Nature

Aborted lift-off for spaceship

BBC Nature news - Sat, 19/05/2012 - 11:58

The US firm SpaceX aborts the lift-off of its Falcon rocket and Dragon ship to the International Space Station.

Categories: Nature

Scottish Birdfair takes flight

RSPB news - Sat, 19/05/2012 - 01:01

Environment Minister to attend inaugural wildlife event

Categories: Nature

Whale meeting heads for discord

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 19:11

Whale hunts and sanctuaries could make this year's whaling meeting a hot one

Categories: Nature

Uncertainty over sex of Chichester Cathedral peregrine chicks

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 18:22

The four chicks from the celebrity pair of peregrines nesting on top of Chichester Cathedral have now been ringed with surprising results.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 18:18

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in West Sussex to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 18:12

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in Surrey to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 18:07

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in Kent to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Contamination at Kinloss probed

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 17:46

RAF Kinloss is the focus of a new probe into radioactive contamination, linked to the use of "glow in the dark" paint on WWII aircraft.

Categories: Nature

VIDEO: Barn owl love knows no borders

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 17:00

Barn owls used to catch mice and rats in the fields of Jordan and Israel are breeding in specially set-up nesting boxes.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 14:26

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people on the Isle of Wight to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 14:19

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in Hampshire to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Teacher’s Open Day at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre

Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT) news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 14:17

Tour the reserve and preview the education sessions on Sunday 27 May.

WWT Arundel Wetland Centre is holding an Open Day for teachers on Sunday 27 May from noon – 3 pm. Teachers can register in advance to visit the reserve for a tour and a preview of the education sessions on offer. “Our sessions promote learning outside the classroom for all ages and levels of students.” said Claire Drew, Learning Manager for Arundel Wetland Centre.

Learning sessions at Arundel Wetland Centre are themed around questions like What lives in a pond? How and why do birds migrate? and How can buildings help the environment? Education staff at the centre can also create bespoke programs for specific studies, students with special needs and advanced students. Since the Learning Program at WWT Arundel began in 1988, nearly 140,000 pupils have visited the centre.

To register for the Teachers Open Day on May 27, please call Claire Drew on 01903 881524 or email claire.drew@wwt.org.uk

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 13:59

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in East Sussex to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

Make your nature count ... with the RSPB's summer wildlife survey

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 13:51

After the huge success of its Big Garden BirdWatch at the start of the year, the RSPB is asking people in Berkshire to take part in its summer survey, Make Your Nature Count, which runs from the 2-10 June.

Categories: Nature

New RSPB community wildlife project is one in a Millom

RSPB news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 12:41

The RSPB has launched a new community project based at their Hodbarrow nature reserve, providing opportunities for residents in and around Millom, Cumbria to step up to protect one of Britain's rarest seabirds.

Categories: Nature

What caused the mystery of the Dark Day?

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 12:19

What caused the mystery of the Dark Day?

Categories: Nature

Silicon trick for next-gen memory

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 12:09

Researchers reveal details of a promising way to make a fundamentally different kind of computer memory chip.

Categories: Nature

Mute swans tower above recent floods

Wildfowl & Wetland Trust (WWT) news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 12:02

Mute swan nest in flood

As flooding affects the nesting season on the Ouse washes at WWT Welney, one pair of swans are towering above the lapping water.

A determined pair of mute swans are refusing to lose their nest to the flood waters at Welney.  Gathering what vegetation they can find, they are trying to weather the rising waters to continue incubating their eggs and hopefully hatch the cygnets inside.

As a result of the flooding on the Ouse washes this spring the breeding season at Welney has come to a standstill.  But one of the many pairs of mute swans which breed on the reserve is not giving up without a battle.  Since the waters came on they have increased the height of their nest from its origins on the banks of the ditch next to the footpaths.

Mute swans are native to the UK and remain close to their breeding territories all year round.  Visitors can see the mute swans up close in the winter at the swan feeds, during which time the reserve is home to an additional 10,000 swans migrating from more northerly breeding grounds.  But during the summer the whooper swans from Iceland and the Bewick’s swans from Arctic Russia are absent leaving the whole wetland site for the mute swans to use to hatch and raise their cygnets.

‘The water levels have now started to drop, relieving the pressure on this particular pair of mute swans’ says Marketing and Events Officer, Emma Brand.  ‘We hope the levels will continue to drop over the next week or two so that we are ready for the June half term activities, which include pond-dipping, moths on display and biodiversity blitz sessions’.

The water levels are now decreasing with hopes that the reserve will start to open up again to visitors and provide feeding areas for the birds once more.  Updated information on the access on the reserve and what activities are available can be found at www.wwt.org.uk/Welney .

Categories: Nature

VIDEO: Should Britain build a spaceport?

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 11:24

A new report is recommending that the UK builds its own spaceport, to enable tourists to go into space.

Categories: Nature

SpaceX readies historic mission

BBC Nature news - Fri, 18/05/2012 - 10:37

The first privately operated delivery to the space station is set to open a new era in human spaceflight

Categories: Nature