UK Nature Blog

Coots really do have massive feet

Eel passes for UK rivers

Apparently the River Thames' eel population has fallen by a massive 98% over the past five years, and to combat this new legislation will require eel passes and screens to be installed to allow free passage to eels up down English and Welsh rivers.

The Guardian and The Telegraph have similar articles about the new laws, but the Telegraph wins for having an actual picture of an eel pass, which turns out to be a fibreglass chute filled with plastic bristles and only a little water that the eels can slither through. Be sure to click the next link for their close up picture including a baby eel.

I'm still not sure what an eel screen is. After an admittedly quick search the best definition I could find was from the Office of Public Sector Information's page on the new laws: "eel screen" means any device, moving or stationary, that is designed to impede the passage of eels through a diversion structure. I'm not that much the wiser to be honest, as it's rather lacking in context or examples of why impeding their passage is a good thing.

Tufted duck

Here is a Tufted duck, on the ponds of Hampstead Heath. You can see why it's called a Tufted duck! The female (it's a male above) is much more drab, being brown all over rather than black and white. It is a diving duck, so makes regular trips below the surface. You can see its legs and feet under the water in the picture above.

They are fairly common but as with most such things it seems that you either have them on your local watery spots or you don't, so you'll be familiar with them or not. Personally I don't tend to see that many of them.

 

Black headed gull

Pictured above in the weak winter sun is a Black headed gull on a fence post by one of the ponds on Hampstead Heath. In winter these gulls rather unhelpfully have white heads with just a fuzzy black spot on the side. Technically even in the summer it's dark brown, not black, but I can't say I'd notice the difference. This is the commonest inland gull in the UK, so if you see a smallish gull away from the coast then it's probably one of these.

Beautiful Plymouth plankton

Exhibitions at London Zoo and Plymouth's Living Coast are showing off an enthralling series of ultra close up images of plankton taken by Dr Richard Kirby of the University of Plymouth.

Plankton are of course the tiny living organisms, some invisible to the human eye, that fill the seas and often form the bottom of the food chain. The Wikipedia article on plankton notes that 'plankton' is something of a catch-all term for tiny drifting sea organisms, which includes animals, plants and bacteria.

The BBC has an article and a narrated slideshow about the exhibition.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2010 Photos

Following on from yesterday's link to BirdGuides' Photo of the Year 2009 pictures, we today bring you a link to another gallery, but this time one from last weekend's Big Garden Birdwatch.   

The Guardian (who also featured the photo of the year pictures) are compiling photos that readers have submitted via a flickr group.You've still got time to submit your photos though as they are continuing to take submissions until next Monday, 8 February.

The edited selection that the Guardian have chosen is currently available here. There are some great shots, and it's fascinating to see what some people are lucky enough to have visit their back gardens!

Beautiful birds

The BBC has a gallery of bird photographs from the BirdGuides Photo of the Year 2009 competition. Highly recommended even if only for the incoming Puffin.

Yorkshire bat tower

The Telegraph has a great story about the building of a 20ft tall 'bat tower' near Huddersfield. Designed to mimic the local traditional mill chimneys, it provides a home to many bats and is much more engaging (for fund raising in particular) than simply buying vast quantities of imagination-free bat boxes.

The image above is one of my own night-time bat flashing efforts. See the original post on the photographic technique (ropey as it is).

Big Big Garden Birdwatch

That's not a typo in the title. Apparently the response to this year's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is already looking like a record breaker, according to this report from The Independent.

Personally I saw lots of interesting things, but a Water rail running across a path in front of me and a Kingfisher were the most exciting. A Little grebe scooting along underwater beneath my feet as I stood on a bridge was also rather special, and one of these days I'll get a photo of the blighter doing so.

I was personally quite surprised to see that the enigmatic Long-tailed tit (as pictured above) climbed into the top ten last year, though it's not at all certain of a place this time around with the recent cold winter.

Snowdrops

February begins tomorrow, which means it's time for Snowdrops. Indeed they have emerged on schedule, though the flowers haven't quite opened up yet. Some things you might not have known about Snowdrops, if the Wikipedia page is to be believed:

• Snowdrops were probably introduced to the UK by the Romans.
• The seeds are distributed by ants, and contain substances that attract them.
• In most countries it is illegal to collect Snowdrop bulbs.

Many gardens open at this time of year especially to show off their carpets of snowdrops. There is a page listing Snowdrop gardens for 2010.