Set nets killing 'hundreds' of penguins each year - Forest & Bird

9:02 am on 4 August 2017 

Eric Frykberg, Transport, Energy & Resource Infrastructure Reporter

Hundreds of penguins are likely dying in fishing nets each year, conservation group Forest & Bird says.

It said the birds, including the endangered hoiho / yellow-eyed penguin, were dying after being unintentionally snared in set nets moored close to the coast.

The group said material gathered from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) under the Official Information Act showed 14 penguin deaths occurred in the year from October 2015 to October 2016, but this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Thirteen of these were reported by MPI observers but only 3 percent of boats had MPI observers onboard, so the real number of penguin deaths had to be higher, it said.

Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said this was not good news.

"It looks as if the fishing industry is killing hundreds of penguins in set net fisheries and almost none of it is being reported," he said.

That was because there was no mechanism to determine how many were dying.

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Grouse moors actually protect rare birds, study shows

Sarah Knapton, science editor 7 AUGUST 2017 • 12:01AM

Grouse moors owners have hit back at claims that shoots harm wildlife by commissioning a report showing rare birds are thriving on their land.

Last week Chris Packham called for an end to grouse shooting labelling the sport ‘moorland vandalism’ and criticised gamekeepers for killing hen harriers - Britain’s rarest bird of prey - to prevent them from eating chicks.

The RSPB also claims that intensive land management practices, such as burning and drainage of peatlands, tracks and the use of veterinary medicines and killing of mountain hares to reduce the incidence of disease in grouse, harm wildlife.

But a new study commissioned by a dozen grouse moors, and undertaken by Newcastle and Durham Universities which surveyed 18 moorland estates across England and Scotland between April and June this year, found some birds were flourishing.

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Great White Egrets breed at Holkham Nature Reserve

PUBLISHED: 17:33 07 August 2017 | UPDATED: 17:33 07 August 2017

Jessica Frank-Keyes

Holkham Nature Reserve has welcomed another rare bird to its list of species, after three young Great white Egrets hatched at the reserve this year.

Throughout the 19th century, these birds were killed across Europe for their ornate feathers, used in the hat trade, and for much of the 20th century the species was under threat, and restricted to wetland areas in Eastern Europe.

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Rare species of butterflies and birds spotted in Kodaikanal

KODAIKANAL,AUGUST 07, 2017 08:05 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 07, 2017 08:46 IST

The Nilgiri Tit butterfly, a rarely spotted species, was sighted on the Kodaikanal hill during a birds and butterfly survey conducted in Kodaikanal forests by forest officials and members of various voluntary organisations in the State.

A team comprising 45 volunteers spotted 14 species of butterflies and 11 rare birds. Ten groups conducted the survey in 30 places.

On the whole, the teams spotted 90 birds and 136 butterfly species, of which 11 were rare species, including Nilgiris wood pigeons, owls, grassland birds wood peckers and 14 rare species of butterflies, including Nilgiri Tit, Palni Four-ring, Palni Fritillary, Common Mime, Nilgri Clouded Yellow and Lesser Gul.

Common Sergeant, Blackvein Sergeant, Clipper, Red spot Duke, Indian Red Admiral, Blue Admiral, Common Tinsel, Indian Awlking Orange Striped Awlet were other butterfly species spotted in Kodaikanal.

Similarly, spot-belled eagle owl, Nilgiri wood pigeon, Crested goshawk, Rufous-bellied eagle, Nilgiri Pipit, White-bellied Short wing, Orange headed thrush, Bay-backed shrike, Rufous wood pecker and Common flave back were some birds spotted.

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Rare black-crowned night herons breed for the first time in the UK

A PAIR of extremely rare birds have bred in the UK for the first time, conservationists have revealed.
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Wed, Aug 2, 2017 | UPDATED: 16:37, Wed, Aug 2, 2017

Two adult black-crowned night herons and two recently fledged juveniles are now roosting at a nature reserve in Somerset.

The discovery was made by bird watchers at the Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Westhay Moor national nature reserve and Graham Hall was able to photograph the night herons.

It is thought the adults either bred there or at the nearby Avalon Marshes site.

Experts said night herons were extremely rare in the south of England and only around a dozen had been spotted in Somerset since the 1800s.

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How camouflaged birds decide where to blend in

July 31, 2017

Animals that rely on camouflage can choose the best places to conceal themselves based on their individual appearance, new research shows.

The camouflage and concealment strategies of various animal species have been widely studied, but scientists from Exeter and Cambridge universities have discovered that individual wild birds adjust their choices of where to nest based on their specific patterns and colours.

The study looked at nine remarkably hard-to-see ground-nesting bird species (nightjars, plovers and coursers).

"Each individual bird looks a little bit different, and we have shown that they can act individually," said project co-leader Professor Martin Stevens, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

"This is not a species-level choice.

"Individual birds consistently sit in places that enhance their own unique markings, both within a habitat, and at a fine scale with regards to specific background sites."

The study, carried out in Zambia, showed that individual birds chose backgrounds that enhanced their camouflage to the visual systems of their main predators - being better matched to their chosen backgrounds than to other places nearby.

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Sandwich Terns breed at Minsmere for first time in four decades

One of Suffolk’s rarest breeding birds, the Sandwich Tern, may be making a comeback after breeding successfully this year at the RSPB’s Minsmere nature reserve for the first time in almost 40 years.

The Sandwich Tern is a very white ‘sea tern’ with a black cap and bill with a yellow tip, which distinguish it from other terns. It feeds mainly on sandeels and small fish, and many of its surviving UK breeding colonies are on nature reserves.

Before the 1970s, a large colony of Sandwich Terns nested on Minsmere’s famous ‘Scrape’ – a shallow manmade lagoon dotted with islands – but since the last successful nesting attempt in 1978 they have only tried to nest occasionally and without success, until now.

This year, seven pairs of Sandwich Terns settled to breed on the East Scrape, successfully rearing four chicks so far. They are thought to be the only Sandwich Terns to breed in Suffolk this year.

21st July

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