Around The Web
Conservationists turn tiny New Zealand island into bold wildlife experiment
Big things are happening on Rotoroa, a new sanctuary for endangered species that aims to create a whole new ecosystem
Rotoroa Island, off the coast of New Zealand is tiny, at just 82 hectares (200 acres), but don’t let its diminutiveness fool you: big things are happening here. Over the past few years the island has become the site of a quiet, but grand, conservation experiment. What would happen if you populated an island with a whole suite of endangered species, some of which were never found there to begin with? And what would happen if you didn’t fence the island off and keep pesky humans out, but let people – school groups even – tramp through the grounds?
Across most of our planet, truly wild, unmanaged places are a thing of the past.
Continue reading...Britain's beekeepers told to be alert for arrival of Asian hornets
Vespa velutina, which preys on honey bees, is already spreading rapidly across mainland Europe and could pose a serious risk to the UK’s apiculture
Beekeepers have been told to be alert for invading hornets that have killed six people in France and could pose to serious risk to Britain’s honey bees.
The Asian hornet, which preys on honey bees, is spreading rapidly across France and other parts of mainland Europe, and there are fears its arrival in Britain is only a matter of time – particularly in light of the unusually warm spring weather.
Continue reading...World's mountain of electrical waste reaches new peak of 42m tonnes
The biggest per-capita tallies were in countries known for green awareness, such as Norway and Denmark, with Britain fifth and US ninth on the UN report’s list
A record amount of electrical and electronic waste was discarded around the world in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said.
Last year, 41.8m tonnes of so-called e-waste – mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of their life – was dumped, the UN report said.
Continue reading...Queensland Coral Fishery
Queensland Coral Fishery
Robot reveals inside Fukushima nuclear reactor – video
Out of plaice: popular UK fish at risk from rising temperatures
Study predicts dinner favourites plaice and lemon sole facing severe depletion and rapid warming of North Sea already forcing haddock out of British waters
Some of the UK’s most popular fish may be driven from the North Sea, and the UK’s dinner plates, by rising temperatures, scientists warned on Monday.
Fishmonger favourites plaice, lemon sole and haddock are being pushed out of their traditional feeding grounds by rapidly warming sea temperatures. The waters of the North Sea have warmed by 1.3C in the past 30 years, four times faster than the global average. Since the 1980s landings of cold-adapted species have halved.
Continue reading...Revised plan to tackle feral cat threat released for comment
New style of UK electricity pylon launches
National Grid begins construction on T-pylons, designed to have less impact on the landscape, in Nottinghamshire
They’ve marched tirelessly across the country for the last century, a 90,000-strong army of steel sentinels carrying electricity across hill and vale, gracefully suspended from their spindly frames. But now, the classic British pylon is facing extinction, thanks to a newcomer on the block: the whiter-than-white T-pylon, unveiled this week by the National Grid.
Designed by the Danish architecture and engineering firm Bystrup, the new pylon looks a bit like a ski lift mast adorned with two dangly diamond earrings, which hold three cables either side of the central pole.
Continue reading...Permafrost 'carbon bomb' may be more of a slow burn, say scientists
Carbon dioxide from thawing Arctic permafrost is likely to be released gradually, rather than in a catastrophic eruption as previously predicted - but impact of emissions will still be great, new research suggests
The ‘carbon bomb’ stored in the thawing Arctic permafrost may be released in a slow leak as global warming takes hold, rather than an eruption, according to new research.
Scientists at the US Geological Survey (USGS) found previous predictions of a catastrophic release of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws may have been overstated.
Continue reading...Daily Express weather warning: beware a shower of extreme inaccuracy
Easter 80F heatwave? Or 10 inches of snow? Why are we offered such absurd predictions from the Daily Express? It’s time for a real weather report ...
There is bullshit, utter bullshit and Daily Express headlines. Reading the paper on Wednesday 1 April, I hadn’t the faintest idea which stories were supposed to be serious and which were April fools.
As the website expressbingo.org.uk points out, the paper has only about 12 front pages:
Continue reading...New and updated threatened species listings and new Conservation Advices
New energy storage plant could 'revolutionise' renewable sector
Flywheel plant being built in Ireland with potentially unlimited storage capability could solve the problem of clean energy supply shortfalls when there is insufficient sun or wind
Foundations for an energy storage plant in Ireland that could “revolutionise” the integration of renewable power into electricity supplies will be laid within weeks.
The plant will use a motor-generated flywheel to harness kinetic energy from the grid at times of over-supply. This will then be released from submerged turbines at times of supply shortfalls.
Continue reading...Captain deliberately sank illegal fishing vessel, claim Sea Shepherd rescuers
Conservationist group’s four-month pursuit of Thunder ended off west Africa, with the captain cheering and applauding as the boat went down, say rescue crew
After one of the longest aquatic pursuits in history, a vessel wanted for illegal fishing lies wrecked nearly 4km beneath the water off west Africa.
The vessel, Thunder, had been stalked by the Bob Barker, operated by the conservationist group Sea Shepherd, since 17 December. The two ships played a game of cat and mouse for 110 days, across 10,260 nautical miles through the Southern, Indian and Atlantic oceans, before the pursuit came to an end in the waters off São Tomé on Monday evening.
Continue reading...Fukushima disaster radiation detected off Canada's coast
Trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 detected in samples collected off the coast of Ucluelet, a small town on Vancouver Island in British Columbia
Radiation from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has for the first time been detected along a North American shoreline, though at levels too low to pose a significant threat to human or marine life, scientists said.
Trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 were detected in samples collected on 19 February off the coast of Ucluelet, a small town on Vancouver Island in Canada’s British Columbia, said Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientist Ken Buesseler.
Continue reading...UK's most endangered butterfly back from the brink
The critically endangered high brown fritillary had its best summer in a decade in 2014, with numbers rising 180% in a year thanks to conservation efforts
The most endangered butterfly in Britain enjoyed its best summer for a decade last year after highly focused conservation efforts on its 30 remaining sites.
Continue reading...Chairs’ Update April 2015 | Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review
First ozone hole found over Arctic: from the archive, 31 March 1995
Meteorologists and atmospheric chemists have watched in alarm as a similarly explosive mixture to the Antarctic vortex has been assembled in the Arctic
For the first time, scientists have detected a ‘hole’ in the ozone layer over the Arctic and northern Europe.
Ozone, a form of oxygen, acts as a high-altitude atmospheric screen against cancer-causing ultraviolet light. But at some altitudes this spring, levels have been 50 per cent below any previously observed.
Protecting National Historic Sites programme now open
Draft National Recovery Plan for the Southern Bent-wing Bat Miniopterus schreibersii bassanii
Pages
