Lead poisoning is estimated to kill one million waterbirds in Europe each year, but a new ban has officially taken effect that should drastically reduce that figure. A ban on using lead ammunition on wetlands in the EU has now been implemented, after countries were given two years to seek out alternatives. Iceland, Norway, and […]
Tag: Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Bird flu fears grow after spate of mysterious UK swan deaths
A spate of baffling swan deaths is strongly suspected to be caused by a virulent new strain of avian flu sweeping across Britain. Dying swans were found spinning in circles and discharging blood from their nostrils on Ulverston canal, Cumbria. Swan rescuers have taken in more than 25 dying birds in Worcestershire and nine swans […]
Bitterns, curlews and lapwings at risk as vital wildlife funds dry up
They are some of the most elusive birds to nest in the UK. Indeed, they hide so well in their reedbed homes that ornithologists can only estimate bittern numbers by counting the sources of the booming sounds made by males in summer. It is a census that has produced alarming results. Only 11 booming bitterns […]
Following Bewick Swans on their 4,500-mile migration
The conservationist and “human swan” Sacha Dench has become the first woman to cross the English Channel in a motorised paraglider during her epic 4,500-mile journey following migrating birds from the Russian tundra to Britain. The 41-year-old made history crossing the Channel on her paramotor after an eventful 10-week flight accompanying the annual migration of […]
Alarming disappearances among our familiar countryside birds
The latestState of the UK’s Birdsreport, published today, reveals many of our most familiar countryside birds are undergoing sweeping changes with some experiencing ‘plummeting population declines’, compared with the 1990s. It is now known that in some parts of the UK these birds have disappeared completely. A section of the report looks at the UK’s […]
‘Shocking’ decline of UK countryside birds revealed
Some of Britain’s most familiar countryside birds have plummeted in numbers since the 1990s, and some species have disappeared from parts of the UK, according to an authoritative annual report. Numbers of the farmland-dwelling grey partridge have halved since 1995, while the turtle dove has declined by 95%. The yellow wagtail, which inhabits farm and […]
Spoon-billed sandpipers get help from Leica Camera AG
The critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper has been given desperately needed financial help by German optics company, Leica Camera AG. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and their partners are attempting to stabilise the spoon-billed sandpiper population, which numbers fewer than 100 pairs in the wild, but working on the birds’ remote Russian breeding grounds and undertaking […]
World’s rarest duck’s best friend: a pair of socks!
A critically endangered duck is being rescued from extinction by British and Malagasy conservationists with the help of a pair of socks. The Madagascar pochard was thought to be extinct until 2006, when a pocket of just 22 survivors was discovered at a single remote lake in northern Madagascar. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and […]