The Guardian
As Britain’s birdlife takes flight, skies of my youth are changing for ever
Even though almost half a century has passed, I can still recall in vivid detail the events of a hot, sunny afternoon in August 1970. My mother and I were visiting Brownsea Island, off the Dorset coast. We entered a dark hide, opened the window and looked out across the lagoon. And there – shining like a beacon – was a Persil-white apparition: my first little egret.
Back then, this ghostly member of the heron family was a very rare visitor to Britain. Nowadays, little egrets are so numerous that we hardly give them a second glance. On my local patch, the Avalon Marshes in the heart of Somerset, I have seen up to 60 in a single feeding flock. And, according to the magazine British Birds, there are now more than 1,000 breeding pairs, as far north as the Scottish border.
Continue reading...Footage of starving polar bear exposes climate change impact – video
Video filmed in the Canadian Arctic provides graphic evidence of the impacts of climate change on polar bears in the region, showing an emaciated animal scrounging for food on ice-free land. The footage was recorded by the conservation group Sea Legacy during a late summer expedition in Baffin Island. ‘My entire Sea Legacy team was pushing through their tears and emotions while documenting this dying polar bear,’ the photographer Paul Nicklen wrote on social media.
‘Soul-crushing’ video of starving polar bear exposes climate crisis, experts say
Continue reading...Country diary: the cold is bitter, but the views are entrancing
The Chevin, Otley, West Yorkshire In the waning light the massed black-headed gulls move like a cloud of incense
The light that drenches the far side of Wharfedale has the translucence of burning coal, burnishing fields with the illusion of deep warmth. But it presages the onset of a bitterly cold night; the meagre heat of the winter sun is lost as my surroundings, the Danefield woods on the Chevin escarpment, are plunged into dusk.
My run has been prolonged by enthusiasm. Now I feel as exposed as a North Sea swimmer, the heat of my body’s movement the only thing that fends off the searing cold. Arriving with an Arctic air mass, a stinging wind sweeps from the north, is lifted up by the escarpment, and slices straight through my woefully inadequate clothing. The light on the opposite side of the valley deepens into an orange tauntingly redolent of a late summer evening, but pausing to admire it for too long would genuinely tempt hypothermia. I swerve around people swaddled in down jackets, get my feet tangled around dogs, and generally plough onwards.
Continue reading...'Soul-crushing' video of starving polar bear exposes climate crisis, experts say
Footage from Canada’s Arctic shows emaciated animal seeking food in scene that left researchers ‘pushing through their tears’
Video footage captured in Canada’s Arctic has offered a devastating look at the impact climate change is having on polar bears in the region, showing an emaciated bear clinging to life as it scrounged for food on iceless land.
Continue reading...We love birds more than we think we do – video
Michael Shiels, supervisor of the bird department at Taronga zoo says birds are an integral part of Australian life.
Shiels is unable to give a single answer to Guardian Australia's bird of the year poll, but believes all Australians love birds, even if they don't know it. The poll closes today at midnight
• Share your best – or most underwhelming – Australian bird pictures
Continue reading...Feed the birds: stop the demonising and tell us how to do it properly
It’s maligned in Australia but if some simple rules are observed, bird feeding is a great way to connect with the wild world
There’s a sulphur-crested cockatoo that visits my balcony daily. She lives in a hollow tree nearby, and every day at around 7.30am, she flutters up to the railing outside the living room windows of my third-floor apartment. She lets out a polite, low croak to let me know she’s there, and I come out and give her a handful of birdseed.
Interacting with birds is really good for us, mentally and physically.
Continue reading...Share your best Australian bird pictures for bird of the year 2017
We’d like to see your best – or indeed most underwhelming – bird images of the year, whether or not the subject features on our shortlist
As we prepare to reveal the winner of the Australian bird of the year 2017, we want to see your best (or your most underwhelming) photos of Australian birds.
Whether it’s a hi-res calendar worthy masterpiece, or the quick out-of-focus snap on your phone, share your Australian native bird images, videos and stories with us, and we’ll feature the best (or worst) on site and in the live blog as we get ready to announce the winner after the poll closes today.
Tony Whitten obituary
Tony Whitten, who has died aged 64 in a cycling accident, was an inspirational figure in global conservation circles thanks to his collaboration with religious groups and his passionate advocacy for some of the world’s least-known creatures. Like the snails, beetles and mites that he championed, Whitten was never a household name, but his influence as a mentor and explorer – particularly in the caves and rocky environments of Asia – was such that 11 species have been named after him. He was also instrumental in the first fatwa declared against the illegal wildlife trade.
At the time of his death, he was senior adviser at Flora & Fauna International, one of the world’s oldest conservation organisations, and had recently established a specialist group on karst habitats – the crags, caves, sinkholes and disappearing streams formed by the dissolution of limestone and other soluble rocks – for the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Continue reading...Nuclear fusion, endangered species and orangutan selfies – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Amazon river dolphins, a foraging raccoon and a snow-covered swan lake are among this week’s pick of images from the natural world
Continue reading...Ski resort will devastate Unesco world heritage site in Bulgaria, says WWF
Expansion of budget ski resort Bansko into Pirin national park will be disastrous for centuries-old forests home to brown bears and wolves
A budget ski resort expansion is poised to carve 333km of new slopes and 113km of ski lifts through a Unesco world heritage site of “outstanding universal value”, according to documents obtained by WWF in a lawsuit.
The 400sq km Pirin national park in Bulgaria is one of Europe’s best preserved homes for large mammals such as brown bears and wolves, which roam its glacial lakes, alpine meadows and dense forest.
Continue reading...'People seem happier': how planting trees changed lives in a former coal community
The National Forest has not only transformed an industrial landscape, it has given people a new sense of belonging and wellbeing, created jobs and boosted wildlife – benefits that could be replicated across the country
Former miner Graham Knight puts his cup of tea down on the cafe table and looks out through the large glass windows. Trees frame every view; a small herd of cows meander through a copse of silver birch towards a distance lake.
Continue reading...‘Death spiral’: half of Europe’s coal plants are losing money
Air pollution and climate change policies are pushing coal-fired electricity stations to the brink, says a new report. Closing them would avoid €22bn in losses by 2030
More than half of the European Union’s 619 coal-fired power stations are losing money, according to a new report. As a result, the industry’s slow plans for shutdowns will lead to €22bn in losses by 2030 if the EU fulfils its pledge to tackle climate change, the report warns.
Stricter air pollution rules and higher carbon prices are set to push even more plants into unprofitability, according to the analysts Carbon Tracker, with 97% of the plants losing money by 2030. Furthermore, rapidly falling renewables costs are on track to make building new wind and solar farms cheaper than continuing to run existing coal plants by the mid 2020s.
Continue reading...Country diary: squirrel antics brighten up the bleak wintry days
Langstone, Hampshire Grey squirrels begin mating in mid-December, but here the males’ chittering pursuit started weeks ago
On bleak, damp days when the trees are devoid of birdlife, I can always rely on grey squirrels to bring a smile to my face. Rain or shine, they come tumbling through the bare winter branches like a troop of circus acrobats, walking the tightrope of my washing line and swinging from my bird feeders as though they are performing on the flying trapeze.
Continue reading...Water costs in Australia to double within 20 years, report claims
Infrastructure Australia says governments should privatise state-owned metropolitan water utility businesses
Australians can expect to pay double for their water supply within 20 years unless there are big reforms, a report from Infrastructure Australia says.
It says a lack of investment in ageing infrastructure, population growth in urban centres and climate change will play a part in pushing up prices.
Continue reading...Feathers and flight: birds in Australian fashion
From Florence Broadhurst to Romance Was Born, Australian designers have long looked to birds for design inspiration
Continue reading...Patagonia files claim against Trump over removing Bears Ears protections
The company says Donald Trump is exceeding the powers of his office by enacting the largest removal of protection from federal lands in history
A trail run that began years ago in the desert of Utah has brought outdoor retailer Patagonia to an unexpected – and considerably less scenic – crossroads, at a federal courthouse in Washington DC.
Related: Trump slashes size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments in Utah
Continue reading...The brush-turkey is an Aussie battler – and it needs your help | Alicia Burns
Brush turkeys are often the last holdouts against gentrification. But they still face peril in urban environments and researchers are enlisting citizen scientists to understand how they can better survive
It’s hard not to look at the brush turkey as the avian archetype of the Aussie battler – persisting and thriving, even though the odds are stacked against it. These birds’ work ethic in the face of almost impossible living conditions, environmental hardship and sometimes outright hostility is truly something to behold.
And without diminishing the likely (and deserved) victory of the majestic white ibis in this year’s Bird of the Year poll, it must be said that this year there has also been a lot of talk about – and love and loathing aimed at – the Australian brush turkey.
Continue reading...Power from mini nuclear plants 'would cost more than from large ones'
UK government study finds electricity would be nearly a third pricier than it would from plants such as Hinkley Point C
Electricity from the first mini nuclear power stations in Britain would be likely to be more expensive than from large atomic plants such as Hinkley Point C, according to a government study.
Power from small modular reactors (SMRs) would cost nearly one-third more than conventional large ones in 2031, the report found, because of reduced economies of scale and the costs of deploying first-of-a-kind technology.
Continue reading...'Are you kidding me?' Actors denounce the ibis in Australian bird of the year poll – video
There was not a lot of love for the ibis on the red carpet for the 2017 Aacta awards in Sydney on Wednesday. Nominees were asked to cast their votes in the Australian bird of the year poll – and passions ran high.
• Lion blitzes Aacta awards as Russell Crowe comments cut from broadcast