UK Nature Blog

Monk parakeets to be 'removed' from the wild

According to the BBC, the 100 or so monk parakeets living in the wild in the UK are to be removed by Defra, one way or another. That means preferably housing them in aviaries but could mean shooting them. It is feared they could become a major pest if allowed to prosper.

They should not be confused with the ring-necked parakeets that are more commonly seen in fair abundance in the South, squawking through the trees. The main difference is that the monk parakeet has a pale grey face and chest, whereas the ring-necked parakeet is almost entirely green apart from the eponymous dark-rose-coloured ring around its neck.

Chris Packham interview - part 3

Time for the third and final instalment in our interview with Chris Packham. Check out the first and second parts if you haven't already done so.

A large and varied set of questions to finish, ranging from the whimsical to the serious and taking in the view of Chris' garden, including his laundry. Thanks to Chris for agreeing to the interview and to Allinson bread for setting it up as part of their Conservation Grade association.

Chris Packham interview - part 2

After yesterday's introduction, here follows the second instalment in our big interview with Chris Packham, supporting Allinson's Conservation Grade program and associated free bird feeder promotion. The third and final instalment is also now available.

In fact you may well have seen Chris on TV this evening presenting the Animal's Guide to Britain on BBC2. I thought it was rather good, especially the beavers and jumping up and down on the rippling layer of 'land' atop a buried lake.

Topics this time round include being something other than a bird-spotter and Chris' nature photography. Stay tuned for more, including Chris' favourite nature related joke in the next instalment!

Chris Packham interview - part 1

As part of a current on-pack promotion that Allinson Bread are running, UKNB has had the chance to interview Chris Packham, of Really Wild Show fame (if you grew up when I did) and more recently Springwatch and Autumnwatch amongst many many other endeavours.

Allinson are giving away 8,500 bird feeders in a bid to help bring Britain’s birds back to our gardens. All you need to do is buy four loaves of Allinson Bread, send off the on-pack tokens and you’ll be the proud owner of a brand new bird feeder. This on-pack promotion runs until the end of April and supports their brand new partnership with Conservation Grade, an initiative that works with farmers to encourage ecologically sustainable agriculture. From speaking to Chris it's clear that he's passionate about Conservation Grade and is keen to see more companies supporting it, and to see consumers supporting it with their spending power.

There was a lot to talk about, so I've broken the interview into a few instalments to be posted over the coming days. Follow the link below to continue reading the first part, which deals with the heavyweight issues of conservation today, but don't worry - more whimsical topics will follow!

Update: be sure to read the second and third instalments as well.

County by county Birdwatch results

Further to my previous post, the county by county results for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch make for interesting reading: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/counties_tcm9-276420.xls. That's an Excel file so you'll need an appropriate spreadsheet program to open it, e.g. OpenOffice.

Though the House Sparrow was the overall champion, it only ranked third in my home county of Hertfordshire, with Blue tit and Blackbird beating it. In Essex Starlings are most numerous, Blackbirds in Norfolk. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the Chaffinch wins quite a lot of counties. The only other bird hitting the top spot is the Feral pigeon in Glasgow.

Take a look and see if the results reflect your own personal experience.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2011 results are in

You may recall back in January the RSPB held its annual Big Garden Birdwatch, where ordinary people all over the country counted the birds in their garden for an hour and sent in their results. Well they've finally added it all up (must have been doing it by hand) and the results are in!

I won't steal their thunder too much, but it looks like many small birds are bouncing back after the bad 2009/2010 winter, with Goldcrests (the very smallest of our small birds) doubling in number. Similar good news for Long-tailed tit, Coal tit and Treecreeper. I must say I've seen a fair few Treecreepers in the past year compared to those previous. I am a bit surprised that this most recent winter hasn't had a similarly bad effect on birdlife, but I suppose it wasn't as bad the winter before it.

The single most common bird is apparently the House Sparrow, averaging four per garden. I certainly have squawking flocks of them fighting in the bushes at the moment.

Nature notes - March

The natural world is springing up around us so it's an exciting time to watch it grow. Here are a few things I have noticed of late.

• Bees are out in force, both bumble and honey.
• Lacewings seem to have been particularly numerous compared to previous years. I've seen loads of them in various buildings in various parts of the country.
• I saw my first butterfly of the year: a Comma, which overwinter as adults to emerge in March.
• The lawn has received its first cut of the year (and it's second today) though my neighbours blinked first :-)
• Daffodils are everywhere, whilst snowdrops are almost completely done.
• Birds are noisily celebrating. Magpies in particular seem to be building nests as I see them flying with twigs, but I imagine many species are doing so.
• Ponds are full of frogspawn (pictured), and presumably other types of spawn.

Adder nuff

The BBC reports on a survey of UK reptiles and amphibians that suggests numbers of most are in decline. Adders, toads, lizards and pretty much everything else apart from Palmate newts are seemingly struggling since 2007 when the surveying began.

I'd illustrate this article with a picture of an adder but I'm afraid I've never seen one let along photographed one. It sounds like my chances are shrinking.

Aliens in our parks

The BBC reports on the growing threat from non-native plants escaping form our gardens and colonising the British countryside. I shan't go any further in summarising the article here, but I will ask the question over what is and isn't natural and native? Plants that are pretty or have other redeeming qualities are selected by humans for their gardens, and this allows them to take over new territories, which sounds like just another aspect of natural selection, evolution and the way the living world works. Our attempts to stop the progress of nature in its tracks seem doomed to fail and just as unnatural as what it tries to prevent! But that's just my naive devil's advocate position.

Surveying Norfolk (and other) wildlife

Norfolk Wildlife Trust have a great website with resources to help in surveying many different kinds of wildlife, from ponds to fungi. The forms are designed to be sent back to report on wildlife in Norfolk, but there's so much great information and guidance that they should be of interest to anybody.