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ESB adds some meat to skeleton of “do nothing” NEG
Country diary: a powder puff of black feathers swirls down the stream
Hermitage Stream, Langstone, Hampshire: One agitated moorhen was corralling four skittish chicks on the far bank, while the other frantically zigzagged after a fifth
As we walked alongside the Hermitage Stream, we noticed a day-old moorhen chick bobbing upside down beneath the replica wooden mill wheel, its oversized feet splayed to the sky. Without a second thought, my father climbed over the railings and plunged into the water, scooping up the limp body. The chick appeared lifeless, but as he warmed it in his hands it began to stir and slowly raised its tiny bald head.
Moorhens habitually kill their own chicks in order to whittle down a large brood, or in times of food shortage – drowning them by violently shaking them and pushing them underwater. There are six to eight eggs in an average clutch, but it’s uncommon to see adults with that number of well-grown young – usually only two or three will survive to maturity. However, with no parents in sight, it seemed more likely that this chick had been snatched and dropped by a predator.
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Leaked UN draft report warns of urgent need to cut global warming
IPCC says ‘rapid and far-reaching’ measures required to combat climate change
The world is on track to exceed 1.5C of warming unless countries rapidly implement “far-reaching” actions to reduce carbon emissions, according to a draft UN report leaked to Reuters.
The final draft report from the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) was due for publication in October. It is the guiding scientific document for what countries must do to combat climate change.
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