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Tuesday Plants: Threatened – corpse flower

Rafflesia arnoldii, the corpse flower or giant padma, is a species of flowering plant in the parasitic genus Rafflesia. It is noted for producing the largest individual flower on Earth. It has a strong and unpleasant odour of decaying flesh – it’s native to the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo.    ...

Penguin facts for kids

  TODAY is World Penguin Day – so here are some great fact, followed by some KIDS-focused websites with fascinating facts and images about these special birds… Most penguins can swim about 15 miles per hour. Penguins have insulating layers of air, skin, and blubber. Penguins are ancient species that first appeared around 40 million years ago. There are 17 different species of penguins in the world, the most commonly recognized being the Emperor penguin. Penguins weigh anywhere from 2lbs...

Red list – Bad news for birds

  The birds of the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man are assessed every few years and placed into one of three categories of increasing conservation importance – Green, Amber or Red. Birds of Conservation Concern 5 More birds than ever before were placed on the Red list of greatest conservation concern in the latest report, published in 2021. At 70 species long, the Red list is nearly double the length of the one in the first report in...

President Biden backs Paris (agreement)!

On Day One, President Joe Biden signed an executive order – to return the United States of America to full membership of the Paris Climate Agreement. ( That was wonderful to write ! ) The Guardian reported it so….. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/19/biden-environment-paris-climate-agreement-keystone-xl-pipeline?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other  This is VERY good news indeed – the United States is once again a strong leader and partner in the vital fight against climate change! A search for ‘US withdrawal of Paris Agreement’ – the following was a result …....

Botanical beauties!

The Botanical Art Society of Australia is pleased to present the 2020 Flora exhibition online. Due to the COVID pandemic we are unable to present an in-person exhibition but we wanted to display our members’ works and give the public a chance to purchase these beautiful artworks. To see whose beautiful work is displayed here click here… https://flora.botanicalartsocietyaustralia.com/...

Nature for new Ladybird readers

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, four slim volumes about the natural world, aimed at children, hit the bookshops. They bore the title What to Look for in… followed by each of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The books were an instant success and inspired a whole generation of naturalists. ( I still recall the delightful little books, as a staple of any young child’s library ). Now, more than 60 years later, Ladybird Books is publishing a new series under the same...

5 things schools can do to tackle climate change

From our friend Neil Kitching & TES The generation going through school just now is absolutely determined to do something about climate change – but how can schools best channel that energy? Helping students to tackle climate change Here are five ideas on where to start: 1. Start with the things that schools and local authorities control directly Invest in insulation and energy-efficiency improvements at school. Install solar panels and perhaps a wind turbine. Edinburgh Community Solar Cooperative is installing solar panels on schools, for example. Investigate if you can...

Lost: Species Declared Extinct in 2020

Dozens of frogs, fish, orchids and other species—many unseen for decades—may no longer exist because of humanity’s destructive effects on the planet . A few months ago a group of scientists warned about the rise of “extinction denial,” an effort much like climate denial to mischaracterize the extinction crisis and suggest that human activity isn’t really having a damaging effect on ecosystems and the whole planet.10 Sec That damaging effect is, in reality, impossible to deny. This past year scientists and conservation...

Indonesia cave art – new discovery

From The Guardian: Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting: a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia. The finding, described in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday, provides the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region. Co-author Maxime Aubert, of Australia’s Griffith University, told AFP it was found on the island of Sulawesi in 2017 by doctoral student Basran Burhan, as part of surveys the team was carrying...

10 Nature Activities – Get Your Family Through Coronavirus Pandemic

This was written in March 2020 but us still ‘very, very relevant’ – by Richard Louv… If the coronavirus spreads at the rate that experts believe it will, schools, workplaces and businesses will continue to close. Here’s a thread of silver lining. We’ll have more time for each other and nature. And, at least so far, nature’s always open. Getting outside — but at a safe distance from other people — can be one way to boost your family’s resilience....

Banned pesticides – experts including Wildlife Trusts react

January 2021 The three most commonly used neonicotinoid insecticides were banned entirely for agricultural use in 2018 by the EU, a decision that the UK government supported. This decision was the culmination of decades of scientific research showing beyond doubt that these insecticides were harming bees and other wild insects, and more generally were polluting soils, leaching in to freshwater systems, and contaminating wildflowers and hedgerow shrubs. Neonicotinoids are harmful to insect life in miniscule amounts; for example just one...

Wildflowers to be contaminated with banned insecticide!

We are very upset, this is an environmentally regressive decision by Defra, destroying wildflowers in the countryside…how will increased use of herbicides on field margins and hedgerows add to the onslaught being experienced by insect populations.” Said Matt Shardlow, Buglife CEO. Despite having been proven to be massively harmful to wildlife, Defra has capitulated to an NFU request to use neonicotinoid insecticides on Sugar beet seeds in 2021. Neonicotinoids are known to wash off seeds and are taken up by...

Park rangers protect , fatal attack

Statement from Virunga National Park on recent attack Africa national parks play a vital role to protect the wildlife of this amazing continent and travellers / tourism ( world Heritage status) and local communities benefit from the same. The importance and significance of these parks can therefore not be overstated. It is therefore doubly tragic when this happens…. It is with immense sadness that Virunga National Park confirms the deaths of 6 Park Rangers in an attack by armed assailants...