WHY GEORDIE KITTIWAKES HAVE BEEN CAUSING CONTROVERSY October 2018 Volume 36 Number 11 Volume 2018 October Thesummer heatwave How the weather afected our wildlife Naturelover’s dilemma Should we swat lies and kill slugs? PLUS WHAT HAPPENS TO TOP-NOTCH A COAL TIT’S BRAIN BIG MAMMALS IN WINTERTIME? Black bears, bobcats, coyotes, moose USA extravaganza CHEEKYCHAPPIES BIRDSGALORE of fascinating Chipmunks, porcupines, Cardinals, barred owls, lying squirrels, beavers blue jays, bald eagles animals! ADOPT AN ANIMAL SAVE A LIFE Born Free’s adoptions have helped save and care for hundreds of wild animals around the world. Your adoption today will make a real difference. KING THE LION # # #!""#!# #!" # #"# !##! #"!"#"##"#"# #" #"##" ##"#!""#!#! #! #!""###!""#" !"# # !#"# ##""#!" # # ""! !#"# #" !"#"" £3 a month or one-off payment of £36 for the year ELEPHANT FAMILY SARA THE CHIMPANZEE GIRAFFE FAMILY TIMTOM THE ORANGUTAN & % "$!&%& & "$#!%& &#&$$% #$"&$&$"&$%& %%&%"& "&"$"% %%#"!& &$%& !#%&$"& !& #"& !%&%!& $#"&$#%&$& "!& &$! &$ $"&!%&$& & %$& $$"&#!&!%&##&#" !%&#%!&%$%& & " &%$"&%#$$!#!%&#!& #!$ "#&# &%"# $& #"!#&$"&#"# $#%&$"&!%& #&%%%&$"& "% See the full range and adopt at www.bornfree.org.uk/save-a-life 2 years Andy Rouse/Save Wild Tigers Wild Andy Rouse/Save for the The world’s leading price of 1 wildlife photographers capture the raw beauty when you of the magnificant tiger. Welcome! subscribe! Find out more on p84 See page 26 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 42 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 Art Scott/The David Peter by illustration Best; Allain: Charles Steven Mason; Andrew kittiwakes: Michael Quinton/Minden/Alamy; moose: Watkins; turle: Ben Munoz; Xavier Antpitta: 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, Lowen James teal: John Bebbington; guelder rose: Jack Perks; Trout: 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.