“The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs more defenders. Remaining silent about the destruction of nature is an endorsement of that destruction.” - Edward Abbey
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
At around 8 p.m., I saw a small bat species, a presumed Pipistrelle species but, as always, impossible to identify to species level as a Common Pipistrelle or Soprano Pipistrelle without a bat detector. It was easy to see the bat's fluttering flight against the remaining light in the sky and I was able to watch it for a few minutes.
This was my first bat record of the year and, since bats generally enter hibernation in tree roosts or other suitable sites early November, there is still a chance of seeing more.
The Common Pipistrelle is a small microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe and beyond. It is one of the most common bat species in the UK. However, there is a problem in specifically identifying Common Pipistrelle with confidence. In 1999, it was split into 2 species on the basis of different frequency echolocation calls. The Common Pipistrelle makes an echolocation call between 45 and 76 kHz with most energy at 47 kHz and an average duration of 5.6 ms whilst the Soprano Pipistrelle makes an echolocation call between 53 and 86 kHz with most energy at 55 kHz and an average duration of 5.8 ms.
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
Date: 30th August 2023
Time: from 7:45 a.m.
Weather: dry, sunny/cloudy, light wind, 12°C to 14°C
There was a definite autumnal feel to my visit this morning, not just with the abundance of emerging blackberries, hips, haws and sloes but also the cool temperatures.
In fact, the cool temperatures explained why I saw no butterflies, dragonflies or damselflies, other than a single Gatekeeper which flew weakly on a few occasions before resting again to wait for some sun and warmth.
Bird activity does appear to have picked up a little compared with my previous visits in July and August and the species total has increased slightly.
There were a number of highlights during my visit this morning.
The summer visiting warblers are still present: I heard and then saw a calling Chiffchaff near Larkins Tyres and then heard another calling bird in the northern section of the site where I also heard 2 calling Blackcaps.
Whilst by the pond, a Common Buzzard appeared from over the trees, hotly pursued by a Carrion Crow. It flew over and off eastwards very quickly but I did manage to get a record photo.
This was my first sighting of Common Buzzard since 12th April 2023. Between 12th March 2023 and 12th April 2023, I recorded this species (either single birds or a presumed pair) on 6 visits to the site and it did appear that a pair was maybe settling down to breed. However, the absence of any records since 12th April 2023 definitely suggests that these birds moved on. I also had 5 sightings of Common Buzzards from my flat in March 2023 but none since a last record on 9th May 2023. It is therefore nice to see this raptor again in my local area even if this was only a fly-through record.
During my visit, I also heard 3 calling Great Spotted Woodpeckers (a single bird near Larkins Tyres and 2 others in the northern section of the site) and saw a small group of Goldfinches which included some juveniles in the northern section of the site. Finally, I saw 3 fly-over Black-headed Gulls, a species that I see far less frequently than Herring Gull or Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Site totals for 2023 to date (2022 totals in brackets):
Total species list for the site:
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
BirdGuides - Government has "mountain to climb" in fulfilling nature crisis pledge
A new House of Lords report,
published on 26 July 2023, has revealed that the UK Government faces a mountain
to climb if it is to deliver its international commitment to protect 30% of
England's land and sea for nature by 2030.
This extent meets the
so-called “30 by 30” target agreed at the Montreal COP15 Biodiversity Conference in 2022.
The House of Lords Environment and Climate
Change Committee's report warns that, with 7 years remaining, the extent of
land protected for nature in England that can count towards “30 by 30” sits at
just 6.5%, requiring an area almost one and a half times the size of Wales to
hit the target.
The
Committee's report, “An extraordinary challenge: restoring 30 per cent of our
land and sea by 2030”, also found that protected sites in
England, which can include land that has multiple uses, are often in a poor
condition and in many cases inadequately monitored.
While welcoming the Government's
ambitions to meet the stretching target by 2030, the Committee's report
concludes that it is not clear how the Government plans to achieve “30 by 30” and
that a major step change in its approach to protected areas is required to
deliver the commitment it made.
The Committee is calling on the
Government to create more protected areas, retaining all existing designations,
whilst ensuring existing protected areas are better managed to achieve
favourable condition.
Additionally, it wants the
Government to confirm that areas should be protected for nature for more than
30 years to meet the “30 by 30” criteria.
It argues that a management plan
needs to be put in place with effective monitoring for protected areas on land
based on an up-to date condition assessment which must be updated every 6
years.
The report also suggests that
there should be an expansion to the current marine monitoring programme, both
inshore and offshore, to develop a robust baseline of data that should be made
publicly available.
It also says that public awareness of local
protected sites must be raised and communities engaged so that local residents
can play their role in preserving them, including unleashing and harnessing
citizen science for data collection.
The report also recommends that
there is a statutory duty on Natural England to monitor Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and ensure the resulting data is published.
Baroness Parminter, Chair of the
Environment and Climate Change Committee, said: "Our report makes it clear
that the Government faces a huge challenge to meet the “30 by 30” target it
signed up to last year.
"The Government must designate more areas to be protected, meeting international criteria, and manage and monitor all protected areas better to achieve favourable condition.
"Time is running out to halt species decline and recover nature for the public good. We are therefore calling on the Government to act urgently as it has just seven crucial years to fulfil its nature crisis pledge."
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
Red Kites have been described as "a danger to people" by a town councillor amid a campaign to stop the feeding of the raptor. Councillor Steve Holder, chair of parks and gardens for Wallingford Town Council, said the birds "act as a danger to people and children".
BirdGuides - Red Kites "a danger to people" claims councillor
The chairman of Torridge District Council in Devon has said leaving grass to grow 60 cm presents a "Torridge-doesn't-care" image. Doug Bushby claimed the public thinks Council-owned parks and public spaces that are being left to nature are being neglected while suggesting that better maintenance was required.
BirdGuides - Long grass in public spaces sign of "neglect" says councillor
To think that people actually vote for muppets like these people!
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
Ecocide is a word to describe what is happening to our planet …. the mass damage and destruction of the natural living world. It literally means “killing one’s home”.
Right now, throughout most of the world, including the UK, no-one is held responsible.
It is time to change the rules. It is time to protect our home.
Stop ecocide: change the law, protect the earth.
A growing number of countries are, at last considering introducing laws to make ecocide a crime.
The Guardian - Growing number of countries consider making ecocide a crime
While damaging the environment is already an offence in most countries, recognition of ecocide elevates the most egregious cases to a crime with accompanying penalties.
Only a few states around the world have criminalised ecocide, including Vietnam, Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine’s public prosecutor is already investigating a possible case of ecocide against Russia for breaching the Nova Kakhovka dam.
France became the first EU country to put ecocide into law in 2021 although the wording is not as strong as campaigners had hoped for. Similar draft laws have been submitted in other countries, including the Netherlands, whilst Belgium is poised to finalise its own version of the law while the Catalan parliament is leading efforts to criminalise ecocide within the wider Spanish penal code.
In Scotland, Labour MSP Monica Lennon is trying to introduce an ecocide bill and will launch a public consultation on the matter in autumn 2023.
In January 2023, the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution calling on member states to update their laws to codify a crime of ecocide. Two months later, the European Parliament supported the inclusion of ecocide-level crimes into the EU’s revised environmental crimes directive. If this passes unscathed through the EU’s full legislative process, then member states will be required to make ecocide a crime through national law.
And where is our climate change ignoring and environment and nature trashing UK Government? Nowhere to be seen. Not a word. What a surprise (not).
SS15 wildlife watching: World Day for International Justice
SS15 wildlife watching: Stop Ecocide: change the law, protect the earth
SS15 wildlife watching: Stop Ecocide: change the law
“The rules of our world are laws, and they can be changed. Laws can restrict or they can enable. What matters is what they serve. Many of the laws in our world serve property - they are based on ownership. But imagine a law that has a higher moral authority… a law that puts people and planet first. Imagine a law that starts from first do no harm, that stops this dangerous game and takes us to a place of safety….” – Polly Higgins
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
I see Grey Squirrels on a fairly regular basis from both the front and back of my flat, especially sitting on or running along the rear garden boundary fence.
However, this morning, for the second day in succession, I saw one had really scaled the heights since it was sitting on top of the roof to one of the houses opposite my block of flats.
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
This morning I visited RSPB West Canvey Marshes which is around 9 miles from home and relatively easily reached by public transport.
RSPB West Canvey Marshes is part of the RSPB South Essex Reserves network including RSPB Canvey Wick, RSPB Bowers Marsh and RSPB Vange Marsh, all of which I have visited many times including the last only last week (see here).
RSPB West Canvey Marshes is historically grazing marsh and
is now managed as a reserve comprising of important habitats including a mix of grassland, scrub, lagoons, marshlands,
reedbeds, saltmarsh and mudflats. This provides feeding and
breeding grounds for wintering, migratory and breeding birds. It also supports
a range of important protected species such as Water Voles and reptiles by
providing managed habitats such as ditch networks, meadows and fields.
RSPB West Canvey Marshes has 4 miles of visitor access with over 2 miles of this being permissive nature trails and almost 2 miles again of public footpaths along the perimeter of the site. Permissive nature trails on the reserve head east to west across the site leading from the car park to 4 wildlife viewpoints via dry grassland, scrub and hedgerow habitats. The 4 viewpoints overlook various waterbodies which hold water throughout the year attracting various wetland birds. Public footpaths follow the seawall adjacent to Easthaven Creek and are uneven rough grassland tracks.
This was only my second visit to RSPB West Canvey Marshes, the main purpose being to see and photograph a first-winter juvenile Red-backed Shrike which had been reported over the 2 previous days. Despite much searching and scanning of the scrub habitat in the area where this bird had previously been reported, none of the birders present managed to see it. Those frustrated and disappointed at this "no show" included Matt Turner and Steve Grimwade (from Essex Birdwatching Society and co-presenters of the excellent "Birds of Essex" on YouTube) who I bumped in to on site.
I have seen Red-backed Shrikes in the UK before but only on 3 previous occasions, the last being as far back as 2007. This species is now an extremely rare breeding bird in the UK although it can be seen as a reasonably regular passage migrant in small numbers in spring and early summer (May and June) and in autumn (August to October) on the south and east coasts of the UK as far north as northern Scotland.
I have also seen Red-backed Shrikes many times on my trips to eastern Europe where it is still a common breeding bird in the open countryside. Here are some of my photos ....
Photo: male Red-backed Shrike at Durankulak, Dobrich Province, Bulgaria
Photo: male Red-backed Shrike at Durankulak, Dobrich Province, Bulgaria
Photo: male Red-backed Shrike between Mehikoorma and Haavametsa, Estonia
Photo: male Red-backed Shrike between Mehikoorma and Haavametsa, Estonia
Photo: male Red-backed Shrike between Mehikoorma and Haavametsa, Estonia
And here is the Red-backed Shrike at RSPB West Canvey Marshes which I didn't see!
Great to see the juvenile red-backed shrike on RSPB’s West Canvey Marshes yesterday. Gorgeous bird. @Natures_Voice #birding #NaturePhotograhpy #wildlife #wildlifephotography pic.twitter.com/Pu51f4iTpn
— David Pallash (@davidpallash) August 27, 2023
Fortunately, my visit to RSPB West Canvey Marshes wasn't a complete waste of time since I did find the previously reported migrant female Common Redstart, a species that I have only seen very rarely in Essex.
Other species recorded on a relatively quiet visit were as follows: Swallow (3), Reed Bunting (3), Greenfinch (4), Goldfinch (c.20), Kestrel (2), Lapwing (3), Mute Swan (1), Mallard (9), Coot (1)
#DefendNature .... Please help save and enhance our laws that protect our environment and wildlife
💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature
