Philip H. Smith, November 2022 Summary Floristic data were collected each year from 2011 to 2022 on embryo dunes and an associated wetland that began to form on Ainsdale beach in 2008 as a southern extension of Birkdale Green Beach. Named the ‘Newest Green Beach’ and eventually covering 2.4 ha, this feature developed rapidly by...
The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) is a partnership of a wide range of data sharing, research, and conservation organisations and the biodiversity information available on the NBN Atlas shapes decision making and conservation policy in the UK. As a LERC partner to the NBN, Merseyside BioBank plays a key role in ensuring those biodiversity...
A new species of non-native mammal for mainland Britain has been discovered in Sunderland in North-East England. In 2021 an unusual photo of a dead shrew was posted by Melissa Young on social media caught ecologist Ian Bond’s eye. Ian reached out to Melissa, pointing out that it looked rather like a White-toothed shrew. Ian...
Large numbers of rare and beautiful Waxwings are heading towards the UK in what could be the first major arrival for a decade, say researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). These pinkish, Starling-sized birds have swooping crests, orange, grey and lemon-yellow tails, and wing feathers with waxy red tips. They breed in coniferous forests from Scandinavia to eastern Russia and usually spend the winter further south.