FIRECREST TOURS : Guided Birdwatching & Wildlife Days

Wood Warbler (BTO) Migrant birds are likely to be particularly vulnerable to climate change because they can be affected by changing conditions on the breeding grounds, wintering grounds or passage areas in between. Many  long distance migrants that breed in the UK and winter in Africa are in severe decline , and previous BTO work has shown this can be related to  changing conditions in Africa , which affect overwinter survival, as well as to  conditions on British breeding grounds . BTO research published last year showed that although  conditions in Africa can ‘carry-over’  and affect the timing of nesting in this country, the most important factor influencing breeding was spring temperature in the UK. A new study by the BTO and the  University of Sheffield  builds upon the work by considering the impacts of climatic variation in passage regions, as well as the breeding and non-breeding grounds. It focuses on three declining migratory s...

The dunlin is often a good sign of a well-managed peatland, but too few good sites remain (Dunlin by  Chris Gomersall ) From Dartmoor to the Peak District and from the North York Moors to the Lake District, England’s uplands are iconic landscapes that improve the environment, help combat climate change, provide havens for nature and benefits for people, such as clean drinking water. Nowhere is this statement more true than upland peatlands. But today a partnership of wildlife groups and industry is reminding government only four per cent of England’s upland peatlands are in good ‘ecological’ condition, and the remainder is not living up to its potential for providing homes for nature and combating climate change.

A second consecutive wet, cool and unsettled summer across Britain has wiped out large populations of bees, moths and butterflies, according to a new National Trust report. Common Blue Butterflies (Earthweek) - Butterflies have been very scarce across the United Kingdom this year, according to a National Trust report. It warns that the drop in the number of winged insects could cause birds and bats go to hungry for the remainder of this year. “Insect populations have been really very low. Then when they have got going, they’ve been hit by a spell of cool, windy weather... so our environment is just not bouncing with butterflies or anything else,”said Matthew Oates, a National Trust naturalist who worked on the report. It says that the dearth of airborne insects could cause martins, swifts, swallows and warblers to struggle to survive in the coming months. A delayed spring that started with the coldest March in 50 years across the U.K. caused frogs and toads to struggl...