Tag Archives: wildlife

A neonic that’s bad news for birds

Posted on July 25, 2014 by argylesock

Here in Europe, three insect-killing neonicotinoids are under a temporary ban. One of the banned neonics is called imidacloprid. Six months into the neonic ban, here’s new science about imidacloprid and insect-eating birds in the Netherlands. The chemical and biotech … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, ecology, horticulture, knowledge transfer | Tagged apple, arthropod, Bayer, bird, crop, DDT, ecosystem, Europe, European Food Safety Authority, history, imidacloprid, insect, insecticide, insectivore, invertebrate, knowledge, law, pest control, pesticide, plant_dicot, poison, pollution, research, seed, seedling, soil, sugar beet, tomato, vertebrate, water, wildlife | 2 Comments

Gardens for wildlife

Posted on June 1, 2014 by argylesock

Here in Britain the gardening season looks good so far. Here’s an article about gardening for bees and other wildlife. Untidy gardeners like me are good gardeners for wildlife. It’s now a year since hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) bred in my … Continue reading →

Posted in ecology, horticulture, miniculture | Tagged apiculture, arthropod, breeding, bumblebee, clover, conservation, ecosystem, Europe, flower, foraging, fruit, garden, gardener, green manure, hedgehog, herb, hibernation, honeybee, hymenopteran, insect, invertebrate, leaf, mammal, nest, plant_dicot, rat, salad, vegetable, vertebrate, weed, wild bee, wild food, wild pollinator, wildlife | Leave a comment

Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Visualization of Ocean Trash

Posted on May 18, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Ocean News:
Project AWARE’s new interactive map is the first to visualize nearly three years of ongoing reporting by an international network of scuba divers who remove marine debris they find underwater through the Dive Against Debris…

Posted in ecology, knowledge transfer | Tagged Africa, America, Asia, conservation, data, Europe, finfish, fishing, glass, habitat loss, invertebrate, mammal, map, marine mammal, metal, paper, plastic, pollution, rubber, sea, shellfish, textile, vertebrate, waste, wildlife, wood | Leave a comment

Rubbish in the oceans

Posted on April 9, 2014 by argylesock

As teams from several countries search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they’re finding a lot of rubbish. Laura Parker at National Geographic tells us how this shines a spotlight on giant ocean garbage patches.

Posted in ecology | Tagged plastic, pollution, sea, waste, wildlife | 1 Comment

Tyto alba

Posted on April 2, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on The Naturephile:
A few posts ago in ‘The Owl and the Woodpecker‘ I mentioned that a pair of robins may have started getting fruity in my garden as early as the begining of January. And then last…

Posted in ecology | Tagged barn owl, bird, bird of prey, birdwatching, breeding, bromadiolone, child, conservation, difenacoum, education, Europe, law, native species, nest, pesticide, poison, predator, rare species, vertebrate, wildlife | Leave a comment

Save Britain’s Barn Owls

Posted on March 31, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Green Living London:
A petition has been launched to save Britain’s Barn Owls, which are dying off in their thousands. The changing climate and a loss in their natural habitat is part of the picture, but these iconic…

Posted in ecology | Tagged alien species, anticoagulant, barn owl, bird, bird of prey, bromadiolone, conservation, difenacoum, Europe, mammal, native species, pest, pesticide, poison, predator, rare species, rat, rodent, vertebrate, wildlife | Leave a comment

Feeding vegetable oils to farmed salmon

Posted on March 9, 2014 by argylesock

Many fish farmers in temperate climates raise Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Salmon are carnivores, fed pellets made from (among other things) wild fish. Wild fish are getting scarcer so a team of scientists, led by Erling-Olaf Koppang at the Norwegian … Continue reading →

Posted in fish, knowledge transfer | Tagged aquaculture, Atlantic salmon, biotechnology, canola, crop, fatty acid, feed, finfish, fish oil, fishery, fishmeal, genetic modification, hunting, nutrition, oilseed, olive, Omega Camelina, plant_dicot, rapeseed, research, soya, sustainable, vertebrate, veterinary, wildlife | 9 Comments

Big Garden Birdwatch 2014

Posted on January 25, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on Green Living London:
Pic: RSPB More than half a million people are expected to be watching their garden birds the weekend (25-26 January), for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. It’s the biggest wildlife survey in the world…

Posted in ecology | Tagged amphibian, bird, birdwatching, conservation, data, frog, garden, hedgehog, mammal, research, vertebrate, wildlife | 4 Comments

What’s infecting England’s cows with TB? Is it badgers, or farmers and climate change?

Posted on January 10, 2014 by argylesock

Originally posted on vetsbeyondreason:
Found at http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059991389. Erica Rex, E&E Europe correspondent ClimateWire: Friday, December 6, 2013 “There’s no security, or peace and tranquility, except underground.” — Badger, from “The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Grahame NEWENT, Gloucestershire, England…

Posted in agriculture, ecology | Tagged bacterium, badger, bovine tuberculosis, cattle, disease, disease reservoir, disease transmission, farmer, livestock, mammal, Mycobacterium bovis, Paterson_Owen, politics, shooting, transport, vertebrate, wildlife | Leave a comment

Bt crops

Posted on December 8, 2013 by argylesock

The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) does what its name says it will do. Among other things, it promotes genetically modified (GM, genetically engineered, GE) crops. On the other side of this heated debate, GM Watch … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, human health, knowledge transfer | Tagged academia, arthropod, aubergine, bacterium, biotechnology, bird, brinjal, Bt crop, Bt toxin, corn, crop, crop variety, eggplant, evolution, feed, food, food safety, genetic modification, human, insect, insecticide, insecticide resistance, knowledge, livestock, maize, maize 1507, mammal, Monsanto, organic, pest, pesticide, pesticide resistance, plant_dicot, plant_monocot, research, staple food, vegetable, vertebrate, wildlife | 10 Comments