Osprey by Sarah Kelman
BTO – Report details mixed fortunes for the UK’s rare breeding birds
BTO Press release The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel, published today, reveals four species of…
Category for articles and non-scientific (peer-reviewed) literature.
Broad-bodied Chaser
Dr Phil Smith Wildlife Notes: June 2023
My May notes ended with “Surely June can’t be as dry as this, can it?” Well it was, for the first nine days, leaving our wonderful sand-dunes burnt brown. Thereafter, live-giving rain fell on ten days but only in small amounts. Met. Office maps showed we had about 75% of normal rainfall during the month. Nationally, it was the hottest June since records began and the sunniest since 1957.
Common Sexton Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides
Dr Phil Smith Wildlife Notes: May 2023
I thought we had got away without a spring drought this year but no such luck. May provided begrudging rainfall on only six days and nothing after 19th. Rachael Parks sent me rain-gauge data from her Formby garden. Her May total was 28.5 mm, this being 50% of the long-term average. Met. Office maps for May show that Greater Manchester and north Merseyside were the driest areas in England.
Don's Willow, Salix x doniana, Hightown Dunes
Dr Phil Smith Wildlife Notes: April 2023
Met Office maps show that, while England had average or above average April rainfall, Merseyside was much drier than usual; it was also on the cool side. Formby had a mere nine days with measurable precipitation and only one properly wet day (10th). As a result, the sand-dune water-table fell by about 12 cm (5 inches). Nevertheless, conditions were nothing like as bad as the spring droughts of recent years.