens – a situation that we holding old memories are return minutes later to repeat for food – which, may be replicating overwritten with new neural of course, they the process – engaging in what stash. with feeders in our material like a computer disk. scientists call scatter hoarding. own gardens. Far from ‘bird-brained’, these Coal tits don’t guard these pecies are able to recall an hidden morsels – but then they ncredible number of stash CONTRACTION OF THE CRANIUM don’t really need to. Though a pots. Jays can remember the competitor may sneakily follow ocations of between 20 and Shrews don’t waste brain power in the winter. a tit to a stash, or randomly 0 per cent of their caches. Shrews don’t hoard food, and re-absorbs that organ for the discover one, such a loss is Inevitably, though, birds do can’t hibernate in winter when winter, decreasing the volume negligible compared with that forget the locations of some of food is scarce – so of itsheadby20per experienced by a species that their stashes; in addition, some theyhavetodo cent. This is known puts all its nuts in one basket irds are eaten by predators, and something drastic as Dehnel’s and creates a larder, risking the ome hidden seeds are simply to survive. A phenomenon. lot if its hoard is discovered. ot needed, so may germinate. large proportion If the shrew Corvids are also well known As a result, these birds make of a shrew’s survives the for hiding excess food for later a contribution to the spread of energy budget winter, its brain consumption. The European hazel, oak and beech woodland.
is expended on grows again jay can hide as many as 5,000 NICK BAKER
Illustrations by Peter David Scott/The Art Agency Art Scott/The David Peter by Illustrations its brain, so it in the spring. acorns during one autumn. is a naturalist, author and TV presenter.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 17 Cappi Thompson/Getty flora of thefamous 'fall'. and dramatically beautiful exploring theexciting fauna Autumnwatch River inNew England, where A moose in the Androscoggin 2018 willbe LEGENDS FALL BBC Two’s Autumnwatch is spreading its wings and lying across the Pond to the USA to ind what its series producer reveals here will be a wealth of amazing sights… with some surprises along the way.
By Chris Howard
CATCH ALL THE ACTION 15–19 OCTOBER, 9PM AUTUMNWATCH
hy do we, as Above: chipmunks a nation, love “Autumnwatch has always will up the show's cute factor. Below: autumn so much? been on the move, Chris Packham, Where spring is Michaela Strachan showy – flushed adapting to tell the story of and Gillian Burke with new arrivals will be presenting and bright Autumnwatch this ever-shiting season.” from the USA. Wverdancy – autumn is more subtle: a final flourish of colour as the countryside fades to brown, and a flurry of summer visitors fleeing for warmer climes. Likewise, the
harsh realities of winter are yet to set in. But try filming those moments, those broadcast from the highest reaches of S&D&KMasowsk The great flocks of wildfowl and starlings feelings, those smells. Of the three Scotland and from the BBC Bristol car park, cws rmtpet onCnao NL an re/P;BHatcher/Getty; B Green/NPL; Danny /NPL; os Canca John eft: top from se ockw C are only just starting to build, and the ‘Watches’ we make each year, Autumnwatch across programmes ranging from single desperation of the coldest and hardest is the most challenging to bring to the one-hour specials to eight-week marathons.
season is yet to bite. screen. So, for the past 12 years the team Autumnwatch has always been on the move, /FLPA; Pete Visuals Unlimited/NPL; George Dadds/BBC Sanker/NPL; Yet there is clearly something about the has been experimenting with new ways to changing and adapting to tell the story of year’s latter months – because the pin down this nebulous season. this complicated and ever-shifting season. Autumnwatch programmes are The search has taken us And now we’re roving farther than ever some of the most popular we all around the country. before. This year we head to the USA to make each year. I think that’s We’ve visited Westonbirt explore ‘fall’ in New England – a spectacle because it’s the most poetic Arboretum in the billed as the greatest autumn on Earth. and emotional of seasons Cotswolds as the As summer recedes, the lush greens of – felt rather than seen; leaves changed to the region’s forests give way to the scarlet loaded with ephemeral amber and fiery and crimson of maple and red oak, while moments sensed at a red, and watched birch and elm glint with gold and mountain deeper level. Autumn is a huge flocks of geese maple glow in deep orange hues. The subtle tweak in the quality through the mist transformation begins in mid-September of the light; a shift in the at WWT Slimbridge in northern Maine, seeping south over the wind that signals change. near Gloucester. We’ve following weeks through New Hampshire,
20 BBC Wildlife October 2018 Auditioning for canid camera – the Autumnwatch USA, coyote is one of clockwise from left: New England's black bears rack dog species; the up some calories wings of the barred before hibernation; owl can be 125cm programme makers across; the cardinal hope to track down shouldn't be too the shy bobcat; hard to spot…
Vermont, Massachusetts more common then, while oak and beech and Connecticut before were the predominant broadleaf species in eventually reaching Rhode those ancient forests. The maples, renowned Island in late October. today for their blazing autumn foliage displays, comprised just 11 per cent of the Lesser spotted leaf-peeper region’s trees in the early 17th century, We’re not the only ones who are drawn to compared with 31 per cent today: they are enjoy the fiery fall hues of New England. one of the first tree species to sprout readily Each year millions of tourists, who are in a clear-cut area and grow quickly. known locally as ‘leaf-peepers’, make a It was the actions of settlers that drove pilgrimage to enjoy the vivid-coloured these dramatic changes in arboreal habitats. foliage. Yet this spectacle bears little New England’s forests were the riches that resemblance to the late-succession forest fuelled the great American experiment. (undisturbed for a long period of time) that Their timber was logged in vast quantities greeted the region’s original Pilgrims – the and sent back to 'Old England' for the first European settlers who landed here shipbuilding trade, and their animals almost 400 years ago. trapped and exported for their valuable furs. Slow-growing evergreen trees such as By the mid-19th century, up to 80 per cent white pine, hemlock and spruce were much of New England’s forests had been felled,
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 21 AUTUMNWATCH
Clockwise scratch of ticks; “ New England has from right: the red-tailed FALL GUYS tree swallows hawk is one of charismatic fauna that flocking to roost many migrating Meet the cast: on Connecticut raptors; great delivers just as much River islands; white sharks characters from a black bear patrol the Cape enjoys the fruit Cod shores to screen gold as in an abandoned predate the Autumnwatch orchard; moose grey seals that its renowned lora.” use trees to thrive there. New England
MOOSE AND TICKS Moose are susceptible to parasitic ticks, yet they are unable to groom them of. Until recently the ungulates could rely on cold winters to kill of the pests, but as winters warm due to climate change they have resorted to rubbing their backs vigorously against trees to rid themselves of their unwanted guests. Sadly, huge numbers of ‘ghost moose’, their hides rubbed raw and hairless from attempts to shift ticks, die from blood loss and the efects of cold.
SEALS AND GREAT WHITE SHARKS Once hunted close to extinction, the seal population around coastal New England has rebounded dramatically: as many as 50,000 grey seals are
the land put to work in agriculture. Just 200 red deer, seen (and heard) on the series spanning an equal 2m, gather at scrapes years ago, a visitor would have been met with rutting on Exmoor and Rum. New England and wallows to battle for access to receptive the sight of vast swathes of empty farmland, has its rut, too – but this one is supersized. females. Despite their size, though, moose punctuated by small pockets of trees. Moose, the largest and heaviest member are among the most challenging of our But the farms didn’t last. Lured by the of the deer family, also rut in autumn. The target species to capture on film; they’re promise of even greater wealth in the west, males, huge creatures reaching over 2m tall able to thread their heavy headgear through many settlers abandoned New England; at the shoulder and with palmate antlers the thickest of foliage and disappear without undisturbed, the trees began to a trace into the forest. return, and the familiar mix of Squirrels are also Autumnwatch hardwood forest began to take The New England favourites, and we have covered shape – the ‘classic’ New England landscape was shaped the battles between our native red by the early activities vista, 400 years in the making of European settlers. squirrel and invasive American but less than 200 years old. greys in the UK many times. In New England, though, there’s Fascinating fauna a twist. Here, reds and greys Autumnwatch is about more than live side by side; in fact, locals colourful leaves, and luckily New consider the reds to be the pests, England has charismatic fauna gnawing their way into attics and that delivers just as much screen destroying anything in their way. gold as its renowned flora. Many On top of those two athletic of the species we hope to feature rodents, New England boasts have a familiar ring to them. another four species of squirrel: Mammals often prove to be the woodchuck, two species of flying stars of Autumnwatch, not least squirrel and – certain to emerge
22 BBC Wildlife October 2018 are probably among the least studied white sharks in the world.
BEARS AND ORCHARDS When farmers moved away from New England in the 19th century, they left behind small orchards, remnants of which still linger in the forests today. During autumns when natural food is in short supply, these orchards act as a magnet for wildlife, especially black bears desperate to feed up before the long winter hibernation.
MIGRATING RAPTORS thought to live on Cape Cod alone Each September, many of northern – and they’re attracting unwanted North America’s hawks, eagles and attention. In the early 2000s, only falcons head south for the winter, one or two great white sharks were migrating in astonishing numbers. spotted each year in the area; in 2016, Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of there were 147. We spoke to shark birds can be seen in New England in a scientist Greg Skomal, who single day, with broad-winged and red- acknowledges that these tailed hawks generally in the largest numbers; peregrines, kestrels and bald eagles often reach double digits, too.
TREE SWALLOWS Almost every autumn evening, thousands of tree swallows flock to the Connecticut River to roost on uninhabited islands in the middle of the waterway. Like starlings, they will swoop and sway above the river in mesmerising displays before descending to the safety of their roost for the night.
as one of the stars of the show – the cheeky are real characters, smaller but bound to So, with a world-renowned sylvan chipmunk. A much larger rodent being make an impact; porcupine with a taste for spectacle and a list of animals as long reacquainted with Britain also appears: the nibbling fresh wires, and raccoons that are as your arm, how do you go about beaver, although here in its North American so adaptable they have spread from their setting up an Autumnwatch across the form rather than its Eurasian. forest homes to almost every corner of New Atlantic? We needed to identify locations, Transatlantic connections continue England – causing mayhem along the way accommodation, offices and other facilities. through the cast list. New England is and more than likely to do so with our What we didn’t realise is what every film home to stoats and weasels galore, but camera kit too. crew needs is a porcupine and a banana. also American mink, martens and a large Earlier this year Lucy, one of our most mustelid called the fisher – one of a few Supersized birds experienced producers, travelled to New animals known to be able to tackle and eat a Birdfeeders should bring cardinals, blue England to find somewhere that could tick porcupine. The red fox is joined by grey fox jays and chickadees, and the chance to all of our boxes. And it was at the Squam and coyote among the canids. Some types experiment with different takes on our Lakes Natural Science Center that she met of animal aren’t familiar at all in the UK, of popular regular feeding experiments. the prickly rodent in question. Squam Lake course: the bobcat, a reclusive inhabitant of Barred owls and pileated woodpeckers are is a beautiful spot in New Hampshire, the forest, and black bear. supersized versions of their tawny and flanked by woodland, ponds and meadows, A host of larger-than-life characters will greater-spotted cousins in Europe, while bald but it also has serious scientific credentials add an extra dimension this year. Some eagles patrol the skies. In ponds, common and staff with a deep knowledge of local are physically imposing – with huge newts are replaced by their eastern cousins, wildlife. The centre’s team is led by a Scot, numbers of black bears living alongside who have a striking orange juvenile stage Iain Macleod, who has lived in the region the human population, and a coastline that called a red eft, and common toads become for over 30 years and is even a ‘Watches’ fan. is home to humpback whales and a seal massive American bullfrogs. There are The centre is also an educational population that is attracting great white some creatures, such as the snapping turtle, institute; as part of this work it takes in
Archive print: Interfoto/Alamy; aerial: Brian J. Skerry/Getty; tree swallows: Fred Beckham/AP/Rex/ Fred swallows: tree Skerry/Getty; J. aerial: Brian print: Interfoto/Alamy; Archive Donovan/Alamy Paul Erin moose: Unlimited/NPL; Visuals bear: Rich Legg/Getty; Shutterstock;hawk: sharks in unprecedented numbers. Others that you’d never expect to spot in Britain. and rehabilitates native animals, working
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 23 AUTUMNWATCH
On Golden Pond
Squam Lake, the second largest in New Hampshire, was immortalised in the Oscar-winning 1981 film On Golden Pond with Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda. Its still waters are a perfect nesting habitat for the common loon, known in Britain as the great northern diver. Under the surface fin plentiful trout, bass and perch. The “Thismostickleof Squam Lake Natural Science Center, in Holderness at the south-western edge seasons is waiting to of the lake, was established in 1966 to advance the understanding of ecology surprise us… that is the and to encourage visitors to explore joy of Autumnwatch.” New Hampshire’s natural world. Landscape: David Brownell/Alamy; porcupine: Lucy Bowden Lucy porcupine: Brownell/Alamy; David Landscape:
with them to educate visitors about the There was expert advice on tap, plus Between the camp and the Science Center wonderful creatures that live in the woods. a banana-eating porcupine. But, so far, there we had found our home for the autumn. One such temporary resident was a was no single vista that screamed ‘New We’ve done our best to time filming to porcupine – and it stole Lucy’s heart. One England in the autumn’. capture the most magnificent autumn lunchtime she had the pleasure of feeding colours, but predicting ‘peak fall’ is not him his daily banana – and the video of that Biff comes up trumps an exact science, and we could be a week moment has become legendary in the office, Fortunately, a few miles down the road on or two off in either direction. We’ve tried the soft nasal bleats he emits as he tucks in the lake’s southern shore, Lucy stumbled to maximise our chances of filming the softening the hardest of scientific hearts. across a summer camp. In peak season it wildlife, spreading our cameras over two Lucy had found the beautiful forests. The is packed with America’s youth, but in late locations and working with anyone who meadows and ponds were bustling with life. October it was deserted – except for the will pick up the phone to get the latest caretaker, a welcoming soul called intelligence on where animals might be. The vocal, banana- Biff. After just 30 seconds, Lucy We’ve done this enough times to know munching porcupine knew we had our location. that nothing is certain – and that whatever at Squam Lake Natural A traditional 19th-century cabin we plan, and whatever we think we will Science Centre. at the top of a hill offered a ready- get, we could be wrong. This most fickle of made studio, complete with props seasons is waiting to surprise us once more. and a fire pit for that traditional And that, after all, is the joy of Autumnwatch Autumnwatch look. The veranda – wherever it may be. provides sweeping views of Squam Lake, and there was easy access CHRIS HOWARD is series to the lakeside via a small beach producer of Springwatch, on the shoreline. Cabins dotted Autumnwatch and Winterwatch. around the camp were perfect for offices and work spaces – and it’s FIND OUT MORE Watch Lucy’s video of all surrounded by rich forest, great a porcupine tucking into a banana: www. habitat in which to rig our cameras. discoverwildlife.com/porcupine-video
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Enjoy our Premium App experience now available from Talking point SHOULD I SWAT A FLY?
For a wildlife lover it’s tricky dealing with 'pests' such as wasps, ants and slugs. Do you live and let live… or become a vegetable patch vigilante?
By Helen Pilcher
28 BBC Wildlife October 2018 few months ago I did clear plastic pots while I identify them. boundary that oscillates wildly depending a terrible thing. I was Sometimes, a gravid female will lay eggs on the species, context and swelling of tending to my patio and, although it may seem ridiculous, I feel the affected body part. I don’t imagine plants, barefoot, when a sense of responsibility. Many’s the brood there is a BBC Wildlife reader out there I disturbed an ants’ of caterpillars I have raised because their who hasn’t, at some point, deliberately nest under a pot. The mother ‘gave birth’ in my care. killed a pest of some sort. feisty invertebrates If a spider or ladybird is spotted in my Awere furious. They flung themselves at house, it is dutifully caught and relocated onflict like this is unavoidable, my toes, sinking their mandibles into my to the outside world, yet I have, in the (although I continue to beat exposed pink flesh. It hurt. A lot. As my past, flattened flies and massacred myself up about the patio ants). foot ballooned up, red mist clouded my mosquitoes. What double standards are The word ‘ecology’ derives from judgement. I grabbed the kettle and doused these? I am a hypocrite wrapped in a Cthe Greek word oikos, meaning my attackers with boiling hot water. A few tangled web of contradiction and double ‘dwelling’, and our homes and gardens are seconds later, all that remained was a puddle standards. I call myself a wildlife enthusiast indeed their own little ecosystems. These full of tiny, floating bodies. but have blood on my hands. are created via the interactions that occur In hindsight, I am horrified at my I am not alone, however. Our attitudes to between the component species. actions. I consider myself an animal lover the so-called ‘pests’ we share our spaces with In our human-made ecosystems, we call and protector of wildlife. My pesticide- are varied and complex. They range from the the shots. “It’s your space to occupy, so it’s free garden is full of wildflowers, messy laid back ‘live and let live’ approach, where up to you to set the rules,” says scientist corners and insect havens. The store where nibbled cabbages are the price paid for happy and gardener Martin Coath of Plymouth I keep my chicken food is visited regularly wildlife, to the vegetable patch vigilantes, an University. “You get to choose what stays by wood mice. Like a scene from Beatrix elite horticulturalist corps that come armed and what goes, what lives and what dies.” Potter, they climb into the tall bin at night, with spray guns and chemical weapons. Some ant species, for example, can then are too fat and too full to escape. In the There are those who would, literally, never become a genuine problem. “Their nests morning I simply let them go, serenading harm a fly; and those who are prepared to become so engrained and widespread them to the tune of Que Sera, Sera. lynch wasps guilt-free because, they would and populated that the soil becomes Moths I’m kind to as well. I have a light have us believe, “it’s either us or them”. trap, which I put out at night to lure them Like most people, I for a closer look. The insects are unharmed am somewhere in the
I ustrat ons by J Ca der/Centraand I ustrat on often I carefully transfer them to middle, with an ethical
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 29 Talking point
undermined,” says Coath. “Things don’t grow and people can no longer enjoy their gardens.” Left unchecked, these upstart ants could rise to power in our back gardens, wresting control of the ecosystem from our fingers. It’s a similar scenario for wasps, slugs and other putatively troublesome animals. If we let them reign unchecked, they can become a nuisance. “It becomes a direct case of competition between two potentially dominant species,” Coath says. So we have a choice. Either they take control, or we do. Things are no different in other, more natural, ecosystems that were not created by humans. Inside the USA’s Yellowstone National Park, for example, wolves are top dog. They control the deer population, which in turn influences the growth of plants and numbers of many other animals. In the North Pacific Ocean, sea otters prey on urchins, which in turn helps to regulate coastal kelp forests. In the freshwater rivers of Devon and Scotland, beavers fell trees to make dams, creating Which brings me to another habitat for countless other creatures. point. We are ‘ugly-ist’ and ‘species-ist’. We are prejudiced pecies compete, and as a result against the animals that we find there are always winners and unattractive. We love butterflies, losers – except that my human but we hate caterpillars because brain helps me to ponder the they’re creepy and crawly. Simplications of my actions. Wolves Spiders can’t win because they may well be wily, but they don’t consciously have eight legs. Slugs can’t win decide how to manage their ecosystem. because they are slimy and We, however, are different. We are capable have one foot. All too often, we of thought at a deeper level and make tar different species within the conscious decisions about how best to same taxonomic family with the manage the ecosystems we maintain, and same dismissive brush. The same are capable of realising there is more than friend who swats bluebottles tells one possible course of action. And yet, our me he kills all wasps and spiders behaviour is sometimes far from rational. and slugs at his property because Often it’s visceral. I have a friend who “they’re all a nuisance”. swats bluebottles because, and I quote, No, they’re not. There are more “they’re just so annoying”. When I was than 9,000 species of wasp of attacked by ants on my patio, the logical which but a few are the colony- response would have been to replace the living, nest-building, haranguers of plant pot in its original position and walk picnic nightmares. Most don’t even away. Then put some shoes on. have stingers. None of the UK’s 650 Meanwhile, in the vegetable patch, it or so spider species are dangerous, could be argued that the logical response and there are around 40 species of to caterpillars that feed on brassica plants British slug, of which only a handful would be to go back in time, Terminator- are genuine pests. It’s time we cut style, and hunt down the parents that will them some slack. one day produce them. But do gardeners This species-ism reaches new charge around killing cabbage white heights when people put down butterflies? No, they do not. Instead they slug pellets. It’s a loathsome target the larvae, which through no fault and short-sighted strategy that of their own have simply hatched in what indiscriminately kills all slugs. is deemed to be the wrong place. When they are poisoned, then consumed
30 BBC Wildlife October 2018 Some people tell me that killing the odd insect here or there matters little when you consider how numerous they are, and that insects don’t feel pain anyway so “it really doesn’t matter”. But these arguments hold no water. A study of German nature reserves last year found that three-quarters of flying insects have vanished over the last 25 years. It’s been dubbed an “ecological Armageddon”. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. We should be turning our gardens into wildlife havens, not wildlife deserts. Nor does the knowledge that other invertebrates are faring better give us the right to kill them. Although no one knows for sure whether invertebrates feel pain – and it’s likely they do, since pain is one of the oldest and evolutionarily most important sensations – this too is a moot point. The thoughtless, blasé fashion with which people swat flies, poison slugs or squash spiders perpetuates the mind set “It’s time we learned that were spotted were removed and that these animals are worthless. This is then lobbed into a bucket of salty water. wrong. Children pick up on these cultural to love the spiders Garden-centre plants are rather like biases so it becomes a dangerous attitude the Photoshopped models of women’s that transcends generations. We should be in our bathtub and magazines; retouched to the point where inspiring our children and each other to they no longer reflect reality. Real plants are tolerate and live alongside the species that ants on our patios.” not uniform and blemish-free. Outside my share our domestic ecosystems. window, a straggly buddleia, or ‘butterfly It’s time we stopped vilifying these by predators, the toxins pass up the food bush’, lolls lopsidedly onto the patio. Its animals and instead begin to appreciate chain. Hedgehogs, frogs and birds such leaves are pockmarked due to mullein moth them for the evolutionary marvels that they as song thrushes are all affected, yet the caterpillars, but that only makes me love it are. It’s time we learned to love the spiders poisoners turn a blind eye. These predators more. I like my perfectly imperfect garden in our bathtubs, the ants on our patios and need your understanding and your garden the way it is; warts, snails, slugs and all. our motley ragbag vegetable patches. needs slugs; they play a vital role breaking I’m not proud of the ant incident on my down detritus and recycling nutrients. erhaps it’s no surprise that these patio, but can report that a few days after Wasps are important pollinators and animals are attracted to our I lost the plot, the colony had recovered. predators. Spiders eat a lot of insects and are private and public spaces, when I’m pleased. I acted without thought and themselves a tasty snack for predators further we fill them with such delicious allowed emotion to trump logic, yet our up the food chain. “All these animals are Pand irresistible fancies. Certain past actions need not define our future needed and all of them play vital ecological slug species, for example, are attracted to behaviour. We’re all conflicted over the roles,” says Paul Hetherington of Buglife. the fresh shoots of newly sprouted plants, way we treat these ‘pest’ species, but it’s “Yet we demonise them. I really think we as this is what they have evolved to eat. never too late to adopt a more relaxed need to be more understanding.” “We breed vegetation that smells nice to attitude. Next time I disturb an ants’ nest I blame garden centres. Garden centres them,” says Jon Ablett, a senior curator of I will think before I act… then replace the are purveyors of the fake and the sterile. molluscs at the Natural History Museum. plant pot and leave them alone. Just as trashy magazines promote a skewed “We plant spineless plants that are easier for reality of impossibly beautiful women them to eat. We remove the weeds for them HELEN PILCHER is a science writer, with impossibly successful lives, so too and we till the soil so it’s easier for them to lacklustre gardener and author of garden centres sell an image of impossibly move around. We make our garden a nice Bring Back the King: The New Science perfect plants. They are not nibbled, wilting place for slugs to be. We might as well put of De-extinction (Bloomsbury Sigma, £16.99). or brown around the edges. They are not up a neon sign saying: ‘Slugs! Get your free dusted with insect eggs or laden with all-you-can-eat buffet here!’” WANT TO COMMENT? How should invertebrate stowaways. It is ridiculous to think that we can we ‘manage’ the so-called pests in our Indeed, a friend once told me that when segregate plants from invertebrates. It’s domestic ecosystems? Email us at he worked at a garden centre, any snails invertebrate apartheid and it needs to stop. [email protected]
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 31 The iconic Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre – a former flour mill – has become home to a thriving colony of urban kittiwakes.
By Richard Smyth Photos Andrew Mason Living on the ledge
Images of kittiwakes getting caught in building nets made headlines this summer, shining the spotlight on the north-east’s unique urban colony of these marine gulls. he kittiwakes of the From the Tyne Bridge arrived in The buildings replicate kittiwake’s perspective, Newcastle and Gateshead’s ledges on a clif and the a tall urban quayside district in the tower block has 1960s, drifting upriver Tyne provides access many of the from foothold colonies at same features South Shields, where the as a shoreline downriver and out to sea. clif face. Triver opens to the North Sea. The quayside was a forlorn place then: Newcastle was nearing the end of its industrial heyday and the Tyne’s years as a key manufacturing and trade artery almost at an end. These neat white gulls, usually cliff-nesters, marked in black and white – trapped or far as kittiwakes are concerned, the bridge made homes on the rundown Gateshead dead in loops of sagging netting went viral is a cliff, but in a different setting. It looks buildings and on the iconic parabolic arch on social media. A petition swiftly followed, quite different to us, but it provides most of the steel-framed road bridge. Since then, the issue was debated in news articles and of the same features.” the quayside beneath the kittiwakes’ nests passions ran high. The fire brigade was Helen is part of the Tyne Kittiwakes has undergone a regeneration programme even called out to rescue tangled birds. Partnership, a coalition of conservationists ushering in a new focus on culture, leisure Nesting 15km or so from the coast, these and council authorities that have taken and tourism. The Baltic Contemporary Arts kittiwakes constitute the farthest-inland up the kittiwakes’ cause. “We try to work Centre – formerly the Baltic flour mill – colony of the species, which has a huge together to raise awareness and safeguard and the Sage Gateshead music centre have circumpolar range. All around the quayside the nest sites,” she explains. “And to brought cutting-edge culture to the post- each spring and summer, the birds crowd increase our understanding – monitoring industrial Tyneside landscape. onto ledges, calling ‘kitti-waaa, kitti-waaa’ has been taking place for 25 years now.” The kittiwakes are still here – perhaps and whitening the metal girders and 2,500 of them, all along the Tyne – but stonework with their guano. Conservation threat not everyone is happy, and some quayside “The buildings replicate the ledges that In 2017, the International Union for the buildings have been covered in anti-bird they would use on a cliff, and the Tyne Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded netting. This summer the distressing sight provides great access down the river and out the status of the black-legged kittiwake from of kittiwakes – often juveniles, handsomely to sea,” says Helen Quayle of the RSPB. “As Least Concern to Vulnerable on its ‘Red
34 BBC Wildlife October 2018 Clockwise from well above the left: High up over bustle of the the River Tyne, urban streets. kittiwakes have Local council access to their workers battle feeding grounds with the constant in the Dogger area scourge of large of the North Sea. quantities of guano High ledges ofer produced by the sanctuary for colony during the rearing young breeding season.
Kittiwake towers
By the late 1990s, the tiered tower now stands on – but the addition of ranks of kittiwake colony on a high decontaminated industrial ledges enticed the birds to ridge of the Baltic Flour Mill land at Saltmeadows nest there in large numbers. had become the single largest Riverside and supports “Something like that would colony on the river, but the around 90 breeding pairs. be brilliant on the Tyne,” mill’s redevelopment into It’s an unusual structure Helen says. “It’d be great to an arts centre meant the – but not quite unique. have a structure that caters kittiwakes had to be moved. Helen Quayle enthuses for the kittiwakes in a way “The Kittiwake Tower was about the remarkable tower that reduces conflict, while constructed to provide an at Middleton Island, an allowing for the birds to be alternative nest site for birds abandoned USAAF base in viewed and enjoyed. But it displaced as a result of the the Gulf of Alaska. Unlike the would have to be right for the redevelopment,”explains Gateshead tower, that wasn’t birds; not a quick fix to allow Gateshead Council ecologist built for the kittiwakes – it’s a the population to be further Peter Shield. The remarkable derelict Cold War radar tower shifted around.”
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 35
KITTIWAKES Fireman: Oscar Dewhurst
List’. Numbers have plummeted, possibly so rich in opportunity – turns hostile. vision of kittiwakes, pigeons and other birds as a result of declining availability of sand- Kittiwakes are no exception. In Newcastle resembles flames. “Birds will completely eels, the birds’ main prey. Some kittiwake and Gateshead, the interests of the colony desert a habitat, even one they have been colonies, especially on Scottish islands, have have begun to butt up against the interests using for years,” claims the product’s collapsed; the population along England’s of the human population. The yawping advertising blurb. Its effects, however, east coast however, seems to be holding noise, the spattering excrement: for many, wear off after two or three years. A less steady. In fact the Tyne colony is growing. these things are a price worth paying for high-tech solution is to string up netting sharing the city with these graceful birds. across potential nest sites. This is where the An urban habitat But for others, it’s a call to arms. trouble in Newcastle began. “How big the colony can get is obviously “They’re a tricky subject, kittiwakes,” “The problem with netting is, on a tall limited by how many ledges there are in the Derek admits. “They’re like Marmite – building, it’s hard to maintain,” says Helen city,” says Derek Hilton-Brown, an ecologist you either hate them or love them. Many Quayle. “When it becomes slack or worn it’s at Newcastle City Council. “Kittiwakes are businesses on the quayside aren’t keen on more likely that birds may try to nest and not keen to go much further into the city kittiwakes. They’re noisy, they’re messy, they can get tangled in it.” The text of the or much further upstream. They seem they’re smelly… but then so are most of petition against the netting, launched with almost to have reached the carrying the area’s stag and hen nights, and nobody the backing of Chris Packham and others, capacity of the buildings.” turns those away.” noted: “Whilst the theoretical justification Urban wildlife, from foxes to ring-necked Unsurprisingly, some businesses have of the netting has been to protect buildings, parakeets, has a perennial problem: when it taken steps to deter the kittiwakes. One is significantly more damage has been done gets too successful, its habitat – previously the application of ‘fire gel’, which to the UV by the installation of the nets than was ever caused by the birds themselves.” “There’s not much we can really do to stop people doing it,” Derek admits. “Effectively, it’s protecting their building – Above: The fate of there can be a lot of damage from bird muck kittiwakes who found and stuff. The main issue is protecting themselves entangled doorways, and people coming in and out.” in netting used to The council, together with the Tyne protect buildings The interests of the colony prompted outrage on Kittiwake Partnership, works hard to social media. Some encourage a more positive attitude have begun to butt up birds were rescued towards the Tyne birds. One common (and by firefighters, damaging) misconception is that kittiwakes however many others against those of humans. were not so lucky. will follow the lead of herring- and lesser black-backed gulls and become waterfront marauders, plundering waste-bins, stealing
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 37 KITTIWAKES
Kittiwake colonies They’vefoundaplace have made themselves at that its their way of home amidst disused buildings living and they’re on the Norwegian archipelago making the best of it. of Lofoten.
chips, terrorising promenaders. In fact, Can there, realistically, be peace between be undone by a snap of the council’s fingers. the Tyne kittiwakes behave much as urban kittiwakes and the humans who live “If you were to displace birds off the Tyne kittiwakes have always done – the sand-eel among their noisy colonies? Evidence from Bridge, say, then that’s more than 1,300 is their food, and their feeding grounds elsewhere suggests there can. Photographer birds that would be looking for a new home are the Dogger region of the North Sea Andrew Mason travelled to the Lofoten in the city,” says Helen Quayle. “They’re rather than the Biffa wheelie-bin round Islands, an archipelago off the Norway coast, urban-nesting birds. They’re not suddenly the back of the Clayton Street Chippy. and saw how the lives of kittiwakes there are going to nest on cliffs – this is their home.” enmeshed with those of local people. “Developers and building owners are Seasonal visitors “There are urban kittiwake colonies quick to say: ‘Get it all netted’,” adds Derek What is also worth remembering is that the throughout Lofoten,” he says. “You find Hilton-Brown. “But they don’t realise that kittiwakes here are a seasonal phenomenon. them on buildings in small coastal villages, that’s just displacing the problem. Where do “People think they’re here all year round,” as well as on the surrounding cliffs. the birds go? If you’re going to try to move says Derek. “But there’s a good few months The birds are equally happy nesting on them to another site, you’d need plenty of when it’s quiet and peaceful.” Outside the traditional red-and-yellow painted wooden time, several years… it’d be a gradual thing.” March–August breeding season this most buildings and the more industrial buildings The Tyne kittiwakes aren’t there to cause pelagic of gulls is once again skimming the in harbours. There are even nests on trouble, or, for that matter, to draw in wave-tops of the open ocean. windows in the centre of villages.” eco-tourists or excite urban birdwatchers. Many in Newcastle and Gateshead do see Andrew acknowledges that these fishing They’ve found a place that fits their way of the kittiwakes in a positive light. villages are a far cry from the newly living, and they’re making the best of it, “My response to the kittiwakes gentrified Newcastle-Gateshead quayside – indifferent, by and large, to the humans is one of awe and unanswered indeed, he believes that Lofoten’s historic bustling beneath. But it would be a shame questions,” enthuses local fishing culture has nourished a better if we were to return their indifference: these naturalist James Common. appreciation of seabirds like the kittiwake. are wonderful birds, delicately built but “Why are these birds here? There are still lessons to be learned fiercely resilient, their colonies as vivid and What makes the Tyne suitable here. “Businesses in north-east England full of raucous life as any seaport city. for them? The kittiwakes are a could start to promote the kittiwakes as an familiar part of life in the city internationally important breeding colony,” RICHARD SMYTH writes about and bring a touch of the ‘wild’ he suggests. “By engaging people and history and wildlife, including this into the centre. To me, the helping them to understand how important month’s heatwave news feature on sight, sound and smell of the Tyne colony is, this could help to p60. He also sets the BBC Wildlife crossword. the colony evokes remote, alleviate the angst.” inaccessible places, such as Even those who remain hostile towards FIND OUT MORE Natural History Society the Farne Islands.” the quayside kittiwakes should perhaps of Northumbria: nhsn.ncl.ac.uk/activities/ appreciate that decades of colonisation can’t conservation-research/tyne-kittiwakes
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Hitching a ride
Like a bevy of beauticians, yellow-billed oxpeckers line up to remove, deftly, engorged ticks and biting insects from the neck of a Maasai girafe. One spots a passing fly and takes of to snatch it, beating the others to the prize. Scenes like this in Kenya’s Maasai Mara were long held up as a textbook example of mutualism, in which two species work together for shared benefit. The oxpeckers have stout, flattened bills for scissoring through the fur of their hosts – which also include African bufalo, rhino, zebra and antelopes – as well as long claws for holding on. Meanwhile, the herbivores benefit by being rid of troublesome parasites. But then closer study revealed that the birds were also sneaking meals of blood from the bites, making wounds worse, and that their feeding actually had no impact on the overall number of ticks, fleas or flies. So the relationship between oxpecker and mammal is not purely mutualism: sometimes the birds are themselves parasites. Their services do not come without a cost.
Photo: Varun Aditya
40 BBC Wildlife October 2018 October 2018 BBC Wildlife 41 Doug Wechsler recorded for science in1997. jocototo antpittawas only hooting call, thereclusive markings andcharacteristic Despite itsstriking JOCOTOCO ANTPITTA
big story A chance encounter on a forest trail led to the discovery of a previously unrecorded bird and the birth of a conservation movement.
By Neil Glenn
hen you see an the bird’s habitat then came to be protected unusual species takes in a pioneering surgical technique for for the first time, retinal detachments, some Russian chemistry have you ever put professors, BBC One’s iconic Life on Earth yourself in the series, a clutch of conservation bodies and walking boots some amazingly benevolent people. of the person This is how the story unfolded… Wwho actually discovered it? Imagined the On 3 November 1997 Mercedes thoughts and feelings of those pioneers who Rivadeneira married Xavier Munos. The first clapped eyes on, for instance, an ostrich following day, as is the tradition with or a tapir? In the case of South America’s newlyweds, Mercedes set off on an exciting charismatic, robin-like and very rare jocotoco trip; more unusually, Mercedes’ new husband antpitta, I know exactly what those explorers was unceremoniously left at home. In his felt like – because I asked them. place her travelling companions were Bob The jocotoco antpitta was unknown, to Ridgely, an ornithologist at Philadelphia’s science at least, until 1997. The story of its Academy of Natural Sciences – a man with an discovery that year involves a honeymoon (of encyclopaedic knowledge of South American sorts), a group of friends, a deep knowledge of birds; John Moore (author of Vocalizations of neotropical birds and a tiny sprinkling of luck. Birds of the Neotropics); John’s wife Ruth, and Equally unlikely, the remarkable tale of how Lelis Navarette, an expert local bird guide. The 1997 expedition to Cerro Tapichalaca Above: the Right: Bob – an unprotected tract of cloudforest on the jocotoco antpitta Ridgley’s hazy feeds almost first photograph eastern slope of the Ecuadorian Andes – was entirely on the of the jocotoco organised by Mercedes and Xavier’s company, large earthworms antpitta as the Neblina Forest. The aim of the trip was for whose habitat bird hopped John to obtain further sound recordings of is waterlogged around amidst birds to update his project and for Bob to seepage zones on the bamboo the forest floor. while feeding. wrap up work on his forthcoming magisterial volume The Birds of Ecuador. Off the beaten track After 11 strenuous days of surveying the area, remembers, “and get a long recording. I course, I had those historic recordings too.” Bob suggested that the group should walk played it back, and out the bird hopped As you’d expect, people living in the area along a narrow trail he’d read about but had through the bamboo. It was bold and already knew the call of the bird. But, more never visited: Quebrada Honda. The day’s approached quite closely. Instantly, I knew that surprisingly, they had never actually seen what specific target was to record the calls of the this was something no other scientist had ever was making the noise. “The locals told us that golden-plumed parakeet, a beautiful bird seen. The first words out of my mouth were they called the bird jocotoco, so that’s how it classed as Vulnerable. But as things turned not suitable for a family magazine.” eventually got its English name,” says Bob. out, the rare parakeet was not to be the star. By then the others had come down the “I was the first person to see the mystery valley. “We all ogled the bird for the next Conservation threat bird,” recalls Bob now. “I was some way from half hour,” Bob says. “I had neglected to Soon it became apparent that the expedition the others in the party. We’d first heard it bring my camera that day, so I dictated had a problem. Chainsaws could be heard all soon after dawn, at a great distance, but didn’t meticulous notes into my cassette tape around the area in which the new antpitta had know what on earth it was – which in itself recorder – this was 1997, after all.” been found. There was a constant passage was a bit unusual. I figured that was that: we’d The friends changed their plans for the rest of mules carrying freshly cut wood along the never know. But then came the miracle: three of the trip, and returned to Quebrada Honda trail. As no scientist had seen this species or four hours later, there was that wonderful the following two days. “Despite lots of rain before, there was every possibility that it had ringing call again – a repeated ‘jo-jo-jo-jo-jo.’ I was able to take a mediocre photograph to a very small population and was possibly This time the bird was much closer. “I prove this fabulous bird was not a figment of found only in this corner of southern Ecuador. was able to whip out my microphone,” Bob my fevered imagination,” Bob says. “And, of Something had to be done – and fast.
44 BBC Wildlife October 2018 JOCOTOCO ANTPITTA
What is an antpitta?
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.
The chestnut- John and Ruth Moore) on the western side of “As no scientist had seen this crowned antpitta the Andes at Buenaventura and Jorupe. The (above) is one Foundation grew and grew. species before, there was every of around 55 recorded A lodge was opened for visitors and possibility that the population species of these researchers at Tapichalaca, funded by Nigel notoriously Simpson with money from a commission he diicult-to-spot received from helping chemistry professors was extremely small. ” neotropical birds. to obtain financial support for universities in the Soviet Union. In 2001, the World Land Trust (WLT) became a major donor, and remains so to this day, enabling an ambitious “Further research – which is still ongoing – cloudforest and a new conservation project reforestation project that has so far seen 1.4 has revealed that the jocotoco antpitta lives in was born: the Jocotoco Foundation. million native trees planted on Foundation very wet forests with an understory of various As chair of his ornithology department, reserves. Tapichalaca Reserve almost doubled bamboo species,” explains Bob. “The antpitta Bob was in a position to quickly organise in size to 1,600 hectares in 2003, after a feeds almost entirely on large earthworms a return visit to Cerro Tapichalaca. And so, WLT fundraising appeal in memory of that it finds in seepage zones, and that may within just two months of the antpitta’s Christopher Parsons, the late executive be why the species is so very localised. The discovery, Nigel managed to visit the site producer of BBC TV series Life on Earth. bird requires constantly wet conditions for himself to see the bird and discuss what where the ground hardly ever dries out.” could be done to preserve its home. Community participation This is where Nigel Simpson enters the By the end of 1998, the Ecuadorian After 20 years, the Foundation now owns story. Nigel co-developed a new technique government had approved the Jocotoco and manages 12 reserves covering 19,000ha, to repair retinal detachments and was in the Foundation’s formation. Local farmers were with more purchases in the pipeline. Over process of selling his successful business. He struggling due to the unfavourable climate at 50 species of bird threatened with extinction had begun discussions with Bob about how Tapichalaca – the area is deluged by over 5m are being protected, together with nearly 300 he could best use his newfound wealth and of rainfall annually – and were happy to sell species of reptile, amphibian and mammal. free time to help save threatened habitats in their land to the fledgling Foundation. Before A vital feature of any conservation effort is his beloved South America. By an amazing long, the first 800 hectares of the Tapichalaca to involve locals. It is simply not good enough coincidence, the as-yet-unnamed antpitta chose Reserve were safe. Further reserves were to buy a tract of land and tell indigenous
Left to r ght: AGAMI Photo Agency/A amy; Bob R dg ey; Nejust Bowman/A amy that moment to hop out of the Ecuadorian bought by the Foundation (co-funded by people they cannot benefit from it. From
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 45 JOCOTOCO ANTPITTA
PACIFIC OCEAN COLOMBIA
QUITO
ECUADOR Andes
Amazon rainforest
PERU
TAPICHALACA RESERVE
Protecting the jocotoco antpitta’s home
Situated on the eastern slope of An adult Jocotoco the Andes, the Tapichalaca Reserve antpitta (left) with covers around 3,300ha today, a juvenile feeding with terrain ranging from various on the forest floor at Tapichalaca types of forest to the high paramo at 3,400m. It supports thousands of species, among them over 130 endemic plants and 12 globally the start, families who sold the Foundation As my blue eyes met the dark red eyes threatened species of frog, including their land at Tapichalaca were employed of a jocotoco antpitta on my own quest the Tapichalaca tree frog that occurs as rangers. Its reserves also invite visits to see the species in February 2018 in nowhere else. One of the more from schools, and birdfeeders are open a forest undisturbed by the sound of striking mammalian residents is the to the public to encourage a fascination chainsaws, I thought about the way in Endangered Andean tapir, which is with local wildlife. The mayor of Palanda, which this shy, unassuming bird and its easily identified by its white lips near Tapichalaca, has approached the once-unfamiliar call led to the protection – as though it has just been caught Foundation to further extend its reserve of a forest and creation of an entire with its snout in a bowl of sugar. to help protect two local rivers – and thus conservation movement in Ecuador. And the town’s water supply. An emergency I thought, too, of how it came by its fund for staff and families is in place and scientific name, Grallaria ridgelyi. university bursaries have also been provided “It’s an incredible saga,” Bob Ridgely for some local youngsters. In other areas, agrees. “Looking back, it seems almost Foundation volunteers have renovated unbelievable that everything could have buildings in towns and villages and helped fallen into place so well. Now the Jocotoco regenerate local coffee plantations. Foundation is one of the strongest NGOs involved in major land protection efforts for
Firm foundation endangered species – not just in Ecuador, Top to bottom: Derek Kverno; Franco Mendoza; Dominic Mitchell These efforts in the community have but really anywhere in the world. To think it helped to raise awareness of wildlife and all started with this marvellous bird. I still the environment with local peoples to the get goose bumps just thinking about it!” The Tapichalaca extent where the black-breasted puffleg has tree frog (above)is been adopted as the emblematic species unknown elsewhere; (below) Andean tapir. of Quito. As I travelled through the small NEIL GLENN is a writer and bird communities dotted around Foundation tour guide. He stayed in Ecuador reserves, I was impressed by the number of courtesy of Neblina Forest. murals, wall paintings and wildlife statues in the streets and parks. It really does seem FIND OUT MORE as though local people have taken their Jocotoco Foundation: jocotoco.org wildlife and the Foundation to their hearts. World Land Trust: worldlandtrust.org
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Find out more at asiliaafrica.com By STUART BLACKMAN, JAMES FAIR, HELEN PILCHER, NIKI RUST, SIMON BIRCH WILDNEWS and JO PRICE KEEPING YOU UP TO DATE WITH THE BIG NATURE STORIES
Clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris signal their host anemone’s danger. Inset, below: A. ephippium’s warning coloration is not compromised with camouflaging stripes.
EVOLUTION What is it that makes clowns so scary? Clownish colours warn of danger – but it’s not the ish that predators are meant to fear.
emo, the cartoon clownfish that lost who led the work. And now he has an clownfish species sporting more white N its way, is not the most intimidating answer. Working with Jennifer Kelley of stripes, which Merilaita and Kelley of characters. And yet new research has The University of Western Australia, he believe is more to do with camouflage found clownfish colours evolved, in part, has found a correlation between the colour among the tentacles. But what of the to instil fear into predators. But these are patterns of the fish and the potency of classic Nemo clownfish look, with warning colours with a big difference. venom deployed by their hosts. The more both bright colours and white stripes? Clownfish are famous for the intimate dangerous the anemone, the brighter Merilaita says it may be a compromise relationships they form with sea anemones. the clownfish’s colours. The fish are between camouflage and threat. They seek protection among anemone palatable: it’s the host anemone that the “The balance is between avoidance of tentacles, apparently immune to stings, fish are warning predators about. “We detection by predators at long range and and in return they aerate their hosts do not know of any other warning of the toxicity of the host at a and fertilise them with nutrients. The animal groups that closer range.” Nemo, it seems, would 30-odd clownfish species specialise in might advertise a rather not be found. But should he partnering different species of anemone defence possessed be spotted, his message is clear: and come in a wide range of bright by another “Get lost!” SB colours and white stripes. species,” write “I’ve had the question about the the biologists. FIND OUT MORE function of their peculiar coloration in Less venomous Journal of Evolutionary Biology: my head for a long while,” says Sami anemones host https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Merilaita of Finland’s University of Turku, less colourful doi/abs/10.1111/jeb.13350 Top: Reinhard Dirscherl/FLPA; bottom: Georgette Douwma/naturepl.com Georgette bottom: Dirscherl/FLPA; Reinhard Top:
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 51 WILD NEWS
SUSPICIOUS DISAPPEARANCE Researchers lost track of‘Fred’the golden UNSOLVED KILLING In South Lanarkshire last year an unidentified person was eagle in mysterious circumstances in 2017.His satellite tag was tracked inexplicably heard firing a shotgun and, shortly afterwards,was seen dumping something in a ditch. going round the Edinburgh bypass. It stopped transmitting off the coast of Fife Ness. The following day, the police retrieved the body of a short-eared owl.
SUCCESSFUL PROSECUTION Last year there were four prosecutions across DOUBLE POISONING The number of incidents of raptor persecution has not the UK relating to alleged raptor persecution, but only one was successful – that of a decreased in England.Two peregrines were killed in Shropshire in 2017 after feeding gamekeeper who shot a buzzard on a pheasant shoot in Scotland. on a pigeon carcass laced with pesticide. Police linked the crime to pigeon racing.
WILDLIFE CRIME
Scotland’s raptor persecution rates fall Clockwise from Golden Eagle: Guy Shorrock/RSPB; Ben Andrew/RSPB; Shutterstock/RSPB; Ben Hall/RSPB; New ‘progressive’ legislation may be responsible for reducing bird crime.
he number of confirmed instances should their gamekeepers break the by gamekeepers, in order to kill raptors. Tof raptor persecution in Scotland has law. “The Scottish Government is very Known victims in 2017 included dropped well below the long-term average progressive,” Thomas adds. 22 buzzards, 7 red kites, 3 marsh harriers in a trend that conservationists say could All birds of prey – raptors – are fully and 1 hen harrier. be down to new legislation that came into protected under UK law, but many are still But the RSPB also says that these force there in 2012. deliberately killed every year – a total of 68 figures are just the tip of the iceberg. It There were five known crimes relating confirmed incidents in 2017, including the believes that bringing in vicarious liability to birds of prey in Scotland in 2017, four examples shown above. – and the licensing of grouse moor estates, compared with an average of 27 a year over But Thomas believes that ‘vicarious which is currently under consideration in the past five years, according to the RSPB’s liability’ north of the border has deterred Scotland – would help lower persecution latest Birdcrime report. In comparison, estates from trying to poison birds of rates in England and Wales as well. JF there has been no decline in the number prey. “All the police have to do now is of crimes detected in England. find poison that’s incorrectly stored, FIND OUT MORE The Birdcrime Mark Thomas, from the RSPB or not legal, and the landowner can be Report: rspb.org.uk/birdcrime Investigations team, says that under prosecuted,” he points out. the law of vicarious liability, Scottish The RSPB says that shooting is now the WANT TO COMMENT? Email us at landowners can be convicted of a crime primary illegal method employed, mainly [email protected]
52 BBC Wildlife October 2018 WILD NEWS
CONSERVATION REPORT RED DATA BOOK OF UZBEKISTAN Central Asian LISTED sand cat This month the spotlight falls on a feline that is almost impossible to track.
For bumblebees Wheredoesitlive? Howendangeredisit? it’s goodbye to Sand cats live in the desert belts Globally the species is of ‘least concern’ neonicotinoids, hello to new stretching from north Africa, through but the central Asian subspecies is pesticide threat. the Middle East, and up into central thought exceptionally rare. They don’t have Asia. There are four known subspecies a Red List in Uzbekistan, so it has been of which the central Asian or Turkestan added to the Red Data book, a government CONSERVATION sand cat is one. It lives in the Kyzylkum list of endangered animals that gives them Desert in Uzbekistan. legal protection. New bumblebee
Whyisitsounique? Whatarethemainthreats? pesticide risk It’s the only cat to live exclusively in People. Habitat is becoming fragmented desert habitats and so has a number of by the oil and gas industry. The land is pesticide poised to fill the gap left distinct, specialised features. It doesn’t also used by sheep herders. Recently a Aby neonicotinoids – banned by the really need to drink and gets most of its shepherd found a dead lamb and blamed EU earlier this year on the basis of the moisture from its food sources; mainly sand cats. He destroyed the kittens in a danger they pose to pollinating insects rodents and reptiles. It has a flat, round nearby den, but as adults weigh about – has been found to have similarly head with very broad ears, short legs and 2kg it’s unlikely they were to blame. harmful effects on bumblebees. the undersides of its paws are completely Biologists at Royal Holloway, University covered in fur. What can be done to help it? of London have found that bumblebee Left alone they would probably be fine, colonies exposed to Sulfoxaflor, in a Whyisitsoelusive? so it’s about educating people not to class of pesticides called sulfoximines, Its unusual paws, which are thought persecute them. Scientifically, little is produce significantly fewer workers and to help it dig rapidly for prey, leave known about this amazing animal so reproductive males – an effect similar to nondescript circular marks in the sand, baseline population surveys are needed. that caused by neonicotinoids. which make it almost impossible to “We’d like to understand more about track. It’s shy, nocturnal, lives in burrows ROBERT J BURNSIDE is a conservation why Sulfoxaflor has the effects that it and, when it does come out, it’s perfectly biologist at the University of East Anglia. does,” says Elli Leadbeater, one of the camouflaged. If startled, an adult will researchers. “Is it because bumblebee often run away then stop, sit and blend in FIND OUT MORE The Sand Cat Working larvae that are exposed to the insecticide with the background. Group: sand-cat.wild-cat.org fail to develop, or because exposed worker bees are less efficient?” There’s also the question of whether the EU’s banning of neonicotinoids was hasty, in the absence of well-considered alternatives. “No, I don’t feel that’s the case,” says Leadbeater. “The EU’s decision was well considered, based on a large body of evidence.” “Sulfoxaflor has been available in
0VISION/NPL many non-EU markets for a number of
all/202 years,” she says, “so hasn’t appeared as a result of the EU’s decision, although that may well make it more attractive to European markets. What our study bee: Chris Gomers highlights is that the issues surrounding neonicotinoids are unlikely to be limited to those particular products.” SB A rare Central Asian sand cat photographed FIND OUT MORE Nature: nature. by Robert Burnside during
Sand cat: Robert J Burnside; Sand cat: Robert com/articles/s41586-018-0430-6 his research in Turkestan.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 53 WILD NEWS
EVOLUTION Some anoles have Anole lizards in the larger sticky toe pads that help eye of the storm them hang on to leaves in the face of a hurricane. urricanes Irma and Maria were Hdevastating for the Caribbean, but presented an opportunity to study the effects of extreme weather on the evolutionary process. When storms struck in 2017, biologists led by Harvard University’s Colin Donihue had just completed a survey of anole lizards on Pine Cay and Water Cay islands north of the Caribbean. By repeating the study after the destruction, they established how a select few survived the 265kph winds. “There were definitely fewer lizards,” says Donihue. “We had to work harder to catch our sample.” The team wondered whether surviving animals had features that helped them cling onto trees. “The sticky toe pads on their fingers and toes, we thought maybe they would be larger,” says Donihue. Indeed they were. But the survivors also sported longer than average forelimbs and shorter hindlimbs compared to the pre-storm population. Wind-tunnel experiments confirmed that these characteristics keep anoles anchored (long hindlimbs, for example, are unhelpful, catching the wind like a sail). With hurricanes expected to rise in intensity, anoles may need to get an even tighter grip on things. SB
FIND OUT MORE Nature: nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0352-3
It’s an honour: NEW SPECIES DISCOVERY the naming of IN NUMBERS Squalus clarkae immortalises a Genie’s dogish marine biologist. 1% Squalus clarkae of mountain hares remain in Scotland’s eastern moorlands WHAT IS IT? This sleek, green- compared with the level recorded eyed shark has been named more than 60 years ago. Squalus clarkae after trailblazing marine biologist Eugenie Clark, who died in 2015 aged 92. “Not just 4,000m the first female shark biologist, she is the altitude that small birds was one of the first people to study occasionally reach when sharks,”said Toby Daly-Engel, one of migrating from Europe back to the scientists behind the discovery. Africa, according to Swedish researchers. WHERE IS IT? Genie’s dogfish is a Anole: Colin Donihue; dogfish: Mar Alliance deep-sea species from the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic, a region that was well known to 34 Eugenie Clark, who founded the Mote chicks fledged across northern Marine Laboratory in Florida. Clark SOURCE Zootaxa England in the most successful led expeditions around the world, https://biotaxa.org/ and widely celebrated hen harrier pioneering the use of submersibles in Zootaxa/article/view/ breeding season in recent years. marine biology and diving to 3.5km SB zootaxa.4444.2.1
54 BBC Wildlife October 2018 8
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www.vacay.co.ke IT’S IN YOUR HANDS Bread is surprisingly bad for waterfowl when fed to them in excess – but luckily there are lots of alternatives that are good for both animals and the environment
FEEDING BREAD TO the ducks is a fond Bread can also cause harmful pastime for many of us, reminiscent of changes to the natural ecosystem. happy childhood trips to the local park. Rotting bread at the bottom of rivers But did you know that bread actually and lakes allows bacteria to breed, poses a danger to birds, as well as the spreading disease and attracting rats environment? Eating it can cause our and other vermin to our waterways. feathered friends to develop a condition It can result in algal blooms and the called Angel Wing, which is when too presence of a mould called Aspergillus much bread makes birds’ feathers grow too, which has the potential to kill too quickly. This additional weight puts a waterfowl and other wildlife if it gets strain on their muscles, causing their wings into their lungs. to twist and drop open, and if not treated But this doesn’t mean we have fast, they can lose the ability to fly. to stop fun trips to feed the ducks. “Angel Wing can be remedied if we Giving birds the right food – like reach birds before it has developed too frozen peas, sweetcorn and lettuce severely,” says Caroline Simpson, a trustee leaves – is good for both them of UK charity Swan Lifeline, which has and the environment. So, next rescued and treated more than 30,000 time you visit your local park, birds over the last 20 years. “Otherwise take a healthier alternative the repercussions can be dire – such as with you and do your amputation of the wing.” Adult swans can bit to protect our also develop gut and heart disease, so it’s precious wildlife. important we do our bit to prevent this by feeding wild birds the right kind of food.
BE A SAFE PAIR OF HANDS WildThings Swan & Duck Food has launched the ‘Better than Bread’ campaign to highlight the risks of a calorific diet to water birds. The campaign advises that there are much healthier alternatives to bread, such as vegetables and specially developed feeds. WildThings’ nutritious Swan & Duck Food is a wholesome option that contains all the vitamins and minerals wildfowl need and, alongside a balanced diet of vegetables, helps to protect our wildlife and ecosystems. WildThings Swan & Duck Food also floats on the water’s 10% off surface, so birds can enjoy every last bit. Stock up for your your next purchase next trip to the park with 10% off at Pets Corner stores. of WildThings Swan & Duck Food at any Pets Corner store Valid until 30/09/18
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MEET THE SCIENTIST Stephen Thackeray Lake ecologist, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Ecologist Stephen Stephen studies Thackeray reveals the freshwater plankton in his laboratory. Below: Arctic efects of ‘underwater charr are impacted by heatwaves’ on freshwater increasing temperatures. wildlife and the most likely cause of the high temperatures we experienced throughout June and July this year.
affodils flowering in December, oak treescominginto leaf in March and swallows arriving before spring should Dproperly have sprung – we’ve all noticed changes such as these. Less well-known is that climate- change-linked phenomena are also SWindermere’s Arctic oxygen levels. Over the summer, happening beneath the surface of these had decreased to below 7mg our lakes and rivers, unheralded. charr become stressed perlitre,closetothecharr’slimitof As an example of spring’s now at anything above 15˚C. T 5mg per litre. When it breaks down, untimely arrival below the water line, the algae also releases toxins that can Stephen Thackeray, of the Centre for poison livestock, pets and people. Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), cites Fieldwork for Thackeray and his how perch in Lake Windermere of salmon and trout. “They become team involves taking water samples, arespawningearlier.“It’sonlya stressed at anything above 15˚C, recording temperatures and oxygen fewdayseachdecade,butifthisis so this is far above their thermal levels and analysing levels of sustained over a long period it can range,” Thackeray explains. They nutrientssuchasphosphorus.He be enough to disrupt relationships can dive (to 64m in Windermere) is also trying to devise new ways to betweenspecies.”Theappearanceof to cool down but the habitat understand these ecosystems using the perch larvae moves out of sync available to them is reduced. satellite imagery to spot freshwater with the seasonal proliferation of the The problem is compounded as algalblooms–CEHrecentlylaunched plankton they feed on, leading to warming temperatures also fuel an app, ‘Bloomin’ Algae’ so the public poorer survival rates. the growth of blue-green algae can join in helping with this. Thackerayisinlittledoubtthat –cyanobacteria–whichsinkstothe Biodiversity decline has been more this is being caused by long-term bottom and decomposes, depleting rapid in freshwater systems than in changes in our climate, which also terrestrial or marine habitats. “The probably contributed to the extremity Office for National Statistics (ONS) of this summer’s prolonged valuesourfreshwatersystemsat heatwave. But while provisional £39.5bn,” he says. “But what do the Met Office records suggest air impacts on them mean for us?” If temperatures in July were 2.2˚C anyoneisgoingtofindananswer,it’s above the 1981–2010 average, the most likely to be Thackeray himself. surface water in Windermere James Fair reached 22˚C, 4˚C higher than the long-term average. This, Thackeray READ THE PAPER Read Stephen’s says, will impact species such as blog: ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/
Stephen: Liz Davidson; arctic charr: Ian Winfield charr: Ian arctic Liz Davidson; Stephen: Windermere’s Arctic charr, a relative blogs/stephen-thackeray
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 57 WILD NEWS
MAMMALS Howzebrasdidn’t earn their stripes
ebras may have the coolest pelts on the Z savannah, but that doesn’t stop them overheating, according to new research. Their stripes are as mysterious as they are striking; about 18 different hypotheses have been put forward over the years to explain their function – ranging from camouflage to communication to optical illusions that deter biting flies or cause carnivores to mis-time their lunges. Now, however, biologists from Sweden and Hungary have narrowed things down, if only slightly, by ruling out another possibility – that stripes help keep zebras cool in the sun. The theory goes that the black stripes heat up more than the white ones, thus creating little swirling vortices in the air above them, which keep air moving across the fur resulting in a net cooling effect. To test whether this works in practice, biologists filled zebra-sized barrels with water, covered them with zebra, cow and horse hides of different shades and left them out in the sun. Unsurprisingly, the water temperature rose highest under black pelts and remained cooler under white ones. Crucially, though, the black-and-white stripes did not keep the water any cooler than did uniform grey pelts. SB The evolutionary purposeofthe zebra’s distinctive FIND OUT MORE Scientific Reports: www. coat remains elusive. nature.com/articles/s41598-018-27637-1
Nature in brief
Cull suspended Breeding success ; ament Bada o Fab : cora nen/Getty; Hakk Seppo raven: .com; s-Huot/naturep Den Zebra:
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) The removal of invasive rats and frigatebird: Ed Marshall/FFI; penguins: David Merron/Getty; stinkhorn: Tai-Hui Li/Kew suspended a cull of ravens in goats from the Caribbean island Perthshire on finding it “didn’t of Redonda (see our May 2018 provide robust scientific feature) has yielded spectacular conclusions”. A licence was results for its seabirds. The granted earlier this year to see if island’s frigatebirds and boobies reducing raven numbers boosted (several species) are having their wader breeding success. best breeding year on record.
Cooperative corals Penguin peril Tiny coral polyps that usually The world’s largest king penguin feed on microscopic planktonic colony, on Île aux Cochons, has prey can work together to subdue plummeted from two million much larger creatures. Reports birds to just 200,000 since the suggest corals from Sicily work 1990s, reports Antarctic Science. cooperatively to trap, dismantle The reasons for the decline and consume large jellyfish. remain a mystery.
58 BBC Wildlife October 2018 WILD NEWS
FUNGI TRUTH OR FICTION? Fungireportis irst of its kind Do orcas mourn eading mycologists from the LRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, have their dead? 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 News of an orca apparently global challenges, fungi could provide grieving for her dead calf hit many of the answers,” says Prof Katherine the headlines this summer, but Willis, director of science at Kew. The availability and efficiency of DNA- can we say she was mourning? based methods has enabled scientists to detect thousands of new fungi species per year – 2,189 were described in IN LATE JULY, an orca known as Is it right to When apparently 2017, predominantly from the phylum Tahlequah–partoftheendangered ascribe animal grieving behaviour Ascomycota – but there are at least two Southern Community group that behaviour to is witnessed, million species yet to be described. mainly lives in Puget Sound and off familiar human continues Hoyt, it emotional The global market for edible the south coast of Vancouver Island responses? demonstrates “that mushrooms is worth approximately –gavebirthtoacalf.Sadly,thecalf an individual is in £32bn per year, while genera such as died, but the mother nonetheless trouble and the mother wants to help, Penicillium – which is used in cheese, carrieditaroundwithherforatleast butitdoesn’tproveactualgrief.”The antibiotic and contraceptive-pill 17 days. News reports suggested that idea that whales and dolphins have production – underpin many everyday she was grieving for her dead baby, developed culture – orcas in their products. Despite their value, only but can we really understand what idiosyncratic feeding behaviours, for 56 species of fungi have had their was going on in her mind? example – is widely accepted, but conservation status assessed compared “We know that orcas have large “the question is have they developed with 25,452 plants and 68,054 animals. brainsandaresocial,sothiskind culture around death?” asks Hoyt. “Fungi should be viewed on a par with the As Bearzi points plant and animal kingdoms,” says Willis. S We know that orcas have out, some examples of “We have only just started to scratch the behaviour interpreted surface of knowledge of this incredible large brains and are social, as mourning could be group of organisms.” Niki Rust so this kind of behaviour something entirely different–amale FIND OUT MORE State of the World’s does not surprise me T short-finned pilot whale Fungi report: stateoftheworldsfungi.org carryingacalfinits mouth could have come of behaviour does not surprise me,” after it killed the juvenile, possibly says Erich Hoyt, a research fellow for as a way to mate with its mother. the UK charity, Whale and Dolphin The real tragedy in this case, Conservation, who once witnessed observes Hoyt, is that the Southern similar behaviour in a female Pacific Community that Tahlequah belongs white-sided dolphin. “Orcas are heavily to is declining, with an estimated invested in their young, and they three-quarters of all newborns remain with their mothers for life.” failing to survive during the past two Hoyt points to a 2017 study by decades and its population dropping another cetacean researcher, Giovanni from nearly 100 to 75 over the Bearzi, which examined 45 cases of same time period. JF
cetaceans showing caring behaviour Orca: Robin W. Bair towards dead or dying animals – in ERICH HOYT is the author of the most cases individuals of their Encyclopedia of Whales, Dolphins The crinoline own species. The paper notes that, and Porpoises. stinkhorn is one where a species invests a lot in its d/Cascadia of 144,000 named relationships, then grief is the cost WANT TO COMMENT? Email and classified
or trade-off of that commitment. [email protected] Research fungi species.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 59 NEWS FEATURE
HOW WELL DID WILDLIFE WEATHER
No, it’s not India or Australia. It’s a pond in an English village (in 2006, another challenging year for wildlife). Such sights could become more common in the UK. Inset, right: baked soil made it diicult for insectivores such as blackbirds to find food. Ducks: Alisdair Macdonald/REX/Shutterstock; blackbird: Erica Olsen/FLPA Erica blackbird: Macdonald/REX/Shutterstock; Alisdair Ducks:
60 BBC Wildlife October 2018 NEWS FEATURE
The heatwave, while extreme, has not been the only scorcher in recent years. While we cooled of with a choc ice, our temperate maritime habitats sufered. If this is the future, how will OUR SUMMER? our lora and fauna cope? Report by Richard Smyth
his is the year the conditions, the repercussions UK sweltered. The for other species can be serious. satellite heat-map “Seed-eaters that rely on the was a rash of autumn seed crop might be red. For six weeks affected, as many seed-bearing many of us were plants are burned off in drought sleeping badly and conditions,” says Paul Stancliffe of Tpraying for rain – and wild things the British Trust for Ornithology were also feeling the heat. (BTO). “Fruit crops may ripen Sustained warm, dry weather early and be smaller – that tests the resilience of ecosystems could mean a berry shortage for like few other natural phenomena. thrushes and migrant warblers Climate change will only make such as blackcaps.” scorching summers such as 2018, 2003, or most famously 1976, Winners and losers more common. How will plants, As with many insects, butterflies mammals, birds and invertebrates were very visible this summer. cope and what might the future “UK butterflies tend to do very hold as the global temperature well in hot weather,” explains mean creeps upwards? Richard Fox of Butterfly Some challenges are obvious. Conservation. “It enables them to Hard-baked soil is impenetrable be active, find mates, disperse to to the bills of insectivorous new areas and, most importantly, birds – not just the blackbirds lay eggs for the next generation.” on our lawns, but also breeding But food plants wither in the waders such as curlews (already heat. “Drought impacts severely in steep decline). on the survival of caterpillars of As earthworms the current generation,” continues and other soil Fox. “This leads to depleted animals burrow further populations in future. After the down in search of cool 1976 drought numbers of moisture, mammals butterflies didn’t recover are also liable to suffer. fully until 1984.” Fox cubs and hedgehogs There are likely are denied an invaluable to be winners and protein source; walkers losers – though it’s might find starved moles, a delicate balance. forced above ground in search “Some are more of alternative food sources. drought-sensitive Conservationists are keeping than others. a close eye on food-chains: if Species such as one link gives way due to dry the speckled
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 61 NEWS FEATURE
60 US wildfires were recorded in early July, burning 504,000 acres of land – up by about 25 per cent from a year ago. 33ºC was the top temperature in Finland, so even the Arctic Circle felt the heatwave.
Right: the 2018 many freshwater wildfires, such as habitats could in Lancashire, may cope; the heat cause permanent benefitted some peatland damage. of our native Far right, from the butterflies, top: watercourses including the dried out, but purple emperor.
wood and ringlet suffered large declines But with little significant rain between is resilience – the capacity of a species or in 1996 after the very dry summer in May and mid-August, many plants were ecosystem to return to good health once 1995. But warm weather may speed the forced to adopt drastic survival tactics. normal service has been restored. northward spread of butterflies such They jettisoned flowers, leaves and even Jeremy Biggs of the Freshwater Habitats as holly blue – assuming they aren’t above-ground shoots in order to withdraw Trust is keen to stress the natural variability hindered by drought impacts.” resources into the roots. of water levels in ponds, lakes and rivers. Firefighters: Lindsey Parnaby/Getty; watercourse: James Osmond/Alamy; purple emperor: Derek Middleton/FLPA In some ways there’s nothing surprising “Droughts are normal in fresh water,” he Odd year for plants about a heatwave. It’s summer – isn’t it says. “About half of everything that lives in Trevor Dines of Plantlife paints a grim supposed to be hot? “I tend to think this water is fine with drought. There’s a range picture of the UK’s flora. “Grassland year has been a rare return to what was of aquatic plants that are happy with, or even that was full of wildflowers this May once normal,” says Jon Dunn, a specialist need, periods of drought. The plant starfruit, and June was brown, parched and in orchids. “That’s probably been good for for example, is fine in temporary ponds.” desiccated by July,” he says. However, orchids – and indeed other wildlife.” But Froglife patron Jules Howard is similarly it’s impossible to get a meaningful idea as the drought dragged on, he adds, later- upbeat about the potential of freshwater of the current condition of our plant life flowering orchid species found life hard, habitats to handle the heat. “I’m not too without considering the longer-term wilting or even failing to flower. concerned,” he says. “It has been a splendid context. As we sweltered, it was easy to The immediate impacts of drought can be year for pond-watching, because so many forget that this year’s blistering summer dramatic, but what’s often more important animals are drawn towards them for followed a long and severe winter. water. Ponds have “It’s turning out to be an extreme – incredible value and odd – year for plants,” Trevor says. “ Species of bird that feed on in years like this.” “The long, hard winter was great as it Jules goes into helped a process called ‘vernalisation’, aerial insects had a bumper detail on life in the which stimulates the production of breeding season, but species ‘drawdown zone’ – flowers. Though spring was long and the area exposed as cold, many plants flowered like mad that depend on soil a pond’s water level through March, April and May. Even is lowered in the up until mid-June, meadows and invertebrates sufered.” summer. grasslands were looking fantastic.” Paul Stanclife, BTO “One of the myths
62 BBC Wildlife October 2018 NEWS FEATURE
Drought: the winners and losers Certain British species and habitats are more likely than others to be afected by 2018’s heatwave. Some may even no longer make a home here, but there could be new arrivals.
BAD YEAR
Badger Red fox (right) Hedgehog GOOD Mole Large, small and YEAR green-veined white butterflies Speckled wood Swallow (right) Ringlet Swift Blackbird House martin Starling Spotted flycatcher Late-flowering orchids Comma (above) Wildflowers with shallow Holly blue roots on shallow, dry soils Purple emperor South-facing chalk grasslands Black hairstreak in south-east England (below) about ponds is that they should stay full all year. Marbled white Montane habitats In fact, in the classic ponds that nature creates, Early purple each will regularly have seasons where the water orchid (below, pulls back, opening up this new environment. visited by Most wetland animals are adapted to deal with an orange dry years or dry seasons. Some amphibian tip butterfly) tadpoles, for instance, speed up their growth in such years, metamorphosing at a smaller size to get clear of the shrinking waters.” Problems can arise, though – and the picture can grow more complex – when we factor in variables other than drought alone. Us, for example. Consider peat bog: it’s a pretty tough habitat, when it’s allowed to be. Rob Stoneman, the chief executive of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, characterises sphagnum mosses, POTENTIAL NEW POTENTIAL LOSSES the keystone species of healthy bogs, as the COLONISTS FROM THE UK “ultimate ecosystem engineers”, adapted to wet European bee-eater (below) Mountain ringlet conditions yet resilient to drought. Glossy ibis Scotch argus (below) “A walk across a peatland landscape in the blistering heat of summer 2018 would have Hoopoe Dotterel left footprints in white crispy sphagnum moss, Black-winged stilt Snow bunting dried and seemingly dead as the water-table Swallowtail butterfly Ptarmigan fell away,” Stoneman says. “However, (Continental Specialist alpine sphagnum has evolved to cope with drought. subspecies gorganus) It loses water from the top of the moss-mat, flora yet below, water within the peat is drawn Various dragonflies upwards to keep the moss alive. Through this and damselflies
Comma & scotch argus: Michel Gunther/Biosphoto/Alamy; swallow: Alan Williams/NPL; orchid: MYN/ Niall Benvie/NPL; orchid: Williams/NPL; Alan swallow: Michel Gunther/Biosphoto/Alamy; argus: & scotch Comma Blackbeck/Getty grassland: Europe/Geslin/NPL; of Wonders Wild fox: Wilson/Alamy; Ray bee eater: ecosystem engineering, sphagnum mosses
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 63 NEWS FEATURE
WhatcanIdo Peat bogs can balance drought and flood – but to help wildlife only if we leave them alone. during droughts? 41.1ºC was the temperature in the city of Kumagaya, a new record high for Japan. 4% PROVIDE A BOWL OF WATER for birds and mammals to drink and of the usual July rainfall bathe. It should be shallow or, if fell in Eastern England, it’s a large bowl, arrange stepping the driest since Met stones so small animals can get out. Office records began in 1961.
maintain water-tables close or near to the “Climate change has greatly increased surface throughout the year.” the frequency of severe heatwaves over Things go wrong when we step in. much of the globe,” says Corinne Le “If we burn a bog to encourage heather at Quéré, director of the Tyndall Centre CREATE A WILDLIFE POND the expense of sphagnum, or cut drains for Climate Change Research at the Even the tiniest pool has enormous to lower the water-table, the situation University of East Anglia. “Studies that value, but a deeper area (with changes,” Stoneman says. “The ecosystem- have separated the role of human-caused stepping stones so small animals engineer properties of sphagnum are lost. climate change from natural cycles show don’t drown) is less likely to dry out. Rotationally burnt peatlands of the North that the risk of heatwaves has more than York Moors in 1976 never recovered, as doubled due to climate change so far in the peat was entirely burnt away in places. large parts of the world.” As this summer’s wildfires in Lancashire How will our wildlife respond, if showed, the impact can be catastrophic.” summers like this one become the norm? Change isn’t always destructive The human impact for everyone. Droughts and hot weather Ponds and streams, too, become more create new habitats, and insectivorous vulnerable if human activities skew the birds such as swifts, swallows and spotted system. Jeremy Biggs stresses that a flycatchers may prosper in a hotter Britain. PLANT NECTAR-RICH healthy response to extreme temperatures We might also see further colonisation by FLOWERS to compensate for the is only possible in a healthy freshwater Mediterranean birds such as hoopoes. lack of wildflowers in droughts. Top habitat. Where a water body is polluted, On the flipside, Britain’s montane up from rainwater butts or use ‘grey’ the resilience of its ecosystem is habitats will warm, snowlines will creep water from baths or washing-up. compromised. A heatwave lowers the higher, and we could lose specialist water level, but the level of pollution breeding birds such as snow bunting, as remains the same, resulting in a more well as alpine flora such as saxifrages. intensely polluted habitat. “From the Wild things will often find a way to perspective of clean standing water, I don’t cope, even as temperature records tumble. think droughts are problematic,” Biggs But the reality is that in the decades ahead, concludes. “Droughts are occasional, but in Britain and beyond, the flora and fauna pollution is everywhere.” of the landscape as we know it will be How occasional droughts will be in tested to its limits. future depends on the global climate – MAKE YOUR GARDEN which is getting hotter at a frightening RICHARD SMYTH also wrote DROUGHT-RESILIENT by rate. The long, hot summer of 1976 was a this month’s feature on adopting plants, techniques and British phenomenon in a broadly normal kittiwakes (see p32). features that save and store water. Europe, but this year we were locked into Download a Rain Gardening Guide something bigger. Everywhere in the FIND OUT MORE Stephen Thackeray at www.wwt.org.uk. Northern Hemisphere was hotter. discusses ‘underwater heatwaves’ on p57. Peat: Ashley Cooper/naturepl.com; hedgehog: Coatsey/Alamy; pond & water butt: Gary K. Smith/naturepl.com; echinacea: Ilpo Musto/Alamy echinacea: Smith/naturepl.com; butt: Gary K. pond & water Coatsey/Alamy; hedgehog: Cooper/naturepl.com; Ashley Peat:
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Paper £17.99 VIEWPOINT
MY WAY OF THINKING MARK CARWARDINE The broadcaster and campaigner is bemused by the high value we place on protecting art and architecture compared with conserving wildlife and wild places.
ow much money money? The problem is that everyone deemed to be worth nearly two and a do we need to save accepts – without question – the half times the total annual income of the world’s most importance of protecting old paintings, the RSPB – and no one bats an eyelid. threatened species say, or old buildings. But they don’t Another recent purchase – albeit and protect the most accept the importance of protecting a smaller one – was a little more ironic. important wildlife wildlife or wild places, which are In June, an anonymous collector paid Hsites? I’ll give you a clue: it’s roughly treated as a luxury. Whenever and £7.2 million for the world’s most the same as the amount paid out in wherever nature expensive book – equivalent to one- bonuses to bankers in the UK, the comes under threat, SA single third of the entire annual income of United States and Canada last year. there is always the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. The Or, to put it another way, roughly the a battle to persuade painting cost title? Birds of America by John James same as Americans spend on fizzy the perpetrators 2.5 times the Audubon. Just imagine how that drinks every year. and decision-makers money could have helped to protect A few years ago, experts from that badgers, great total annual the actual birds of America. conservation and research groups crested newts or income of I’m not suggesting that we should around the world came up with a wildflower meadows save wildlife but not art or architecture. robust assessment of the cost of are worth protecting. the RSPB.T We should save both. (Though as my conservation. They estimated that Last year, someone great friend, the wildlife artist David it would cost £3.7 billion each year in Saudi Arabia paid Shepherd, used to say: “We could (at current exchange rates) to save about £350 million for Leonardo da always rebuild the Taj Majal, but threatened species from extinction, Vinci’s masterpiece Salvator Mundi. we won’t be able to rebuild a tiger”.) and £59 billion per year to protect the The price is insane, of course, The money is clearly out there. We most important wild places. Though and it’s a reflection of the massive just need to find more imaginative these figures are eye-wateringly disproportion of wealth around the and persuasive ways of getting our daunting to us as individuals, in globe, but what’s interesting is that hands on it. global terms they are trivial. no one questioned the basic principle That figure of £62.7 billion for Conservation is actually rather of preserving a painting. In our weird annual conservation costs is merely cheap. The estimated cost, totalling and warped world, a single painting is a target. We are nowhere near £62.7 billion, is a drop in the heavily spending that kind of dosh. Current polluted, overfished ocean. And just conservation expenditure must rise Audubon’s Birds of think what we get for our money: America sold for over by an order of magnitude if we are to immeasurable beauty, pleasure for £7 million – how much have any hope of protecting the natural billions of people, and a moral obligation conservation work world. And the real irony is that, if we fulfilled. Oh, and don’t forget the could that fund? fail to do that, there’s a good chance ‘ecosystem services’ provided by nature we will actually lose our life support (such as pollinating crops and removing system – and then the bankers won’t greenhouse gases from the atmosphere), get any bonuses at all. which form the basis of our entire life support system. That’s quite important. MARK CARWARDINE is a frustrated The cost of conservation is dwarfed and frank conservationist. by all of the benefits we get back from nature. Besides, it’s not a ‘cost’ at all – WHAT DO YOU THINK? If you it’s an investment. want to support Mark in his views Why, therefore, is it so frustratingly or shoot him down in flames, email
Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Suzanne difficult to raise anything like enough [email protected]
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 69 Education is key: Turtle Watch volunteer Mary Lechleidner shows members of the public a hatched sea turtle nest. SEA TURTLE NESTS
By Margo Pierce A very Photos Ben Watkins PERSONAL PASSION Each volunteer monitoring Florida beaches has their own special reason for making it their life’s work to protect nesting sea turtles. SEA TURTLE NESTS
efore sunrise in May, the sand of any beach on Anna Maria Island isn’t warm. In fact, it’s cold enough to make my toes go numb if I were strolling barefoot. But that’s not allowed for a group of Bbeach walkers out on the first of the month – shoes with soles are required. They aren’t your average beachcombers, either. They’re carrying mobile phones and tablets, but they’re looking down at the sand not their devices, searching for an impermanent treasure – the flipper trails left by sea turtles. Zipping up and down the shore on an all- terrain vehicle (ATV) is a woman who stops to give the walkers water, answer questions and snap pictures. She’s also wearing shoes and has the same high-visibility t-shirt that they all have on. Meet the conservation volunteers of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch. Suzi Fox, the charity’s director and unofficial cheerleader, is the one driving the ATV. The volunteer Flipper trails at walkers monitor sea turtle nests along part dawn are the sign of the 19km shoreline of Anna Maria Island that a loggerhead (AMI), which lies off Florida’s southwest has laid her eggs overnight in a nest coast, just south of Tampa Bay. This scene on a Florida beach. repeats daily during the nesting season, from 1 May to 1 November. The primary mission of AMI Turtle Watch is to protect the nests of Initial reluctance turned into a passion for thunder, everybody stays off the beach until five species of sea turtle that use the beaches saving turtles. Indeed, it seems every AMI we know the coast is clear.” as an incubator: loggerhead, green turtle, volunteer is motivated by a highly personal Walkers will don waterproofs and go out leatherback, hawksbill and Kemp’s ridley. reason for taking on this time-consuming in the rain, but safety is a top priority. The job of protector. Conversations are peppered coordinator who schedules the volunteers is A passion for saving turtles with lingo they use to describe their work: available to provide assistance throughout Since its inception in 1982, the grass-roots ‘walkers’ hit the beach in pairs to monitor every walk. Everyone is required to call their effort has been a resounding success. By their assigned 1.5km portion of coastline coordinator when they find a new nest, if September 2018, it had documented 8,386 every day in the season. They’re ‘on the sand’ anything unusual happens or if they need turtle activities, protected 4,942 nests and 20 minutes before sunrise and collect ‘data help (heat exhaustion is a real possibility). their contents (a total of 312,402 eggs), and points’ on new nests and check the status of When Pete Gross retired from his ushered 282,336 hatchlings into Tampa Bay existing ones. They also note ‘false crawls’ computer science career in 2008, he and his and the Gulf of Mexico. Considering that just – tracks left by a female turtle that comes wife dived into sea-turtle volunteering that one in 1,000 sea turtles will live to adulthood, ashore but doesn’t nest. same year. Both started out as walkers. Now this is an important contribution to the global “I have 117 people who work for me every he’s a coordinator for two sections of beach effort to prevent extinction. Of the seven species day for free. They love what they do,” Suzi near his home. “It’s my job to go out on the of sea turtle, two are Critically Endangered, says. “I get up at 4:30 every morning and go beach and collect the data for the state,” he one is Endangered and three are Vulnerable; straight for the weather. Everybody watches says. “We try to identify turtle nests and put the final species, the flatback, is classed as their email to make sure it’s safe. If we hear four-foot stakes in the sand around them ‘Data deficient’ so, although they don’t know for sure, it could be in trouble, too. Suzi credits the turtles with providing her salvation. “In 1990 I was severely depressed because my mother had passed away. With her gone, I was hiding out – not getting “In 1990 I was severely out of bed,” she tells me. “A friend who did the turtle watch came over and said, depressed because my mother ‘Come on, you get out and walk with me in had passed away.Turtle watch the mornings.’ That’s what I did, and I can honestly say it probably saved my life.” probably saved my life.”
72 BBC Wildlife October 2018 SEA TURTLE NESTS
Clockwise from importance of dark right: volunteers beaches – lights including Pete scare females and Gross (in grey cap) can draw hatchlings examine a nest away from the sea; to see how many a nest at night, turtle eggs have with light pollution hatched; anatomy behind; Suzi Fox, of a sea turtle the director of AMI nest; a sign on the Turtle Watch.
O An adult female will nest 2–10 times Shiting sands: each season. Sea turtle nests O A turtle nest is 45–55cm deep. O It is excavated using the back flippers and covered again by throwing over sand with the front flippers. O Each nest contains 50–200 eggs, depending on species. The eggs hatch one and a half to two months later. O The most common nester at Anna Maria Island is the loggerhead, below. Laying eggs: A Laying & J Visage/Alamy A eggs:
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 73 as protection. Later, after the babies have all hatched and left, we excavate the nests, which means we take out the eggshells and everything else for examination.” How many eggs hatched, how many didn’t, the number of dead hatchings and other details are all duly noted. Nests are also carefully excavated if a predator such as a raccoon or domestic dog has raided them, thereby gathering valuable information about Clockwise from behind); feeding the impact of predation. The hatchlings are top left: volunteers a saved hatchling never handled by the volunteers. fenceofanew at Mote Marine Pete uses his professional expertise to nest; the team Laboratory and compile and report all the data collected. always excavates Aquarium – once In the USA, national and local authorities nests 72 hours itcandiveand after they hatch compete for food enforce wildlife management policies. These (and, in this case, it will be released. government agencies set data collection rescue hatchlings Below left: flags requirements and provide mandatory that were left mark turtle nests. training, controlling all of these activities through a permitting process. Swimming frenzy Throughout the state of Florida, there are approximately 150 turtle monitoring permits, with permit holders coordinating local years in the Azores, off the coast of Portugal. says. “When you collaborate and share that activities. Suzi holds four permits and works Eventually reaching sexual maturity at 25–35 information with really good people it is closely with Pete to make sure their data years, they return to the beaches where they brilliant for conservation.” includes all of the necessary information hatched in order to reproduce. “The males Mote has its own turtle nest monitoring before submitting it to the state-wide nesting never leave the water and females only come programme on the mainland, responsible database maintained by the Florida Fish and out to nest,” Pete says. “The turtles’ whole for beaches south of Anna Maria Island. But Wildlife Conservation Commission. life-history is just incredible.” the partnership includes all things sea-turtle- After 45 years working for a computer But global warming is threatening this related. If a member of the public calls Mote science company, why is Pete still geeking ancient life-cycle. Higher temperatures mean about a stranded turtle, AMI volunteers are out with technology when he’s living in a hotter sand. The warmer, upper portion of a quick to respond. When a sick or injured tropical paradise? I had to ask. His answer sea-turtle nest produces females, while the turtle is found on the island, they work with reflects the awe in which he holds one of the cooler portion at the bottom produces males. Mote to get it to the aquarium for treatment. planet’s few remaining dinosaurs. The female-to-male ratios used to be 1:1, but This intervention can include ‘washbacks’ – “What’s amazing to me is these little recent studies reveal that nests on many baby turtles that don’t make it safely to the hatchlings weigh around 21g and fit into nesting beaches now result in 90 per cent seagrass beds and are pushed back to shore the palm of your hand. When they struggle female and 10 per cent male turtles. by waves, too weak to try again. out of their nest, they head straight for the AMI collaborates with the Mote Marine water,” he says. “They then swim against the Laboratory and Aquarium in mainland Satellite tagging oncoming waves, and beyond the waves Florida as a way to expand what they When the body of a dead adult Kemp’s they use the Earth’s magnetic field to do to help sea turtles. Gretchen ridley (the rarest species found here) was navigate. And they swim in a frenzy for Lovewell, a marine biologist discovered, Suzi asked Gretchen if she 24 hours, making a beeline for some who serves as Program wanted to carry out a necropsy. Of course! seagrass beds 25km offshore.” Manager for Stranding A wealth of biological information can be As they grow, the turtles ride Investigations, gushes gleaned from such a procedure. Satellite the currents around the southern praise for Suzi and the tags also provide invaluable information end of the Florida peninsula and walkers. “They’re collecting about turtles after they leave a beach. AMI across the Atlantic Ocean, with really important data and are volunteers hosted Mote biologists on the many spending their juvenile wonderful to work with,” she island during the 2018 nesting season in
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 75 Left: a school “We started to focus visit to Mote Marine Aquarium on educating Below: a new hatchling makes people… It became its precarious journey from the nest to about teaching the shoreline. them how to share beaches with turtles.”
Simplewaysto help sea turtles Volunteering isn’t the only way to makeadiference–weallhaveapart to play in our everyday lives, even when we’re a long way from turtle nesting beaches.
ON SEA TURTLE BEACHES O Avoid taking chairs and cool boxes as they can inadvertently crush turtle nests. O Dim mobile phones from dusk to dawn, or keep them of the order to select two adult females to tag. Back silvery, eerie time of morning and the sun beach altogether. Artificial lights on the island, Suzi talks about how they have comes up, I watch the grains of sand change disorientate turtles. focused on outreach. from grey to golden,” she says. “You have this O Choose watersports with care as “In the mid-2000s, we started to focus beautiful water that also changes colour. That turtles may be drawn to the sound on educating people,” she says. “Once we quiet, peaceful time… it just fills your heart.” of outboard motors and sometimes started doing that, the tone of everything But Mary’s tone shifts from calm to intense don’t see boats until it’s too late. changed. It became about teaching people as she describes how a plastic bag floating in O Don’t fish near nesting beaches how to share beaches with turtles.” Suzi the water can appear to a leatherback turtle or, better still, visit fish instead by trains beach walkers to chat to residents and like its favourite food – jellyfish – and how going snorkelling or scuba-diving. holidaymakers about their work, and leaflets eating plastic will eventually kill it. Even with conservation tips are distributed to species that don’t normally prey on jellyfish ELSEWHERE shops, hotels and restaurants. may end up ingesting plastic. O Use reusable containers to avoid Mary is optimistic that people can and will the single-use plastics in food- Enjoying marine life help care for sea turtles. “You’ll see folk wrappers and carrier bags. Guided walks on beaches and Turtle Tuesday walking along the beach with a bag picking O Say no to the use of plastic talks are free to the public. The message up rubbish. They’re not part of any organised straws since plastic never Suzi want to communicate? “Look what’s group – they’re simply here to enjoy the disintegrates, but merely breaks happening because you are doing the right beach and marine life,” she says. “All living down into microplastics. thing. Take a bow! You made the difference creatures on Earth are our responsibility.” O Don’t release balloons as they can in what’s going on with sea turtles today by entangle and choke sea life; turtles doing the right thing.” MARGO PIERCE is based in the often mistake deflated balloons and Mary Lechleidner is a retired teacher and USA and writes about wildlife and strings for food. turtle watch volunteer. Her vivid description science; extraordinarylimits.com O Adopt a nesting turtle through one of sunrises on the Gulf of Mexico reveals of the various schemes, such as the her deep love of the natural world. “When FIND OUT MORE Florida’s AMI Turtle one run by AMI Turtle Watch. I’m walking along the shoreline and it’s that Watch: islandturtlewatch.com
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KENYA STIRRED BY HORNETS
The long, hot summer of 2018 has been fabulous for wasps of all species – especially for dedicated hornet watchers.
few years ago I was these chestnut-and-gold insects flew by me. ambling through the They were simply mesmerising. woodlands of the RSPB’s I felt immensely privileged. For while Arne reserve in Dorset hornets may be big and somewhat in pursuit of striped intimidating, they are characteristically ladybirds. These are a secretive – far more so than the common fairly scarce and localised wasps with which we are more familiar (and Aspecies associated with Scots pine, and Arne which made their presence felt during 2018’s happens to be great for them. Suddenly, long heatwave). Standing just a metre or two without warning, I came across some much from the Arne hornets, I was captivated by more imposing insects: I found myself near their beauty – and, yes, their calm. patrolling European hornets – the largest Hornets are relatively common in mature species of social wasp native to this country, woods across central and southern England, or indeed the continent. A steady stream of but also occur in parks and rural gardens. By Helen Roy Photos Stephen Powles
AMAZING FOOTAGE OF HORNETS
A hornet flies back and forth to the nest site carrying pulp made from masticated wood fibre with which to build the nest. They are expanding in range, and now can Above: A queen returns be seen as far north as Northumberland. “My interest actually to her nest in a grassy tussock. The European I encounter individual hornets reasonably began when hornets hornet Vespa crabro frequently in and around my own garden in feeds on insects and Oxfordshire, and am always delighted to moved into one of my other invertebrates, get a glimpse of these alluring predators. But supplemented by one man has taken things a step further. sugary sap from trees barn-owl nestboxes.” and windfall fruit. Stephen Powles has long had a passion for hornets, and quite literally has a window into their secret lives, thanks to a rather special nestbox that he has made in the converted barn where he lives in Devon, with a window “One summer I climbed into the loft to Vespinae. Many of these are yellow and black, facing into his spare bedroom. He had been check for possible signs of a roosting barn whereas hornets are yellow and brown. hoping to attract blue or great tits, but ended owl,” Stephen recalls. “I carefully opened the Hornets are large wasps, with queens reaching up hosting a much more interesting species. ‘back door’ of the nestbox, only to be greeted about 3.5cm in length and workers about 3cm. by 200 or 300 irate hornets. I don’t know They are commonly confused with queens Unexpected visitors who was more surprised – them or me! I of the median wasp, but lack the deep black Instead of welcoming birds, the nestboxes quickly closed the door again, and so began markings of that species. Additionally, hornets have for the last few years been occupied a 15-year fascination with these insects.” do not have yellow markings on the thorax, by hornets – and Stephen is delighted. His Since then, Stephen has spent hours while the median wasp has distinctive yellow passion for these wasps is inspiring. “My capturing hornet behaviour on film and in bands running along its sides and the workers interest in hornets began when they moved photographs, creating a uniquely detailed are, of course, much smaller than hornets. into one of my barn-owl nestboxes,” he says. perspective on the life history of, in his In recent years, the Asian hornet has This choice of nest site is not that unusual, words, “these much-maligned super-wasps”. also been much in the news in this country, since hornets readily use roof spaces and In 2016, BBC Wildlife writer Mike Dilger though as ever with non-native species, some outhouses, as well as hollow trees. What is even paid a visit, with film crew in tow (their of the reporting has been sensationalist. a little out of the ordinary is that Stephen’s remarkable film is still available to view on Slightly smaller than the European hornet, barn-owl nestbox was built into the gables BBC One’s The One Show website). this species has yellow ends to its legs, unlike of his roof. Up there, the hornet nest was Hornets are closely related to a number the all-brown legs of its relative. Its head is able to reach impressive dimensions. of other social wasps within a group called dark from above but orange in front, while
80 BBC Wildlife October 2018 HORNETS
British wasp nests All social wasp nests look supericially similar, but variations in size, shape, location and position of the nest opening can help you work out which species made them. Here are four to look out for (illustrations show completed nests).
EUROPEAN HORNET COMMON WASP Vespa crabro Vespula vulgaris Spotability Spotability
Nests are usually cylindrical, Beige and usually conical with a single wide opening nest with a small opening at the bottom. Cavity at the lower end. Nests in nesters and generally found cavities above or below in chimneys, barns and the ground, though also other outbuildings along behind fascia and sot the head of the European hornet is yellow The queen begins with attics and hollow trees. boards or roof cavities. from above and to the front. building the nest in spring. The larvae Hornets are described as ‘advanced develop in hexagonal eusocial wasps’ – that is, they form a colony cells which are sealed comprising overlapping generations, with with a cap made from the adults represented by the reproductive a silk-like substance queen and non-reproductive workers. The under which they will pupate. workers undertake various tasks, from caring for the larvae that develop in small cells within the nest, to foraging for food, water and nest materials. There is some evidence that, as with honeybees, worker hornets take on different tasks at different stages in their short lives. “The life of a worker hornet is certainly very busy,” says Stephen. Clearly, the queen hornet has the most important role in the colony – that of producing offspring. Indeed, she is mother to all the individuals within the colony, MEDIAN WASP ASIAN HORNET which can eventually, as with the nest in Dolichovespula media Vespa velutina Stephen’s owl box, grow to include several Spotability Spotability hundred workers. Like other social wasps in Britain, hornets have an annual life-cycle Grey conical nest, with a small Spherical or pear-shaped, – in other words, it begins afresh each year, opening positioned slightly nest, which can grow very starting with the emergence of a mated of-centre at the base of the large and has an opening queen from her winter hideout. Stephen nest. Usually built at less to the side. At least 10m has finally succeeded in documenting most than 2m above ground, often above ground. Non-native; stages of this fascinating cycle, which ends in bushes or trees and only only a handful of confirmed with the demise of the entire colony, except rarely in buildings. UK records to date.
Illustrations by Peter David Scott/The Art Agency Art Scott/The David Peter by Illustrations for the newly mated queens.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 81 Clockwise from above: a male (note the long black antennae) basks on a tree stump while looking for a queen to mate with. The larvae develop in hexagonal cells where they are fed by the workers. Note the protein ball (probably insect wing muscle) that has been brought to the nest. Larvae of the hornet rove-beetle, which often lives in the nest with the hornets and feeds on their detritus. The nest is built up layer by layer.
eggs in these cells; these eggs hatch A predatory role is important; after about a week and the queen rears the by feeding on invertebrate larvae on a mixture of mashed-up insects and spiders. A predatory role is important; species, hornets contribute by feeding on invertebrate species, hornets contribute to the functioning of our to a functioning ecosystem. ecosystems. It is an intensive start to the year for the queen hornet, who feeds on carbohydrate-rich substances such as nectar and honeydew – or even honey A mated queen hornet will spend the winter stolen from colonies of bees. alone in a sheltered position, such as under After about two weeks, the hornet larvae bark or in a crevice of some kind. In common have gone through five growth stages called with many British insects, she is dormant instars and are ready to pupate. Each larva throughout the cold winter months. In spring, produces a silk-like substance to close its she emerges to find a suitable nest site – at cell and then pupates for a couple of weeks. this time of year, queen hornets can be seen The newly emerging adult worker rasps at foraging for wood fibres, scraping dead wood the surface of the silk cover with its strong with their strong mandibles and macerating mandibles, slowly rotating its head while it with saliva to form a pulp for constructing a progressively scraping away, and only cutting small, embryonic nest resembling a sphere. through the cover once it has been breached. Inside are hexagonal cells that open The new worker hornets then remain in downwards within structures known as the nest for a few days before taking their combs. The queen will lay her first brood of first flight. During this time they fulfil the
82 BBC Wildlife October 2018 HORNETS
Alien arrival: Asian hornet
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. O Report sightings using the free ‘Asian Hornet Watch’ app, or online at nonnativespecies.org/alerts/asianhornet
important task of raising the temperature of but there are some beetles and parasitic wasps The magnificent sight of hornets in flight is the cells they sit on. The way in which social that will feed on the developing brood. cause alone to stop and watch, but when you insects can control the temperature of their Later in the season, the internal delve a little deeper, you realise these wasps nests is quite incredible. Not only can hornets architecture of the nest changes, as large cells are masterminds of architecture and social warm up cells, but they can also reduce the are built to accommodate the rearing of new organisation. “The ways in which individuals temperature by rapidly beating their wings to queens. At this stage males, characterised by within a colony work together is inspiring and fan the cells or by delivering and spreading their long, black antenna and lack of a sting, captivating in equal measure,” says Stephen. cooling water to the surface of the cells. will also be produced, but they will usually be If you are fortunate enough to see hornets, The first brood of adult workers takes over assigned the smaller cells. Before the onset then please do, like Stephen, take your time the nest-building work and looks after the new of winter, the founding queen is neglected to observe them. Enjoy the behaviour of these broods hatching from the queen’s eggs. So the by the workers and she dies. incredible aerial predators, though keep a safe colony grows. Every second counts to ensure distance and don’t cross their flight paths. its survival. “Hornets will continue to fly well Annual life-cycle While Stephen has spent “countless happy after dark on warm evenings all through the Now the young queens and males emerge hours” very close to hornet nests, this is not summer and early autumn,” Stephen points from the nest and mate. Most queen hornets without its risks. But as his pictures on these out. “Like moths, they’re attracted to the lights mate with only a single male. This is not pages show, these unsung heroes of the insect in our homes. So hornets can be seen circling always the case, however: sometimes a queen world are worth celebrating. outside security or porch lights, or flying up might mate with two or three males, but and down lit windows.” even in that scenario, most of the queen’s HELEN ROY is an ecologist at the Things don’t always go to plan, however. offspring will be eggs fertilised by only one Centre for Ecology and Hydrology There are a number of guests – some possibly of the males, so the female workers are still and an expert on non-native species. unwelcome – sometimes to be found within extremely closely related. Following mating, the hornet nests. Some are simply scavenging the queens settle down for the winter and FIND OUT MORE Bees, Wasps and
Asian hornet: Michel Gunther/Biosphoto/Alamy Michel hornet: Asian and feeding on left-overs within the nest, the workers all gradually die off. Ants Recording Society: bwars.com
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 83 COOLING OFF Bandhavgarh NP, Madhya Pradesh, India Two 14-month-old siblings cool of at a watering hole. The total Bengal tiger subspecies population is estimated at fewer than 2,500 and most are found in India. The Endangered mammals are threatened by poaching, habitat loss and conflict with humans. Photo Steve Winter Exhibition Eye on the Tiger Photo story Burning bright With approximately 3,800 tigers left in the wild, Save Wild Tigers has launched a photography exhibition to raise awareness of their plight. This selection of images celebrates these beautiful big cats, and reveals why there is hope for their future. PHOTO STORY TIGERS
BATH TIME Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, India Three cubs follow their mother into a watering hole. Tigers are mostly solitary creatures, apart from females raising their young. The big cats typically have two to four ofspring every two years. The youngsters will gain independence at two years and reach sexual maturity between the ages of three and five. Photo Jami Tarris
LONE RANGER Bandhavgarh NP, Madhya Pradesh, India At first light a male moves silently through the park in searchofprey.Asanapex predator he influences the ecosystem: protecting tigers benefits other species. Photo Bjorn Persson
86 BBC Wildlife October 2018 LEAP TO SAFETY Sunderban National Park, West Bengal, India Conflict with humans over territory is a problem for tigers, so on the fringe of the Sunderban National Park the Forest Department traps tigers that enter or come close to villages. Rangers then transport and release the big cats into a safer area away from people, near or in the mangrove forest. Photo Anish Andheria
TIME TO REFLECT Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, India A beautiful reflection of a male creates a peaceful image. Unlike most other cat species, tigers are keen swimmers and often visit streams and lakes to escape the heat of the day. Photo Baiju Patil
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 87 PHOTO STORY TIGERS
SAVED BUT CAGED Aceh Province, Indonesia A snare cost this six-month- old Sumatran tiger cub his right front leg, which had to be amputated because it was so badly mangled. He was trapped for four days before being rescued by anti-poaching forest patrols. Sadly, he will have to spend the rest of his life in captivity. Photo Steve Winter
POWER GRAB Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, India Female ‘Noor’ brings down an adult sambar. Tigers need to be within 20m of their prey before launching an attack and rely on explosive acceleration to catch it. Photo Andy Rouse
88 BBC Wildlife October 2018
PHOTO STORY TIGERS
PREVIOUS PAGE KEEPING TRACK SEEKING SHADE Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, India Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India A female known as ‘Arrowhead’ Dominant male ‘Fateh’ steps out after a nap in an old walks around a lake at sunset. building, which was once part of a village in the park. India’s national tiger census uses Its residents were relocated and the dwellings now camera-traps to record sightings of ofer Bandhavgarh’s tigers shelter and shade. individuals because no two tigers Photo Kim Sullivan have the same stripe pattern. Photo Andy Rouse
BIG DADDY Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan, India ‘Kumbha’, a 12-year-old male, has sired several cubs. This year, Rajasthan’s chief wildlife warden reported a population rise in the state, including 26 births in Ranthambore between 2016 and 2018. Photo Vladimír Cech Jr
SPOTS AND STRIPES Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India White ear spots play an important role in intra-species communication between big cats, especially at night. Cubs use them to locate their mother as they follow her through the dense forest. Photo Anish Andheria
90 BBC Wildlife October 2018 FOOD FIGHT Ranthambore NP, Rajasthan, India This old female (left) had been feeding for a couple of hours on a freshly killed sambar when a large male appeared. She wisely backed of and watched from a distance. Without warning, he left the kill and attacked her. Luckily, he stopped after she rolled on her back in submission, then he calmly returned to his meal. Photo Chris Brunskill
EYE ON THE TIGER is a photography exhibition on display in the Amphi Corridor at London’s Royal Albert Hall. It includes images from over 30 of the world’s leading wildlife photographers and has been organised by Save Wild Tigers. See the website for September and October dates: savewildtigers.org
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 91 SI tried using a tripod, but gusts of up to 50mph made it impossible to compose accurately.T
92 BBC Wildlife October 2018 Behind the image
Alockand a hard place by BEN HALL 2007
Photographing lamingos in their habitat is tougher than it sounds – particularly when that habitat is the windy Chilean Andes.
photograph can evoke a vivid sense of place – but one thing that’s tricky to capture on camera is Awind. Yet it has a huge impact on animals and photographers BEN HALL alike, as Ben Hall discovered while is an award-winning wildlife photographer tracking flamingos in the Torres del with a passion for Paine massif in Chilean Patagonia. protecting wild places, “We drove up to a point on Mont particularly Britain’s Almirante Nieto from where we hiked as fragile ecosystems: high as we could, up to about 1000m,” benhallphotography.com 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 fighting the same icy blasts. “I tried using a tripod, but gusts of up to 50mph made it impossible to compose accurately. So I increased the ISO and shutter speed to reduce camera shake, changed to a more manageable 100–400mm lens, and hand-held the camera to capture this shot.” This adaptation to the tough conditions proved serendipitous: “The smaller lens meant I was able to include more of the environment in the frame, highlighting the relationship between the birds and their dramatic habitat.”
Think pink The most southerly flamingo species is found from Peru and Uruguay down to Tierra del Fuego, and from sea level up to 4,500m in the Andes. Gregarious birds forming flocks of many thousands, Chilean flamingos migrate between shallow alkaline lakes where they feed on tiny diatoms. They’re classified Near Threatened due to illegal egg-harvesting, hunting and habitat loss. “For me, this image speaks of both the beauty of the birds and of the hostile conditions they endure in this harsh but spectacular environment,” says Ben.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 93 LOSE YOURSELF IN A WORLD of
FIND YOURSELF IN OXFAM’S ONLINE SHOP oxfam.org.uk/shop WILDAT HOME TELEVISION | BOOKS | FILM | ONLINE | APPS | PUZZLES
Big Cat Tales ofers a window into the lives of the lions, leopards and cheetahs of the Maasai Mara. Angela Scott/Animal Planet Scott/Animal Angela Catching up with Africa's famous cats Jonathan and Angela Scott launch the next chapter in the Big Cat brand.
of Big Cat Diary,” says Jonathan. “Tales allows us to pick up stories instantly.” BIG CAT TALES TV ANIMAL PLANET, FIVE PARTS, STARTS OCTOBER also reflects our lives on safari, doing Expect emotive family dynamics, choice what we’ve done since moving to the spectacular river crossings and epic People never tire of watching big cats. Mara in 1977, with input from our chases (arguably the series’ highlight Testament to this was Big Cat Diary co-presenter Jackson Looseyia about is a hunt by an unusually large – and later incarnations Big Cat Week what it is to be a Maasai.” coalition of cheetahs known as the and Live – the much-loved and long- Of the fresh feline faces in Tales, Five Cheetah Boys), as well as an running BBC series that from 1996- many descend from those that insight into the pressures facing one 2008 offered a jeep’s-eye view onto became household names in the Big of Africa’s most famous reserves. the plains of Kenya’s Maasai Mara. Cat heyday. “Bahiti the leopard is “These animals have been our A decade since the format was granddaughter of Bella, a Diary legend; lifelong obsession – they are like old retired by the BBC, the cats are back Malika the cheetah is likely related friends – but as we approach our in a new series for Animal Planet, to Kike, the car-jumping female seventies, we are looking to pass the fronted once again by ‘Big Cat People’ that pooped on me in 2003; and of baton on to the next generation of Jonathan and Angela Scott. “Animal course there’s the Marsh Pride,” says Kenyans,” says Jonathan. “We want to stories are still at the heart of the Jonathan. “But there are always new inspire conservationists long after we programmes, but this is not a repeat characters to feature – the format have departed this world.” SM
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 95 WILD AT HOME
BOOK TheSecretLifeof the Mountain Hare
ANDY HOWARD, SANDSTONE PRESS, £24.99
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 Mountain hare fur morphs three and persecution on driven grouse moors, times a year: white to brown in along with that famously morphing spring; brown to grey in autumn; grey to white in winter.
Andy Howard pelage. Paul Bloomfield Freelance writer
BOOK APP WILD STREAM HowtoSeeNature MCSGoodFish Guide
DOCUMENTARY PAUL EVANS, PAVILION BOOKS , £16.99 WWW.GOODFISHGUIDE.ORG France: The Wild Side Natural World film from 2015 This series of highly scientific This award-winning app from presenting the charismatic yet lyrical encounters with the Marine Conservation wildlife – wolves, wild boar nature is a talisman for our Society is an essential tool to and even bears – found in the ‘environmentally anxious’ era help you identify the best (and worst) in mountains and valleys across of losses. From the richness of sustainable seafood. Its USP is a the Channel. sand martins who inhabit sands as searchable, colour-coded list of edible BBC iPlayer, until 1 Oct unstable as our times, to intimate fish and seafood, identifying which can meetings with orb-weaver spiders, be eaten in good conscience (green) and DOCUMENTARY “adorned in the extra-terrestrial glow of those that are least sustainable (red). David Attenborough’s their pearl diadems”, Evans moves us There’s also a wealth of information on Richmond Park from concern to inspiration, blending fishery methods, conservation Sir David presents the wildlife close observation and revelation with management and biology, plus of the capital’s nature reserve. characteristic passion and accuracy. We a vast collection of recipes. www.my5.tv, until 12 Oct learn that ravens are undertakers, and Whether you’re surfing that nightingales are ventriloquists supermarket shelves or RADIO (singing, according to Coleridge, from perusing a menu, you are Radio 1 Meets Sir David their own “wanton tipsy joy”). The mere clicks away from More of our favourite naturalist ordinary becomes extraordinary, written knowing whether you chatting to DJ Greg James. with a heart-lifting mixture of literary should tuck into anchovy BBC iPlayer, until May 2019 and personal insights. (right, yes), seabass (maybe) or Miriam Darlington Nature writer shark (absolutely not). PB
96 BBC Wildlife October 2018 WILD AT HOME
BOOK MEET THE AUTHOR Underbug LISA MARGONELLI, ONEWORLD, £14.99 Michael Quetting Termites are small, but The ornithologist recalls the challenges and have grand effects. joys of raising a clutch of greylag geese. Their biomass in a tropical forest can match that of Serengeti wildebeest, they construct cities of So,whyraiseaclutchofgeese? Howdidyougetthegoslings used to cement and they digest all I was working on a long-term project at yourmicrolight? cellulose, from trees to the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology I’d played the sound of the propeller into cowpats. But this book to research whether geese could be trained the incubator, so they weren’t fazed by the explores more than just their to carry tiny data-loggers. The aim was that noise. We took daily walks with it – I’d taxi ecology. The boundaries of they would collect real-time meteorological the craft into a field and the birds would Margonelli’s interest expand data and information on the flight follow. Later, we moved to an airfield and outwards to meet the mechanics of birds. To ensure we could they would follow me along the runway. programmers and roboticists fit and remove the devices easily, the birds looking to replicate termite had to be raised – and taught to fly – by a Howdidyourirstlightfeel? building skills that might human. Because I can fly a microlight, I Amazing. The birds flew beside me so terraform Mars, and was chosen as ‘Papa Goose’. effortlessly. Sometimes it was as if they felt inwards to the geneticists sorry for me, in my carbon machine. unravelling the insects’ Howdidyougetthebirdstoimprint? gut biochemistry with a I read to the incubating eggs for a couple DidanyofthegeesegoAWOL? view to creating fuel of hours a day so they knew my voice, Indeed. And it was exhausting, because I methane. An eminently and made sure I was the first thing the had to spend ages searching for them. I’d readable melange of the hatchlings saw. I held them and put them usually find them sitting in a cornfield. termite microcosm. under my jumper to give them my warmth Richard Jones and smell. If the birds were to eventually Werethegeesediferent? Entomologist follow me in my microlight, it was crucial Yes. I had no idea that their personalities that they accepted me as their leader. would be so distinctive. Paul was obedient and caring; Calimero was very protective. Howintenseweretheearlydays? Freddy was the only one who unmasked me Very. It reminded me of when my own as a fraud. He didn’t want to fly with me. children were born. The birds needed constant care and reassurance, so I lived in Didthegeesegobacktothewild? CRAFT FOR KIDS a trailer beside their aviary for the duration Yes, that was always the plan. I had The Big Sticker of the project. Goslings make a distinct imagined a moving scene in which sound when they’re tired, which sounds I solemnly released them. But, as I Book of the Blue like someone gently blowing a whistle. discovered, nature doesn’t much care for YUVAL ZOMMER, THAMES & HUDSON, £8.95 When hungry, they peck at your toes. solemn moments. And neither do geese.
How do you make Michael flying in a book on marine formation with wildlife even more ‘his’ geese. 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 Michael Quetting: colourFIELD tell-a-vision lure prey; how the flattened tails of sea snakes power them through the water; and how seahorses grip Papa Goose: One Year, seaweed with their tails. Minor Seven Goslings, inaccuracies aside (‘humpbacks’ and the Flight are clearly sperm whales), this is a of my Life £16.99, colourful treat for youngsters. PB Greystone
marinated anchovies: Kyoko Uchida/Alamy; temite mound: Denis-Huot/naturepl.com temite Uchida/Alamy; Kyoko anchovies: marinated Books
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 97 WILD AT HOME
HOUSE AND HOME Bee houses
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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 YOUNGER READERS – the Beepost, a striking, 230cm-tall Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis nesting tower for the more ambitious IAmtheSeedthat Stevenson and Benjamin Zephaniah, landscaper. Prices start at£18.75. SM for instance – though many of the Grew the Tree poems are anonymous. Beepots (£49 each) This is a satisfyingly hefty book to ofer food and shelter. BIG PICTURE PRESS, £14.99 hold, and the poems are framed by My daughters loved dipping gorgeously immersive and colourful into this beautiful book, an illustrations that evoke the four seasons: anthology of 365 poems spring flowers, swooping swallows, about the natural world, shimmering shoals of fish, autumn taking turns to read out leaves and wintry snowscapes. While a their favourites. Most are short, some few words and verse structures are just a few lines long, and there are also tricky, most of the poems can easily be haikus, limericks and tongue-twisters. managed by seven- to ten-year-olds. Famous names crop up – Ted Hughes, Ben Hoare BBC Wildlife Features Editor
OUT IN THE GARDEN PODCAST BOOK BEE BANQUETS The Future of A Honeybee Heart Plant crocus and snakeshead fritillary bulbs, ready to bloom the Countryside hasFiveOpenings in time to ofer a rich nectar bufet for early spring bees. COSTING THE EARTH: WWW.BBC.CO.UK/PROGRAMMES HELEN JUKES, SIMON & SCHUSTER, £14.99 Britain’s post-Brexit food The nature-writing memoir CLEAN BIRD BOXES security has made headlines is a well-trodden path, but Take advantage of the last recently, with the National this story of a year of autumn sunshine to spruce up Farmers’ Union claiming beginner-level beekeeping is your bird homes ready for next that the UK – which today produces only beautifully written and year’s nesting season. By law 60 per cent of what it needs – would run informative. Author Helen you can clear old birds’ nests out of food by August each year in the Jukes moves from London to Oxford, between 1 August and event of a no-deal Brexit. So this four-way where she starts a new job (that she 31 January. debate on the nation’s farming future, hates) and, to effect change in her life, hosted by Costing the Earth regular decides to keep honeybees in her back GO WILD WITH WOOD Tom Heap, is particularly timely. Join a garden. Embarking on her journey, she Pile up some logs and dead farmer, an agricultural scientist, a green obsessively researches the inner wood, ideally in dappled shade, economist and a food campaigner as they workings of the hive, immersing herself to create a winter shelter for discuss how public investment should in her new wards and sharing what she a multitude of species. Dead best be spent to ensure both increased learns from other beekeeping tomes. A wood is particularly important food production capacity and the raft charming, gentle and pleasant story that for stag beetles. of environmental benefits that the teaches a lot about honeybees. government says is its priority. PB Kate Bradbury Wildlife gardener and author
98 BBC Wildlife October 2018 WILD AT HOME
Answers CROSSWORD Win a prize with our brain-teaser. in our WILDWORDS
December Piotr Naskrecki/Minden Pictures/FLPA Compiled by RICHARD SMYTH 2018 issue
1) the definition for tulchan
AUGUST ANSWERS A a spur attached to the heel of Across: 1 Corncob, 5 a fighting cock Snowcap, 9 Waterweed, B a stufed calf’s skin set beside 10 Tulip, 11 Islands, 12 a cow to induce her to give milk Eritrea, 13 Heart, 15 C Eggshells, 17 Sapsucker, a leather strap used to bind 19 Chard, 21 Ouabain, a hawk’s wing 23 African, 25 Draco, 26 Widowbird, 27 Needles, 2) the animal you associate 28 Reynard. with the adjective ostracine Down: 1 Cowfish, 2 Ratel, A a lark 3 Coronet, 4 Beefsteak, 5 Sedge, 6 Ostrich, 7 B an oyster Chlorella, 8 Poplars, C a penguin 14 Alpha Male, 16 Germander, 17 Snowdon, 3) the ofspring of a monkey 18 Ural Owl, 19 Caraway, 20 Denuded, 22 Newts, A a farrow 24 China. B a whelp C an infant AUGUST WINNER N Marshall Gwynedd 4) the sound made by grasshoppers ACROSS fruits, glossy leaves and milky, mildly 6 Marine flatfish (4) 8 Flowering shrub in the rose family, toxic sap (7,3) 7 Tube-nosed seabird of the order A achirp widely cultivated, with dense, 26 Photosynthetic organism such as Procellariiformes (6) B acreak colourful inflorescences (6) kelp or Chlorella (4) 13 The branching, leaf-bearing part of C a chant 9 Small plants sometimes called 27 Chickweed named for its soft, hairy atree(5) windflowers (8) leaves (5,3) 14 UK region, home to the RSPB 5) the name for a female 10 A rabbit’s tail (4) 28 The ___ elephant is a subspecies of reserves Minsmere, Strumpshaw Fen 11 Cross between a raspberry and a the Asian elephant (6) and Titchwell (4,6) turkey blackberry (10) 15 Large, bamboo-eating mammal, A a queen 12 Large Atlantic seabird that might DOWN native to China (5,5) B a gobbler be lesser or great (5-6,4) 1 Patterned with spots, like the wood 19 Flat-bodied, venomous marine fish, C a hen 16 ___ lands, term for marginal urban butterfly Pararge aegeria (8) related to the sharks (8) or suburban habitats popularised by 2 Elegant seabird that makes the 21 Spotted cat of South America (6) Marion Shoard (4) longest annual migration of any 23 The caterpillar of the ___ moth 6) the collective noun 17 Name given to divers in North bird (6,4) may squirt formic acid if attacked (4) for eels America (5) 3 Bright blue-flowering member 24 Tree in the mahogany family, also A a bed 18 Tree shrub Myrcia paganii, native to of the bellflower family, native to called Indian lilac (4) B Puerto Rico (4) Florida (3,7) 25 Fronded, flowerless vascular plant a raft 20 Slender, insect-eating songbird 4 Modified maxillary tooth found in that reproduces via spores (4) C a pit Motacilla clara, found in the uplands of carnivorous mammals (4) sub-Saharan Africa (8,7) 5 Meaty seed of a plant in the family 22 Tree of the genus Ficus with small Fabaceae – mung or soya, perhaps (4) Questions set by ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD Find out the answers on p119 WIN A ‘TURTLE MAT’ WILDLIFE DOORMAT General terms and conditions 1. Visit www.discoverwildlife.com/general HOW TO ENTER This competition is only open to residents of the UK (including terms and conditions 2018 to read the full the Channel Islands). Post entries to BBC Wildlife Magazine, October 2018 terms and conditions. 2. Competitions are open to all residents of the UK, including the Crossword, PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA or email the answers to Channel Islands, aged 18 years or older, except [email protected] by 5pm on 12 October 2018. Entrants employees or contractors of Immediate Media must supply name, address and telephone number.The winner will be the first and anyone connected with the promotion correct entry drawn at random after the closing time. The name of the winner or their direct family members. 3. Entries received after the specified closing date and will appear in the December 2018 issue. By entering, participants agree to be time will not be considered, and cannot be bound by the general competition terms and conditions shown on this page. returned. 4. Only one entry will be permitted Enter for the chance to win a urtle per person, regardless of method of entry. BBC Wildlife Magazine (published by Immediate Media Company Limited) would like to send Mat’ doormat, worth £49.95. This Bulk entries made by third parties will not you updates, special ofers and promotions by email. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please be permitted. 5. The winning entrant will be tick here if you would like to receive these २ machine washable, hedgehog-print mat has a five-year guarantee. the first correct entry drawn at random after the closing time, or, in creative competitions, For more information about how to change the way we contact you, and how we hold O your personal information, please see our privacy policy which can be viewed online To find out more visit the one that in the judges’opinion is the best. at www.immediate.co.uk/privacy-policy. turtlemat.co.uk 6. Promoter: Immediate Media Co Bristol Ltd.
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We solve your baling wildlife mysteries. More amazing facts at discoverwildlife.com
This month’s panel Q&A
STUART BLACKMAN RICHARD JONES POLLY PULLAR MIKE TOMS LAURIE JACKSON IMOGENE CANCELLARE AMY-JANE BEER SARAH McPHERSON Science writer Entomologist Naturalist and author Ornithologist Ecologist Biologist and conservationist Naturalist and author Q&A editor
BIRDS Whyarebirdsofparadise so spectacular?
There are probably various females pick out males against the A contributing factors. First, the birds' cluttered and complex background of the polygynous mating system, in which a few understorey habitat in which they display. males monopolise most of the females, Despite the astonishing diversity of
leads to intense competition between displays among the 39 species, they are The king bird of paradise, males. Exaggerated displays advertise all very closely related, belonging to the found in the lowland male quality to the choosy – and far more same family (Paradisaeidae), so share that forests of New Guinea, drab – females. Second, choreographed propensity for colour and choreography. is the smallest and most movements and bright plumage help Stuart Blackman brightly coloured of the 39 species of ‘BoPs’. Tim Laman/naturepl.com
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CRUSTACEANS Why does a hermit crab change its shell?
Lacking a protective exoskeleton, a 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 More than 100,000 that crab sheds its old home and takes red wood ants may live the empty shell, our first crab moves in in each colony, creating to that newly vacated one, casting off its a large nest with leaf litter or pine needles. own, which is then adopted by a smaller crab... and so on. The number of house- INSECTS swaps each crab undertakes in its life varies depending on water temperature, Which ant creates the largest nests? habitat and species. Polly Pullar
Ant hills made by the yellow meadow the size of camper vans, suggesting colony Hermit crab: A ant, and the heaped leaf-litter nests populations of six million ants. serial house- of wood ants, always look impressive but However, the largest colonies may be swapper. pale into insignificance compared with those of the Argentine ant Linepithema the subterranean cities of exotic species. humile, an invasive ‘tramp’ species native to In Central and South America, the South America. In North America, Japan, interconnected labyrinth of brood chambers, Australia, South Africa and Europe, where fungus gardens (using those cut leaves as the species has been accidentally introduced, compost) storage silos and waste storage neighbouring colonies have mingled and facilities of leafcutter ants can reach the united to form supercolonies. The main size of a tennis court. Experiments in which supercolony in Europe, spanning 6,000km2 latex or plaster is poured into these tunnels, in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, may then excavated, have revealed structures comprise half a billion ants. Richard Jones Ant nest: Alex Hyde/naturepl.com; cr
There might seem to BRITISH BIRDS betoomanylesser black-backed gulls in Whyaregullsof cities, but numbers are falling nationwide. conservation concern? ab: Alex Mustard/ab: Alex Though urban breeding populations of Aboth herring gull and lesser black-backed gull seem to be increasing, numbers at rural and coastal breeding colonies are in sharp 2020V decline. Yet rather than simply moving from ision/NPL; gull: Nick Upton/Alamy; bee: Kim Taylor/naturepl.com coast to city, data from monitoring programmes indicate that national populations have declined. Herring gull numbers are thought to be at their lowest since counts began in the late 1960s, hence it appears on the red list of birds of conservation concern; the lesser black-backed gull is on the amber list. Once data from the latest gull survey, due for completion in 2019, are analysed we will have a better understanding of how gull populations are changing in different parts of their ranges. Mike Toms
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3 questions on RACCOONS
DO OTHER SPECIES CARRY RACCOON ROUNDWORM? Raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis is a widespread parasitic worm found across North America. Its definitive host Having chewed is the raccoon, and it a hole in the base reaches sexual maturity of a comfrey flower in the intestines of its host animal. with its mandibles, a Though the parasite tends to afect bumblebee extends its tongue into the carnivores, it also infects small corolla to ‘rob’ nectar. 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 Raccoon top to bottom: Harris Hui/Getty; Raimund Linke/Getty; Shattil & Rozinski/naturepl.com her from a second-story ledge. She climbed 25 storeys before she was eventually rescued and released. ECOLOGY What is nectar robbing? ARE CITY RACCOONS CLEVERER THAN THEIR COUNTRY COUSINS? The ancient relationship between resourceful foragers bite holes through Raccoons may have increased A flowering plants and pollinators the corolla to gain access to nectaries. adaptive abilities in response to novel is based on cooperation: one is given Flowers such as comfrey, aquilegia situations, and the cognitive demands help with reproduction, while the other and honeysuckle commonly bear the of urban settings might be responsible earns a high-energy meal. Delve deeper, mark of a thief. Buff-tailed and red-tailed for recent claims that city raccoons though, and it becomes clear that this bumblebees are known to pilfer, and can solve the same problems (such as is a complicated relationship. learn this behaviour from one another; opening rubbish bins) faster than their Flowers use an astounding array other bees are not averse to using the rural counterparts. This is unsurprising of shapes, colours and scents to holes created by these thieves. given the problem-solving abilities entice their preferred pollen porters; Interestingly, research shows that demonstrated by other urban for example, deep, tubular flowers nectar robbers don’t necessarily have a species, such as coyotes and are accessible to only the longest negative effect on a plant’s ability to set bullfinches. tongues. However, many short- seed, and many bee species combine Imogene tongued bees have learned to sidestep theft with honest foraging. Cancellare this inconvenient anatomy. These Laurie Jackson
October 2018 OUR WILD WORLD
INVERTEBRATES What is the diference between a grub, a caterpillar and a nymph?
These are names for the immature nymphs. If in doubt, it’s usually safe Aforms of insects whose life history to use the broadest term, larva–abit involves a metamorphosis. In some, of a catchall that can also be used such as house fly maggots, beetle for the young forms of other grubs, crane-fly leatherjackets and animals that undergo some form moth and butterfly caterpillars, the of developmental metamorphosis, transformation happens all in one go, including amphibian tadpoles, during an intermediate pupal stage. In lamprey ammocoetes, crab the case of dragonflies, mayflies and zoea, sea urchin plutei, grasshoppers, however, metamorphosis the planulae of jellyfish, is gradual, each youngster passing corals and anemones, through several developmental stages and literally dozens A caterpillar feasts on milk parsley before (instars) separated by a moult. These of crustacean forms. pupating, to emerge forms are known collectively as Amy-Jane Beer as a spectacular swallowtail butterfly.
The Explainer DISEASE Evolutionarily Do wild animals get cancer? stable strategy Wild animals do indeed get cancer – causing their numbers to plummet by Athough because cancer tends to be a up to 80 per cent. Sea turtles suffer from a disease of older age, and because life in the cancer called fibropapilloma, which forms wild is often brutal and short, few animals obvious tumours on the flippers and around will manage to live long enough for cancer the mouth and eyes. The incidence of to take hold. fibropapilloma has increased ten-fold over There are, though, some notable the past decade, and there are suspicions exceptions. An infectious and lethal cancer that pollution is to blame. known as devil facial tumour disease, which But it’s only a suspicion. In fact, the roles is spread by biting and was first identified of environmental problems in the incidence in 1996, has devastated Tasmanian devil of cancers among wildlife have barely been populations over the past two decades, studied at all scientifically. SB
Tasmanian devil Male walrus: facial tumour disease unlucky in love is a transmissible (mostly) cancer alicting this marsupial carnivore. The concept of evolutionarily tasmanian devil: Dave Watts/naturepl.com; treehopper: Lucas Bustamante/naturepl.com stable strategies emerged from the mathematical discipline ttaker/ Wh Terry ar: Caterp 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 202 evolution of cooperation; how nden/FLPA; ofs/M A Theo rus: wa 0VISION/NPL; 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 ofspring. SB
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What is it?
ALIEN VERSUS PREDATORS 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. SB
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NATIONAL PARKS OF THE WORLD Area: 2,273km² Highest peak: 2,884m Area of Grey Glacier: 270km² Torres del Paine Patagonia, Chile Whattosee Named for the ‘blue towers’ 1 PUMA 2 GUANACO 3 OTHER SPECIES – three sheer granite peaks that loom over its teal-hued When to go lakes – this windswept Weather in Patagonia Though not strictly a Believed to be the Spot Andean condor is notoriously landscape of pampas big cat, this predator wild ancestor of the soaring thermals fickle at any time. grassland, lenga forest, – which can grow domesticated llama, among the high November–March glaciers and jagged rock to nearly 2m long the guanaco is a peaks, watch for (summer) is best and over 100kg – is hardy camelid that ostrich-like Darwin’s for hiking, while June–August can spires attracts trekkers and both impressive and grazes and browses rhea, and admire the offer good sightings elusive, and known Andean foothills and vivid scarlet flowers wildlife-watchers alike. Along of pumas hunting as the ‘ghost cat’.The slopes up to 4,250m of the Chilean firetree with 26 species of mammal, the guanacos that population density in altitude. Far from in spring. If you’re gather in large herds including the elusive puma, Patagonia is among camera-shy, the really fortunate you in winter. it’s home to at least the highest, and this park’s 3,000 or so might spot a huemul, Illustration by Bex Glover 115 bird species and an park offers relatively guanacos can be seen an Endangered south GO THERE WITH reliable sightings. migrating in groups. Andean deer. •Natural World Safaris array of unique flora. •Naturetrek •Wildlife Worldwide Spotability IF YOU’RE LUCKY GUARANTEED LIKELY
114 BBC Wildlife October 2018 OUR WILD WORLD
WORKING FOR NATURE Steven Allain Amphibian and reptile surveys, Cambridgeshire
All over the Herpetologist Steven is world devoted on a mission to improve habitats for reptiles individuals are and amphibians. doing their bit by volunteering to be involved with wildlife. Jo Price meets Cambridgeshire’s online amphibian and reptile records veriier.
teven has been volunteering for the SMy proudest Despite amphibians How you SCambridgeshire and Peterborough Amphibian and and reptiles being can help... Reptile Group (CPARG) for five and a half years. He moment was active only between will soon start his PhD on snake fungal disease in grass locating the February and October, Three projects you snakes but still finds time to survey amphibians and the CPARG chairman can get involved in: reptiles, organise outreach events, train new volunteers population is busy all year. “When HerpMapper and provide wildlife advice to local people. ater years they’re hibernating, I’m Create and keep “Aside from monitoring a number of populations arranging volunteer days records of your over a long period of time, our ongoing major project of hearsay. T to improve habitats in amphibian and reptile is to study the non-native midwife toad in Cambridge,” woodland, grassland and observations with this he explains. “My proudest moment as a volunteer was ponds for them to breed app (iOS and Android). locating the population after three years of hearsay.” in when they emerge. A herpmapper.org Working with local residents, the herpetologist number of improvements we made last year benefitted gained access to gardens to survey the species and swab species like the great crested newt and common lizard.” ARC Trust individuals for chytrid disease: “Luckily none of the Aside from gaining localised recognition for his work The Amphibian and toads have yet tested positive but our fear is that they and providing surveying equipment for CPARG, Steven Reptile Conservation may pass the disease onto our native amphibians.” has published more than 12 scientific papers on his Trust need help to Steven mainly works within Cambridge and the volunteering work in the county with more to follow. manage their reserves, surrounding area: “Unfortunately, the county is pretty In addition to his current responsibilities, he will survey wildlife and devoid of reptiles (except for grass snakes) but that soon start conducting reptile surveys for the British educate the public. doesn’t stop us trying our best to conserve the few Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in Norfolk. “No matter arc-trust.org/ populations that we do have,” he says. “These animals where I find myself in the future I’ll be spending some volunteering have suffered major declines since the 1950s due to of my time helping wildlife,” he says. “We all have a loss of habitat and intensive agricultural practices.” moral obligation to look after the planet we have found Froglife The naturalist has always been passionate about ourselves hurtling through space on.” Inspire young people by cold-blooded creatures. “They are a major part of many taking part in Froglife’s ecosystems and provide us with a number of services, Green Pathways project including pest control,” he explains. “We would FIND OUT MORE CPARG: groups.arguk.org/ or join a Toad Patrol.
Charles Best Charles certainly notice if they all disappeared.” CPARG or visit Steven's blog at cparg.wordpress.com froglife.org
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 115 OUR WILD WORLD
Amazing images taken by our readers Enter our Your Photos Your photos competition at discoverwildlife. com/submit-your-photos
Star photo
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
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1 Rays of light Manta rays come together to mate of the coast of the Socorro Islands in Mexico. For this photo, I used a fisheye lens and twin underwater strobes to light the ray from underneath. Stephen Laycock, Blackrod, UK
2 Making eye contact I was amazed by the compound eyes of this huge longhorn beetle photographed on a dead Moringa tree in West Bengal. I used a macro extension tube and ring flash to capture the detail. Arunava Dey, Baharampur, India
3 Dinner date 1 We were thrilled to see this male hoopoe feeding 23 his mate as she incubated their eggs in the Kiskunsági National Park in Hungary last year.We watched him fly back and forth with invertebrates. Fion Wong, Bellevue, USA
4 Fly-by I was very pleased to capture this northern gannet carrying nesting material at Yorkshire’s Bempton Clifs. As it was 45windy, these striking birds flew at eye level. Stan Maddams, Bournemouth, UK
5 Poised for action I visited Amboli, India, on a macro photography tour. Our guide spotted this Malabar pit viper coiled around a dead branch and, using a low exposure, I photographed it. Keyur Nandaniya, Delhi, India
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October 2018 BBC Wildlife 117 OUR WILD WORLD
Want to get something of your chest? This is Feedback the ideal place
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for reintroductions. If we get Star Risks versus rewards it wrong, it is the animals who letter will suffer for it. Thank you to Mark Carwardine for his However, despite knowing about Phil Maund, Isles of Scilly very interesting and eye-opening article the dangers of this field, I have not on conservationists being killed (My Way been put off – and neither should Pete Cooper replies: continental of Thinking, July 2018). It raised some other people of my age. I believe that, experience shows wildcats are on very important points worth noting. I while there is always an element of risk the increase – even in fragmented, am just about to start an Animal Biology involved in activism, as long as there populated landscapes – and we degree after are those fighting to change things for now have as much woodland cover a gap year the better, change is possible, and it is as we did in 1750 when wildcats working, and important that we all remember this. were still found throughout I have a keen Daunting it may be, but there are England and Wales. However, interest and always people needed on the front good woodland habitat that's passion for line of conservation. connected is still ideal. If an conservation Though the statistics are shocking, English/Welsh release was to go and activism. they should not make anyone hesitant ahead, careful modelling would The prospect to follow their passion. With enough need to be done to establish the of pursuing people and hard work conservation best linked-up areas of natural such a brings about wonderful success stories – habitat. The wildcat can be a potentially let that be our primary motivation. If flagship animal to drive creation dangerous we can manage to retain hope, we will of such corridors, as in the 'wildcat career, however, be able to change those numbers. leap' project in Germany. is daunting. Anya Foxworthy-Bowers, via e-mail Positive news I have often thought that perhaps conservation is Relief on the redesign Pett Level in East Sussex. The Debating wildcats all ‘doom and gloom’, and I was a little concerned when area encourages breadth of I admire the enthusiasm of that conservationists can I read that BBC Wildlife was to vision with views of low, flat Pete Cooper and Derek Gow occasionally be guilty of be updated. In my experience, marshland dissected by the for reintroducing species such sensationalism to make things updating does not necessarily historic Royal Military Canal, as the beaver and wildcat to appear worse than they are. I mean an improvement – all too but a flash of yellow suddenly our countryside (Should we must admit that your magazine, frequently it means a smaller focused my attention on a wasp bring back the wildcats of to which I subscribe more to magazine at the same price spider by the side of the path. olde England? August 2018). learn about and be wowed by as the older version. To get my shot I had to gently However, what concerns me is wildlife than to hear about its However, I am pleased to move several blades of grass his question: “If we don’t try plight, often strikes a similar say that the updated magazine and lie on my front, waiting for now, then when?” tone which can leave you feeling is even better than the older lulls in the stiff breeze with my Rushing into reintroductions discouraged about the state of version. There were so many elbows serving as a tripod. now ignores the implications our planet, although I've come interesting and thought- Andy Jenner, via Twitter message of the species spreading into to appreciate that this is just the provoking articles in the the wider countryside. What reality of how things are. July magazine, amazing Features editor Ben Hoare replies: happens to the animals’ I think it’s worth pointing photography, as always – and These are fabulous spiders, aren’t offspring once they spread out, though, that many issues you have still retained the they? They colonised England as to neighbouring land and are something of a double crossword and quiz. Well done! long ago as the 1920s, but beyond? We talk a lot edged sword, that can either be Anne Eaves, via e-mail only recently have they about connectivity viewed positively or negatively. spread along the and habitat For example, in the brilliant Spider spotting south coast and fragmentation; article by Marianne Taylor on Following your inclusion of north into the we need more the hooded grebes of Patagonia a wasp mimic (Wild Month, Midlands, likely evidence that (Tango in Patagonia, August July 2018), I was thrilled to due to climate we can provide 2018), it was mentioned that spot my first wasp spider at change. this, especially the prospect of building a A female wasp spider. 118 BBC Wildlife October 2018 OUR WILD WORLD hydroelectric dam could be catastrophic for the grebes. TALES FROM THE BUSH While this is no doubt true, surely these dams are an attempt to reduce the burning The teeth in the jaw of of fossil fuels and pollution produced in this way? a beaked whale tell all I think all this serves to Have a wild tale to tell? If so, underline that conservation is please email a brief never easy or straightforward. Ater more than 50 ferry crossings, would John Horsfall synopsis to We should look to take a holistic inally see the most elusive of beaked whales? jo.price@ view in every circumstance to immediate.co.uk see how wildlife can benefit. Paul Stamper, Liverpool
Editor Sheena Harvey replies: You make some very valuable points about the complexity of conservation and land management. We do try to give the good news where we find it and my primary aim is to highlight what a world filled with amazing creatures we live in. However, we can’t deny that a lot of nature is facing tough times, and not to cover that in the
magazine would be to give a false To identify a beaked John Horsfall impression that everything in the whale you have to be garden is rosy. quick. They spend little time at the surface. Foot massage I enjoyed Mike passion inspired by S minutes later and a whale- Dilger on rockpool a sighting of baleen Andthenit watching group on the top wildlife (Wildlife whales in the Bay of happened: deck reported two possible Watching, August ABiscay 20 years ago with a colossal Sowerby’s beaked whales at 2018). I'd like to – cetacean photography – can a distance – even better. share my recent often be the only chance to crash a whale And then it happened: interactions with make a positive identification emerged in the with a colossal crash a whale rockpool prawn, of an animal that grants emerged in the ship’s wake Palaemon elegans. This seconds of visibility. I have ship’s wake.T and hurled itself into the is an inquisitive prawn A peckish since crossed the Bay 50 swell. You never get the species commonly found prawn stops or so times, and there is a first breach on camera but in British rockpools. They for a nibble. surprising diversity of whales and dolphins I was ready as a second whale emerged in usually forage and scavenge recorded here, including a group that are are a graceful arc and smashed its two-tonne for food, so it pays for them to very tricky to identify – the beaked whales. body back into the ocean. Surely it couldn’t be curious about anything new These small-to-medium whales spend go on – beaked whales never give you in their environment – even my little time on the surface, exhibit uncertain such an opportunity – but it did, for a full feet. Much of their usual diet geographical distributions, and field minute; more than 50 photographic frames. comes from detritus (organic guide illustrations of them are close to As they receded into the ocean haze and matter produced by decomposing educated guesses. Along with location and my heart calmed down, my thoughts organisms), and in this case they appearance, the position of the (usually) two accelerated – they hadn’t looked anything were trying to eat the dead layer small teeth in the males provides the only like Cuvier’s, but would the photographs of skin cells on my toes. Given known certainty of identification. take me any further into the taxonomic their level of interest and the The most challenging species to see in nightmare or would I be left again with yet fact that they were fighting one North Atlantic waters is the True’s beaked another grey, generic shape? The joy of another, I suggest they found me whale. There have been just three possible digital: I scrolled down a few frames – heart pretty tasty! Luckily, all I felt was live sightings in the North Atlantic up until in mouth – and there were two glistening a slight tickle. 2004 – a total recently augmented with a white teeth at the tip of the protruding Huw Griffiths, via Twitter handful of observations from the Canary lower jaw of a True’s beaked whale. Islands and the Azores. On this trip we were three hours from DR JOHN HORSFALL is a biologist QUIZ ANSWERS (see p99) The Wild Words are: 1B, 2B, 3C, 4A, 5C, 6A Spain and a Cuvier’s beaked whale cruised and overall winner of Wildlife quietly by – it was looking promising. Thirty Photographer of the Year in 1982.
October 2018 BBC Wildlife 119
COMING EDITORIAL Editor Sheena Harvey Deputy Editor Jo Price Features Editor Ben Hoare Section Editor Sarah McPherson NEXT ISSUE Art Editor Richard Eccleston Deputy Art Editor Lisa Duerden Picture Editor Tom Gilks Editorial Assistant Megan Shersby Contributors Jill Shearer, Sue Wingrove, Paul Bloomfield, Katherine Hallett, Wanda Sowry, Jenny Price, Rory McCarney ADVERTISING Group Ad Manager Tom Drew 0117 300 8806 Ad Manager Neil Lloyd 0117 300 8276 Brand Sales Executive Heather Candlish 0117 300 8500 Brand Sales Executive Dan Granville 0117 300 8523 Brand Sales Executive Jordana Widt 0117 314 7357 Classified Sales Executive Aileen Booth 0117 300 8537 INSERTS Laurence Robertson 00353 876 902208 MARKETING Subscriptions Director Jacky Perales-Morris Digital Marketing Manager Mark Summerton Direct Marketing Manager Aimee Rhymer Direct Marketing Executive Chris Pipe Head of PR Dom Lobley LICENSING & SYNDICATION Rights Manager Emma Brunt 0117 314 8782; [email protected] Director of Licensing & Syndication Tim Hudson PRODUCTION Ad Co-ordinator Charles Thurlow Ad Designer Libby Parfitt Production Director Sarah Powell Production Co-ordinator Ian Wardle PUBLISHING Publisher Marie Davies; Promotions and Partnerships Manager Rosa Sherwood; Managing Director Andy Marshall; CEO Tom Bureau BBC STUDIOS, UK PUBLISHING President of UK and ANZ Marcus Arthur; Director for Consumer Products and Publishing Andrew Moultrie; Director of Editorial Governance Nicholas Brett; Publishing Director Chris Kerwin; Publisher Magazines and NPD Mandy Thwaites; Publishing Co-ordinator Eva Abramik UK.Publishing@bbc.com; www.bbcworldwide.com/ uk--anz/ukpublishing.aspx
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kk On the trail of the wild dogs of BBC’s One's Dynasty
kk Why gardens aren't as eco-friendly as they used to be Jul–Dec 17 total 32,195 kk The hidden wildlife havens of our churchyards kk Wildlife artist Katrina von Grouw on evolution
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October 2018 BBC Wildlife 6121 VIEWPOINT
WILDLIFE CHAMPION ATM
In our series about people with a passion for a species, we ask the wildlife artist ATM why he cares so much about kestrels?
Why are kestrels special? connection with nature. Because I trained them when I was IrecentlypaintedakestrelinActon, growingupinRochdale.Iwas14 West London, on the side of emergency when I bought my first kestrel from housing made of shipping containers aladatschoolfor£5.Hehadn’ttrained stacked four-high in a big estate. itsoIreadbooksaboutfalconry–the The bird is shown hovering above a best one was Jack Mavrogordato’s wildflower meadow. We’ve also made AHawkfortheBush,whichwasan planters for growing vegetables and inspiration for me. He had such respect herbs, insect houses and sown seeds for birds of prey and the complicated to make real wildflower meadows and difficult art of training them. around the tower blocks, as part of a community project working with the What did training involve? localschoolandyouthgroups.This It was a long process of stage-by-stage kind of thing could have a huge impact increasesintrustbetweenthebird if it was repeated in lots of other places. andme.Imadeallmyownfalconry SA kestrel is a equipment from leather: hoods and Why are kestrel magical sight. How much time to you have jesses; leashes and lures. You need to numbers falling? to spend birdwatching? get a bird trained to the point where it Kestrels hovering along I love their NotasmuchasI’dlike,butI’ve will fly 30 yards to your fist, then you the roadside used to be assured light just been to Arne in Dorset where knowit’sreadytoflyfree.Thefirsttime a common sight, but Iheardthewonderfulsoundof it did was extremely nerve-racking. they’re now a rarity. It and the way nightjars. I grew up wandering the I’d get up every morning around must be due to lack of they hover. T valleys and woods around Rochdale 6ambeforeschoolandflythekestrel, habitat, plus farmers and I love wild places and birdsong. swinging a lure round my head and using more pesticides Seeing a kestrel today is a magical snatchingitawayatthelastmoment, and rodenticides. We’ve sight. I love their assured flight and as the bird would swoosh overhead, also lost meadows, field margins and watching them hovering above a field. arcing and diving after the food. other unkempt areas. When I was They remind me of those sunny growing up we used to go to days of my youth and the freedom of an area simply known as ‘The exploring wild places. Matt Swaine
Long Grass’ that was perfect Portrait: Mark Atherton/The North Somerset Times; Kestrel: ATM; Stafan: Zsolt Nagy hunting terrain for kestrels – it ATM is a London-based street artist whose work celebrates the beauty of threatened species. was full of voles. Our constant See more of his art at atmstreetart.com need for tidiness means we don’t allow nature to grow wild. So key habitats and the whole The expert view web of life, all the plants and creatures that depend on each “The kestrel often hunts by hovering other, just aren’t there. over rough grassland. Around 70 per cent of their diet is made up of voles, What do you want your whose numbers tend to peak every artwork to achieve? three years. This corresponds to bigger clutches I paint endangered species, of eggs. There have been significant population mostly in urban areas, to reach declines in the UK as a whole – around 35 per cent peoplewhomaynothavea – and the RSPB suggests this is driven by a loss Left: ATM collaborated with Karen of habitat, often due to more intensive agriculture. Francesca to create this kestrel and Anti-coagulant rodenticides are another problem.” meadow painting in West London. Stafan Roos is senior conservation scientist, RSPB
October 2018