Talk on Guernsey’s amphibian and reptile survey on 25 February 2013

February 13th, 2013 by La Société Guernesiaise

western green lizard, Lacerta bilineata, in the undergrowth on Guernsey's east coast (click image to expand - image courtesy of and ©Michelle Dumont)

The results of the 2012 survey of Guernsey reptiles and amphibians will be presented at Frossard Theatre, Guernsey Museum, Candie Gardens, St Peter Port at 8 pm on 25 February 2013.

In 2012, a group was formed to begin the first survey of Guernsey reptiles and amphibians – frogs, newts, slow worms and the elusive green lizard. Continue reading

Insurance Corporation’s Guernsey Conservation Awards competition entry deadline 28 May 2013

February 12th, 2013 by Insurance Corporation Conservation Awards

(Please click image to download Conservation Awards 2013 entry form as a PDF file to your computer)

Environmentally friendly gardeners have the chance of winning £2,000 with the launch of the 2013 Insurance Corporation Conservation Awards.

The event, in its 24th year, is open to any private Bailiwick of Guernsey individual, club, company, organisation and any Guernsey educational institution.

The entry deadline for Guernsey residents is Tuesday 28 May 2013 with judging on 4 June and the presentation of awards on 13 June 2013.

The top prize last year was won by the Little Trees Project, which was organised by The Guernsey Society of the Men of the Trees.

It focused on tree planting and habitat creation to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Continue reading

Guernsey Museum hosts wildlife photographer of the year exhibition from 27 January until 17 March 2013

January 22nd, 2013 by Guernsey Museum and Art Gallery

(please click image to download a PDF file of the poster to your computer - image©Jordi Chias Pujol of Spain)

Guernsey Museum is privileged to be the only location in the Channel Islands scheduled to exhibit one hundred stunning, prize-winning and commended wildlife photographs from the 2012 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition.

The photographic exhibition opens daily from 10 am to 4 pm from 27 January until 17 March 2013 at the Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery, Candie Gardens, St. Peter Port.

The overall winning photograph, Bubble-jetting emperors by Paul Nicklen from Canada shows a sunlit mass of emperor penguins charging upwards, leaving in their wake a crisscross of bubble trails.

It was selected from over 40,000 images submitted by more than 4000 amateur and professional photographers from 28 Continue reading

2013 Tree Warden lunch meeting schedule at Guernsey Yacht Club

January 20th, 2013 by Andrew McCutcheon

2013 promises to be an important year for the Guernsey Tree Wardens as we tackle Chalara Ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea).

The Tree Warden lunches have a new format. In place of the restaurant style lunch there will be a finger buffet and an earlier start of 12 pm.

The agenda for the meeting will begin at 12.20 to 12.30pm so people will have the chance to get a plate of food and a drink before sitting down. The price is £11 per person to cover the speaker’s costs.

2013 Tree Warden lunches will take place at the Guernsey Yacht Club on the following Tuesdays:

• 29 January 2013
• 26 February 2013
• 26 March 2013
• 30 April 2013 Continue reading

European Food Safety Authority identifies risks to bees from three neonicotinoid insecticides

January 16th, 2013 by European Food Safety Authority

honey bees at the entrance to a hive (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

European Food Safety Authority scientists have identified a number of risks posed to bees by three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam.

The Authority was asked by the European Commission to assess the risks associated with the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam as seed treatment or as granules, with particular regard to:

• their acute and chronic effects on bee colony survival and development;
• their effects on bee larvae and bee behaviour;
• and the risks posed by sub-lethal doses of the three substances. Continue reading

Worldwide equal rights for women required to avoid society’s collapse

January 13th, 2013 by Stanford University

Anne Ehrlich, Senior Research Scientist, and her husband Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment (click image to expand - image by Linda A. Cicero, courtesy of Stanford University)

Throughout history, every great human civilization has experienced a significant crisis.

And although the outcomes of these crises have varied from total eradication (the Classic Maya) to depression and eventual recovery (China), each collapse has been regional in scale.

Now, a variety of problems have combined to move the global civilization toward a collapse.

The key drivers of collapse, according to Stanford biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich, are overpopulation and overconsumption by the wealthy. Continue reading

Burning fast growing trees as a biofuel negatively impacts human health and crop production

January 10th, 2013 by Lancaster University

Wood for a burner stored near Goch, Germany on 4 January 2012 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

Large-scale cultivation of biofuels in Europe could lead to increased human mortality and crop losses according to research from the Lancaster Environment Centre.

These findings, published online in the letter ‘Impacts of biofuel cultivation on mortality and crop yields‘ in Nature Climate Change, demonstrate that the wider implications of biofuel cultivation need to be assessed alongside their potential to reduce fossil fuel carbon emissions.

Biofuels — usually derived from specialist crops such as poplar, willow or eucalyptus — constitute one of the alternative energy sources being advocated as part of the solution to society’s reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels.

However, many plant species grown for biofuel emit more isoprene, an ozone precursor, than the traditional crops they replace. Continue reading

Tony Juniper’s book ‘What has Nature ever done for us?’ shows that Nature underpins global GDP

January 2nd, 2013 by Profile Books Ltd

(click book cover to go to publisher's website)

Tony Juniper‘s book “What has Nature ever done for Us? is published by Profile Books Ltd on 14 January 2013. The book is available as a trade paperback and an ebook.

Jose Lopez, Executive Vice President of Operations at Nestlé said the book is a “highly readable, personal journey of discovery of nature and our reliance of it.”

Michael Clarke, Chief Executive of RSPB, said the book “explains how the welfare of the human species rests on the assets and services provided by the rest of nature, and makes the case for natural capital to be integral in a new economy fit for the future.” Continue reading

Fisheries Committee of European Parliament votes to reform Common Fisheries Policy

December 24th, 2012 by Seas at Risk

The Cap Nord stern trawler in Boulogne harbour, France on 26 May 2003 (click image to expand - ©RLLord)

The Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament voted on 18 December 2012 to reform the Common Fisheries Policy.

MEPs expressed their desire for a more sustainable European fisheries by voting to restore fish stocks to healthy levels, set fishing limits according to scientific advice, and end discards.

Dr Monica Verbeek, Seas At Risk Executive Director, said “this vote shows recognition of the fact that a prospering fisheries sector can only be based on sustainably managed fish stocks.” Continue reading

Great tit, Parus major, vulnerable to newly arrived strain of bird virus

December 21st, 2012 by Zoological Society of London

A great tit, Parus major, with avian pox (click image to expand - image courtesy of ZSL ©Vince Garvey)

A new strain of avian pox is taking its toll on garden birds in Britain.

Three papers (1,2,3) on this avian pox have been published recently in PLOS ONE.

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), University of Oxford, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and RSPB report on the impact avian pox is having on great tit populations.

Avian pox has been recorded in British bird species such as house sparrows and woodpigeons for a number of years.

However, the emergence of a new strain of this viral disease in great tits is causing concern amongst vets and ornithologists.

Wildlife vet Dr Becki Lawson from ZSL said “infection leads to warty, tumour-like growths on different parts of a bird’s body, particularly on the head around the eyes and beak. Continue reading