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First wild stork chicks to hatch in UK in centuries poised to emerge
More than 100 birds have been living wild in England as part of conservation scheme
The first wild stork chicks to hatch in Britain for centuries are expected to emerge next month after three pairs of the huge white birds built nests in West Sussex.
Disdaining platforms constructed especially for them, the storks have created their stick nests in the heights of oak trees on the Knepp estate, the centre for a reintroduction project.
Continue reading...What can be better for the soul than logging the first cuckoo of spring? | Rob Penn
Tracking life in our garden or backyard is turning many of us into nature diarists
I heard the first cuckoo on Wednesday evening. I was outside the back door splitting logs when the song floated down from the copse on Bryn Arw, the hill behind our house in the Black Mountains. Cuckoos have been coming to the same copse for as long as we have lived here and I have always written down the date of their arrival from Africa. It is an important moment in the turning year, as the lyrics to the traditional medieval round attest: “Sumer is icumen in/ Lhude sing cuccu.”
My recordings of cuckoos have always been haphazard, though. Some years, because the weather is dreadful or I am working hard and chained to a desk, I fail to get outside. I might first hear the male’s distinctive song, which gives the bird its onomatopoeic name, days after his actual arrival.
Continue reading...Why Britain’s 2.5 billion paper coffee cups are an eco disaster
With only one in 400 cups recycled, and even those barely ‘green’, the hunt is on for an alternative
Britain gets through 2.5 billion of them every year, and the number is set to increase. But despite a growing clamour for coffee chains to make their cups more environment-friendly, the vast majority are used only once, which critics say is a considerable waste of natural resources.
One company vying to produce a truly recyclable alternative claims that the UK’s caffeine addiction is responsible for the felling of a million trees a year. An independent study it commissioned suggests that almost 1.5 billion litres of water go into making the cups the UK uses annually.
Continue reading...When Coalition spends big on oil, it misses a huge green economic opportunity for Australia
The Morrison government is ignoring its own advice when pours money into offshore oil reserves, rather than building the foundations of a green economy.
The post When Coalition spends big on oil, it misses a huge green economic opportunity for Australia appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Bushfires leave 470 plants and 200 animals in dire straits – government analysis
The most severely affected invertebrates and plants lost at least 30% of habitat to the fires
More than 400 plants and nearly 200 invertebrates need urgent attention after the bushfire crisis, new analysis for the federal environment department has found.
Freshwater mussels, shrimps, burrowing crayfish, land snails, spiders, millipedes, bees, dragonflies and butterflies were among the invertebrates whose ranges have been severely affected by the unprecedented fires through spring and summer.
Continue reading...British farmers turn to homegrown force to bring in the harvest
With Covid-19 keeping eastern Europeans away, furloughed British workers are signing up to fill seasonal vacancies – but will there be enough of them?
Right now, Bruce Kerr is fretting about the shape of a certain curve – but not the one relating to the spread of Covid-19.
Kerr is an asparagus farmer in east Suffolk. In a good year he will harvest up to 500 tonnes of the highly prized vegetable, which requires urgent attention when the mercury rises.
Continue reading...Coronavirus: Cummings attended meetings of key scientific group
Tales of love and loss: people from Oceania share their 'extinction stories'
The Living Archive aims to help people worldwide see the significance of species loss as it affects individual lives and places
The first time poet Craig Santos Perez encountered a bird native to his homeland of Guam it was in a cage at San Diego zoo.
Growing up on Guam in the 1980s and 90s, Perez, a native Chamorro, had learned about the island’s lost birds at school. Children studied pictures and listened to audio recordings of their calls – but by then, the island’s forests were silent.
Continue reading...CP Daily: Friday April 24, 2020
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Fossil fuel web leading Australia to a Deadly Recovery
It is possible to recover from a deadly crisis through a trajectory that prevents another deadly crisis. We have to fight for that future.
The post Fossil fuel web leading Australia to a Deadly Recovery appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Tesla Powerwall install marks start of NSW home battery scheme
Tesla Powerwall installed alongside solar at Hunter-region home marks first of up to 300,000 battery systems to be delivered via NSW govt interest-free loan scheme.
The post Tesla Powerwall install marks start of NSW home battery scheme appeared first on RenewEconomy.