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End mowing of road verges to create huge wildlife habitat, says UK study

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The Guardian reports road verges cover 1.2% of Great Britain, an area the size of Dorset, and could be used to grow wildflower meadows and create habitat for wildlife, a new study says. In a report outlining the scale of road verges in England, Scotland and Wales, researchers from the University of Exeter used Google Earth and Google Street View to estimate that verges account for about 1,000 sq miles (2,579 sq km) of the UK’s land.

According to the report, up to 707 sq km (27.47%) of road verges are short, frequently mown grassland. The rest includes 1,062 sq km (40.87%) of regular grassland, while 480 sq km (18.73%) is woodland, and 272 sq km (10.66%) is scrub.

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How schools are turning the tide on nature deprivation

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BBC News reports details the Nature Friendly School scheme which aims to make schools grounds greener and wilder and is a partnership between The Wildlife Trusts, YoungMinds and other organisations.

The project trains teachers to deliver outdoor classes, inspiring their pupils to learn more about environmental challenges and the natural world, and encouraging teamwork, social skills, confidence and creativity.

Nature Friendly Schools has already worked with 90 schools in areas with high levels of social deprivation, giving thousands of pupils the opportunity to learn and play in nature. The leaders hope to expand the programme this year to help children find solace in nature after the hardships of lockdowns.  

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Surrey Wildlife Aid Foundation overrun with orphaned ducklings has busiest spring in 40 years

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Photo of ducklings by Matt Gibson under creative commons

Surrey Live reports orphaned ducklings have overrun a Surrey wildlife charity which is now calling for donations to help it feed and care for the fluffy youngsters.

Wildlife Aid Foundation (WAF) in Leatherhead has received scores of calls from concerned members of the public in the past month who have encountered families of ducklings apparently abandoned by parents or orphaned – it is currently caring for more than 75 and the numbers are continuing to rise.

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More than a billion sparrows in the world, study finds

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Sparrow photo by Stewart Black under Creative Commons

BBC News reports there are at least 50 billion individual wild birds in the world and house sparrows make up 1.6m of these. Three other species: European starlings, bran swallows and ring-billed gulls also have populations exceeding one billion.

However, most bird species are rare, with about one-in-ten species down to fewer than 5,000 individuals. This “snapshot” of the global bird population will help in conservation efforts to save birds from extinction.

Have you seen house sparrows near you? Let us know on our sightings page.

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‘I’m seen as the fool’: the farmers putting trees back into the UK’s fields

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The Guardian reports the trial, involving seven farms in Devon and scientists from Rothamsted Research and the Organic Research Centre, is the brainchild of Luke Dale-Harris of the charity Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. It is being co-funded by the Woodland Trust and Innovative Farmers, a Soil Association programme helping farmers participate in agricultural research.

Lowland Britain’s prevailing livestock tradition of fields stocked with a high number of animals grazing near-monocultures of grass only works in the landscape and economy of the past 50 years that provided predictable weather and artificial fertilisers, argues Dale-Harris.

The climate crisis, and a series of recent spring and summer droughts – including this year – have driven farmers to look for alternatives. Plenty of Devon farmers were keen to join the trial. The climate emergency, he says, is a catalyst for change that “involves working more closely with natural processes, which can only be a good thing”. 

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Government pledges to treble England tree planting to tackle climate crisis

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Photo by Linda Pike

The Mail Online and Sky News report tree planting rates will increase from current levels of 2,340 hectares to 7,000 hectares (5,800 acres to 17,300 acres) a year by the end of this Parliament, under a long-awaited England trees action plan launched on Tuesday.

However, campaigners warn the goal for England is less than a quarter of the Government’s UK-wide target to plant 30,000 hectares a year (75,000 acres) by 2024 and fails to rise to meet the nature and climate crises.

The action plan is expected to set out how woodland cover will be increased with tree planting, focusing on broadleaf native trees, as well as processes such as natural regeneration, where trees grow back naturally on the land. 

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Climate change clips wings of moths, NatureScot study reveals

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The Times reports Scotland’s moth population has been badly damaged by climate change, experts have said. The latest research shows that moth abundance has almost halved, falling by 46 per cent between 1990 and 2018 and still dropping. Yet the study showed moth occupancy — the distribution of the insects across Scotland — has risen by 16 cent between 1990 and 2016.

Climate change is likely to be an important factor behind the trends, driving some species north, with corresponding surges in occupancy. At the same time, warmer, wetter winters have been shown to affect some moths badly while others suffer from detrimental land management and habitat changes.