Photos not to be missed!!!!!
Bears, birds and kangaroos: Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-67004896 
 

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Bert - had a walk in the Limewoods NNR this pm. Got 4 presentable Ceps which will feature in our supper tonight! 😁
Lots of Amanitas about: 🍄
 

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Missed this thread- have been busy retiring! Sorry.

The New Forest has been awash with species since August and even the September heatwave didn't slow them.
Bit of a topsy turvy season though- currently honeysuckle and rhododendrons in flower and different species of apples blossoming again.

On my 6 day walk I saw my first ever glow-worm, at West Bexington in Dorset.

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As a boy locally (in Hampshire) kestrels were ten a penny, buzzards an exciting rarity and red kites a fantasy only realisable in central Wales. Now, I see more kites than buzzards and I have only seen one kestrel in the last 5 years despite the many farm and rural walks I go on. In the 1960s as motorways were being built, the resultant verges often left fallow were ideal terrain for bank voles, a staple to kestrels I understand. A decline was noted in the 1980s but they don't seem to be on the endangered lists I can find. And the Hampshire & IOW wildlife trust (to which we subscribe) still describes them as widespread and frequent. 

Anecdotal (or other) records from elsewhere in the UK?

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As a boy locally (in Hampshire) kestrels were ten a penny, buzzards an exciting rarity and red kites a fantasy only realisable in central Wales. Now, I see more kites than buzzards and I have only seen one kestrel in the last 5 years despite the many farm and rural walks I go on. In the 1960s as motorways were being built, the resultant verges often left fallow were ideal terrain for bank voles, a staple to kestrels I understand. A decline was noted in the 1980s but they don't seem to be on the endangered lists I can find. And the Hampshire & IOW wildlife trust (to which we subscribe) still describes them as widespread and frequent. 

Anecdotal (or other) records from elsewhere in the UK?

Interesting issue, Bertie. There are probably several factors in play here including wildlife protection laws, habitat loss and attitudes towards nature-conservation. I have a few additional thoughts...
1. The decimation of the UK rabbit population. [e.g. for buzzards]
2. Frequency of road kills and significance as a food supply. [e.g. magpies]
3. Road verge management/mismanagement. [Kestrels in particular.]

When we lived in Cambridgeshire 50 years ago we regularly drove to West Wales. Over the years the point of sighting buzzards steadly moved from the Welsh border to our lane in South Lincolnshire by the 80s! As far as red kites are concerned there was only one spot in Wales we found them in the 60s. Now these are frequently seen here. [Post reintroduction of course.]
As far as Kestrel numbers are concerned I'd agree with you: they are less common than they were. Hawk-conservancy say:
"One of the difficulties with this situation is that the exact causes of the decline in Kestrels are not known. Loss of habitat has been suggested, along with decreasing prey populations, agricultural chemicals and lack of suitable nest sites."
I can't argue with that view. See:
https://www.hawk-conservancy.org/conservation-research/uk/kestrel-conservation/ 

 

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It is curious to see what species have increased and decreased over the years. The windshield phenomenon is a measure based on the number of insects striking vehicle windscreens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield_phenomenon 

 

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It is curious to see what species have increased and decreased over the years. The windshield phenomenon is a measure based on the number of insects striking vehicle windscreens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield_phenomenon 

 

This is the "Buglife" page on the subject. Why not take part next year?
https://www.buglife.org.uk/get-involved/surveys/bugs-matter/ 

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It is curious to see what species have increased and decreased over the years. The windshield phenomenon is a measure based on the number of insects striking vehicle windscreens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield_phenomenon 

 

Those rates of decline are shockingly bad.

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Those rates of decline are shockingly bad.

Buglife's 2022 summary report...
https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/2022/12/Bugs-Matter-Summary-Report-2022-A4.pdf 

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Buglife's 2022 summary report...
https://cdn.buglife.org.uk/2022/12/Bugs-Matter-Summary-Report-2022-A4.pdf 

Thanks Roger. It’s interesting that the rate of decline in Scotland is almost half the level in Wales, and that Wales was worse than England. I wonder why?  A lower insect population in Scotland?  Slower roads?

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It is curious to see what species have increased and decreased over the years. The windshield phenomenon is a measure based on the number of insects striking vehicle windscreens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windshield_phenomenon 
 

The windscreen thing is a red herring. Yes, there were more bug splats in the 80s than now, but that's partly due to the way we were driving bricks then (i.e. Escorts and Novas), versus today's streamlined cars. The drag coefficient of a modern Astra, for example, is lower than that of a McLaren Speedtail - albeit it doesn't go anywhere near as fast!

As a result of cars become more aerodynamic, you'd expect fewer splats.

The number plate test would be better (as those are still much as they were), but I don't know how far back data goes for that one!

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The windscreen thing is a red herring. Yes, there were more bug splats in the 80s than now, but that's partly due to the way we were driving bricks then (i.e. Escorts and Novas), versus today's streamlined cars. The drag coefficient of a modern Astra, for example, is lower than that of a McLaren Speedtail - albeit it doesn't go anywhere near as fast!

As a result of cars become more aerodynamic, you'd expect fewer splats.

The number plate test would be better (as those are still much as they were), but I don't know how far back data goes for that one!

The Wiki link compares 2004 with 2019 and 2021 showing a 50% and 72% decline in number plate splats

There's also a curious possible contradiction in the Wiki link "The research also found that modern cars, with a more aerodynamic body shape, killed more insects than boxier vintage cars". but the research referred to relates to a study of number plates on those cars.

So does a more aerodynamic design mean that the abrupt change of flow, which is what would trap insects, is enhanced over the number plate if the rest of the car body is aerodynamically styled? Or that the styling encourages/allows faster driving?

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One for Beast? New Scientist....
Bat uses its huge penis like an arm during sex
Video recordings reveal that penetration does not occur when serotine bats mate; instead males use their penis to push a protective membrane out of the way
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2403830-bat-uses-its-huge-penis-like-an-arm-during-sex/ 
 

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David Attenborough film tells of risky mission to excavate ‘T rex of the seas’ from Dorset cliff.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/09/david-attenborough-film-tells-of-risky-mission-to-excavate-t-rex-of-the-seas-from-dorset-cliff 

I've been aware of this for many months or more. This image in the article is the first public picture I believe. An extraordinary story from my neck of the woods. One of the most dangerous parts of the coast to extract fossils. Whenever I venture there there is always a cliff fall of some kind. You have to time to the minute the tidal conditions.
The oil company Perenco based at Wytch Farm in Dorset have donated £40 000 for a special case to made for the skull which will be on display at Steve’s museum from the 2nd January 2024.
If you are interested in David Attenborough documentaries, the Dorset coast, natural history or fossils it's at 6pm on New Year’s Day BBC.
Nick
 

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David Attenborough film tells of risky mission to excavate ‘T rex of the seas’ from Dorset cliff.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/dec/09/david-attenborough-film-tells-of-risky-mission-to-excavate-t-rex-of-the-seas-from-dorset-cliff 

I've been aware of this for many months or more. This image in the article is the first public picture I believe. An extraordinary story from my neck of the woods. One of the most dangerous parts of the coast to extract fossils. Whenever I venture there there is always a cliff fall of some kind. You have to time to the minute the tidal conditions.
The oil company Perenco based at Wytch Farm in Dorset have donated £40 000 for a special case to made for the skull which will be on display at Steve’s museum from the 2nd January 2024.
If you are interested in David Attenborough documentaries, the Dorset coast, natural history or fossils it's at 6pm on New Year’s Day BBC.
Nick
 

Thanks, Nick - have made a note in my 2024 diary!

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Thanks, Nick - have made a note in my 2024 diary!

That's great Roger. Don't worry I'm incognito though it's one of my local beaches.
FWIW the coasts here are diabolical right now with slips and mud baths and places normally accessible hard to reach.

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That's great Roger. Don't worry I'm incognito though it's one of my local beaches.
FWIW the coasts here are diabolical right now with slips and mud baths and places normally accessible hard to reach.

A wee story about the local oilfield there. Back when I worked for an Oil Pollution Research body a question was raised about declining milk yields in the vicinity of the "Nodding Donkeys". No field measurements revealed any pollution signs, but it was concern. Fortunately we had some livestock and animal behaviour expertise. We advised putting up a fence to screen the Nodding Donkeys from the cows. Yields recovered. Bledur will have worked out the answer already. The curious cows were distracted by the pump movements and were forgetting to graze! 🤣

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Lincolnshire is seeing Waxwings across the county.
150 White-fronted Geese flew NW over the village honking this morning.

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Lincolnshire is seeing Waxwings across the county.
150 White-fronted Geese flew NW over the village honking this morning.

The imminent harbinger of a bitter winter then that the tabloids will honk when they get to hear of it.
Make a change from those apocalyptic WX charts.

 

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Lincolnshire is seeing Waxwings across the county.
150 White-fronted Geese flew NW over the village honking this morning.

Lots of Short Eared Owls this Winter too on the East Coast, supposedly they are very partial to English voles

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