Birdwatch, January 2019

A slow start to the birdwatching year in Dol, following on from the disappointing numbers at the end of 2018.

Black-necked Grebe – Stari Grad – 13.01.19 Black-necked Grebe – Stari Grad – 13.01.19 Photo: Steve Jones

Well another year of recording sightings begins. The number of species seen it is pretty much the same as the previous three years. Some of the species differ but primarily most are as expected. I keep expecting to see more, perhaps not species wise but more of the individual birds. Some Winter thrushes I have seen here in the past don’t appear to have come, birds such as Redwing, Fieldfare and Mistle Thrush. I thought I may have glimpsed Fieldfare and Woodcock on a couple of occasions but I don’t list anything down unless I am 100% sure.

I am still very disappointed with the numbers feeding on my feeders at the house. I am pretty well seeing just Chaffinch. Last year it was predominantly Great Tit and Blue tit and they were clearing my feeders in 48 hours, this Winter it is about three weeks before the food goes. The “fat balls” are barely touched, I did see a Robin feeding on them once.

I was very pleased to see the return of the Black-necked Grebe, I saw it at about the same time as last year and just on the one occasion. However this year I did manage to get a picture. It is a shame it is the Winter as rather a pretty bird in Summer plumage.

Another bird down at Stari Grad although not seen so often this Winter and also appearing for me rather late in January is the Kingfisher.

Kingfisher, Stari Grad (photographed in 2018). Photo Steve Jones

I am down at the airfield and the pond most days at different times but nothing seems to make too much difference timing wise. Generally I would say the numbers are a lot less this winter. There are several flocks of Chaffinch and one or two very small flocks of Goldfinch but I am not seeing them every day. Similarly there have been up to 40 Hooded Crows on the airfield but you see them for two consecutive days and then nothing.

Hooded Crows on the airfield. Photo: Steve Jones

I am frequently seeing one and sometimes two Grey Heron at the pond but they fly off the moment they hear my car.

Great Tit feeding, Dol, pictured in 2018. Photo: Steve Jones

I am away throughout February, so if any reader would like to send in reports of their sightings, especially with pictures, it would be good. – we should certainly be seeing the first of the Summer arrivals, perhaps the odd Swallow.

You can write to my email address: Ova e-mail adresa je zaštićena od spambota. Potrebno je omogućiti JavaScript da je vidite., or Ova e-mail adresa je zaštićena od spambota. Potrebno je omogućiti JavaScript da je vidite. 

JANUARY 2019 LISTING

© Steve Jones 2019.

For more of Steve's nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017Bird Pictures and Sightings on Hvar 2018, and Butterflies of Hvar

Nalazite se ovdje: Home Novosti iz prirode Birdwatch, January 2019

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Scottish Water boss says average Scot uses 40% more water than people in Yorkshire partly due to mistaken belief water is abundant in Scotland

    Scottish households are being urged to cut back heavily on their water use and instead treat it as a precious resource due to the growing threat to supplies from climate heating.

    Alex Plant, the chief executive of Scottish Water, said the average Scot used 40% more water than consumers in Yorkshire, partly because there was a widespread but mistaken assumption that water was abundant in Scotland.

    Continue reading...

  • Critics say change in biodiversity protections would harm environmental recovery and make scheme ineffective

    Plans to weaken environmental regulations for small housebuilders would allow developers in England to build on an area the size of the Yorkshire Dales in the next 10 years without replacing the nature they destroy, according to analysis.

    Labour wants to remove the requirement for small housebuilders – those whose sites are under a hectare (2.5 acres) – to replace the nature they destroy under existing rules known as biodiversity net gain.

    Continue reading...

  • Exclusive: Restrictions on shot and bullets containing toxic metal to be phased in over three years from 2026

    Shotgun pellets and bullets that contain lead are to be banned for almost all uses, ministers have said, in a long-awaited announcement welcomed by wildlife groups.

    The restrictions will be phased in over three years from 2026, rather than the five set out in an official report last year, prompting some shooting organisations to say replacement ammunition may not be fully available in time.

    Continue reading...

  • With forests under pressure from drought, heat, disease and deer, a study has found fewer trees across a range of species surviving to maturity. But scientists say there is still hope

    To the untrained eye, Monks Wood looks healthy and lush in the summer sun. Hundreds of butterflies dance on the edge of footpaths in the ancient Cambridgeshire woodland, which is rich with ash, maple and oak trees. Birds flit through the hedgerows as they feed. A fox ambles through a forest clearing, before disappearing into long grass.

    But for a number of years, it has been clear to Bruno Ladvocat and Rachel Mailes that something is missing. In 2022, Ladvocat, Mailes and their research team from Birmingham University were out sampling when they noticed that the small trees that typically cover the woodland floor were increasingly hard to find.

    Continue reading...

  • A €5.5bn project has transformed the Emscher from ‘the sewer of the Ruhr’ to a place where nature is starting to flourish

    Strolling beside the Emscher, the Tyczkowskis say it is the stench that they remember most about the river’s darker days.

    “The whole thing was filthy and it stank terribly,” says the couple, a retired watchmaker and tax adviser in their 80s. Were they ever tempted to take a dip? “No,” they laugh in disgust. “There were other things swimming inside.”

    Continue reading...

  • In the days since the deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, speculation has grown about whether cuts to US weather agencies may have contributed to the the number of casualties. Ian Sample talks to the meteorologist and climate journalist Eric Holthaus to find out whether this narrative stacks up and what the consequences could be for extreme weather prediction in the future

    Clips: NBC news, ABC news, Forbes, White House audio

    Texas floods reveal limitations of disaster forecasting under climate crisis

    Continue reading...

  • There’s no shortage of ideas for how to make air travel greener. But it has to start within the industry – and with workers

    I love flying. I’ve wanted to be a pilot since I was young. I grew up in Chichester, West Sussex, under a flight path used by Gatwick airport planes, and used to watch as they traversed the sky. In 2019, once I had qualified as an airline pilot, I began working for easyJet. Aviation connected me to my extended family in Canada, exposed me to different cultures and gave me an unforgettable career. But in November 2022, I handed over my airport ID card for the last time. I had grown increasingly anxious about the effect that our industry was having on the planet and, deep down, I knew that my concern for the climate crisis meant being an airline pilot was damaging my mental health.

    Despite no longer working in the industry, my love of aviation has driven me to protect our ability to fly for future generations. It inspires me to address the uncomfortable realities and decisions our industry now faces. Everyone knows that aviation has a gigantic emissions problem. In 2022, the UK’s domestic and international flights produced 29.6m tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions, accounting for about 7% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions. This is projected to increase to 11% by 2030, because while other sectors are decarbonising, aviation emissions will remain stable or even increase.

    Continue reading...

  • With less congestion, less carbon pollution, less accidents, could it be a model for other US cities? Six months in, environmentalists say yes

    It has faced threats and lawsuits and even had its death proclaimed by Donald Trump as he startlingly depicted himself as a king in a social media post. But New York City’s congestion charge scheme for cars has now survived its first six months, producing perhaps the fastest ever environmental improvement from any policy in US history.

    New York vaulted into a global group of cities – such as London, Singapore and Stockholm – that charge cars for entering their traffic-clogged metropolitan hearts but also ushered in a measure that was unknown to Americans and initially unpopular with commuters, and was confronted by a new Trump administration determined to tear it down.

    Continue reading...

  • Exploring the magical landscape that inspired Narnia and stars as a location in Game of Thrones – just an hour outside of Belfast

    Where is the finest mountain panorama in the UK? As a nine-year-old I was taken up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and told it was the best. Even in those days, it was a struggle to see much except the backs of other people. The following summer Scafell Pike got the same treatment and the next year we climbed Ben Nevis. I disagreed on all counts. For me, Thorpe Cloud in Dovedale was unbeatable, despite it being under a thousand feet tall. What convinced me was the diminutive Derbyshire peak’s shape: a proper pointy summit with clear space all around, plus grassy slopes that you could roll down. The champion trio could not compare.

    This panorama question is in my mind as I begin hiking up Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland’s highest peak (at 850 metres), but a mountain often forgotten by those listing their UK hiking achievements. And a proper peak it is too, with a great sweeping drop to the sea and loads of space all around, guaranteeing, I reckon, a view to beat its more famous rivals.

    Continue reading...

  • Shanxi produces more coal than India. How will it survive in China’s clean energy future?

    Deep in the recesses of an underground cavern, covered in dust and soot, Xu Xiaobo wondered why, having recently graduated with a degree in mechanics, he was on his hands and knees sifting through layers of coal sludge. But there was no time to ponder the ancestral forces that had brought him down into one of his province’s oldest mines. There was coal to dig for.

    New to the job, keeping up with colleagues was challenging. As he tried to crawl at speed under a conveyor belt of coal, he landed badly and sprained his wrist. He still can’t rotate it properly.

    Continue reading...

Novosti: Cybermed.hr

Novosti: Biologija.com

Izvor nije pronađen