The New Year started on a wet and windy note before an air mass straight out of the Arctic plunged temperatures below freezing for the whole of the UK. Even here on the south coast, where it never gets that cold, we saw -3C (27F). Storm Éowyn barrelled into Britain during the second half of January, resulting in several red weather warnings for wind. County Clare in Northern Ireland recorded wind gusts of 118 mph (190 kph) and large parts of Ireland, Wales, northern England, and Scotland were left without power as the storm passed through. This was followed by two less deep low pressure systems crossing England, bringing more wind and rain through the penultimate week.
Speed Read of the month
Not a new species included this month, despite what I (awkwardly) said last month. Instead, the Speed Reads for the Red deer and Red fox have been fully revised and updated.
Website updates
Another section of the water deer article is now online; this one covers water deer in human culture. The website is also due to go into a period of maintenance for a background upgrade (i.e., upgrading the CMS platform) this month. This won't directly impact the content, but there will be a week or so during which I can't make updates while the web designers test the upgrade, and a brief period of downtime while the upgrade takes place. So, please bear with me if you try to access any of the content and find it unavailable.
News and discoveries
Coral catastrophe. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as much as 90% of the atmospheric heat generated through global warming has been absorbed by the oceans, and "marine heatwaves" are an increasingly common phenomenon. Not only do warmer seas alter the carbon cycle, they can also have profound impacts on marine life. Coral is particularly sensitive to temperature, and when the water gets too warm, they expel their zooxanthellae, the symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn white, or "bleach"; death is common following prolonged bleaching. A new study published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters by a team at the University of Sydney reports that over a period of 161 days last year, 80% of the coral colonies at One Tree Island on the Great Barrier Reef had bleached. The researchers point out that coral reefs provide essential services to human communities, including supporting fisheries, generating tourism and providing coastal protection, and call for policy makers to take urgent action on climate change.
Farming futures. Farmers have made the headlines in recent weeks following the announcement by the UK government regarding changes to inheritance tax. Concerns have been raised by farming organisations that this may drive many out of farming, which could have disastrous implications for domestic food supplies and wildlife. Last month, just ahead of the Oxford Farming Conferences, The Wildlife Trusts published their Environmental Land Management schemes & Food Security -- the case for increased investment in nature for UK Food Security briefing. In it, The Trusts are calling for a clear future for nature-friendly farm schemes as a matter of extreme urgency. This includes petitioning the government to deliver more Countryside Stewardship Schemes, increase the budget to support nature-friend farming to £3.1 bn per year in England, and focus on landscape recovery projects.
Bee-ing supportive. Last month, conservation organisations including the RSPB celebrated the government making what they described as "the only sensible choice" and upholding the ban on neonicotinoid pesticides. The government had been considering a request to allow "emergency use" of neonics to protect sugar beet from aphids this year that was submitted by the National Farmers Union and British Sugar. In their decision statement, published at the end of last month, the government declined the application, stating that "not all the 5 tests are met and has therefore decided that emergency authorisation cannot be granted". On their website, ClientEarth Head of UK Kyle Lischak said:
"Today's decision puts an end to four consecutive years of approving a pesticide that risks causing harm to pollinating insects like bees, that are the foundation of healthy ecosystems and vital for growing crops."
Brumal bumbles. Bees are a familiar site to most of us as they zip around the garden collecting pollen and nectar in the spring and summer sunshine, but as our climate is changing, so too is the behaviour of these essential insects. Last Christmas was very mild across the UK and the charity BugLife reported that worker bumblebees were spotted out and about during the festive break. The charity said that this is not the first time bumble or honeybees have been recorded nesting in the winter, with multiple records during the exceptionally mild winter of 2019/20, but these insects normally hibernate through the winter months. Indeed, concerns have been raised that winter nests are at a "high risk" of failing both because there aren't many flowers to provide nectar and pollen, and because the cold weather can return suddenly.
For a round-up of Britain's seasonal wildlife highlights for late winter, check out my Wildlife Watching - February blog.