This story was originally published by theGuardianandis reproduced here as part of theClimate Deskcollaboration.
A quarter of Europe’sbreeding seabirds spend spring in the UK, turning our coastline into a giant maternity unit. These noisy outcrops usually stink of bird poo. However, this year has been different. “Instead of the smell of guano, it’s the smell of death,” says Gwen Potter, a National Trust countryside manager working on the Farne Islands, off the coast ofNorthumberland. “It’s completely horrendous.”
This annual congregation of life has turned into a super-spreader event, as a highly pathogenic avian influenza, H5N1—also known as bird flu—sweeps through populations of breeding birds, causing devastating…
‘Nature’s engineers’ who create wetlands with their dams are recognised as native wildlife
Legislation will make it an offence to capture, kill, disturb, or injure beavers, or damage their breeding sites or resting places. Photograph: Jeppe Gustafsson/REX/Shutterstock
Helena Horton Environment reporterThu 21 Jul 2022 09.03 EDT
Beavers are to be given legal protection in England, meaning it will be illegal to kill or harm them as they are formally recognised as native wildlife.
This is a step forward for the charismatic rodents, which were hunted to extinction in the country 400 years ago but have reappeared owing to illegal releases around the country.
The government has also been licensing beaver releases inside enclosures, and some environmentalists hope that later this year in the upcoming beaver strategy there will be permissions for the rodents to be released to roam wild.
It is thought there are hundreds of beavers already living wild along England’s waterways, with some experts believing there could be as many as 800.
New legislation, due to come into force on 1 October, will make it an offence to deliberately capture, kill, disturb, or injure beavers, or damage their breeding sites or resting places – without holding the appropriate licence.
The animals are known as “nature’s engineers” as they create wetlands – an important habitat for many plants and animals – when they build dams. In doing so, they also prevent flooding and drought-related problems such as wildfires by keeping water in the land.
Derek Gow, a farmer turned rewilder who is known as one of the country’s leading beaver experts, said: “The news today that beavers will be afforded legal protection in England is both appropriate and welcome.
“We have been very slow to recognise the critical role that this species delivers in the creation of complex wetland landscapes, which can afford resilience against the twin extremes of flood and drought. All they need from us to guarantee this goal is understanding, tolerance and space.”
There was confusion this week as the plans were due to be announced earlier, but appeared to have been pulled at the last minute.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts, said at the time: “Clarity around legal protections for beavers are crucial if populations are to recover and thrive long term – it is extremely disappointing that this legislation has been brought to a juddering halt, with no explanation why.
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“We need to see the widespread return of wild beavers to create vital wetland habitats and restore rivers, many of which have been damaged by centuries of dredging and being cut off from floodplains. As England grapples with a nature and climate emergency, we need our beavers back.”
However, sources at Defra blamed the rush to get legislation out before recess for the hold-up, and said they always planned to enshrine these protections in law, as it is a legal requirement under the Berne convention.
(Bloomberg) — From frothy rhetoric to fighter jet incursions, China rarely leaves even a low-level exchange between the US and Taiwan unanswered. The question now is how far Beijing will go to signal its displeasure with any Taipei visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Over the next two weeks, meteorologists are “favoring above normal temperatures at pretty high odds for much of the western part of the lower 48, with the highest odds across the Pacific Northwest region or the Rockies,” according to Jon Gottschalck, chief of operational predictions at the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
The situation is expected to become especially dire for the Pacific Northwest, including the cities of Portland and Seattle, which could experience “hazardous heat,” Gottschalck warned. He spoke at a U.S. Drought and Heat Webinar hosted by the National Integrated Drought…
Published:Jul. 20, 2022 at 5:20 PM PDT|Updated:23 hours ago
OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (Gray News) – Deputies with a Michigan sheriff’s office carried out an unusual rescue mission last week when they recovered a man’s prosthetic leg from a lake bottom.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office made aFacebook postdetailing the recovery efforts made by its dive team.
The sheriff’s office said the leg belonged to Brandon Smith, who was out floating on Sunrise Lake in Milford Township with his 6-year-old son.
Smith had badly injured his leg six years before in a hunting accident and received 17 surgeries in an effort to repair it. Authorities say he had been using the prosthetic for about a month.
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July 21 (Reuters) – A unrelenting heat wave on Thursday was expected to scorch the U.S. East Coast and South for the third day as dangerously high temperatures had forecasters warning about the dangers of dehydration and exposure.
Heat warnings and advisories were in effect from South Carolina up into parts of New England as heat index values were expected to reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit (41 C) in Washington D.C. and near 100 degrees in New York City on Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The U.S. heat wave follows conditions in Europe this week that have touched off wildfires and set record temperatures in the kind of weather event that scientists say will become more frequent…
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