After the wettest winter on record and widespread flooding across the UK, Alastair Driver (the National Biodiversity Manager of the Environment Agency) took to twitter to highlight the efforts into Natural Flood Management research across the UK. Some of the facts tweeted include -
Cain Blythe and Daniel Allen cover two revealing articles for Geographical magazine as part of Rewilding Week:
Bear Necessities: http://geographical.co.uk/nature/wildlife/item/1389-bear-necessities
Fewer than 50 Marsican brown bears roam the Apennine Mountains of central Italy. Daniel Allen and Cain Blythe investigate whether new protection measures can bring Italy’s largest carnivore back from the edge.
A recent article was posted by Claire Marshall, a BBC Environment Correspondent, in which she explains that new hunting laws relating to wolves in France are causing a stir. The problem is that local sheep farmers claim to be losing stock through predation and this has resulted in the French Government increasing the number of wolves that can be killed in 2015 from 25 to 36. A wolf hunting team is now supplied by the state in defiance of EU law.
There has been a lot of interest on the news recently about the importance of bees and other pollinators. In simple terms, bees are important due to their ability to distribute pollen that allows plants to flourish and for crops to grow, contributing to food security. In addition, bees also contribute towards biodiversity and the health of our environment.
Fig 1: Short haired bee