The murder of an environmental activist in Costa Rica has shaken the country’s ecology-minded public and has cast a light on what appears to be the growing overlap between animal poaching and drug trafficking on the country’s Caribbean coast. Early on the morning of May 31, masked gunmen abducted 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval from a [...]
Shachar Shalev (our Kiwi representative) has gone birding over the weekend and the following report shows that it is never boring around here. When there are few migrants, there is plenty of time to enjoy some of the region’s very interesting species… I Went out 5:30 in the morning not seriously expecting to find anything. I Started at [...]
It was, joked Matthew Oates, a “lunatic fringe” mission. Scouring the hedgerows for the caterpillar of a butterfly that has been extinct for more than half a century might not be most people’s idea of fun, but Oates, a National Trust naturalist, has spent 50 summers tracking down the most elusive British butterflies. I joined [...]
For months I have been working on ‘A Bestiary . . . Tales from a Wildlife Garden’ writing and sharing photos of the wildlife that live here on our land . . . from mammals to birds and now featuring the songbirds. Starting with the wonder of warblers. The Chestnut Sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica, returns [...]
More than a third of all honeybee colonies in England died over the winter, according to figures from the British Beekeepers Association, the worst losses since its winter survival survey began. On average, 33.8 colonies in every 100 perished over the long winter of 2012-13 compared with 16.2% the previous winter. In the south-west of [...]
Fishing is expected to be banned near the Atlantic islet of Rockall after a rare methane gas vent in the seabed and two new shellfish species were discovered by British scientists. The methane, which leaks through a so-called “cold seep” vent in the ocean floor, was found last year by scientists working with the government [...]
After spending an evening out with my daughters looking for insects and birds we went to try to see if we could again see the Arabian Red Fox that lives nearby. When we arrived at the location where I have seen the fox previously I saw one running off in the distance. The girls did [...]
Last April I was leading a group of beginning birders along a trail beside the Arkansas River, helping them learn to spot and identify some of the dozens of species present on this beautiful spring morning. At one point I heard a distinctive song coming from a thicket: the wichity-wichity-wichity of a male common yellowthroat. [...]
Mañana fresca y con mucha niebla, visibilidad muy reducida, actividad de aves muy escasa salvo alguna que otra Garza acercándose al tronco seco para perchar un rato mirando el arroyo en búsqueda de alimento; solo se escuchaba el repetitivo canto del Curutié colorado y por momentos algunos varilleros se hacían notar pero no se hacían [...]
The lives of nearly 1,500 kangaroos that roam the open spaces of Canberra have been spared after a tribunal sided with animal rights campaigners to halt a planned mass cull of the marsupials. The ACT civil and administrative tribunal ruling on Wednesday night provides a temporary reprieve for the eastern grey kangaroo population, pending a [...]
