Over a million birds recorded for British atlas

http://www.youtube.com/p/827F428A9B6FE4ED?hl=nl_NL&fs=1

This video series is about British birds.

From Wildlife Extra:

British birds ‘Stock-take’ underway with over 1 million birds recorded

In the first week after launch, volunteers across the country rose to the challenge set by the British Trust for Ornithology. Since the launch of the Trust’s Atlas project on 1 November, over one million birds have been put on the map.

From the Isles of Scilly to Shetland, birdwatchers have been making Britain’s birds count. Since the launch of the BTO’s four-year study to map the nations birds, over one million have been counted. Dawn Balmer, BTO Atlas Organiser, said, ‘We couldn’t have wished for a better start; the response from birdwatchers and members of the public has been fantastic. It is very exciting to be getting dots on the map, and to know that under each dot is a bird and a birdwatcher.’

First Bird

The first bird to be put firmly on the map was a Tawny Owl, reported ‘hooting’ in a Northamptonshire garden at 2.20am on the day of the launch.

USA: singer K.T. Tunstall sings in support of striking writers

In this video from the USA, singer-songwriter K.T. Tunstall (see also here and here) plays a short set in support of the striking screenwriters in front of the Walt Disney studios in Burbank, California.

Little auk migration in England and the Netherlands

This is a video of a ‘wild Little Auk Colony at Varsolbukta in Svalbard [Spitsbergen] just before filming for BBC Planet Earth series.’

From Wildlife Extra:

Record Number of Little Auks Seen on Farne Islands

The Little Auk is a relative of the Puffin but its diminutive size is an instant give away, as the species is only the size of a Starling. Even its feeding habits are unique as rather than hunt for fish, the birds feed exclusively on planktonic crustaceans.

The record for the number of Little Auks seen in British waters was broken twice in three days recently on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland.

On 8th November, 18,000 Little Auks, a diminutive puffin-sized seabird, were recorded around the Farnes, thrashing the UK’s previous best sighting of 11,000 recorded at Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast in January 1995.

However only three days later the record was smashed with an astonishing 29,000 Little Auks recorded around the Farne Islands.

National Trust Head Warden David Steel commented, ‘It was a staggering sight to see so many of these small Auks bravely battling north against the strong head wind. For the record to be broken twice in three days is remarkable and will take some beating.’

World’s Second Most Numerous Seabird

Even though the Little Auk is the second most numerous sea bird in the world its closest breeding populations to the UK are centred around the Arctic Circle in Greenland and Spitsbergen. Despite the lack of any breeding birds in Britain, large numbers can be driven into the North Sea during the late autumn and early winter period usually after gale force winds.

Wilson’s petrel is the world’s most numerous seabird. Photos here.

Little auks migrate to the Netherlands as well; see here.

US Southern Company, linked to Bush, is top global warming polluter

This is a video from the USA of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at Giants Stadium Live Earth 7 July, 2007, on the environment.

From British daily The Independent:

US power company linked to Bush is named in database as a top polluter

By Leonard Doyle in Washington

Published: 16 November 2007

An American power company with close financial links to President George Bush has been named as one of the world’s top producers of global warming pollution.

The first-ever worldwide database of such pollution also reveals the rapid growth in global-warming emissions by power plants in China, South Africa and India. Power plants already produce 40 per cent of US greenhouse gas and 25 per cent of the world’s.

But it is the enormous carbon footprint of Southern Company – among the largest financiers of Republican Party politicians – which has raised eyebrows. Southern’s employees handed George Bush $217,047 to help him get elected, and they and the company have contributed an extraordinary $6.2m to Republican campaigns since 1990.

A single Southern Company plant in Juliette, Georgia already emits more carbon dioxide annually that Brazil’s entire power sector. The company is in the top two of America’s dirtiest utility polluters and sixth worst in the world.

One more explanation for the Bushists’ denialism on global warming.

Blackwater Baghdad killers still not charged

This video from the United States Congress is called Krongard Recuses Himself from Blackwater Investigations. See also here.

By Kate Randall:

Two months after deadly shooting, no charges against Blackwater mercenaries

16 November 2007

Two months after the deadly September 16 shooting in Baghdad by contractors of Blackwater Worldwide, no charges have been filed against any of the mercenaries involved. The incident left 17 civilians dead and as many as 27 wounded.

Based on a preponderance of evidence, an Iraqi government investigation as well as a US military report had previously determined that the killings were unprovoked. Witnesses described a horrifying scene that day in which vehicles were pummeled with bullets and victims were gunned down as they tried to flee on foot.

Blackwater steroids scandal: here.

57 New Freshwater Fish Species Found in Europe

This video from Denmark says about itself:

Denmark’s AQUA is the largest freshwater aquarium in Europe. It’s unique galleries include artificial lakes with side viewing glasses, which simulate typical lake ecosystems in Denmark.

This video serves as a guide of common European freshwater fish species that are found at AQUA. Four different environments are featured, including a polluted lake, a healthy lake, a typical Danish stream and the night environment.

From National Geographic News:

57 New Freshwater Fish Species Found in Europe

James Owen

November 14, 2007

Europe’s rivers and lakes boast at least 57 more freshwater fish species than previously thought, scientists have announced.

The new species were discovered during a seven-year assessment of the conservation status of freshwater fish in Europe that was conducted in collaboration with the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The findings lengthen Europe’s list of freshwater fish to 522 species.

And the study authors say many more undescribed fish have been found or are suspected to exist, potentially taking the total number of confirmed species to 600 or higher.

“The new species come from all over” Europe, said co-author Jörg Freyhof of the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, Germany.

Freyhof and co-author Maurice Kottelat from Cornol, Switzerland, present their data in the Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes.

Data from the handbook, which was released in early November, also determined that more than a third of Europe’s 522 freshwater fish species are at risk of extinction and that 12 species are already extinct.

Close Scrutiny

The newly described species include the world’s smallest known cisco—a type of whitefish—that was found in Germany’s Lake Stechlin, north of Berlin.

The silvery pink fish, dubbed Coregonus fontanae, was found to be distinct from a much larger cisco species from the same lake.

Two new species of troutlike char were discovered in alpine lakes in Germany and Switzerland.

The study team also named eight new sculpin, a type of small, squat river fish often found under stones.

One of these freshly named species, Cottus perifretum, had been labeled as another European sculpin, Cottus gobio.

Yet the two species are relatively easy to tell apart, according to Freyhof.

“The skin of Cottus gobio is very smooth, but perifretum’s is like sandpaper,” he said.

“There are many molecular markers which also distinguish the two species.”

Harder to tell apart were members of a group of lake fish from Central and Eastern Europe called shemayas. But the study team was able to identify four new shemaya species.

“At first glance they appear like herrings—you really have to look at them in detail,” Freyhof said. …

According to Freyhof, the new freshwater species might have remained undiscovered for so long because until now scientists had not compared fish closely enough across countries’ boundaries.

For example, a newly discovered species of chub from Greece was long thought to be the same species as a chub living in Britain.

But the Grecian fish has black fins, while the British variety has orange fins.

“This color fades when the fish are preserved, so maybe a Greek scientist had seen a [British museum specimen] and so couldn’t see it didn’t have black fins,” Freyhof said.

The new Greek fish, called Squalius orpheus, is one of five previously unrecognized chub species identified by researchers during their search.

Fish species in North European prehistory: here.