Data from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Garden BirdWatch survey, carried out by volunteers across the UK,show a fourfold increase in the number of gardens recording a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, making 2022 a record year. These large, colourful insects are often mistaken for hummingbirds because of the way they hover over flowers and use their...
Some Don’t Like it Hot!
New research from BTO implicates rising temperatures in the steep decline of the Willow Warbler, one of the UK’s most tuneful harbingers of spring. The study, published in the journal IBIS, shows that Willow Warblers are doing better in Scotland, where temperatures are cooler. Evidence is building to suggest the population in southern Britain is a casualty of recent anthropogenic climate change.
UK Curlew numbers falling in winter too
Proposed as the most urgent conservation priority in the UK as a result of a decline in its breeding population, numbers of this iconic bird are also falling in the winter, despite an influx of continental birds. Latest research from the British Trust for Ornithology investigates the likely causes and asks where conservation efforts should...
Genetics of Bats for Dummies
On Wednesday, 4th May, a small group of members of the Merseyside and West Lancashire Bat Group were privileged to hear a wonderful talk by Prof. Emma Teeling, of University College, Dublin, (UCD) on bats and ageing.
