RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET

MEET THE CHILDREN ON THE FRONT LINE PLUS WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Volume 37 Number 08
July 2019

The
leopard that
changed
her PATCH
The emperor
s riking back
Intimate photos from
a mother who let us
follow her cubs
THINGS
Up close with
nature’s
weirdest
mammal
LIONS
Text LIONS to
70577 to
give £10*

THIS CAPTIVE PRIDE NEEDS YOUR HELP

Four lion cubs just a few

weeks old were recently
rescued from appalling
captive conditions and
saved from life as pets.
Kept in a car, a garage and
an apartment, these lions
deserve a better future.
You can help give them a
lifetime home in Africa.

ILLEGALLY KEPT AS PET

SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES

DEPRIVED OF A LIFE IN THE WILD

             
               


SAVE THESE LIONS TODAY

www.bornfree.org.uk/lions-of-lyon
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COVER: Leopard: Suzi Eszterhas; butterfly: MYN/Dirk Funhoff/NPL; platypus: Doug Gimesy; This page: Charles Best

One giant leap...

ny parent understands the basic, primal

A urge to protect their young, and it’s no

different in the animal kingdom. Which is
why Suzi Eszterhas’s photos of a mother
leopard and her cubs are so precious. The
level of trust that Suzi built up with the leopard, who
allowed her to spend a year photographing her leap, is
most unusual, and we’re privileged to be able to bring
you their story from page 28.
How well we humans are protecting our own young
is the subject of much debate, not least thanks to the
school strike movement, sparked last year by Swedish
teenager Greta Thunberg. So, we thought we’d ask
one of Britain’s school strikers – and her father – to
tell us about the movement and why it’s gathering
such momentum around the world. You can read their
views on page 36.
Of course, there are many other things that we – and
our children – can do to create a brighter future from
our own backyards. Dave Goulson has some top tips
for creating a wildlife oasis in your garden on page 18.
For more inspiration, be sure to look out for our
guide to the ultimate British wild summer next issue!

Paul McGuinness
Editor

Fancy making a buzz

in your backyard
this summer?
Find out how on p18.

Get your Contact us

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July 2019 BBC Wildlife 3

 COVER STORY 58 News: balancing act Keep up to date with the big nature
Find out how head of conservation stories and latest wildlife discoveries
Jake Fiennes is juggling the needs
of agriculture, shooting and wildlife
at the Holkham estate in Norfolk

COVER STORY 65 The emperor strikes back Conservation report

Having once eluded even the
COVER STORY
Tropical forest loss is the biggest
keenest lepidopterists, purple emperors threat to the Baird’s tapir
are now widening their range
53 Meet the scientist
COVER STORY 70 After life Bayarjargal Agvaantseren tells us about
From microplastics to gut-dwelling her role conserving snow leopards
worms, witness how one seal autopsy
offers myriad scientific insights 55 Truth or fiction?
Was the beluga whale found in Arctic
COVER STORY
Reader waters this April a trained spy?

holiday 57 Mark Carwardine

Book a nature We ignore the UN’s warnings at our peril
cruise in Burgundy
Page 64
4 BBC Wildlife July 2019
 The people
behind our stories

Leopard: Suzi Eszterhas; butterfly: Frank Hecker/Alamy; platypus: Doug Gimesy; flipper: Tom Gilks; Dave Goulson: Charles Best; illustration by Quinton Winter
DAVE GOULSON
Biologist Dave says of his latest book
The Garden Jungle: “My dream is that
we can turn the UK’s gardens into a
vast network of tiny nature reserves,
where butterflies and bumblebees
can thrive”. See p18.

��
�� MATI WARWICK
Student Mati has just finished her
GCSEs. Inspired by Greta Thunberg,
she joined the recent school strikes.
“I hope I can be more like her,” she says.
“I hope we can all be more
like her.” See p36.

��
BAYARJARGAL AGVAANTSEREN
Environmentalist Bayarjargal has
created a 7,284km nature reserve
OUR WILD REGULARS for snow leopards. “The Mongolian
government was persuaded to
WORLD 6 Wild month prohibit all mining within the
Find out the answers to your wild Seven species to look for in July protected area,” she says. See p53.
questions and share your stories
13 Mike Dilger’s wildlife watching
93 Q&A Why not head to the coast and soak in
Which trees are most prone to lightning the sight of the UK’s seabird ‘cities’?
strike, and what do sea snakes drink?
17 Nick Baker’s hidden Britain
98 Travel: national parks The creeping common dodder
What to see on a visit to Denali
46 Infocus: whitestorks
National Park in Alaska
76 Behind the image PARAS CHANDARIA
99 Volunteer: working for nature Wildlife photographer Paras has
The giraffe with a head for city heights
Katy Potts helps teach others how to been taking pictures of the wildlife of
identify longhorn beetles 79 Wild at Home: natural history Nairobi National Park. “The park is
TV, books, puzzles and more packed with wildlife,” he says. “But
100 Your photos
the animals face constant pressure
106 Wildlife champion
102 Feedback from development.” See p76.
TV presenter James Glancy waxes
Your letters and Tales from the Bush
lyrical about oceanic whitetips

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 5

WILDMONTH
Seven essential wildlife events to enjoy this
month, compiled by Ben Hoare.
 WILD JULY

ONLINE
SPRINGWATCH
YEAR OF ACTION
bit.ly/y-of-action

1 | ROE DEER

Hitching a lift
Magpies perch on the haunches of
a roe deer, which has paused to look
at the photographer while strolling
through a Sussex hay meadow awash
with buttercups and wild grasses. It’s a
poignant scene reminiscent of oxpeckers
riding piggyback on zebras and antelopes
in the African savannah – poignant
because Britain has long since lost
virtually all of its wild megafauna.
Much like oxpeckers, these piebald
corvids perform a useful service for
the deer, by removing troublesome
ticks. Unlike them, however, there is
no evidence to show that magpies also
take advantage of their host by opening
wounds to sip blood.
Ageing roes on sight can be tricky,
but deer expert Alastair Ward of the
University of Hull reckons this one’s a
beauty. Well-developed tines (points) on
each antler, together with well-formed
but not thick coronets (antler bases),
a clean coat and the animal’s stocky body
condition, all indicate that he is in his
prime, Alastair says. “My guess would be
somewhere between three and six years
old.” July is the main breeding season
for roe deer, when mature males defend
territories that overlap with those of
several females. Since a female’s fertilised
egg does not implant until midwinter, the
young will not be born until spring.

GET INVOLVED
Jules Cox

Use the free Mammal Tracker app:

www.brc.ac.uk/mammal_tracker
WILD JULY

2 | SHELDUCK

Moult migration
The large shelduck stands out by a
mile on our estuaries, salt-marshes
and coastal lagoons. It has a unique
migration strategy. Towards the end
of summer, after raising their young,
our entire population decamps to
several ancestral moulting grounds.
Most birds move to Germany’s
shallow North Sea coast, while others
go to the Wash, off East Anglia, or to
Bridgwater Bay in Somerset.
Having moulted into
winter plumage, they
return and disperse
around the country.

IND OUT MORE

British birds: bto.org/birdfacts

ON RADIO
TWEET OF
THE DAY
Weekdays at 05.58

3 | DARK GREEN FRITILLARY

Winged tiger ONLINE

This smart butterfly has tiger- NATURAL
coloured upperwings, but HISTORIES
is named for its moss-green Focusing on butterflies
underside, which distinguishes
it from the similar silver-washed
fritillary. It had poor summers in
Shelduck: Eric Medard; butterfly: Robin Chittenden; trefoil: Laurie Campbell

2016 and 2017, but fared better

last year. We know this thanks
to data from the UK’s growing
army of butterfly watchers,
many of whom will be taking
part in the 10th Big Butterfly
Count this month. The dark
green fritillary has a patchy range
across Britain and Ireland – look
for this beauty in open, grassy
places with plenty of thistles.

GET INVOLVED Join in from

19 July at bigbutterflycount.org

8 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD JULY

4 | BIRD’S-FOOT TREFOIL

Grassland wonder
Plantlife once calculated that able to fix nitrogen in the soil. It’s
around a sixth of native British also popular with many bees and
wildflowers are yellow. The colour caterpillars, including those of the
comes from the pigment lutein, six-spot burnet moth and common
and is why bird’s-foot trefoil, blue butterfly – adults of both
which can turn July meadows and species are on the wing this month.
road verges gold, was formerly
used to dye fabric. In common GET INVOLVED Take part in
with other members of the pea the Great British Wildflower Hunt:
family, this botanical wonder is plantlife.org.uk/wildflowerhunt
WILD JULY
6 | PAINTED LADY

Butterfly blizzard
5 | COMMON PRAWN Summer 2009 saw an estimated 11
million painted lady butterflies surge
Rockpool star north to Britain from the Mediterranean.
Every rockpooler worth their In her bestseller Wilding, Isabella Tree
salt wants to find the ‘fab four’, describes how swathes of creeping
comprising the eel-like common thistles at her rewilded Knepp estate in
blenny, shore crab, beadlet anemone Sussex (turn to page 67) disappeared
and common prawn. Almost wholly amid a vast ‘butterfly blizzard’. Numbers
transparent, this crustacean vanishes of this large, migratory species usually
against a background of sand, peak between May and July – keep an
seaweed or rock, only revealing itself eye on thistle, knapweed, ragwort and
when it darts out, propelled by five red valerian – and mass invasions occur
pairs of swimming legs. Lightning- roughly once a decade, so one is overdue.
fast reactions make it tricky to catch;
you are better off simply standing in FIND OUT MORE Visit ukbutterflies.
the shallows and waiting for the co.uk and butterfly-conservation.org
creature’s inquisitive nature to
drive it towards your feet.

FIND OUT MORE

British marine species:
www.marlin.ac.uk/species

ONLINE
OPEN
COUNTRY
The Knepp estate

7 | PATCHWORK LEAF-CUTTER BEE

Labour of love
Like the red mason, another
common species of solitary
(as opposed to social) bee, this
industrious insect happily sets
Butterfly: Brian Valentine; prawn: Graham Eaton/naturepl.com; bee: Roy Rimer

up home in artificial bee hotels

in gardens, parks and school
grounds. The female carefully
cuts perfect circles out of fresh
green leaves, especially roses,
then ferries them back to her
‘hotel’ to line the larval chambers.
She seals each cell with a neat
lid made from a few more leaf
pieces. July is the optimum
time to see this extraordinary
architect in action.

GET INVOLVED Make a bee

hotel: discoverwildlife/bee-hotel

10 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 This is Wales.

Find yours…

This is the country of big landscapes.

Take a deep breath.
#FindYourEpic
visitwales.com/nature-wm
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 WILD JULY

The dramatic coastal

cliffs of Handa Island
are home to colonies of
razorbills, guillemots
and great skuas.

MIKE DILGER’S
WILDLIFE WATCHING
SEA CLIFFS In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the
IN JULY star of BBC One’s The One Show this month encourages you
to experience a spectacular seabird colony on the UK coast.

et’s be honest, given our size of depths, and strong surface currents, the sheer, plunging rock faces offered

L and geographical position, the

UK appears low down on any
global list that ranks countries
both ensuring high levels of zooplankton
productivity, which in turn drives healthy
fish stocks. Also, with commercial
by the latter usually hosting the biggest
and best bird colonies. The vertical and
inaccessible nature of these cliffs not
Handa: Steve Aust n/rspb- mages.com; gu emots: Dav d T p ng/rspb- mages.com

according to their levels of fishing still a key industry in many only makes it difficult for plants to gain
biodiversity and endemism. However, coastal towns, a whole a foothold, but also provides sociable
with ‘Old Blighty’ hosting up to eight tranche of seabirds have Guillemots spend seabirds with communal nesting
million seabirds throughout the summer traditionally been able most of their sites, safely away from the
lives at sea and
months, this is one wildlife grouping to take advantage dive for food.
reach of hungry mammalian
where we can confidently compete on of any discard predators.
the world stage. thrown overboard. With the whirring of
So, why does our assorted collection According to wings as adults shuttle
of islands hold internationally important their geological to and from the cliffs,
numbers of seabirds? Well, firstly, and composition, and the accompanying
perhaps most obviously, the UK’s long maritime cliffs cacophony of birds
and convoluted coastlines have an can be broadly fighting over nest
abundance of maritime cliffs. Secondly, classified into either sites and mates, it
our coastal waters have a wide range ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ – with can initially be difficult

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 13

Narrow ledges tend to be
the domain of guillemots
and razorbills, which line
up like milk bottles.
to discern any order from the seeming
chaos. But closer inspection reveals that
the cliffs are distinctly stratified, with each
species occupying a specific niche. The
narrow, bare ledges tend to be the domain
of the guillemots and the razorbills, which
line up like milk bottles with little or no
room for manoeuvre. The kittiwakes, by
contrast, form looser colonies, with their S PEC IES TO LO O K O U T FO R
precariously positioned nests fashioned
out of compacted mud, grass and seaweed; Guillemot closely related member of Fulmar
while the fulmars occupy any of the With its chocolate-brown the auk family. July will see Looking superficially like
recessed ledges dotted around the cliff- back, white front and long, the flightless chicks take a gull, the fulmar’s thick,
face. And while shags often defend a small dark bill, the guillemot a leap of faith, as they leave stubby bill with distinctive
basement territory, barely above the waves, (below) can equally be the colony to join their dads nostrils, reveal it to be
puffins usually opt for the penthouse suites, recognised by its upright in the water below. a member of the petrel
where the clifftop grassy slopes permit posture while on the ledge, family. Gliding on stiff
excavation of their subterranean burrows. or duck-like appearance Kittiwake wings, interspersed with
When observing such a seemingly out at sea. With no nest, Marginally larger than a rapid, shallow wing-beats,
thriving colony, it is perhaps easy to incubation of the single, black-headed gull, the fulmars may not return to
become complacent that this might just pear-shaped egg, and the kittiwake also has a ‘kinder’ breed until at least nine
be the one habitat to have escaped the worst subsequent feeding of the face, black legs and years old, with individuals
of man’s depredations. And while numbers chick, are duties shared distinctive ink- as old as 40 recorded.
did see a steady rise between the early 1970s by both parents. black wingtips
and the turn of the century, there is now when seen in Puffin
considerable worry that some colonies Razorbill flight. Its Nicknamed the ‘sea parrot’,
have begun to crash. Shetland, for example, Slightly smaller ‘kitti-waa- the colourful, flattened
has seen its puffin population fall from and darker- a-k’ call is bill, upright stance and
an impressive 33,000 in the summer backed than a frequently personable demeanour
of 2000, to just 570 in 2017, with food guillemot, the the dominant make the puffin instantly
shortages primarily blamed on climate proportionally soundtrack to identifiable. Upon hatching,
change but exacerbated by overfishing. thicker neck, any seabird city, both parents will spend
However, with other colonies apparently larger head too. However, their all day ferrying beakfuls
less vulnerable to these fluctuations, and snub- population is believed of sandeels to their single
you cannot afford to let this month slip nosed bill should to have dropped by 44 subterranean puffling back
by without dropping in to a seabird differentiate this per cent since 1986. at the colony.
metropolis near you.

14 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD JULY

South stack: Pear Buckna /A amy; fu mar: Steve Kne /rspb- mages.com; puffin: Kev n Schafer/Getty; razorb : M ke Read/A amy; k tt wakes: Genev eve Leaper/rspb- mages.com; camera: Getty
C H O I CE LO CATI ON S
1

1 Handa is an island situated just

off Scotland’s north-west coast and is
managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
The towering sandstone cliffs are home
to internationally important numbers of
guillemots, razorbills and great skuas.

2 Bempton Cliffs is an RSPB reserve

on the Yorkshire coast. Its towering chalk
cliffs host about half a million seabirds
Clockwise from key prey species for during the summer months – England’s
top left: clifftop portly puffins; after
largest population.
observation points breeding, kittiwakes
can be precarious, head out to the
so take extra care Atlantic, where they 3 Skomer is located off the
when standing near spend the winter; Pembrokeshire coast and is managed by
the edge; fulmars are razorbills feed their the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales.
seen high up on cliff chick on their cliff-
faces; sandeels are a face nesting ledge.
The island is famous for about 6,000
pairs of puffins and about half the world’s
population of Manx shearwaters.

4 South Stack Cliffs on Holy Island,

Anglesey, north Wales, are iconic cliffs,
with fascinating geological folds. They’re
managed by the RSPB and contain a
huge range of seabirds, in addition to
about 10 pairs of choughs.

5 Rathlin RSPB Reserve boasts

Northern Ireland’s largest seabird colony
and has also recently welcomed back a
pair of breeding choughs and corncrakes
following a 20-year absence.

DON’T GO WITHOUT:
A camera, to get that perfect
picture portrait of a puffin
returning with a beakful of sandeels.
You shouldn’t need a long, expensive
and heavy lens to get a decent shot of
these charismatic auks.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 15

 Take
part a
ptes.o t
roadc rg/
ount

Watch out for wildlife

Can you help us build a picture of how our mammals are doing across
the UK? Take part in our Mammals on Roads survey and let us know
what animals you see, dead or alive, along the nation’s roads.
Although a sad sight, recording roadkill each year tells us much about how wild
mammals are doing in the surrounding landscape.
It’s really easy to take part, just visit ptes.org/roadcount
Mammals on Roads helped us discover that our hedgehogs are in trouble. We’re now
doing everything we can to help them. Taking part really can make a huge difference
for wildlife.

www.ptes.org | [email protected] | 020 7498 4533

People’s Trust for Endangered Species, 3 Cloisters House, 8 Battersea Park Road, London SW8 4BG

Registered charity number: 274206 (England and Wales)

Image courtesy of Paul Bunyan
 WILD JULY

The common

Hidden
do der flowers
te summer.

N
olk call it many names:

F devil’s hair, love vine,

devil’s ringlets, angel
hair, wizard’s net,
strangleweed, witch’s hair
and devil’s guts, to name a
few. Scientists call it Cuscuta NICK
epithymum, but you may know
it as common dodder – and it’s BAKER
as good or as bad as all these Reveals a fascinating
names might suggest. world of wildlife that
Over the summer, this we often overlook.
strange plant can be found
draping itself over clumps photosynthesis going on, this he rapidly dwindling resources
of vegetation in many of the
UK’s heath habitats. A weird
COMMON plant has to get all it needs
from somewhere else. It is a
ontained within the seed. It
so dependent on finding a
capillaceous mass, it looks and DODDER rare example of what is known st of the right sort, that if it
behaves in a very un-plant-like as a holoparasite: a botanical esn’t find a gorse, thyme or
manner; especially since it vampire that steals all that it heather plant within less than
is lacking a major defining needs from others. five days, it will wither and die.
characteristic of most plants, Normally, dodder is quite
and that is verdure or, for that subtle, and its strange limbs etting a grip
matter, anything that even get lost amongst the vegetation nce it makes physical contact,
resembles a leaf (these are through which it creeps. But in e dodder winds itself around
present but only as vestigial some places, it is so successful e stems. Little swellings
scales on the stem). that it almost smothers its host led haustoria appear, and
If you were to look inside its plant under a pink blanket, om their underside tubes
cells, you wouldn’t find a speck looking like a Silly row out into the tissues of the
of chlorophyll – that almost DID YOU String fight in a fairy lant. These inject ‘microRNA’
magical pigment that harvests KNOW? princess’ parlour. molecules that jam the host
the light of the sun and turns Recent studies show that When it blooms, it plant’s immune system and
it, with the help of water and dodders ‘sniff’ their way further enhances top it from sending clotting
carbon dioxide, into the very to host plants, attracted its almost benign roteins to the sites of invasion.
stuff of life. So, instead of a hue to the volatile organic appearance, turning the parasite can now send its
chemicals that
of green, dodder has an almost they emit.
itself into floral umbing deep into the host’s
fleshy pink pigment. With no bunting as small clusters ter and food circulation
of dark-pink-centered pom- tem, effectively diverting
pom flowers erupt periodically e sap for its own needs.
WHAT LURKS BENEATH along its tendrils. It’s at this stage that the
Dodder starts like most other dder severs its contact with
The vampire plants that latch onto the roots of others.
annual plants. Tiny seeds that e earth and become the most
There are others that share the dodder, as they only peek have lain dormant in the soil nplantly’ plant; its roots
I ustrat ons by Peter Dav d Scott/The Art Agency

the dastardly lifestyle of the out (from the roots below start to germinate in the spring. ther along with the lower
dodder… broomrapes (below), ground) and become apparent Simple roots grow down to rtions of its stem. Free from
which look like sickly to us when they flower anchor the seedling, while the earthly tethers, it clambers
and deathly orchids, – the rest of their life pale tendrils stretch upwards – with sinister enthusiasm,
and some of the as an organism so far quite normal. However, ping into the host as it goes,
toothworts are is lived entirely while most other seedlings will d climbing from plant to
totally parasitic. underground, eventually terminate in some nt – linking them together
In fact, in some feeding from the leaf-like structures, our dodder th an alien pipeline.
ways, even tissues of their doesn’t. Instead, as it snakes its CK BAKER
more so than host plant. way upwards, it is relying on naturalist, author and TV presenter.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 17

 By Dave Goulson
Photographs Charles Best

ON HOM
Dave advocates mowing
less often to allow
flowers such as daisies
and dandelions to grow
uninhibited, providing extra
help to pollinators.
 Join in with the citizen
science project, as
seen on Springwatch.

ME TURF
In the race to save the planet,
where better to start than your own
backyard, where small changes
can make a big difference.
GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

S
pring has arrived and my
garden is buzzing with life.
The dandelions, daisies, bugle
and speedwell are blooming in
my unmown lawn. Petals are
drifting down from the cherry
and apple trees, and red mason
bees are busy gathering the last of the fruit
tree pollen to stock their nests in my various
home-made bee hotels. The comfrey patch
has just come into flower and is swarming
with fluffy yellow-faced male bumblebees, productive, and teems with life – a miniature
while an orange-tip butterfly quarters the jungle in my own back yard.
garden in search of a mate. Among the Of course, most people do not have a big
HOW TO...
medley of bird song and sparrow chatter, garden, and you might think that there is little
the stubbornly incessant chant of a you can do for nature in your own patch, but Build a bee hotel
chiffchaff stands out. take heart, for even tiny gardens can brim
I’m very lucky, for I have a large garden with life. With just a little help, any garden There are about 250 different
in rural Sussex, with room for two ponds, can become an oasis for insects. kinds of solitary bee in the UK,
seven compost heaps, a small wildflower Gardening for insects can be fun, some of which will happily adopt
meadow and an orchard, fruit and veg rewarding, and surprising, for you never a bee hotel as home. All they need
patches, flowerbeds, log piles, brash piles, know what fascinating new creatures might are horizontal holes, in a range of
dozens of bee hotels and more. I’ve spent turn up. It is also important, for insects are in diameters from about 5–10mm. You
the last six years trying to turn it into an oasis trouble. A slew of disturbing scientific studies can drill holes in a block of wood
for life of all types, but particularly for the has appeared in recent years, showing that (right), as deep as your longest
little creatures, the worms, butterflies, bees, our butterflies, moths, bees and hoverflies are drill bit will go, or gather
beetles, woodlice and springtails. My garden all in steady decline, and have been for many together lengths of bamboo
isn’t particularly tidy, but it is colourful, decades. An alarming study from Germany with wire and shove them into
a tin can or piece of drain pipe.
Attach the hotel to a sunny, south-
facing wall or fence, ideally 1–2m
above the ground, and wait. With
Clockwise from
We have not yet given a top left: comfrey luck, you will see red mason bees
(April to June) and leafcutter bees
is great for bees;
name to four-fifths of the Dave tends to
loganberries and
(June to July) moving in. Do not
attach the homes to a tree, unless
5 million insect species blackberries inside
a soft-fruit cage;
you’d prefer to house earwigs.

that are thought to exist. Spanish lavender;

Dave’s ‘bug hotels’.

20 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

found that the abundance of insects on nature

reserves dropped by 75 per cent between 1989
and 2014. Anecdotally, almost everybody of
middling years or above can remember a time
when car windscreens were splattered with
insect guts after a summer drive, while today
our screens remain crisply clean.

Changing perceptions
When asked on UK radio about the
seriousness of global insect declines,
medical doctor, professor and well-known
TV presenter Lord Robert Winston replied:
“There are quite a lot of insects we don’t really
need on the planet.” This response likely
typifies the attitude of many people who don’t
care much for insects or know much about
them. They associate them with annoyance,
stings, bites and spread of disease. Many
might think that the demise of insects is to
be welcomed, but it is not.
Insects are vital. They make up about
60 per cent of all known species on Earth,
and are food for a good proportion of the
remainder – birds, bats, lizards, amphibians,
fish, spiders and more. About 87 per cent of
all plant species require pollination by some
kind of animal, the very large majority of

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 21

GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

this being done by an insect of one type or (often controlling other insect pests). take months to rot, are rapidly consumed by
another – often bees, but sometimes flies, Wood-boring beetles and wasps help to maggots and carrion beetles. Ants and other
beetles, wasps, butterflies or moths. Three recycle the nutrients in decaying timber, burrowing insects help to aerate the soil and
quarters of the crops we grow depend upon while an army of tiny invertebrates, including disperse seeds. Silk moths give us silk and
these insect pollinators – imagine a world springtails, silverfish, worms and woodlice honeybees provide us with honey.
without tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, help to break down the leaves that fall every
chilli peppers, coffee or chocolate, to name autumn. Animal dung would build up in our Finding purpose
but a few. Life would be desperate indeed! pastures were it not for the prompt arrival of For many insects, we simply do not know
In addition to pollination, insects such dung beetles and flies, which swiftly recycle what they do. We have not yet given a name
as ladybirds, hoverflies, ground beetles and it, providing nutrients for the grass to grow. to about four-fifths of the perhaps five million
lacewings are important biocontrol agents Animal corpses, which otherwise might insect species that are thought to exist, let
alone studied what ecological roles they might
perform. To paraphrase Aldo Leopold – the
first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep
all the parts.
Clockwise from
We have a moral duty top: lupins’ bright We are nowhere near understanding the
multitude of interactions that occur between
pollen attracts
to look after our fellow bees; Dave’s ducks
help with slug
the thousands of organisms that comprise
most ecological communities, and so we
travellers on Earth, be control while Poppy
the dog has a nap;
cannot say which insects we ‘need’ and which
ones we do not. Even if we could somehow
they rhinos or silverfish. Dave searches for
hoverfly larvae. be sure that an insect plays no important role,

22 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 GARDENING FOR WILDLIFE

HOW TO...

Create a simple
hoverfly lagoon
Hoverflies are important pollinators,
and are among our prettiest insects.
The grubs of some also perform
vital roles as predators of aphids,
while others have aquatic grubs that
prefer to live in rot holes – small
puddles full of rotting leaves that
form in the forks of old trees.
These grubs have long, snorkel-
like ‘tails’ that allow them to breathe
under the murky water, from which
they gain their common name – rat-
tailed maggots.
Breeding habitat for these
delightful creatures can be provided
by filling any waterproof container
– such as a plastic milk carton
chopped in half – with water and
leaves. Provide a few protruding
twigs for the full-grown grubs to
climb up, as they pupate outside the
rot hole. hoverflylagoons.co.uk

Dave continues to add

to the floral display in
his flowerbeds. Below: a
handy tree stump
makes the perfect
plinth for a bee hotel.

doesn’t it still deserve a chance to live? Do we chance. We have about half a million hectares will miraculously and spontaneously turn
not have a moral duty to look after our fellow of gardens in the UK, plus city parks and up, somehow sniffing out the unclaimed
travellers on planet Earth, be they rhinos, green spaces, school playing fields, railway water from miles away. Successful wildlife
pandas or silverfish? embankments and road verges. If managed gardening is as much about what you don’t
The causes of insect declines are much favourably, our urban areas could become do as what you do.
debated, but almost certainly include a vast interconnected network of flowery This is not to say that a wildlife garden has
habitat loss, the inexorable spread habitats, enriched with the buzz of to be untidy. Many imagine an unruly tangle
of large-scale monoculture bumblebees and the flashing wings of brambles and nettles, and it is true that a
farming, chronic exposure of colourful butterflies – a place laissez-faire garden like this will attract a lot
to mixtures of pesticides, where nature and people can live of wildlife, but it is also possible to have a neat
and climate change. The in harmony. and beautiful garden that is teeming with life.
consequences are clear Tidy or unkempt; tiny courtyard or verdant
– if insect declines are From tiny seeds rolling acres, your garden is probably already
not halted, terrestrial and Wildlife gardening is easy. Plants home to hundreds, even thousands, of insect
freshwater ecosystems will grow themselves, and bees and species, but there’s always room for more!
collapse, and human lives will butterflies will find them when
be poorer and harder. they flower. Herbivores will DAVE GOULSON is a professor of
Hoverfly: Ian Grainger/Getty

The good news is that it is appear – slugs, snails, weevils, leaf biology. His latest book is The
not too late – few insects have beetles and caterpillars – and, in Garden Jungle (Penguin, £16.99).
actually gone extinct so far, turn, predators will arrive to eat
and populations can rapidly them. Dig a pond and a huge range FIND OUT MORE Dave’s top 10 flowers for
recover if we give them a of plants, insects and amphibians pollinators discoverwildlife.com/10flowers

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 23

 TOP
For insect-friendly gardens
TIPS
By Dave Goulson Photographs Charles Best

1 Start growing the right

kinds of flowers
There are many beautiful flowers to choose
3 Add a water feature
by digging a pond
Once you’ve created your pond, watch
from that are highly attractive to pollinating how quickly it is colonised by dragonflies,
insects (visit bit.ly/bestgardenflowers). whirligig beetles, newts and pond skaters!
In general, old fashioned, cottage-garden Even an old sink or bath can be turned into
perennials are best. Many wildflowers are a water feature to support lots of insect life.
wonderful in the garden. Avoid double
varieties, and annual bedding plants such
as pansy, primula, begonia, pelargonium
and busy lizzie, which are more or less
4 Conserve peat bogs by
buying the right compost
Most composts on sale in garden centres
useless for insects. Try out the Bumblebee are peat based. Peat takes thousands of
Conservation Trust’s ‘BeeKind’ tool, to find years to form, and peat bogs are vast stores
out how bee friendly your garden is: of carbon. Peatlands also support many rare
bit.ly/beekindapp forms of wildlife. It is an absolute mystery
to me why we continue to allow peat to be

2 Go chemical free and ripped from the ground for garden use,
Bee cutout: Stephen Da ton/naturep .com

make peace with ‘pests’ often importing it from Estonia. Once

Pesticides are simply not needed in a
garden, and if you have gone to the trouble
of planting flowers to encourage wildlife,
exposed to the air, it begins to oxidise
and in a few years those sacks of peat will
be CO2 in the atmosphere, and the peat
7 Reduce mowing to
encourage flowers
Most lawns contain a surprising variety of
do you really want to risk poisoning the bogs will be gone. There are excellent, flowers that will bloom if you simply relax
wildlife and yourself? There are organic sustainable alternatives. your mowing regime. Buttercups, daisies,
alternatives, or you could simply leave pests clovers, dandelion, selfheal and bird’s-foot
alone until something else eats them!
5 Create a bee hotel or buy
a ready-made one
This is a fun project that children can
trefoil are among the species likely to make
an appearance. Next time you have the urge
to mow, make yourself a coffee or a gin
get involved in. See page 20 and visit and tonic, put your feet up, and watch the
discoverwildlife.com/bee-hotel to find bees instead! If you have room, you could
out how to get started. even set aside part of your lawn as a wild
meadow area, cutting just once per year,

6 Treat pollinators, and

yourself, to fruit trees
in late summer.

Provide beautiful blossom for bees, fresh

fruit for yourself, and also lock up carbon
as your trees grow! There are heaps of
8 Build a compost heap to
accommodate wildlife
Recycle kitchen scraps and garden waste
varieties of apples, pears, plum, quince, into a beautiful mound of fertile compost.
apricot, mulberry or peach to choose from. At the same time, you’ll be providing a
Many are available in dwarf sizes suitable home for myriad tiny creatures, including
for smaller gardens. worms, centipedes, woodlice, springtails
 Next time you have
the urge to mow, make
yourself a coffee and
watch the bees instead.

and millipedes. My old compost heaps are

used for egg-laying by grass snakes and
often have bumblebee nests in them.

9Grow your own herbs,

vegetables and fruit
Many edible species produce flowers
that are very attractive to pollinators. By
growing your own, you are also reducing Clockwise from
your footprint on the planet, as you’ll need above: Dave
surveys his grand
to buy less from elsewhere, so you are also garden pond but
indirectly benefitting the environment. says even an old
sink will create a

10 Grow food-plants for

butterflies and moths
As well as nectar and pollen, many
suitable aquatic
habitat; bundle
together lengths
of bamboo inside
insects need food for their offspring. an old tin can,
Lady’s smock, bird’s-foot trefoil, ivy, sorrel for an easy DIY
and nettles are all useful foodplants for bee hotel; Dave
builds a compost
butterfly caterpillars. A hedge of mixed, heap to recycle
native, woody shrubs can provide food for garden waste
hundreds of moth species, too. and food scraps.
Save when you subscribe
to the digital edition

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 BBC Wildlife Magazine is full of breathtaking photos
and fascinating features on the most interesting animals
and habitats in the UK and around the world.
With the latest news and conservation issues, practical
expert advice and ideas for really wild days out, you will
understand and enjoy nature more.

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Despite spending many years photographing big
cats, Suzi had always been eluded by leopards.
Then she met an individual known as Camp
Female, at Tubu Tree in Botswana’s Jao Reserve.
“The animals here live in a haven, protected from
poachers, vehicle crowding and harassment,” says
Suzi. “Camp Female grew up around safari vehicles
behaving responsibly and, as a result, is the most
relaxed leopard I have ever known. Without such
trust, these photos would not have been possible.”
Photographer Suzi Eszterhas

A life with
LEOPARDS Leopard mothers with young
cubs are notoriously elusive,
but one female in a quiet
corner of Botswana has
allowed Suzi Eszterhas a
privileged view into family
life. Leopards, it seems,
can change their spots.
PHOTO STORY LEOPARDS

RIGHT Camp Female gave

birth to two female cubs
in March 2018. This was
her third litter, and Suzi
started photographing the
youngsters when they were
just five weeks old. Newborn
cubs have blue eyes, a result
of low levels of melanin at
birth. As more melanin is
deposited in the eyes and
with exposure to UV light, the
colour alters, fading to golden
green by two months.

BELOW Leopard cubs are

aggressive in play, and
these siblings were no
exception. If a skirmish
was particularly intense,
one of the pair would
break off and return to its
mother for a nuzzle before
re-entering the fray. “There
was a lot of snarling and
growling,” says Suzi. “If you
heard the ruckus in the
bushes, you’d be shocked
to know it was coming
from such young cubs.”

30 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 ABOVE Ever-watchful for
predators such as baboons
and lions, Camp Female
scours the landscape
from atop a dead tree.
Leopards are thought of as
nocturnal, but will hunt in
the day if the opportunity
arises. Cubs are stashed
in a den – a hole in a log or
the ground that’s too small
for predators to access –
until they are three or four
months old.

RIGHT For leopard cubs,

play is about practising their
hunting skills and learning to
defend themselves. Though
these youngsters played
excessively together, that did
not mean their mother was
off the hook. “They seemed
obsessed with jumping
on her head, and took any
opportunity they could for
ambush, making it rather
difficult for her to rest,”
says Suzi. “She would
often actively engage in
the antics, rather than
just tolerate them.”

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 31

PHOTO STORY LEOPARDS

BELOW From a young age, leopards are fascinated

by their mother’s tail. Almost always in motion,
flicking from one side to the other and adorned
with a fluffy white tip, tails make ideal playthings.
The youngsters would follow the movement of the
tail, then pounce on it, seizing it in their mouths.
“Mum’s tail is their first ‘kill’,” says Suzi.

LEFT Returning at sunrise

from hunting, Camp Female
is greeted by one of her cubs.
Mothers can leave youngsters
for a day and a half when
searching for prey. During this
time, the cubs are starved of
affection and milk, but this
readies them for the feast-or-
famine feeding style they’ll
endure as adults.

RIGHT Females may summon

cubs from their hiding
place with a faint call, if the
coast is clear. Here, at four
months old, the cubs appear
delighted to see their mother,
greeting her with exuberant
nuzzles. Females will go to
great lengths to protect
their offspring, even leading
predators away from where
the cubs are stashed.

32 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 ABOVE Leopard cub
mortality is high, with
less than 50 per cent
typically surviving to
adulthood. Both of
Camp Female’s cubs
thrived, however,
and by the age of
four months were
noticeably bigger,
stronger and more
mobile. They had now
left the den, but would
still be hidden away
when their mother
was hunting. The
trio rarely stayed in
the same place for
more than a few days
– making Suzi’s job
more challenging.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 33

PHOTO STORY LEOPARDS

RIGHT Even at a year

old, the cubs are still
very attached to the
female. Leopards are
solitary creatures,
but the bond between
mother and young is
strong. Many cubs stay
with their mothers for
12–16 months; some,
as revealed in a recent
study, even stick around
for as long as 35 months.
On average, males are
tolerated for two months
longer than females.

BELOW The cubs are

now well practised
in the art of hunting
but still have much
to learn. Here, Camp
Female has cornered
a kudu calf, but has
intentionally not
suffocated it, in
order for her cubs to
master the skill for
themselves. On this
occasion, they secured
a meal, eventually.

RIGHT Having become

proficient climbers, the young
leopards doze away the midday
SUZI ESZTERHAS is a photographer hours in the cool and safety of
known for documenting newborn animals. the trees. In a few months, the
She worked with tracker guide Kambango siblings will be on the cusp of
Sinimbo, at Tubu Tree Camp, to capture independence. With luck, they'll
these images. suzieszterhas.com go on to rear cubs of their own.

34 BBC Wildlife
Of all big cats, leopards are the
most adept at climbing, with males
famously able to drag carcasses
three times their own weight up
into the branches. These skills
are learned through play, first
scrambling around in small bushes,
before graduating into big trees.
Here, one of Camp Female’s cubs
chases her up a steep, sheer trunk.

BBC Wildlife 35
Talking
point

SCHOOL
STRIKE!
What makes a student walk out of class to
protest against climate change, and what
do their parents think about it?
Illustration Quinton Winter

MATILDA WARWICK climate seriously. I am sick that they talk

16-YEAR-OLD STUDENT about Brexit as if it’s the most important
STRIKER AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE thing but don’t talk about the environment.
Whichever side wins Brexit, we will
What are the school strikes? basically be okay – but there will be no
They were started by Greta Thunberg in winners in the climate breakdown. So, we
August 2018 when she walked out of school strike to try and make politicians talk about
and sat outside the Swedish Parliament. important stuff. And we strike because they
She had a sign that said: ‘Skolstrejk for will be dead while we are living in the chaos
klimatet’, which means ‘School strike they left behind.
for the climate’. Her message is simple: I want these strikes to make politicians
we know there is a problem, so why is look at their children and grandchildren
nothing being done? If the grown-ups
don’t learn their lessons, why should
and think about what their failure will do
to them and their future.
“I want politicians
we bother going to ours? to look at their
Small people with small voices are What happened on your first strike?
often ignored but Greta has really made The crowds on the street in Oxford were children and
a difference. On my first strike day in incredible and the weather was lovely, too.
February, there were around 1.5 million In the news, they said about a thousand grandchildren
children all over the world joining in – students attended. It was so big that they
after just six months, she has reached so had to move the meeting point.
and think about
many people. How else can we be heard?
We can’t vote, so we must strike.
I held a banner at my first strike that
said ‘Why should I tidy my room when
what their failure
What do you hope to achieve?
the world is in such a mess?’, which sums
it all up for me. There were some speeches
will do to them
I want all the people who are supposed to from students and adults, talking about and their future.”
be running our country to start treating the the problems and the solutions. And then

36 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 Were there any key turning points?
What made you want to join in?
I have a photograph of me as a baby on
a demonstration against the war in Iraq
in 2003. I was only a few weeks old. My
parents both campaign about things
and I have joined them on marches in
London. But this was my protest. My
dad came along but he was only there
to support the strike.
We have been taught about climate
change in school. And I have heard my
parents talking about it. But it was really
hearing about Greta that got me thinking
that maybe I could make a difference.
When the news mentions climate change
there are experts who say that it is really
important and I just don’t understand
why – if they say it is so urgent – we are
still doing nothing about it.

What about people who say: ‘these are

just kids! What do they know?’
We know that carbon dioxide from burning
we marched through the fossil fuels is causing the world to warm up
city chanting. There was no and we know that this is causing damage
way people could miss the fact to the environment. We know that we can
that something was happening. make this less bad if we stop burning fossil
It was very exciting. fuels. We also know that people are wanting
I borrowed my dad’s camera and to build new runways for more airplanes
took photographs for my school and and people are trying to get more fossil fuel
wrote an article for the school magazine, out of the ground with things like fracking.
too. I was interviewed and had to act So, it is clear that there is a problem and
for [documentary film director] Franny that there is a solution and that the people
Armstrong. She was making a trailer called in charge aren’t doing enough about it.
What If, to tell people that her amazing I think Greta speaks very clearly about
film The Age of Stupid was being re-released this issue and we share something – I am
after 10 years. It was set in a different world autistic, too – and if something is wrong, I
where climate change was solved and we say it is wrong. And often I get into trouble
had to stop doing school strikes. I had to with my parents because I say things that
say “Oh no, I guess we have to go back they think are rude. But, if they’re true,
to school now” – it was great fun. I don’t see why I shouldn’t say them.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 37

Talking
point

How about the argument that you are HUGH WARWICK

simply playing truant? SUPPORTIVE PARENT
I feel that the adults are the ones who are ECOLOGIST AND WRITER

playing truant. They’re running away

and hiding from doing what they know As a parent, did you encourage Matilda
needs to be done, and us children to take part or try to dissuade her?
are the ones who are starting to Mati is in her GCSE year, so I am not blasé
clear up their mess. about her education. This is an important
The headmistress at my school time for her and she needs to concentrate
made us each write a letter to her, on school work. But it is also important
explaining why we were going on the school that she is able to express genuinely held
strike and what we had already learnt views about the state of the world. So, I
about climate change. I think that encouraged her – and lent her one of my
was a good idea. There are some good cameras to record the event for her
schools that are threatening school magazine. When I was her age,
to put students in detention I began to get involved – a group of us
for going on the strike, and took a trip from Marlborough College to
I think that is really mean. Greenham Common to join the protest
Again, it was Greta who against nuclear weapons. Maybe this sort
pointed out that it is silly for us to of thing runs in the blood!
concentrate on education when those
that are educated are ignoring the most How did you feel when she walked
important thing. In an article I read, she out of school?
said, ‘Why should I be studying for a future It was with a feeling of deep pride and great
that soon may be no more, when no one is excitement that I met Mati at the school
doing anything to save that future? And gate for her first strike – a stream of her
what is the point of learning facts when friends were also coming out with witty
the most important facts clearly mean (and sometimes rather rude!) homemade
nothing to our society?’ banners and placards. Most children made
I also heard her on the news, she their own way in but Mati wanted to be
said something that I thought was early to get good photographs, so I met her
very important – she was talking to on our tandem and we raced off. I spoke to
world leaders and said: “You say you many of the parents whose children were
love your children above all else, involved, and the consistent reaction was
and yet you are stealing their future pride. Certainly, in Oxford, it felt like the
in front of their very eyes.” She beginning of something special.
has done amazing things starting
the school strike. I hope I can Have she and her fellow strikers
be more like her. I hope actually achieved anything?
we all can be more We are writing this now – and that would
like her. not have happened had the strikers not

“I feel that the adults are

the ones playing truant.
They’re running away
from what they know
needs to be done.”

July 2019
taken a stand. We would not be having has been exhausted, direct
such an animated discussion about climate action is not just reasonable – it is
change if the small snowball of a girl, absolutely necessary. I have sat in front
Greta Thunberg, had not started rolling. of bulldozers at Twyford Down, trying to
She has energised the debate through her stop the extension of the M3 – and also
clarity and honesty. She has spoken ‘truth during the Newbury bypass protest – both
to power’ as Mahatma Gandhi described in the 1990s. I completely support non-
it. A new generation of activists is being violent direct action as a tool to create
born in the wake of the school strikes – and political change. In fact, I have made a
with a very positive message. In the short film for the Quakers with Zoe, called
term, it has the impact of creating a broader Nonviolence for a Change.
conversation. In the medium to long term,
it is a cohort of adults who are deeply aware Are the politicians listening?
of the need to create a better world. The sensible ones are! The ones that can
see beyond their own short career in
What about the XR movement – would Parliament are – and a move towards a
you consider taking part yourself? declaration of a climate emergency is
I think it is important that XR (Extinction happening. Around the world, you will
Rebellion) and the school strike are see that there are people of power and
separate things. One is organised by adults, influence who are, metaphorically,
the other by students. But I am sure that bending the knee to Greta Thunberg.
many school strikers will end up joining Wise politicians, of whom we have
the rebellion! I have photographed XR too few, will also see that the school
protests in Oxford and took part in a strike is a brilliant way to get a more
magical evening led by folk singer Sam systematic change to occur. The money
Lee, as he brought thousands of activists that drives politics springs from self-
together in Berkeley Square in the heart interest. At the moment that self-interest
of Mayfair. We were there to celebrate the sees short-term financial reward as the
music of the nightingale, and mourn for measure of success. But if there is an
the loss of so much life. entire generation moving through the
My wife, the filmmaker Zoe Broughton, consumerist system with very different
has been very active covering the protests ideals, then money will move.
in London. And we are prepared should she
end up getting arrested. The inconvenience WANT TO COMMENT?
of the disruption caused by the protest – Should children and
or the inconvenience of arrest – are really teenagers skip school
trivial in comparison to the ‘inconvenience’ to try to make their
of a degraded planet. voices heard?
Email us at
Why is direct action necessary, wildlifeletters@
in your view? immediate.
There has been a long history of direct co.uk
action creating change. Women would
have not got a vote if they had stayed at
home and asked politely. Workers would
not have holidays if they had meekly asked
the bosses for a break. Do you think same-
sex marriage would have been allowed had
people not taken action? Though, asking
politely is important, too – but just don’t
stop when turned down. Ask again, more
forcefully. And when every legal avenue

July 201
The semiaquatic platypus
has webbed feet and a duck-
like bill. When the first dried
specimens were brought to
Europe, scientists believed
they were a hoax.
Stranger
fiction Am
veno
al that lays eggs and secretes
e peculiar platypus has been
fas ting scientists since the 19th
cent but faces an uncertain future.

furry animal with a body movements of its prey – mainly insect larvae,

A
the size of a hot-water aquatic insects, and sometimes freshwater
bottle is cavorting through crayfish and shrimp.
the waters of a clear, blue It is relatively easy to spot a platypus in
stream emerging from the limpid stream and Blue Lake at Jenolan,
Jenolan caves, three hours but normally they are far harder to detect.
west of Sydney. There is a Their waterproof brown coats offer good
splash as it dives down, paddling vigorously camouflage against the earthy banks of the
with its webbed front feet. When it reaches permanent rivers, creeks, lakes and wetlands
the bottom, the animal begins sweeping they inhabit in eastern Australia.
its flat, duck-like bill back and forth above They’re also largely nocturnal, and usually
the silt. The platypus is using thousands spend the day sleeping in their burrows,
of minute receptors in its bill to detect which may be up to 30m long, in the river
the electrical fields made by the muscle banks. They emerge at dusk to hunt for their

By Linda Vergnani
Photographs Doug Gimesy
PLATYPUS

aquatic prey and retreat at dawn. Females

weigh 600–1,750g, while males are a
heftier 800–3,000g (platypuses in north
Queensland are about half the weight of
those in Tasmania).
This curious creature is a monotreme:
a form of egg-laying mammal that suckles
its young. It has a single orifice – the
cloaca – used for urination, defecation and
reproduction. The only other monotremes
are four species of echidna, but these are
very different looking, spiny land dwellers.
Tom Grant, author of the natural
history guide Platypus, spent over 40 years
researching platypuses on a 5km stretch of
the Shoalhaven River in New South Wales.
He microchipped 812 individuals and found
the oldest female platypus in his study was
still breeding after 21 years.

Would you believe it?

When dried specimens of this species were
first sent to Europe at the end of the 19th
century, some naturalists thought the animal The females are thought to incubate the eggs It is hard to get quantitative data on the
was a fake, assembled by a wily taxidermist. by curling their bodies around them. platypus. At the turn of the 19th century, “tens
Not only did it have a duck-form bill and a When the young hatch after about 10 of thousands of these creatures were killed for
beaver tail, but the animal laid eggs like days, the mother feeds them from two milk their fur,” says Richard, and the species never
a snake or bird. patches (areolae) on her chest. The nestlings really recovered. It wasn’t until 1912 that the
Tom says the bill is actually nothing like lick the milk off their mother’s fur, as the species was officially protected in all states.
a duck’s bill. “It feels like kid leather and is platypus has no teats. Richard led a national risk assessment
very soft, pliable.” Up close, the thousands Tom says though the platypus is an study into platypuses, which showed a
of electro and touch receptors that give the iconic animal, scientists still don’t know “worrying” 30 per cent decline in platypus
animal a ‘sixth sense’, look like tiny pores much about its ecology. Professor Richard numbers – from an estimated 300,000
covering the surface of the bill. Kingsford, Director of the Centre for when European settlers colonised Australia
In his book, Tom describes how, after Ecosystem Science at the University of 200 years ago to 200,000 or fewer now. The
mating, the female platypus lays up to three New South Wales, says, “They’re very researchers based the projections on historic
eggs in a nest of wet vegetation that she difficult to work on because they keep reports of platypuses as well as current
makes in a chamber in one of her burrows. ungodly hours and they’re very cryptic.” research across 300km of river in four states.
Richard says, “We have great concerns about
the future survival of this unique species”.
The platypus is listed as Near Threatened on
the IUCN Red List.
Clockwise from
Researchers cannot top left: a platypus The study is part of the Platypus
Conservation Initiative (PCI), which aims
research project in
attach radio collars to the Snowy River;
measurements are
to reduce the risk of the species becoming
extinct, and better conserve the wild
platypuses, for fear the taken to compare
populations; fyke
populations. It includes researchers from
three universities and Sydney’s Taronga
animals might drown. nets are checked
every four hours. Zoo as well as a private consultancy Cesar.

42 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 Once highly sought after
by the fur trade, the thick,
waterproof fur of the
platypus helps to insulate
this species in the water.

Aquatic courtship rituals The animals are difficult to track in the

wild. Researchers cannot attach radio collars
Female platypuses are in charge of female on the tail and she bites him on to platypuses for fear they might strangle or
breeding encounters, according to the tail”, says Jessica. The couple then drown as they forage between submerged
Dr Jessica Thomas, senior keeper began an elaborate courtship dance, roots and branches, according to Richard.
at Healesville Sanctuary. Observing doing barrel rolls, twists and turns. For the past three years, his team has fitted
captive platypuses courting and They continued courtship for much some platypuses with acoustic tags and
mating as part of her doctoral of the day for up to two weeks. After tracked their movements with listening
research, Jessica said the female took a brief mating, over one or two nights, stations along certain riverbanks.
evasive action to avoid the male until the pair went their separate ways. The
she was ready to breed. “The males female dug her own nesting burrow in Handle with care
have got very high testosterone levels which she laid her eggs. Scientists capturing platypuses in the wild
during the breeding season, which also Jessica used an infra-red camera take great care to avoid the venom spurs on
makes them very aggressive.” In the to observe the nestlings’ behaviour the hind ankles of the males. Used in fights
wild, they sometimes try to dig their and development in the burrow. The against rivals, the complex venom injected
venomous spurs into rival males. mother fed the babies for about 128 through the spurs causes agony in humans.
As the female came into days, Jessica reveals. Her Gilad Bino, research fellow at the Centre
season, she began research will now be for Ecosystem Science, remembers the
playing around in used to improve adrenaline rush when he and a veterinarian
the same pond as knowledge of from Taronga Zoo untangled their first
the male. “Then how to breed wild platypus. It was caught in a fyke net
the next stage and manage (an unweighted mesh net, which allows the
is the male platypuses platypus to surface) they had set up on the
bites the in captivity. Severn River. The scientist was researching
the impact of dams and river regulation on
the health of platypuses for the PCI.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 43

PLATYPUS
Platypus anatomy

VENOM SPUR
Males have a spur
connected to a
venom-secreting
gland on each hind
ankle. They use
these against rival
males to secure
their territories.

FRONT LEG
Webbed front
feet are used for
swimming. The
He explains: “You don’t know, when further degrade waterways. The platypus webbing is folded
you catch it, if it’s a male or female and, is totally dependent on water bodies and under the toes
obviously, if it’s a male and you get spurred, will disappear from areas where these when the platypus
the rumours are that the pain is excruciating permanently dry up. walks or burrows
and lasts up to six months. The only way to on land.
handle a platypus is if you grab the tip of Caught in a trap
the tail and keep it away from you.” They At his farm along the banks of the Wyong
dropped the animal into a pillow case and River, north of Sydney, farmer Steve Woodley
sedated it with gas before examining and tells me he never realised there were CHEEK POUCHES
microchipping it. As they suspected from platypuses on the river that loops through Platypuses store
its larger size, it was a male. his land, until he was in his 20s. Growing larvae, snails,
“The platypus is obviously a cute and up on his parents’ farm on the opposite shrimps and other
furry iconic species and has a right on its bank, he had not seen a single platypus. prey in cheek
own to be preserved and conserved. But as However, on New Year’s Eve 2000, Steve pouches while
a top predator in the food web of Australia’s dropped an enclosed opera house trap – swimming, and
eastern rivers, it also serves as a flagship a funnel-style trap constructed of netting devour them on
species for the health of the freshwater – in the river to catch yabbies (freshwater the surface.
systems,” Gilad says. His research has crayfish). “On New Year’s Day, I pulled
shown that dams and river regulation have up the trap and thought it was a bit heavy.
a “massive impact” on the species, with There were five dead platypuses in it. I was
far fewer platypuses found downstream horrified,” Steve says.
of dams. Other threats include urban Steve immediately called the New South More recently, enclosed yabby traps were
and agricultural development, especially Wales National Parks Department to report banned in Tasmania, and restricted for
destruction of riparian vegetation and what had happened. Once inside the trap, use in public water in two other states. In
clearing of entire catchments. The animals the platypuses drowned, unable to reach Victoria, after an intensive public campaign,
are also affected by pollution of water with the surface to breathe. “I thought somebody the state government announced it would
pesticides, metal and plastics. should know about these traps, so they could ban use of opera house nets from July 2019
They have been found entangled in prevent it happening again,” Steve explains. and offered to swap existing nets for safer
everything from fishing line to hair bands. He began a public campaign to have the ones. Campaigners persuaded retailers in
When crossing land, platypuses are often lethal traps banned in the state, enlisting Victoria to stop stocking these ‘deathtraps’.
killed by introduced foxes, dogs and other help from Tom Grant and community Steve now sees platypuses in the river “all
predators. But Gilad and other scientists groups. By 2003, the campaign largely the time.” He used a local government grant
are especially worried about the impact of succeeded, when the state government to fence off the river, so his cattle no longer
climate change on platypuses. It will make banned the use of opera house traps in the erode the banks. He also removed weeds
droughts and floods more severe, which will eastern third of New South Wales, where and shot foxes to protect the platypuses.
dry up some rivers and pools completely and platypuses are found.
Waiting patiently
The farmer takes me into the deep shade of
a eucalypt forest along the Wyong River and
points out a massive, partly submerged log.
Above: you may
“The only way to handle spot a platypus “I was standing there fishing when I saw
my first live platypus.” He says among the
swimming at the
a platypus is if you grab surface, but it's
worth keeping an
best way to spot one is to look for concentric
ripples radiating out after the platypus dives.
the tip of the tail and eye out for the
concentric ripples
A lacing of blue gum and other tree
trunks is reflected on the dark water. Steve
keep it away from you.” that indicate one
has just dived. points out the entrances to several platypus

44 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 TAIL
During courtship,
the male grips on
to the female’s tail
with his bill. She
may do the same to
him, before the pair
swim in circles or
near each other.

EYES
Folds of skin cover
the eyes (and the
ear slits next to
them) when the
platypus dives
underwater – the
nostrils are closed
tight, too.

BILL
The soft, rubbery,
duck-like bill is
covered with
thousands of
electro and touch
receptors that can
detect prey along
the riverbed.

burrows, hidden under grass clumps on the shown platypuses disappear from some
HOW TO SEE far bank. He leaves me there to wait and parts completely, along with a “five-fold
watch, mosquitoes buzzing around my ears. decline” in others.
Platypuses I hear splashes and see concentric ripples, In partnership with Melbourne Water and
in the wild but do not spot any platypuses. As the sun
sets, the forest is enveloped in gloom, just
Cesar, Josh founded PlatypusSPOT, a website
and mobile app where citizen scientists can
right for platypuses on the hunt. I return a report platypus sightings and download
Dawn or dusk are the best times to few days later, but still the animals elude me. pictures. “This was to try to enable us to
look for platypuses – here are just Because the species is so hard to detect, gather data over a broad scale,” he explains.
three locations where you may be scientists are now measuring environmental “We’re just about to hit 1,000 sightings.” An
lucky enough to spot one. DNA (eDNA) shed by platypuses in the important aspect is educating people about
water. It is easier and quicker than live what they can do to help the species survive.
O BYRON BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES trapping. Josh Griffiths, senior wildlife Josh revels in platypus research. “I still get
Join an environmental scientist on ecologist at the consultancy Cesar and that thrill when I pull them out of a net,
a Vision Walks excursion to spot EnviroDNA, is assisting researchers from because you just look at it and go: ‘You are
platypuses. bit.ly/platypuswalk the University of Melbourne and San Diego just strange. You are a bizarre creature!’”
Zoo Global on the largest ever platypus
O MACKAY, QUEENSLAND distribution survey. They will test thousands LINDA VERGNANI is a natural
Broken River in Eungella National of samples of water for platypus eDNA and history and environment journalist
Park is one of the best places to map where the animals live. based in Australia.
see platypus. bit.ly/eungellanp Josh has personally caught, weighed and DOUG GIMESY is a conservation
microchipped more than 1,000 platypuses. and wildlife photographer. See more
O BURNIE, TASMANIA “They are the most unusual creatures on of his work at gimesy.com
Enjoy the opportunity to take the planet. There’s so much we just don’t
photographs on the Fernglade know about them,” he says. The long-term FIND OUT MORE Platypus Conservation
platypus trail. bit.ly/fernglade research he has been doing in Victoria has Initiative ecosystem.unsw.edu.au

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 45

In
focus

Eyes on storks
It’s fitting that white storks are symbols
of rebirth and renewal, as the species –
which hasn’t bred successfully in Britain
for hundreds of years – is on the cusp of
a comeback thanks to the Sussex-based
White Stork Project. Reintroduction
work began in with a colony
of rehabilitated wild individuals from
France and Poland This summer has
been the first that the birds now
sexually mature and free-flying after
two years in an enclosure could have
bred in the wild
One pair nearly managed it
bypassing the wooden nesting
platforms provided to create a typically
large shaggy home atop an oak tree
in which the female began brooding
three eggs But the immaturity of the
pair meant the flitter-flutter of tiny
wings wasn’t to be as both partners
repeatedly left the nest However
the project team is hopeful that the
storks will try again next year
whitestorkproject org
Photo: Nick Upton
SEE THE PROJECT
IN ACTION ON

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 WILDNEWS
K E E P I N G YO U U P TO DAT E W I T H T H E B I G N AT U R E STO R I E S
By
J A M E S FA I R , ST UA RT
B L AC K M A N , L E W I S
W H I T E , N I K I RU ST
AND JO PRICE

In Scotland, licences
to fell woodland can be
refused, to protect forest
wildlife such as the red
squirrel, but what about
the rest of the UK?

CONSERVATION

Calls for forestry law to better protect wildlife

Conservationists argue current legislation puts red squirrels and other species at risk.
orestry laws in England and Wales being in nests and getting destroyed by In England, the Department for
F should be amended to protect some
of the UK’s rarest species, such as
harvesting machines was very high,”
Shuttleworth says.
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
(Defra) has responded to a petition by
red squirrels and bats, according to a But Natural Resources Wales (NRW) stating that there are already sufficient
prominent conservationist. told him forestry legislation did not allow safeguards. “Applicants for a felling
Craig Shuttleworth, of the Red it to attach any conditions to the felling licence are required to evidence how
Squirrels Trust Wales, says that forestry licence in order to protect the squirrels. they propose to manage the impact
Squirrel: Scotland:The Big Picture/NPL; felling: Jim Clark/LGPL/Alamy

legislation does not allow felling licences In the event, the contractor did not of felling on wildlife,” it says.
in England and Wales to take account proceed, but Shuttleworth realised he’d But Shuttleworth insists this is not
of the impact on wildlife. It means stumbled across a major flaw in the way sufficient. “Guidance is not the same as a
that trees can be taken out during the wildlife is protected. condition,” he says. In Scotland, the law
breeding season, when many animals NRW says the Forestry Act only allows was changed so that felling licences can
are at their most vulnerable. it to attach conditions to felling licences be refused, or granted with conditions, in
Shuttleworth became aware of the relating to the restocking of trees. “We order to conserve wildlife, and the same
issue last year when tree felling was believe it would allow us to better protect amendments are now needed in England
given the go-ahead in an area of Wales’ woodlands and biodiversity if and Wales, he believes. James Fair
Anglesey that is home to a high we could extend these conditions, and
number of breeding red squirrels. we’re looking into a number of options FIND OUT MORE Read the petition
“The density of squirrels was so high to do this,” says head of natural resource (now closed) and Defra’s response at
that the probability of young animals management policy Ruth Jenkins. bit.ly/forestryact

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 49

WILD NEWS

INSECTS
Bumblebees, such as the
buff-tailed, rely on early-
Farmland and late-flowering plants,
including clover.

bees face
seasonal
nectar
famines
Early spring and late
summer are lean times
for the pollinators, finds
new research.

ritain’s pollinators are under well-

B publicised pressure from pesticides
and parasites. But, according to new
research, they are facing an additional
problem – they are going hungry during
certain months of the year.
“There aren’t as many flowers in
the countryside as there used to be,”
says Jane
Memmott of
the University DID YOU
of Bristol. KN OW ?
“About a third of Unlike honeybees,
nectar in rural bumblebees don’t have
areas has been a‘waggle dance’to point
lost since the others towards nectar.
intensification Their small colony sizes
of agriculture in mean they rarely meet
the 1950s.” But, each other in the nest.
she says, it’s not
just the amount
of nectar that matters, but what time
of year it’s available.
Working in south-west England and
focusing on bumblebees, Memmott’s
team found two peaks in nectar
production – in May much nectar there is in flowering times of farmland flora.
and July. In March, summer, because she “Early-flowering plants [such as] willows
June and much won’t be alive.” and dandelions (left), or late-flowering
of August and The team found red clover and ivy could all help to fill
Bee: Phil Savoie/naturepl.com; dandelion: Elles Rijsdijk/EyeEm/Getty

September, that just three species the hungry gaps” says Memmott’s
though, nectar of wildflower – ramson, colleague, Tom Timberlake.
availability creeping thistle and white Memmott is particularly enthusiastic
falls short of their clover – provided 50 per about willows, which produce large
requirements. cent of all nectar. Wildflower volumes of nectar and pollen and have
“You can end up with a feast and strips at the edge of fields help to varied flowering times. And, being
famine situation, and the vast majority provide floral diversity on agricultural trees, they also require little attention
of pollinators do not have food reserves, land. But, even then, they tend to and have a long lifespan.
so they are not very good at coping flower in late spring and early Stuart Blackman
with famines,” says Memmott. “If summer when nectar and pollen
a bumblebee queen comes out are already found in abundance. FIND OUT MORE
of hibernation in March and finds The biologists recommend that Journal of Applied Ecology:
nothing to eat, it doesn’t matter how more attention be paid to the bit.ly/nectargaps

50 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD NEWS

CONSERVATION REPORT RED LIST

STATUS:
ENDANGERED
Baird’s tapir
Eduardo Naranjo shines a spotlight on Central
America’s largest land mammal.

Why study this species? they need to inhabit a very large area to
Baird’s tapirs were barely known or ensure their populations are big enough
researched 30 years ago, and they still for genetic viability. Selous lion
receive little attention from ecologists densities are
highest in the
and the general public, compared to What did your research reveal?
riverine areas.
felines, monkeys and raptors, which are Our study has shown that many
considered more charismatic. However, tapir populations are suffering
we now know that Baird’s tapirs are an from increasing isolation, conflict HABITAT
ideal focal species to assess the impacts with farmers, and road collisions in
of forest fragmentation. unprotected forest fragments across African reserve
south-eastern Mexico. However, there
Where do they live? is local recovery in large protected areas threatened by dam
These herbivores inhabit lowland and in some places where people live.
tropical forests, palm swamps and cloud
forests, which provide food, cover and
water sources, where they can escape
What protection does the species
now require?
G lobal wildlife experts have released
a highly critical report on the
Tanzanian government’s plan to flood
predators, seek relief from the heat Effective management and safeguarding nearly 1,000km of one of Africa’s most
and try to get rid of irritating parasites. of habitat are necessary to conserve the important nature reserves.
Historically, Baird’s tapirs were found Baird’s tapir and encourage connectivity Construction of a dam in Stiegler’s
throughout southern Mexico, Central between isolated populations. I’d also Gorge for a 2,100MW hydropower
America and north-western South like to see an increase in community- project, in the north of the 50,000km
America, but they have now disappeared based awareness to get people to Selous Game Reserve, has already
from most of their original range. look after the species and its habitat; begun, but the IUCN says that the
Currently, they reside in fragmented implementation of environmentally government has failed to properly
forests in parts of Central America and friendly land-use practices; and consider the impact it will have on
north-western Colombia. stronger enforcement of laws to combat both biodiversity and people.
deforestation and poaching. LW The Selous is a World Heritage Site,
What are their biggest threats? but the IUCN has been scrutinising
Tropical forest loss, due to farming and EDUARDO NARANJO is a population management since 2014 because of
logging, is putting Baird’s tapirs at risk. ecologist working in Mexico. high levels of wildlife poaching.
These mammals move over extensive The dam on the Rufiji River, it says,
forested tracts and live at low densities, FIND OUT MORE Tropical Conservation will severely affect “the undisturbed
even in optimal habitat. Therefore, Science: bit.ly/bairdstapir and wild character of the area” while
negatively impacting “thousands or
Baird’s tapirs use
tens of thousands of people dependent
their short ‘trunk’ on the river for agriculture or fishing.”
to strip leaves Clearing of a woodland area the size of
or pluck fruit Surrey has already begun. The report
Tapir: Visuals Unlimited/naturepl.com; lion: The Africa Image Library/Alamy

from branches.
also raises concerns about the reserve’s
lions, because they are not listed as
one of the key species in the project’s
Environmental Impact Assessment.
The Tanzanian government says the
estimated $3-6bn project will double
the country’s electricity power supply.
Environment minister Kangi Lugola
told the Tanzanian parliament last year
that people who oppose the construction
project risk being jailed. James Fair

FIND OUT MORE IUCN assessment:

bit.ly/selousdam

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 51

WILD NEWS

AMPHIBIANS

Climate chan e exacerbates frog disease

A mphibians around the
world seem to have been
contending with more than
disease,” says Stephen
Price, lead author from the
Zoological Society of London’s
their fair share of infectious Institute of Zoology.
diseases – fungal, bacterial Price’s colleague Trenton
and viral – in recent decades. Garner says, “If we don’t
New research bolsters the eventually slow and reverse
idea that climate change is human-driven climate change,
part of the problem. we unfortunately can only
Tropical amphibians have expect things to get worse
been hardest hit by infections, for our amphibians.”
but lethal epidemics of In the meantime, the
Ranavirus have been biologists suggest that
spreading across England and providing shade and shelter
Wales since the 1980s. around ponds, and creating
An analysis of historical larger ponds, which are less
Ranavirus outbreaks among prone to overheating, might
wild frog populations has el . t rt l ckman
found that epidemics are
both more frequent and more FIND OUT MORE
severe when temperatures are Global Change Biology:
higher. This was supported bit.ly/climatedisease
by laboratory experiments
showing that frogs can better
withstand infections when in
cooler conditions.
“This is one of the first
studies that provides strong
Ranavirus epidemics
evidence of the impact of pose a serious threat
climate change on wildlife to the UK’s common
frog population.

NEW SPECIES DISCOVERY IN NUM BERS

Wangi-wangi 1,200
white-eye breeding pairs of curlew are left
in the UK – the British Trust for
WHAT IS IT? White-eyes are Ornithology estimates that they
a family of tropical and sub- could be extinct within a century.
tropical birds closely related to
warblers and, more surprisingly
perhaps, swallows and martins. 600
plant species have been lost,
They are an adaptable group and
Wangi-wangi globally, in the past 250 years.
are particularly adept at colonising
Frog: Ross Hoddinott/2020VISION/NPL; bird: James Eaton

white-eyes are Scientists say plant extinction is

remote oceanic islands, many of one of two new
which have their own endemic species of the
occurring up to 500 times faster
white-eye species. genus identified. than would be expected naturally.
WHERE IS IT? The Wangi-wangi white-
eye is endemic to a tiny island of the
same name in Indonesia’s Wakatobi 136,000
years ago, the white-throated rail
archipelago near Sulawesi. Though
other white-eye species occur in the FIND OUT MORE went extinct. It has now come
region, the closest relative of the Zoological Journal of ‘back from the dead’ by a process
Wangi-wangi lives more than 3,000km the Linnean Society: called iterative evolution.
away in the Solomon Islands. SB bit.ly/wangiwangi

52 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD NEWS

MEET THE SCIENTIST

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren
Mongolia programme director, Snow Leopard Trust

Conservationist Bayarjargal
Agvaantseren has won a
grassroots environmental
award – the Goldman Prize
for Asia – for conserving the
Vulnerable snow leopard
and protecting its habitat
from mining in Mongolia.

he 7,284km2 Tost

T
Tosonbumba Nature
Reserve in the
South Gobi Desert
is the first protected Agvaantseren (left)
area dedicated to tracks snow leopards
conserving snow leopards in (below) in Tost
Tosonbumba Nature
Mongolia. Bayarjargal Agvaantseren
Reserve, Mongolia.
recognised the need to protect this
big cat and its habitat from the
mining industry and persuaded
the government to take action. S One morning, a study In 2010, Tost Tosonbumba was
The activist became interested in established as a local protected area
snow leopards while working as a
snow leopard was killed but still had 37 mining licences.
translator for wild cat conservation by herders. It felt like the “Under local protection, we were
organisation Panthera. By learning
about the species, she was inspired
cat was my friend. T able to revoke some licences and
prevent more from being issued in
to create Snow Leopard Enterprises, the area,” says Agvaantseren. “We
an economic programme for herders then campaigned for a higher level
that share snow leopard habitat, with herder communities and gaining of protection.”
the aim of reducing the motivation their trust, she was later able to lead It was declared a nature reserve in
behind poaching. them in their campaign to persuade April 2016, with an order to revoke
“Participating communities the Mongolian government to all existing mining licences. “We
pledge to keep the big cats in their establish a new snow leopard nature kept the pressure on the government
area safe from harm, in exchange reserve in a major mining hub. to ensure the process was complete
for a bonus, and make handicrafts “Retaliatory killing is a problem and, by June 2018, the remaining 17
from the wool of their livestock, for this Vulnerable species but licences in the area were revoked.”
Agvaantseren: Goldman Environmental Prize; snow leopard: Snow Leopard Trust

which are then sold internationally mining is the worst threat,” she Nature reserves in Mongolia are
to boost their income,” she explains. says. Mining operations fragment not funded by the state. Therefore,
In 2009, the conservationist and destroy snow leopard gvaantseren is now working to
started the first long-term ecological habitat and drive nomadic establish a plan to enforce its
study in the South Gobi Desert. communities into big protection. She says, “It has
“One December morning, a study cat territory, resulting been a long process for all
snow leopard was killed by herders in conflict. involved to get to where
defending their livestock,” she says. “It was a real we are today but it
“It felt like the cat was my friend.” challenge for us to shows what people
Following discussions with local create the reserve, can achieve.” Jo Price
people about what had happened as there is very
and how they could prevent it from little awareness of FIND OUT MORE
occurring again, Agvaantseren the snow leopard The Goldman
established a livestock insurance amongst decision- Environmental Prize:
programme. By working closely with makers,” she says. goldmanprize.org

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 53

WILD NEWS

Jackal: Mary Ann McDonald/Getty; bedbug: Ingo Arndt/naturepl.com; hare: Roger Tidman/Getty; penguins: Ingo Arndt/Minden/FLPA; whale: Justin Sullivan/Getty
CANIDS

Golden jackals in India poached

for their mythical ‘horns’
A ccording to a report by
the Wild Canids India
Project, golden jackals are
online retailers in the UK, US
and Germany were listing jackal
horn for sale.
being poached in order for However, these online
their ‘horns’ to then be traded. products were likely fake,
Jackals do not have horns, but according to researcher Arjun
locals believe that a deformity Srivathsa: “The online trade
in the canid’s skull, thought to market for jackal horn also
be present in one in a thousand consists of fake horns, made of
jackals, creates this horn. dog or goat hair glued together
The use of jackal horn, known into a ball,” he explains.
locally as siyar singhi, has been “Our findings suggest that the
promoted by black magic internet-mediated trade crosses
practitioners and some South international boundaries and
Asian astrologers. Consumers may involve a larger network of
of jackal horn believe it is a local, regional and international
living entity, even after extracted participants,” adds lead author
from the dead animal. Malaika Mathew Chawla.
Between 2013 and 2019, Niki Rust
Indian officials seized over 400
of these horns, despite golden FIND OUT MORE Wild Canids
jackals being a protected species India Project: bit.ly/jackalhorn
in India. While demand for this
product mostly comes from
Asia, the researchers found that

As well as their
so-called horns,
golden jackals are
also poached for
their meat and
other body parts.

Nature in brief
Who let the bedbugs Penguin meltdown
bite first? Emperor penguins have
Bedbugs date back to the age produced virtually no chicks for
of dinosaurs, 50 million years the last three years at what was
before the appearance of bats, their second biggest breeding
which were thought to be their colony, at Halley Bay in the
original hosts, reports Current Weddell Sea. Antarctic Science
Biology. It’s not yet known whose reports that the early break-up
blood the first bedbugs sucked. of sea-ice is to blame.

Move to protect hares Spike in deaths

A private member’s bill making More than 30 grey whales have
it illegal to shoot brown been found dead off the west
hares between February and coast of the USA this year,
September is to be brought with others showing signs of
before Parliament this year. Born malnutrition. Scientists say they
Free says there are no more than may not be finding enough to eat
800,000 across the country. in their polar feeding grounds.

54 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD NEWS

GREAT APES TRUTH OR FICTION?

Chimpanzees dig
for hidden treasure
N ew research has revealed that
chimpanzees are able to use tools
to dig for food, even if they’ve never
been taught to dig and have never
experienced buried food.
Wild chimps living in the savannah in
Senegal and Tanzania are known to dig
for food with sticks but it’s not known
whether they learn the behaviour from
others or work it out for themselves.
To find out, biologists turned to A beluga with a
a population of 10 captive chimps Russian harness
was found off
living on a forested island enclosure the Norwegian
in Kristiansand Zoo, Norway, none of coast in April.
which had digging experience.
Once the chimps had become used
to taking fruit from the bottom of open
holes, the biologists started filling
them up with soil. Nine of the chimps
Beluga whale was trained to spy
managed to retrieve the fruit and seven Was the cetacean encountered off an Arctic island
of them used sticks to variously probe, a few months ago on a Russian secret mission?
dig, pound and shovel the earth.
It has long been suspected that a
dietary shift to buried roots and tubers
was a crucial step in human evolution. NEWSPAPERS AND WEBSITES “From the animal’s perspective,
“These underground foods likely went into a frenzy back in April when the reason for such approaches is
made up a significant part of the diet a beluga whale wearing a harness was likely associated with expecting a

Beluga: Jorgen Ree Wiig/Norwegian Directorate of Fishories (Sea Surveillance Service)/Shutterstock; chimpanzee: Parandis Majlesi/CEES/University of Oslo
of early hominins during the transition spotted in Norwegian waters. Many reward – usually food – for having
from forested to dry habitats,” says quickly reached the conclusion it had successfully completed a given
lead author Alba Motes-Rodrigo of been sent by the Russian navy on a task,” Biuw argues. “This is identical
Germany’s University of Tübingen. spying operation, and that the harness to methods used with animals in
The biologists suggest that our had been designed to be fitted with a aquariums, or indeed with pets.”
ancestors may have worked out how recording device, such as a GoPro. Biuw accepts, as some others have
to exploit this novel food source in a The beluga was habituated to speculated, that the animal may have
similar way to the chimps. SB people, so it was relatively easy for the been used for military tasks such as
Norwegian fishing boats it approached retrieving undetonated torpedoes or
FIND OUT MORE Read the paper in to free it from the harness. This, attaching mines to vessels. “But it’s
PLOS ONE at bit.ly/chimpdig reports marine scientist Martin Biuw, more likely the animal was trained to
was labelled as being ‘Equipment of live in and perform at a dolphinarium
St Petersburg’, adding credence to or aquarium, perhaps within a sea pen
the theory that the animal – which is that somehow got destroyed, allowing
more closely related to dolphins and the animal to escape,” he says.
porpoises than great whales – had In the past, belugas have often been
swum there from Russia. held by aquariums, but concerns over
But Biuw says there is little evidence their welfare has led to a ban on their
to suggest the beluga was spying for capture from the wild in most parts
Russia. There’s no evidence of any of the world. The only place where
camera being attached to the harness, it is still permitted, says Biuw, is the
he points out, and the purported Sea of Okhotsk off east Russia.
GoPro mount might just have been James Fair
a buckle on the harness.
And though it was approaching MARTIN BIUW is a specialist in
fishing boats, Biuw says this is probably marine mammals at Norway’s
because it had been trained to do so Institute of Marine Research.
Chimpanzees in order for its handlers to recapture
are able to teach the animal or recover something it had WANT TO COMMENT? Email
themselves how to
taken from the seabed, for example. [email protected]
dig for food.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 55

 1 Jun – 15 Sep 2019
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Artist Andy Holden and ornithologist
Peter Holden explore the wonder
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SPOTTING SCOPE
 VIEWPOINT

MY WAY OF THINKING

MARK CARWARDINE
The broadcaster and campaigner discusses the recent UN report on nature’s
dangerous decline, and invites your thoughts on the subject.

rexit, Brexit, Brexit. The the world’s fisheries are being fished to protect and restore nature. We

B
irony is that it doesn’t beyond their biological limits and must address population growth and
really matter what most of the others are being fished unequal levels of consumption. We
happens – whether we to capacity. And so the catalogue of need new environmental laws and
leave with a deal, crash destruction continues. stronger enforcement. We need greater
out with no deal, or The report argues that we need support for indigenous communities.
remain – because, if we ignore a urgent transformative change And we need dramatic changes in our
recent, ominous report by the UN, across all areas of own behaviour, such as lowering our
then Brexit won’t even register on
the scale of problems ahead. It states
government and every
aspect of our lives.
S The human consumption of meat and goods.
This time, we can’t get away with
categorically that we are destroying Values and goals need footprint is business as usual. There can be
Earth’s natural life-support system at
such an alarming rate, our own future
to change. We have to
face up to the fact that
so large that no more excuses from economists,
big businesses and those with
is in jeopardy. Now that puts things conservation – at least, we are leaving vested interests. But this is no
into perspective. this kind of life-or- little space for longer something that conservation
The Global Assessment Report on death conservation – groups and volunteers can fix alone.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is is going to be painful. anything else.T Governments must heed the report’s
the most thorough planetary health It’s going to require warning that we are ‘eroding the
check ever undertaken. Compiled sacrifice and bags very foundations of our economies,
by hundreds of the world’s leading of money. livelihoods, food security, health and
scientists, representing many different We must stop obsessing about quality of life’ and get on board.
areas of expertise, its warnings are economic growth. We need revised It’s not impossible. Climate change
unusually stark for a UN report (which trade rules that account for nature has surged up the political agenda
has to be agreed by global consensus). deterioration. Hundreds of billions of since last year’s frightening report
The natural world is unravelling pounds currently paid out in subsidies by the UN Intergovernmental Panel
at a rate unprecedented in human to the energy, fishing, agricultural and on Climate Change. Why not nature
history, it says. The human footprint forestry sectors need to be redirected in crisis? Indeed, the authors of
is so large that we are leaving little to reforestation and other incentives this report propose a Global Deal
space for anything else – indeed, one for Nature – much like the Paris
million animal and plant species are Agreement to combat climate change
now threatened with extinction in the – aimed at protecting 30 per cent of
near future. Deforestation, overfishing, the planet by 2030 and half by 2050.
bushmeat hunting, poaching, climate There is a chance to do just that at
change, pollution and the invasion of the UN Biodiversity Conference, to
alien species are the chief culprits. be held in China next year. It could
Consider a few facts from the report. be our last chance. We ignore the
The world’s population has more UN’s warnings at our peril.
than doubled since 1970 (from 3.7 to
7.6 billion). More than 100 million MARK CARWARDINE is a frustrated
hectares of tropical forest were lost and frank conservationist.
during the period of 1980–2000. We Fire is used to clear
have destroyed more than 87 per cent land for agriculture WHAT DO YOU THINK? If you
of the world’s wetlands. Urban areas in the Amazon, to want to support Mark in his views
the detriment of
have doubled in less than a quarter or shoot him down in flames, email
Getty

myriad species.
of a century. More than one-third of [email protected]

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 57

NEWS FEATURE

In his new role at Holkham,

Jake is pioneering fresh ways
of managing the estate to
benefit both commerce and
conservation. Right: vast
saltmarshes stretch between
arable land and the North Sea.

58 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 Report by Patrick Barkham

Balancing act
Can one of England’s great lowland estates, Holkham in Norfolk,
support agriculture and shooting, as well as wildlife?
We meet Jake Fiennes, its head of conservation, to find out.

ake F enne p ck up truck y nt,

bumps down a track across Raveningham estate in South Norfolk Food and Rural Affairs. Jake was wearing
marshy meadows, as we follow into a wildlife paradise. He is part of the a Holkham badge when they met. “‘You’re
the low dash of a female government’s review of national parks, the beach, aren’t you?’” Jake recalls Gove
sparrowhawk. A buzzard and also sits on the National Farmers’ asking. His reply: “No, I’m not!”
squats in a hawthorn, and a Union Environment Forum. Though, to be fair, Holkham is indeed
marsh harrier glides over the renowned for the epic sweep of its sandy
reedbed. In the space of five minutes, Future of farming beach. Ironically, one of Jake’s two
there’s also a quivering kestrel, a red kite, British farmland will undergo seismic famous actor brothers, Joseph, is partly
a grey heron, two brown hares, a Chinese change after Brexit. Does Jake’s responsible: he starred in Shakespeare in
water deer and the swirling majesty of appointment indicate that Britain’s Love, a film that featured Holkham’s beach
5,000 honking brent and pink-footed biggest landowners are drastically and pinewoods. Ever since, it has become
geese choosing a place to land. changing direction to favour nature- increasingly popular with visitors, and
This uplifting abundance of wildlife friendly farming? Could our great managing that popularity is a significant
has made the 9,000-acre nature reserve estates even embrace rewilding? challenge for the estate.
at Holkham a justly popular place of Jake is fresh from discussing these Jake has always loved nature. During
pilgrimage on the North Norfolk coast. and other matters with Michael Gove, his rural childhood, he kept slow-worms
But Holkham is not simply a paradise
for wild birds and a mecca for 800,000
annual visitors – about eight times more
than the RSPB’s celebrated Minsmere
reserve. This 25,000-acre estate also
includes one of lowland Britain’s biggest
farms, with a long history of innovation.
Thomas Coke of Holkham pioneered
crop rotation in the 18th century.
Holkham also invented the driven
shooting that is the scourge of many
Jake: Martin Pope; aerial: David Tipling/naturepl.com

nature-lovers today. But is this grand

estate in the vanguard of a new
environmental revolution?
The current Thomas Coke, the eighth
Earl of Leicester, has recently hired
Jake to spearhead the conservation
effort at Holkham. Jake is an influential
conservationist and estate manager,
acclaimed by the nature writer

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 59

NEWS FEATURE

25,000 30,000
acre overwintering pink-footed
geese – about a third of the
estate, including 9,000 acres pairs of
of the estate’s income is spoonbill (left) total population that migrate
of national nature reserve – derived from tourism. to East Anglia annually.
England’s largest. Holkham took live on
over the running of it in 2017. the national
nature reserve
(2018).

Holkham
in numbers
and anaesthetised wasps and hornets Charlie Burrell, who farms the 3,500- for its barley and excellent for cultivating
by putting them in the freezer. “We acre Knepp Castle estate in Sussex. At the vegetables. “My basic principle is: we have
were having Sunday lunch and I’d put time, Charlie was running a conventional to feed 66 million people in this country,”
my display of insects on the dresser. farm, and losing money. Charlie has since says Jake. “Where we have productive
Suddenly, this hornet warmed up and rewilded Knepp, and his resurgent farm is land that produces economic yields, we
began flying around with a pin stuck a hotspot for wildlife, while also earning must carry on trying to produce food.
through it.” His parents didn’t mind. good revenues from ecotourism. Other Where we have land that doesn’t do that,

Clockwise from top right: Gary K. Smith/naturepl.com; David Tipling Photo Library/Alamy; Andrew Parkinson/naturepl.com;
“My mother was always encouraging all landowners are beginning to follow suit. it’s uneconomic and you convert that into
of us, whatever we did,” he says. Is Holkham going to become one of them? nature conservation. We can’t go back to
As a teenager, Jake eschewed a The answer is: not exactly. Knepp’s heavy the 1960s – before the intensification of
glamorous spell working for a London clay soils are terrible for growing crops, agriculture – but we can readdress nature in
nightclub to labour for his old friend whereas Holkham’s sandy loam is famed the landscape in a 21st-century way.”

Simon Litten/FLPA; David Tipling/naturepl.com; Ernie Janes/rspb-images.com; Ger Bosma/Alamy

Room for nature
This vision became a reality during
Shooting at Holkham nearly 25 years at Raveningham,
where Jake combined conventional
Holkham is believed plus over 200 intensive farming with nature conservation.
to be where driven pairs on parts of For instance, he took on one neighbouring
shooting was first the estate rented 500-acre farm and only farmed the best
practised, and game and birds to other shoots, land, devoting 40 per cent of once-cultivated
books recording are only shot if and more birds on the land to nature. “That farm has been in
each day’s ‘sport’ have there is calculated to national nature reserve. super-profits for the past three years. We
been kept since 1793. be a ‘shootable surplus’, According to Jake, all get embarrassed by profits but they
In 1905, a record bag with enough to ensure a Holkham’s shoot is not enable us to invest – in the farm or in
of 1,671 grey partridges sustainable population a significant revenue- nature conservation.” This practical example
(above) were shot in the following season. generating exercise and of ‘land sparing’ excites some rewilding
one day on the estate. Impressively, in 2019, is mostly given over theorists, because it could allow areas to be
Jake explains that, these there were 591 pairs to ‘family days’, where rewilded without reducing food production.
days, the grey partridge of grey partridges on relatives and trustees Jake’s first steps at Holkham include
population is rather the estate managed for of the estate receive a allowing its tightly cut hedges to grow into
more carefully managed, shooting by Holkham, day’s shooting. more wildlife-friendly forms. The estate

60 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 NEWS FEATURE

There is another invertebrates. Holkham’s pasture has

dried out too quickly in recent years, so
species Holkham now there are new walled sections to
better retain water.
might have to But the best interests of lapwings
clash with another tenet of rewilding.
control: humans. If Jake allows more scrub to develop
around the meadows, this will provide
perfect vantage points for carrion crows
is also exploring species restoration and and other chick-munching predators.
is being helped by Knepp’s advisers, He is open-minded: he’s going to watch,
including Derek Gow, who has brought wait, and see how such scrub is used.
back the beaver to various other locations
in the UK. The North Norfolk coast is Managing numbers
perfect habitat for white-tailed eagles but a Jake is open, too, about another
reintroduction proposal in East Anglia was ingredient required to revive the lapwing:
scuppered a decade ago, so Jake is making fox control. He pities conservation bodies
no rash pledges. such as the RSPB that come under fire
“I want to have a conversation with for predator control. “It’s recognised
everyone,” Jake says. “I’m not going to there needs to be some species
shut someone down because they want management to benefit other, more
to reintroduce lynx. Let’s thrash out the vulnerable species. I’m not saying it’s
practicalities.” His boss, Lord Leicester, a long-term view, but that is where we
is particularly keen to reintroduce red are today,” he says.
squirrels, which clung on in Norfolk until Some predator control can be non-
the 1990s. “We’re looking at it, though I lethal – ensuring habitat isn’t fox-
think it would be quite hard to achieve,” friendly, for instance – and Jake also
says Jake with caution. favours the continental idea of giving
He is effusive about one tenet of consideration to the seasons when
rewilding – rewetting landscapes. controlling a species. “You don’t have
Clockwise from top pink-footed geese Holkham has been returning arable fields to kill everything, 365 days a year,” he
left: Holkham Beach migrate to the estate to wet meadows for several years and he is says. Fox control is best undertaken over
is popular among dog from October and stay
walkers and shore until March; a flock of
keen to see more temporary pools for winter. “If you haven’t controlled your
birds alike; marsh roosting lapwings; winter wading birds. An immediate foxes by mid-March, it’s too late. After
harriers are often seen non-native muntjac priority is to reverse lapwing declines. then, it’s not ethical, because you’ve got
over the reedbeds; are culled at Holkham. Lapwings require wet fields in which adults bringing up young.”
their chicks can feed on mud-dwelling While Jake is relaxed about the need
for species control (including reducing
numbers of the cute but ravenous
flora-munching muntjac deer in the
pinewoods), he hurriedly rewrote
Holkham’s guidebook on conservation
because it mentioned the ‘destruction of
vermin’. The estate does have baggage,
despite promoting wildlife tourism.
In 2000, a Holkham keeper was fined
£850 for killing three kestrels; two other
employees were convicted of allowing a
gamekeeper to illegally store poison. In
2011, its head gamekeeper was charged
with killing a protected wild bird; though
this charge was later dropped, he lost
his job. “I took on this position to make
a difference, but that particular change
has already happened at Holkham,”
argues Jake. “Grouse moorland has all its
issues but I think lowland persecution
of raptors is a real thing of the past. Just
look at the skies above you.”
Holkham’s gamekeepers come
under Jake’s remit. Raptor persecution
is “just not acceptable, it really isn’t.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 61

NEWS FEATURE

“Holkham still shoots

woodcock, but it’s
much more selective
than it once was.”

That’s the opinion of everyone,” he Britain? “Holkham still shoots woodcock, Above: Jake has Below: Holkham’s
reverted drained, popularity means that
says. Gamekeepers’ roles are changing, but it’s much more selective than it was,”
arable land to wet the needs of visitors
explains Jake – they spend a lot of time he says. He supports the existing system meadows in order to and wildlife can come
attending food fairs and Jake is keen to of voluntary restraint when numbers of benefit wading birds. into conflict.
enlist their help with the supplementary migrating woodcock are low, and is keen
feeding of songbirds, bird identification that shooters are educated. “My personal
and even butterfly recording. “I would view is if you’re shooting reared pheasant, is inaccessible to visitors, who are
seek to make them be more involved you don’t shoot wild woodcock coming instead funnelled into Holkham’s new
with the delivery of environmental through as target practice.” visitor centre and cafe, The Lookout,
goods, as other keepers have done with views of a purpose-built wading
throughout the country.” Popular with people pool. “We have areas of tranquillity and
Could Holkham be a real pioneer There is another species that Holkham we sacrifice areas for the benefit of the
and stop shooting altogether? “I don’t might have to control: humans. Many public,” he explains.
think driven game shooting will stop at more visitors than Minsmere means that Jake may combine the pragmatism of
Holkham any time soon, but we need shoreline nesting birds, such as ringed a farmer with the diplomacy of someone
to be more pragmatic about how we go plovers, are virtually extinct on Holkham’s working for a Lord, but more radical
about it. The industry has to get with 6.5km beach. This winter, Holkham erected ambitions may well lurk within. How
the times and understand what is right, a shorelark and snow bunting enclosure on will Holkham look in a century? “Better
ethical and sustainable – a reduction a section of beach for the first time. shape than now,” he says, as quick as
of bag sizes [shoot yield], let’s be But should Holkham get tough and ban a flash. “I know in the next 20 years
more wild, let’s put in habitat that has dogs? “We have the most dog-friendly beach Holkham is going to get significantly
significant benefits for other species.” cafe in the UK and we’re trying to conserve better.” So, will he add wildlife to
A typical day for 8–10 ‘guns’ at nature, which is really susceptible to farming, as he did at Raveningham?
Holkham is shooting disturbance at breeding “I don’t want to just do what I did at
a bag of 60–70 birds, times,” he says. “We need Raveningham,” he says. “I want to
not hundreds, and all to welcome dog owners, change the world.”
shot game is used for but we need the right
food, including in the information out there that PATRICK BARKHAM is from
Jake: Martin Pope; sign: Alamy

estate’s pub. is easily understood. We Norfolk and writes about natural

Jake shoots might say ‘dogs on leads history for The Guardian. His
himself. Does he within the pinewoods’ – latest book is Islander (Granta, £20).
object to shooting that’s a reasonable ask.”
woodcock, given Jake points out that a FIND OUT MORE Visiting the Holkham
its rapid decline in vast acreage of saltmarsh estate holkham.co.uk

62 BBC Wildlife July 2019

LOSE YOURSELF IN A WORLD of

FIND YOURSELF IN
OXFAM’S ONLINE SHOP
oxfam.org.uk/shop
 Exclusive
Wildlife watching to BBC
Wildlife
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We’ve teamed up with Backwaters cruises to help

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l Wine with all lunches and evening meals
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the medieval town of Clamecy, in the faults crossed by rapids, peaks covered and visit programme on non-cruise days
company of nature and birdwatching with forest and mountainsides dotted l Advance luggage/travel independently
guide Jason Mitchell and a colleague with bogs and broom-covered heaths. options
from one of the local conservation and The rivers Yonne, Cousin and Cure
Not included: Travel to Ashford. Food and drink apart from
weave their way through the region those specified above. Travel insurance. Other incidental
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between Auxerre and Clamecy. This and lakes provide habitat for lots of fish,
groups-only hotel is operated by such as carp, perch, pike and trout – To book or enquire: email [email protected]
or phone 01303 261870 and quote BBC Wildlife
the family who own the nearby accompanied by predatory birds,
reader holiday.
Abbaye de Reigny, where you’ll be including herons and kingfishers,
dining on one of the evenings. This which should be regular A full itinerary for this holiday can be found at
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64 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 The Emperor
Once thought extinct in many
areas, purple emperors are
STRIKES
now turning up everywhere,
even in supermarkets.
By Matthew Oates

Spotting the glorious

purple wings of a male
Apatura iris takes patience.
Derek Middleton/FLPA

Its habit of flitting around

the tops of oak trees
makes it difficult to survey,
but recently it has been
widening its range.
 hough most of our UK

T
butterflies have suffered Victorian butterfly collectors Above: a female purple
emperor rests on an oak
tree. Females lack the
horrific declines in recent
decades, a brave few are
sought it with unrestrained impressive purple sheen
that males have when the
bucking the trend. None
more so than the purple
ardour, to form the centrepiece sun hits their wings at a
certain angle. Instead she
emperor, Apatura iris, long of their precious collections. remains a dusky brown.
regarded as a rare denizen of southern
oak woods – even though its essential
requirement is the humble sallow bush,
the caterpillar’s foodplant. Purple emperors have been seen in several coast in 1919. It had come from France.
The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2015, a supermarkets (mainly Tesco, but also This butterfly has to move about to track
review produced by Butterfly Conservation Sainsbury’s and Waitrose), two nursing down new habitat patches – it’s just that
and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, homes, two public schools, a hospital, it now seems to be doing so on a scale
shows that during the 10 years leading up a borstal, a prison, a trout farm, an previously unknown.
to 2014, the purple emperor increased its ammunition dump, a crematorium, the
distribution by a staggering 135 per cent. Its national film archive at Berkhampsted, Secret beauty
closest rival was the silver-washed fritillary, outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Our difficulty with this large and
another showy butterfly, which expanded central London, and, best of all, the magnificent butterfly was that we did
its range by 55 per cent during that time. departures lounge at Gatwick Airport. not know how to look for it, and what we
The next review, likely to be published late Most of these were dispersing males. thought was knowledge was mostly myth
next year, should show the continuation of These intriguing records suggest that this and assumption. This is a canopy-dwelling
that positive trend. is a surprisingly mobile butterfly, capable species, which we normally only see through
In recent years, individuals of this of traversing large tracts of landscape; narrow fissures in its treetop world. Also, it
distinctive butterfly have turned up in an both rural and suburban. It may also be an doesn’t feed on flowers, favouring various
impressive range of unlikely situations, occasional short-haul migrant, as suggested oozings from deciduous trees and, less
which is not surprising, as it has eccentric by the report of a male flying around a frequently, revolting substances on woodland
tendencies and pushes limits – all limits. fishing boat two miles off the Brighton rides, such as fresh fox scat. In fact, it looks

66 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 Knepp Wildland: a
pioneering project
Discover purple emperors
aplenty at this Sussex estate.

Clockwise from above: its chrysalis; the

By far the best site for purple emperors
the purple emperor rewilding of Knepp has
caterpillar is slug-shaped allowed sallow bushes in the UK is this pioneer rewilding estate
and camouflaged to to proliferate; with a south of Horsham, in West Sussex. Some
match the willow leaves wingspan of 79–90mm, 20 years ago, the land was intensive
on which it feeds; a it is one of one of the dairy and arable farmland, supporting
butterfly emerges from UK’s largest butterflies.
little wildlife. Then sallow thickets quickly
developed on the ex-arable fields and the
butterfly came from woods to the north
and acts quite like a tropical forest butterfly, Just before the start of this century, and colonised these areas. In 2018, day
living up top and descending only to imbibe. lepidopterists at last began to get to grips counts of over 300 apparent individual
The purple emperor has long been with the purple emperor. Surveying and purple emperors were made, indicating
the centre of naturalists’ attentions. The monitoring came to the fore in an effort that this butterfly can indeed be plentiful.
Victorian butterfly collectors sought it with to develop science-based conservation.
unrestrained ardour, to form the centrepiece We began to look for so-called master
of their precious collections. They had two trees and, within a short while, we had
techniques for precuring specimens: a net developed a survey technique that works
on the end of a very long pole (6m or longer) in most situations. The results were
and catching males as they descended to feed impressive and are reflected in The State
Female: David Woodfall/rspb-images.com; chrysalis: Robert Thompson/naturepl.com; caterpillar:

on something nasty. The latter necessitated of the UK’s Butterflies 2015.

Alex hyde/naturepl.com(captive); pond: David Plummer; oak: David Woodfall/naturepl.com

hanging around gamekeepers’ gibbets and

middens, or carting some stinking excrement Butterfly hunt
into the woods. Andrew Middleton and Liz Goodyear,
The early Victorians discovered that male of Butterfly Conservation’s Hertfordshire
purple emperors favoured particular trees, and Middlesex Branch, started searching Purple emperors
branches even, which every year were utilised for the purple emperor in Hertfordshire also enjoy the oak
by territorial males in the afternoons. These first, one of many counties where the trees at Knepp.

trees became known as master trees, or butterfly was deemed extinct. Their initial
master oaks. At one point, it was believed surveys, from 1999 to 2002, located small
that whole populations would vanish if the populations at six sites. The butterfly has FIND OUT MORE Read Wilding by
master tree was felled. since been found to be fairly widespread Isabella Tree (Picador,
Moreover, people tended only to visit a few in the county, though populations are low. 2018) and the Knepp
well-known localities. The insect undoubtedly Inspired, and enabled, Andrew, Liz, and Castle Estate websites,
became seriously under-recorded as a result. their co-workers, went on to rediscover especially: kneppsafaris.
This bad habit is only just changing now, as purple emperors in Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk co.uk/Information/Purple-
more and more localities are discovered as and Cambridgeshire – other counties where Emperor-Car-Parking
the result of concentrated survey efforts. the butterfly was considered long extinct.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 67

 mostly thither. Males gather on prominent
trees – both broadleaved and conifer – on
wooded and sheltered high points, away from
air turbulence. There they await the arrival
of females in need of male services. These
territories are upslope of sallow bushes. The
secret is to study maps and aerial photos
during the winter, locate sallows when they
flower in spring, and then home in on likely
male territories during the midsummer
flight season. Many territories are along the
leeward side of wood edges.
This technique works brilliantly, except
in woodland of an even height on level
ground, where males seldom establish
territories. Here, the butterfly has another
strategy for ensuring that boy meets girl:
The afternoon shenanigans of Above: males can be
seen from late June
males search areas of sallow-rich scrub
during the mornings in the first half of
to mid July. Top right:
male purple emperors have to zoom lenses help when the flight season, when the females are
photographing this emerging. However, once the female
be seen to be believed. They high-flying species.
Below: the underside
emergence is complete, the males stop
doing this and take the mornings off,
know how to behave badly. of the wings features
a prominent eye-spot. behaving rather like ageing rock stars.

Aerial combat
The afternoon shenanigans of male purple
The butterfly was also found in Norfolk, of the butterfly in Warwickshire emperors have to be seen to be believed.
reappearing in woodland between Cromer was kick-started by a couple of These guys, for all their iridescent beauty,
and Holt in early August 2016. introductions from which natural really do know how to behave badly.
Declaring the purple emperor extinct in a spread has then occurred. They are utterly belligerent and
county almost inevitably leads to rediscovery. Andrew, Liz and other members fearless, especially for an insect
In recent years, the butterfly has made a of the purple emperor fan club lacking a sting or bite.
comeback in no fewer than 15 counties from had worked out how to find male Males vigorously dispute the
where it was deemed lost during the middle territories. This is relatively easy on possession of gaps between
period of the 20th century. Some of these sloping or undulating terrain, though tall trees. When an incomer
were almost certainly recolonisations; others most populations are invades an occupied canopy
may have resulted from the resurgence of very small – ones and gap, the resident male will
lingering populations; whilst a reappearance twos hither and thither, launch himself into the air and

68 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 PURPLE EMPERORS

then the two will circle around each other Above: a male purple
emperor (right) with
orange-brown forms.
Top right: this striking
Purple emperor
two or three times, spitting hellfire, before
one will chase the other up and away, at
two male lesser purple species has long in literature and culture
emperors, Apatura ilia featured in artworks.
speed, often out of sight. Regularly, the two (found across much Bottom right: an 1892
return for a rematch. Eventually, one will be of Europe), which are illustration of the The purple emperor has unrivalled status
Clockwise from bottom left: Alex hyde/naturepl.com(captive); Frank Hecker/Alamy; Nick Hatton/Alamy; Kurt Möbus/imageBroker/Alamy; Getty; The Natural History Museum/Alamy

driven away and will steam off unruffled to slightly smaller and purple emperor, its in English poetry and literature. It is a
exist in both blue and larvae and foodplant.
the next territory, and the next punch up. leviathan, symbolising the mysteries and
They will attack anything above the size elusiveness of beauty. This partly results
of a bee that enters their airspace. The range from its scientific name iris — after Iris,
of birds on the modern hit list includes and populations are also being discovered in the messenger of the Greek gods, who
all three species of woodpecker, crossbills, river valleys and around disused gravel pits. appeared to mortals in the guise of a
siskins, cuckoos, turtle dove, hobbies (a The prospects for this butterfly look rosy rainbow. Iris appears spectacularly in
mistake…), goshawks and white storks. or, even better, purple. However, its success Virgil’s Aeneid and subsequently in the
The birds tend to ignore the disgruntled means that it will be demoted down the poetry of Alexander Pope. The purple
butterflies, of course. conservation prioritisation list, especially emperor features in John Masefield’s
by foresters and nature reserve managers poetry, and in books as diverse as
Willow wonders wishing to clear sallow scrub. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and John
The purple emperor was wrongly considered The purple emperor may be moving north, Fowles’s The Collector. Perhaps it is
to be an oak woodland species. Oak is useful outside its historic range – but no one has England’s national butterfly?
because its dense foliage provides shelter up looked. The extent to which it is benefiting
top and because both sexes feed regularly from climate change is debatable, as mild
on oak sap bleeds. However, the butterfly winters impede larval hibernation and lead
is essentially a species of sallow-rich to high levels of predation by flocks of
landscapes, preferring goat willow, Salix titmice. Also, early springs followed by
caprea, though true willows, such as white poor early summer weather render sallow
willow, S. alba, are also being utilised. foliage too coarse and thick for young larvae
Herein lies the problem, for sallow in July and August – the insect becomes out
bushes were regarded by landowners and of sync with leaf development.
foresters as invidious weeds, especially after Critically, this butterfly simply needs large
World War II when the ‘dig for victory’ ethos areas of sallow scrub, especially of the
was still prevalent. It is this prejudice that broader-leaved varieties. The purple
rendered the butterfly a rarity, forcing it to emperor is not a rare species, but one that
subsist at population levels that were so low has been severely suppressed by prejudice
we could scarcely detect it. against sallows, and one we didn’t know
Today, it occurs in a diversity of habitats, how to look for. We do now.
and may well be moving into new ones,
including sallow scrub on both urban MATTHEW OATES has written a
brownfield sites and colliery wasteland. book about the purple emperor, His
There is a colony on Hampstead Heath, Imperial Majesty, out next spring.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 69

Go behind the scenes at a seal autopsy
to discover how post mortems provide
insight into more than just biology.
Words Liam Drew Photos Tom Gilks
 By conducting post mortems,
scientists are able to glean
an incredible amount of
information about the
anatomy, evolution and
environment of a species.

wo and a half months before seal’s forelimbs and collect

T
writing this, a young adult any parasites and plastic the
grey seal washed up on a animal contains.
beach in Kent. Two days The last time I saw seals was in
ago, it was removed from a Norfolk – the local colony evoked perfectly
freezer at London’s Natural these mammals’ dichotomous nature. On
History Museum and, a shingle beach, about 100 of them lay like
today, I’m going to watch it being dissected. stuffed socks. Most remained motionless.
I’m currently wondering what exactly I’ll And the few that crossed the beach bounced
witness and looking at everyone on the Tube as seals do on land – near comically, like
while thinking: ‘I bet you don’t have a date someone doing a sack-race lying down. In the
with a dead seal.’ My only guide is an email bay, though, they swam in all their slippery
saying the museum’s staff will inspect the grace – a majestic creature of the sea.
SEAL AUTOPSY

Robert removes the

animal’s golf-ball-sized
eyes and puts them in
a glass specimen jar.

9.30 AM 10.00 AM 10.15 AM

FIRST INSPECTION EVOLUTIONARY INSIGHT MAKING AN INCISION

The windowless, concrete dissection room Anne-Claire Fabre, who studies how Alex McGoran’s scalpel pierces the animal’s
is busy. Five white-coated scientists are animals’ morphologies evolve with their tough skin between its shoulder blades. Alex
debating which scale would be best for lifestyles, and Travis Park, a palaeontologist is researching the effects of microplastics
weighing the seal. Three technicians working on marine mammal evolution, on aquatic food webs. As she cuts down the
wait to help and two spectators from the measure the seal’s forelimbs. The right animal’s back, pink flesh is revealed. It’s
museum’s admin departments watch – a one, spread wide, reveals five long, clawed the colour of pork, but this is blubber – it’s
large animal dissection is not an everyday fingers running through a heavy furred neither as fatty nor as thick as you might
event, even here. webbing. When Travis holds the limbs expect – and it must all go. It’s the muscles
The seal lies on a large metal table and together, it’s clear the animal could’ve held underneath that matter today – each one is
looks much like it would when sprawled things between them. Anne-Claire and to be removed, measured and photographed.
on a beach. But, up close, its large eyes are Travis’s task is to describe the muscles
dark and dead, and its whiskers cracked that operated this limb. It’s part of a
and useless. One eyelid is badly damaged. project defining the degree to which seals’
Natalia Fraiji, a parasitologist specialising forelimbs are flippers – paddles with which Clockwise from damaged eyelid;
in marine mammals, says it’s unclear to swim – or grasping paws that dextrously top left: a variety though somewhat
whether it was torn by a fish post-mortem manipulate food items. of tools are used cumbersome on
during dissection; land, grey seals’
or injured in life, potentially leaving the At the foot of the table, the museum’s the autopsy team movements become
creature partially sighted. Natalia is here head mammal curator, Roberto Portela applies water to the effortless in the
to collect the lifeforms that called this seal Miguez, lays out scalpels with blades seal to rehydrate the water; the team
home. The solitary tick she found on its the size of your thumb, three kitchen skin; Alex makes the weighs the young seal
Gerard Soury/Getty

first incision; after before the autopsy

exterior was dispatched to the museum’s knives, one large pair of wire cutters
removing the blubber, begins. Adult males
insect department for identification. and a screwdriver. Against the wall lean the muscles can be can weigh up to
Consensus reached, Natalia helps heave some heavy-duty garden secateurs with examined; Natalia 300kg, while females
the seal onto a pallet truck. Weight: 55kg. metre-long handles. inspects the seal’s weigh about 150kg.

72 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 SEAL AUTOPSY

Is it a flipper or a paw?
Grey seals are a species of true seal, which swim
by undulating their lower bodies and hindlimbs,
whereas eared seals, such as sealions, move their
forelimbs in a breaststroke-like action. On land,
true seals bounce along on their fronts, while
eared seals walk on their four limbs.
These differences are reflected in the anatomy
of the seals’ forelimbs. Those of eared seals are
more flipper-like but true seals, with their clawed
digits (below), use their forelimbs to grasp and
manipulate food.
Collaborating with David Hocking from Monash
University and Museum Victoria, in Melbourne,
Australia, Anne-Claire and
Travis will compare the
bone structure and
musculature of the
two seal groups in
unprecedented
detail. The result
will be a better
description of
the movements
of these limbs
and how the two
groups evolved
in different
directions from a
terrestrial ancestor.

11.00 AM 12.25 PM 1.00 PM

TAKING SAMPLES DIGESTION DISSECTION DIGGING FOR WORMS

Roberto removes the animal’s golf-ball-sized Natalia’s parasitology and Alex’s microplastic In a separate room, Natalia cuts open the
eyes and puts them in heavy glass specimen studies centre on the digestive tract. Dressed first 20 centimetres of intestine, pouring the
jars. He then places tiny cubes of liver in in luminous orange plastic, they start to contents into a tray. “Look!” she exclaims, “a
plastic tubes for the museum’s frozen tissue remove the part that runs from the stomach worm already!” She deposits a centimetre-
bank, in case anyone wants to examine to the anus. A cut through the abdominal long worm – white and the thickness of
the seal’s genome. Meanwhile, six people wall reveals a slithering mass of intestines. string – in a petri dish. A parasite like this
– including the museum’s fish curator – To retain its contents, the rectum must be lives free in a seal’s intestines, she explains,
continue removing the blubber. liberated from the heavy pelvis without while spiny-headed worms burrow into the
The closer they get to the rupture. (Those who’ll continue dissecting gut wall and live there. Is it bad for seals to
underlying musculature, the body are invested in this, too – still have worms? “A healthy environment is an
the more precise partly frozen, the animal is remarkably environment for parasites,” she says, avidly
they have odourless, and everyone would like it to stay describing their life-cycles as she looks for
to be. that way). A plastic ligature is tied more. Her fascination is utterly infectious.
around its bottom end, then after 20 Worms removed, Natalia gives the
minutes, Alex triumphantly lifts the intestinal contents to Alex, who filters
intact rectum free, provoking a them through a fine-mesh sieve. Any
round of applause. large plastic items would likely be stuck
in the stomach – though a handful of
previous studies have never found any,
probably because seals are very visual
and intelligent hunters. Alex is, instead,
sieving for insidious, tiny plastic particles
that are rife in the oceans and almost
invisibly accumulating in aquatic animals.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 73

SEAL AUTOPSY

What lives within

There are four main classes of gut-dwelling in humans, and their clinical
worms: tapeworms (cestodes), flukes effects, plus on those affecting
(trematodes), roundworms (nematodes) and human livestock. The diversity
spiny-headed worms (acanthocephalans). of worms living in other
In this seal, Natalia finds round and spiny- vertebrates, especially aquatic
headed ones. Such creatures feed on a seal’s ones, remains mysterious.
gut contents, then reach sexual maturity and Natalia will catalogue those
breed in the seal’s intestines. Their eggs exit in she’s found today according to
the faeces. Then tiny, free-living larvae swim in their morphology, or potentially by
search of an initial host, which are then eaten examining their DNA. They will then
by fish, which, in turn, are eaten by seals. The add to the 600,000 specimens in the
number and type of hosts can differ between museum’s parasite collection, of which
worms, but this is the basic idea. 1,500 were the first examples of newly
Research on intestinal parasites has discovered species.
traditionally focused on those that can live www.nhm.ac.uk/host-parasite-database

1.30 PM 2.00 PM 3.00 PM

A LONG WAY TO GO EXPLORING THE MUSEUM MUSCLE MOVEMENT

Back in the main room, the seal lies on A technician, who’s been helping Natalia Anne-Claire, Travis and Roberto bend over
its side, skinned and blubberless, its flesh and Alex, bursts in to tell me Natalia’s found the animal. Anatomy is slow, meticulous
drying and darkening. When the team a spiny-headed worm. Soon, I'm peering and involved work. There are no sudden
returns from lunch, Roberto pours water through a microscope at what looks like a revelatory ‘ta-da!’ moments. The team simply
over it. The crowds are gone now – though maggot with a trunk. Only when Natalia progresses muscle-by-muscle through the
two MSc students have come to observe and later emails some high-magnification shots collection of about 50 that controlled this
help. As Anne-Claire restarts the dissection, of their intricately barbed proboscises, do I seal’s right forelimb – each one is lifted,
the mood is sedate and serious. appreciate how fantastical these creatures are. tugged on and, it seems, explored by touch
After viewing the worm, I join Brian as much as by sight.
Smith, who co-ordinates the “Muscle takes so long,
collection of stranded marine not many people do
mammals for the museum. it,” Anne-Claire
Brian takes me into the room says. It’s more
Insidious, tiny adjoining the dissection common to infer
room, where, housed in Stomach contents the movements an
plastic particles individual glass jars, are are sieved through
a fine mesh, to
animal can make
are rife in the hundreds of preserved
animals, as well as an 8.5m
locate any
plastic particles.
from the shapes
of its bones. The
oceans and are giant squid and a Komodo
dragon. The oldest are fish
assumptions of
such inferences
accumulating in collected on Captain Cook’s
voyages in the late 1700s. Across
worry Anne-Claire –
in her view, if muscles
aquatic animals. 27km of shelving, the museum houses are available, scientists
over 22 million animal specimens. should study them.

74 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 SEAL AUTOPSY

Clockwise from removed during the

above: Natalia takes dissection before
a closer look at the being placed in a
different parasites freezer, ready for
(top left) found potential study
within the seal; in the future;
Alex and Natalia Alex searches
prepare the sieves for microplastic
and filters they will particles; a small
need; Natalia cuts piece of intestinal LIAM DREW is a writer and former
open the intestine, lining is taken neurobiologist. His latest book,
so its contents can and stored for I, Mammal (Bloomsbury), is out now.
be examined; the microscopic
seal’s hindlimbs were inspection.
FIND OUT MORE Visit the Natural
History Museum www.nhm.ac.uk

3.30 PM 4.20 PM 4.45 PM

LIBERATING LIMBS EXTREME EFFORTS DRAWING CONCLUSIONS

The seal is rolled over onto his belly, its At last, the forelimb is removed. The way Natalia returns to remove the upper
limbs clearly much looser now. Seeing the Travis holds it, while Anne-Claire cuts digestive system. She’s had a productive
elbow and shoulder shows more clearly how it free, suggests he’ll lift it aloft like a afternoon – there were many parasites.
evolution truncated an ancestral mammalian sportsperson raising a trophy. But no, he Roberto takes the long-handled garden
limb to adapt it to a mainly aquatic lifestyle. unceremoniously carries it away in search shears and cuts open the rib cage. Travis
The team decides today’s goal is to finish of a freezer bag – there’s no spontaneous reminds everyone they’d agreed to measure
removing the muscles linking the limb to the applause this time. Everyone’s exhausted. the volume of the animal’s oral cavity with
trunk – those within the limb can wait for Anne-Claire bends double over the table. the tongue forward and retracted. There’s
another day. A bone saw is brought out and When she raises her head, she says, “It’s mounting evidence that seals don’t just bite
the hindlimbs are sawed off. like going to the gym for three hours.” fish but suck them in. He retrieves a bag of
plastic beads and a plastic bag, with which
to fill the mouth and calculate its volume.
I start my goodbyes and thank everyone
for letting me watch. There’s been no clear
indication of why this seal died. He appears
to have been quite healthy. But whatever led
to his demise, his washing up on a beach
and arriving here means that we’re gaining
a greater sense of how and why seals
evolved to be as they are, and of how a large
mammal in a complex ecosystem is home
Several samples
to many other animals. We’ll also learn what
are taken during sharing a planet with humans means for the
the autopsy. future of these marvellous creatures.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 75

 Behind
the
image

Megafauna in
the metropolis
by PARAS CHANDARIA 2015
S I wanted to show that
Nairobi is the safari capital of the world, every life counts. To
but as urban jungles collide, can the city
protect the wilderness on its doorstep? me, a single giraffe is
more important than
ignificantly smaller than the any development. T

S Serengeti, what it lacks in size,

Nairobi National Park makes up
for in character. A stone’s throw
from the business district’s
shimmering skyscrapers, this 117km2
expanse of plains and dry grassland is
the only national park in the world to lie
PARAS CHANDARIA
is a wildlife photographer
and conservationist. He
within the borders of a capital city. “The has been photographing
park is packed with wildlife, including the wildlife of Nairobi
lions, leopards, giraffes, hyenas and National Park for the
zebras. It’s home to 400 different past six years.
species of bird, and is probably one of
the best places in the world to see black
rhinos and serval cats,” says Paras. “All
this just 10 minutes’ drive from home.”
Despite its proximity to the capital’s
three million citizens, the park is not
completely fenced. A hotel has reported
regular sightings of rhinos, and lions are
spotted from living rooms. But existing
alongside humans brings inevitable
challenges. “The animals face constant
pressure from development,” says Paras.
“A high-voltage electricity line runs
through the park, as does an oil pipeline,
a bypass road and a new express railway
line, now in phase two of construction.”

Lines of battle
The 490km railway under development
will connect Nairobi with Malaba on the
Uganda border, but has proved highly
controversial. Though it is elevated on
pillars to allow movement beneath,
conservationists are concerned that
it will upset the ecosystem and push
animals away. “Six lions have died so
far, due to space constraints,” says
Paras. “Two buffalos were also shot.”
Paras took this image as soon as he
heard of the railway plans. “I wanted to
capture the uniqueness of the park
against the city skyline,” he says. “I also
wanted to show that every life counts. To
me, a single giraffe is more important
than any development. But the railway
is here now, and wildlife seems to be
getting used to it. Only time will tell.”

76 BBC Wildlife July 2019

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 77
 Visit the BBC Wildlife Magazine Stand at the festival!

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 WILDAT HOME TELEVISION | BOOKS | FILM | ONLINE | PUZZLES
Hugh finds British
plastics at a site
in Malaysia.
Tom Beard/Keo Films/BBC

The plastic problem continues

Find out what more can be done to reduce plastic waste.
swiftly shatter any illusions we might plastic in their homes, and the
WAR ON PLASTIC WITH HUGH AND ANITA
TV BBC ONE, WATCH ON IPLAYER.
have about that. A trip to Malaysia difficulties they, and therefore we
choice reveals where much of it really goes all, face are unpicked one by one.
Every minute of every day, the – illegal dumpsites. “It looks like The leading UK supermarkets,
equivalent of a rubbish truck full of another planet – a plastic planet,” which produce over one-third of our
plastic is emptied into the world’s says Hugh in the show. “These plastic packaging, have a lot to
oceans. To drive this message home, mountains of broken bales and answer for. “The more I look into
this three-part series begins with mixed plastics are clearly never this, the more I am utterly convinced
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall going to be recycled.” that it should be the supermarkets
overseeing truck after truck tipping Thankfully, however, the leading the change,” Anita says,
their contents over the promenade of programme doesn’t leave us feeling following a meeting at Tesco’s
a British seaside resort. It’s a stunt, disempowered. It digs deep to find headquarters. Nonetheless, watching
of course, but the shocking truth out why we are so hooked on plastic ordinary people taking small steps to
of the sheer quantity of plastic waste and – most importantly – how we can battle these juggernauts and waste
we create hits hard. disentangle ourselves. An entire less, it left me feeling genuinely
‘But I recycle’, you might say. Well, street in Bristol is set with the inspired to stop making excuses and
Hugh and co-presenter Anita Rani challenge of reducing the single-use do more. Catherine Smalley

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 79

WILD AT HOME

BOOK

The Deep
descriptions of Rogers’ collaborative
BY ALEX ROGERS, HEADLINE, £20 work with the many students and
colleagues he introduces. Human-
Ever since mariners began made troubles in the oceans also
to set sail and explore far feature throughout. Reassuringly,
reaches of the oceans, for someone who has witnessed
they’ve come back and told so much change, Rogers remains
stories of their journeys optimistic about the ocean’s ability
and encounters with to restore itself, given a chance. He
extraordinary beasts. In his memoire prescribes urgent actions needed to
The Deep, Alex Rogers continues this ensure healthy seas and avoid their
tradition and tells captivating tales of continued demise by a thousand cuts.
his voyages and discoveries as professor Helen Scales Marine biologist
of marine biology. There are great
wonders to be found on these pages,
from deep coral reefs to hairy ‘Hoff’
crabs on Antarctic hydrothermal vents.
Readers will find out what it’s like
to be a marine scientist through

Cock-eyed squid are

deep-water dwellers.
They are named for
the fact that they
have one eye bigger
than the other.

BOOK BOOK

WI LD ST RE A M The Last Butterflies A Claxton Diary

SERIES BY NICK HADDAD, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, £20 BY MARK COCKER, JONATHAN CAPE, £14.99
Big Animal Surgery
Liz Bonnin witnesses one of Six rare butterflies, each on A master of short-form
the world’s top wildlife vets the brink of extinction – what writing, Cocker has perfected
operating on an Asian elephant, would be the lasting impact of his pared-back style of nature
chimpanzee and lion. their disappearance? Probably notes in three decades of
BBC iPlayer, until May 2020 nothing, except butterflies are 300-word contributions to the
relatively well studied and with each loss famous Country Diary column in The
Squid: Alex Rodgers;illustration: Jackie Morris; Joe: LMasseyImages; wren: Getty

YOUTUBE CLIP comes concomitant loss of myriad Guardian. This is the second volume of
Aquatic scientist Sheree less-well-known organisms. Butterflies the naturalist’s collected diary entries
Marris follows a male weedy are the lens through which we can – many concern his quotidian ramble
seadragon off Australia’s appreciate environmental health or from his village in the Norfolk Broads
Mornington Peninsula. degradation. So far, each species has a down to the River Yare. Finding beauty
bit.ly/31F2w3P recovery tale to tell, but fierce habitat and meaning in the everyday, whether a
management in the face of climate bee ‘swimming’ through a plush thistle
DOCUMENTARY change and urban encroachment takes a head or curious mould growing on a
David Attenborough – steady nerve. Haddad eloquently argues dead dung fly, Cocker combines forensic
The Early Years that conserving butterflies is not about observation of minutiae with grander
The broadcaster looks back at preserving an organism or habitat in universal truths. We relive, through his
key moments from his career aspic – that way lies stagnation and joyful recollections and intimate
and his first trip to Africa. decline – it’s about enabling a dynamic knowledge of his local patch, our own
BBC iPlayer, until July 2020 and resilient environment. experiences with nature. Exquisite,
Richard Jones Entomologist essential reading. Ben Hoare

80 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD AT HOME

CD MEET THE AUTHOR

The Lost Words:
Spell Songs
VARIOUS ARTISTS, £20
Joe Harkness
The blogger’s brand-new book reveals how
Inspired by The Lost
Words (Robert
birdwatching helped him combat anxiety.
Macfarlane’s hugely
popular book), Spell
Songs features 14 folk Why did you write this book? interwoven strands of interest, from
tracks with a focus on I wrote Bird Therapy to provide an honest the everyday to the rare, from record
nature. There’s an enchanting mix account of my mental health struggles keeping to weather patterns. It’s an
of music and poetry, and birdsong and how nature has helped me, in the ongoing learning experience and I’ve
can be heard intertwined among hope that it, too, may help others. It began tried to describe it in Bird Therapy.
the gentle notes of harp, piano, as my journal – to record and reflect on
violin and guitar. The CD comes the positive impact of birdwatching on You talk about the mindfulness of
with its own book, which includes my wellbeing – then a friend suggested sound – tell us more about that.
more illustrations by Jackie Morris I write a book. We are never truly just observing birds,
as well as introducing the project it’s the whole package of connection that
and artists. Just as a walk through How did you first discover the makes the experiences so special. The
a wild landscape seems to lift away benefits of connecting with nature? restorative properties of birdsong are
stresses and cares, so too does this During the early days of my recovery evident and researched in the book, as
soothing collection of songs. AM journey, I watched a pair of buzzards is the way we connect sounds with places
displaying over a treeline. Their and experiences.
freedom and majesty were captivating,
and I longed to experience that again. As How can people make time to connect
my interest in birdwatching widened and with nature during their busy lives?
deepened, I started to notice a tangible Look around you, breathe, take notice
improvement in my wellbeing. of the simple and little pleasures found
in the outside world. Start with your
Why do you think nature has such neighbourhood nature and garden birds.
Spell songs a positive effect on us?
combines folk Fundamentally, because we are a part of How can we instil the importance
music with it, so it’s akin to going back to our roots. of nature in future generations?
birdsong.
It also provides us with an escape from Bring back nature tables, integrate forest
the chaos of everyday life. schools into the national curriculum,
TV
utilise technology, such as smartphones,
Sharkfest What is it about birdwatching in to engage young people – like macro
particular that you enjoy? insect photography. We should highlight
NAT GEO WILD, 15–21 JULY 2019 It’s a multi-faceted and fully-immersive just how beautiful and underrated our
sensory experience. It has so many everyday wildlife, and especially birds, are.
Across seven days, dive in to the
underwater world of our oceans’
mighty apex predators. Follow
blacktips and spinners as they
gather around a sardine bait ball
and start to feast; discover the
gruesome cannibalistic traits
of some species, such as lemon
sharks; and learn more about
the work of marine biologists
in the Pacific as they study
human-shark interactions and
sharks’ impact on coral reefs.
While some elements are
perhaps a touch over dramatised
(doing little for sharks’ bad
reputation) there are plenty of
interesting facts about biology,
evolution and behaviour revealed The wren’s loud
song belies its Bird Therapy
along the way. AM Unbound,
diminutive size.
£14.99

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 81

WILD AT HOME

FASHION

Sunglasses made
from fishing nets
WATERHAUL, £65

The sight of plastic containers and

fishing nets washed up along the
shore demonstrates our impact on
the planet. However, one Cornwall-
based social enterprise has been
retrieving this type of jetsam and
recycling it into sunglasses. There
are two styles available: the Kynance
(below) and the squarer Fitzroy –
both have polarised glass lenses
with UVA/UVB protection. The
frames are lightweight yet robust,
with a comfortable fit and the YOUNGER READERS
entire product can be recycled via animals’ sort of affair. Atmospheric
Waterhaul’s lifetime warranty. You The Little Book sounds of the rainforest augment every
can also order prescription lenses howl, whistle or grunt, giving a real
through the website (for an of Rainforest sense of the jungle.
additional £20). These trendy Animal Sounds A selection of animals from off the
shades are one plastic item you beaten track includes tree hyrax, Goldie’s
wouldn’t be dismayed to see on a BY ANDREA PINNINGTON AND CAZ BUCKINGHAM, bird of paradise (my son’s favourite)
FINE FEATHER PRESS, £12.99
trip to the beach this summer. AM and indri (mine). Each page sets the
When I asked my animal in question within its natural
five-year-old to help me surroundings, and is full of the sort
review this book, his first of facts that left my son and me staring
impression was an dumfounded at each other (did you know
instant thumbs up. It’s that if you look through a tokay gecko’s
Accessorise a classic format – press the buttons to ears you can see straight through its
and reduce hear 12 different sounds as you read. But head?). Double thumbs up all round
plastic waste! it packs a few surprises that elevate it (‘toucan’ play that game).
beyond being simply a tropical ‘my first Paul McGuinness

O U T IN TH E GARDEN BOOK BOOK

FRESH FLOWERS Tracking the On the Marsh

Keep your plants producing
nectar for bees and other
Highland Tiger BY SIMON BARNES, SIMON & SCHUSTER, £16.99

pollinators by removing faded BY MARIANNE TAYLOR, BLOOMSBURY, £16.99 Simon Barnes bought a
blooms from bedding plants house based on the birdsong
and perennials. Scottish wildcats have long he heard when viewing it. So
been persecuted and secretive, did I, so I had a feeling this
ON THE LOOKOUT while interbreeding with feral book and I were going to get
Young frogs, toads and domestic cats suggests no along. We did. It’s a seasoned piece of
hedgehogs will be beginning ‘pure’ ones remain. So, writing in every way – Barnes is as
to emerge, so take care when travelling to Scotland in hope prolific as he as assured. The pages take
mowing and strimming. of seeing wildcats can be a triumph of you through a year of rewilding on his
optimism over reality. That spirit is recently acquired acres of squelchy
CLEAR WATER central to this book, where the cat-loving Norfolk; and his musings are peppered
Excess blanket weed can writer goes in search of a creature that with delicious titbits from every-which-
be a problem in ponds – she admits ‘is almost sacred in its where – science, sport, history, travel
deoxygenating the water and extreme rarity’. Facts about wildcats – and the sweetest family snapshots. The
potentially harming aquatic life. and cats in general – are interwoven with result is nature writing comfort food:
Carefully remove the weed but accounts of wildlife in the Highlands, scrumptious, moreish and so easy on
leave it close to the pond for a along with thoughts of whether captive the reader it feels like a long afternoon
while, so any wildlife can make breeding and re-introduction could throw in some cosy pub, listening while
its way back. a lifeline to this embattled feline. Barnes tells you what he’s been up to.
Kenny Taylor Scottish Wildlife Trust Amy-Jane Beer Wildlife writer

82 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 WILD AT HOME

Answers
CROSSWORD Win a prize with our brain-teaser. in our WILDWOR
September
Compiled by RICHARD SMYTH 2019 issue

Getty
1) definition for soho (coined
in 1307)
MAY ANSWERS
A instruction to a horse to come
ACROSS: 1 hippopotamus,
10 elegant, 11 meat bee, to a stop
12 ifrit, 13 gene pool, B shout used to frighten crows
15 English elm, 16 slow, from the cornfields
18 rush, 20 brent goose, C call used by huntsmen to
22 Nordmann, 24 ratel, direct the attention of a dog to
26 Acacias, 27 migrate, a rabbit that has been discovered
28 slender brake.
DOWN: 2 ice frog, 2) animal you associate with
3 plantain, 4 pits, the adjective phascolarctine
5 timberline, 6 Mease, A koala
7 subsoil, B crab
8 Mediterranean, C falcon
9 yellow-bellied, 14 sharp-
nosed, 17 agar-agar,
3) offspring of a moose
19 servals, 21 outback,
A calf
23 maize, 25 Amur
B colt
MAY WINNER C foal
C Kirk, Yorkshire
4) sound made by ravens
ACROSS 24 Elegant seabird famed for its long related to the mother-in-law’s A trill
7 Island nation, home to the endemic migrations (6, 4) tongue (10) B croak
toque macaque (3, 5) 26 Songbird also known as a New 15 Invertebrates such as spiders C warble
8 Tree genus that includes apricots, Zealand creeper (6) or scorpions (8)
cherries, and almonds (6) 27 Aquatic plant that may be 17 Mounds made by insects of the
5) name for a male alpaca
9 Shrub-like cactus of Mexico and freshwater (Vallisneria) or marine family Formicidae (8)
A hob
south-west USA (4, 6) (Zostera) (8) 18 New World woodpecker (7)
B bull
10 European mountain range, home 20 African mammal sometimes
to ibex and chamois (4) DOWN called the forest giraffe (5) C macho
11 ___ curlew, a wader, now feared 1 Waterways of East Anglia, rich in bird 22 Blackbird, redwing or fieldfare,
extinct (6) and insect life (6) for example (6) 6) collective noun for trout
13 ___ waxwing, fruit-eating forest bird 2 ___ whale, the largest animal ever 25 Tufted species of bluegrass (4) A hover
of Eurasia and North America (8) known (4) B run
14 Genus of chameleon native to 3 Larva of the geometer moth (8) C clutch
Madagascar (7) 4 Marsupial related to the kangaroo
16 Fish with elongated jaws and long, but smaller (7)
sharp teeth (7) 5 Acer saccharum, Canadian tree
19 Nocturnal bird of prey, Strix aluco, known for its sweet sap (5, 5)
found in the UK (5, 3) 6 ___ whale, migratory cetacean with
21 Short, high-pitched sounds made a complex song (8)
by birds (6) 8 Fruit tree of the genus 8 Across (5) Questions set by ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD
23 Songbird of the genus Saxicola (4) 12 Plant of the genus Sansevieria,
Find out
the answers
on p103
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July 2019 BBC Wildlife 83

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 OUR WILD WORLD

Q&A
We solve your
wildlife mysteries.
More amazing facts at
discoverwildlife.com

This month’s panel

MICHAEL ENGELHARD P H I L G AT E S L AU R I E J AC K S O N ST UA RT B L AC K M A N M I K E TO M S R O B I N S CAG E L L LEWIS WHITE SA R A H M c P H E R S O N

Author and wildlife guide Botanist Wildlife tour leader Science writer BTO Glow-worm expert Biologist Q&A editor

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in

March 1989 occurred after the
tanker struck a reef. It was the
worst of its time in US waters,
affecting more than 2,000km
of wilderness. Below: about
2,800 sea otters died.

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

Has wildlife
recovered from the
Exxon Valdez oil spill?
he Exxon Valdez disaster 30 Some interesting patterns have
T years ago left Alaska’s Prince
William Sound smothered in 11
emerged since the spill, though
these could also be attributed to
million gallons of crude oil. Because climate change. Species feeding
O sp : Nata e Fobes/Getty; sea otter: Dona d M. Jones/M nden/NPL

the area’s wildlife varies in terms of on crustaceans on heavily oiled

diet, habitat niche and reproductive shore sediment, for example,
rate, species were affected very suffered more than those dining
differently. Some barely suffered on fish or zooplankton in deeper
losses, while some, such as bald water. Behavioural changes have
eagles (250 dead), rebounded also occurred – Dall’s porpoises
quickly. Others, such as sea otters, now frequently enter the Sound’s
harbour seals and harlequin ducks confined, shallow bays to hunt
took much longer. Clam beds and fish, because the number of
Pacific herring, which spawn in patrolling orcas, which prey
the shallows and sustain seabirds, on the porpoises, plummeted
whales and fishermen, still show beyond recovery.
few signs of recovery. Michael Engelhard
 OUR WILD WORLD

INSECTS

Can ground-
nesting bees
survive flooding?
ccasionally, yes. Most of Britain’s
O 270 bee species nest on sparsely
vegetated slopes and banks, and have
adopted various methods to keep their
homes dry. Many mining bees, for
instance, use secretions from their
Dufour’s gland to equip their nests with
a waterproof lining. Several species
even specialise in wetter habitats. Some,
such as the yellow loosestrife, collect
floral oils to line the walls of their nest
Oak trees can cells; others, like the sea aster, produce
require extensive natural polyesters for nest protection.
pruning after a
These coatings allow the bees to live in
lightning strike.
much damper soils and even withstand
TREES occasional inundation. Laurie Jackson

Which trees are most prone to lightning strike? Yellow loosestrife

bees prefer
ightning doesn’t always strike the tallest shoots were destroyed by thunderbolts.
L object in the landscape, but at any given
location, the taller a tree grows, the more likely
Oak is said to be especially vulnerable, but
this impression might be because these trees
wetter habitat.

it is to be struck, especially if in an exposed, are so long-lived and are exposed to more

isolated position. The famous arborist Alan thunderstorms during their lifetime, and
Mitchell considered giant sequoia, which perhaps have a better capacity than most to
grows very rapidly and soon outstrips trees survive damage. Ash and sycamore are also
in the surrounding canopy, to be particularly candidates, but this might be because they
prone, citing several examples of potentially are very common and widely distributed, so
record-breaking specimens that never made conspicuously damaged specimens are more
it into the record books because their leading often encountered. Phil Gates

A yellow-bellied
sea snake in a MARINE BIOLOGY
rare moment
on dry land. What do sea
snakes drink?
ea snakes spend pretty much
S their entire lives at sea. It was
once thought they could drink
Studio/Alamy; bee: Jan Versteeg/Nature in Stock/Alamy; snake: Matthieu Berroneau
Red kite: Drew Buckley/Alamy; gloworms x2 : Andy Sands/naturepl.com; tree: Tihov

saltwater, excreting the excess salt

via a gland near their eye (as sea
turtles do) but recent research has
shown that they also need fresh
water. The yellow-bellied sea snake,
for instance, which rarely comes
ashore, is reliant on rain. It drinks
from the very surface layers of the
sea following a storm, where, for
a short time at least, the salinity is
low enough to allow the reptile to
quench its thirst. Stuart Blackman

94 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 BIRDS

Is it true that red kites steal

laundry to line their nests?
es. Various human material has Recent research on black kites
Y been recorded in the fabric of red
kite nests, including plastic bags, pieces of
breeding in Spain suggests that the
objects act as threats to other individuals,
cloth (including laundry) and cuddly toys. highlighting the dominance of the nest
The material chosen is often white or pale, owner. Both members of a pair may
and appears to be placed prominently in contribute material to the nest, and
the nest during the weeks leading up to while we do not have a figure for red
egg-laying. The behaviour is alluded to in kites breeding in the UK, roughly
Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, when the three-quarters of Spanish black kite Red kites are known
rogue Autolycus says: ‘My traffic is sheets; nests studied contained decorative items. for their desire to
when the kite builds, look to lesser linen’. Mike Toms achieve material gain.

3 questions on

Glow-worm phosphorescence

1 HOW AND WHY DO GLOW-

WORMS CREATE LIGHT?
Glow-worms are actually beetles, found
2 CAN YOU GET GOOD AND
BAD GLOW-WORM YEARS?
Yes. A combination of circumstances
3 HOW LONG DOES
THE GLOW LAST?
Glow-worms usually spend
in species-rich meadows and grassland (that are still not fully understood), can the day hiding in crevices
across much of the UK. Only the adult lead to boom years at certain sites. Glow- under logs or stones.
females glow, to attract the flying males. worms typically spend two years in larval Females emerge each
The yellow-green light – produced by form, hunting snails and slugs that they night and glow for a few
mixing two chemicals, luciferin and paralyse with a toxic bite. Damp years, hours, often climbing grass
luciferase – is beamed out of the final when their mollusc prey is plentiful, stems to make themselves
segment of a female’s abdomen during can help to boost numbers of glowing more visible, until they attract a mate.
evenings in June and July. adult females the following summer. This could happen immediately or take
Glow-worms only feed as larvae; days. Once mating begins, a female
the adults have no mouthparts. turns off her light and descends, taking
For the three or so weeks her partner with her. She will lay up to
that they survive in adult 100 eggs within a day or so, but dies
form, all energy goes before they hatch, about a month later.
into mating. Robin Scagell O glowworms.org.uk

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 95

 OUR WILD WORLD

MARINE BIOLOGY

Why are beadlet

anemones so aggressive?
A ll aggregating anemones are known for their
tendency to lash out with stinging tentacles,
but beadlets are particularly hostile. They live in
colonies, but only tolerate their cloned family
members. If an intruder appears, they go on the
attack, nudging and stinging until the unwelcome
visitor crawls away or falls from the rocks.
Such aggression could be linked to living
conditions. Studies have shown that individuals on
the lower shore take fewer risks and are less hostile
than those on the upper shore. The upper shore is
not submerged as frequently as the lower, so prey
Beadlet anemones have
is harder to come by. Anemones on higher parts of specific tentacles for
the beach may thus be more aggressive to make the snaring prey (here a prawn)
most of limited feeding opportunities. Lewis White and for defence; the latter
are known as acrorhagi.

The Explainer ECOLOGY

Ideal free Can rainforests regenerate?

distribution
W e’re still not entirely sure. In 1926,
British colonists in Malaysia reseeded
(with 15 tree species) an area that had been
forests. Here, tree diversity naturally reached
80 per cent of the natural forests within 20
years, though the actual species present were
deforested by mining. A century on, the area rather different, and little is known about
looks and feels like a mature, primary forest. the recovery of the animal life or the myriad
However, it hosts only 70 species of tree ecological interactions.
per hectare, compared to the 200 found in That said, perhaps these experiments
neighbouring old-growth forest. just haven’t run for long enough. There is
More recently, a study of 56 sites in evidence that areas of primary forest in both
tropical America tracked the fates of former the Amazon and the Congo were cleared for
agricultural land adjacent to old-growth agriculture in the more distant past. SB
Anenome: Heather Angel/Natural Visions/Alamy; gull: Rick Nunn/Getty; rainforest: Anton Sorokin/Alamy; moth: Sunayana RamMohan

It’s still not known

if rainforests can
fully bounce back
from clearance.
Seaside gulls flock to the
free distribution of chips.

This is one way in which animals

distribute themselves according
to available resources.
Twice as many individuals will
occupy a habitat patch that
contains double the food of
another, as long as the animals
know what is available elsewhere
and are free to choose between
the two. You can see the effect
for yourself if you go to the
seaside: find a friend, buy some
chips, stand 10m apart then
throw a chip in the air every 10
or 20 seconds, respectively,
and count the seagulls that
inevitably gather. SB

96 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 OUR WILD WORLD

What
is it?
TOWER CASE MOTH
Bagworms are no more worms than
slow-worms, inch-worms or glow-
worms. They are a family of moths
whose caterpillars live particularly
sheltered lives. The ‘bags’ in question
are usually rather ramshackle –
fragments of dead vegetation
stitched together higgledy-piggledy
with silk. But the caterpillars of
the tower case moth, an Australian
bagworm, are more fastidious. Not
only do they cut twigs of exactly the
right girth to exactly the right length
and group them accordingly – adding
larger sections as they grow – they
apparently colour-match them, too.
But then, they don’t get out much.
The females will never leave their bag,
transforming into wingless adults
that mate, lay eggs and die there. SB

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 97

 OUR WILD WORLD

NATIONAL PARKS OF THE WORLD Area: 19,185km 2 Denali peak: 6,190m Annual visitors: 594,660

Denali Alaska, USA

What to see
A wilderness at the heart of
1 GYRFALCON 2 GRIZZLY BEAR 3 CARIBOU
Alaska that features taiga
forest, alpine tundra and When to go
snow-capped mountains, Denali experiences
The world’s largest These omnivores The Denali caribou its longest daylight
this national park was falcon is present in are usually solitary, herd inhabits most of hours during the
established in 1917. It’s the park all-year- except for females the park to the east summer months.
round, unlike most of accompanied by of the Foraker River Most tours operate
famous for the highest peak during this time to
Denali’s birds. These their cubs. and north of the
in North America – ‘Denali’ powerful hunters are Occasionally, they Alaska Range. Both
coincide with the
best wildlife viewing,
is the native name for the known to prey on can be found sexes grow antlers,
when the animals
snowshoe hares, congregating in which can reach over
mountain – and visitors ground squirrels and small groups in areas a metre in length. In
increase their
foraging activities.
flock to the park in summer ptarmigan. They give abundant in food, the summer, they are
to try and see its ‘big five’ birth to their chicks such as berry usually accompanied GO THERE WITH
in March and care patches or along by calves, which are • Grand American
– wolf, bear, moose, caribou
Illustration by Bex Glover

for them in freezing rivers when salmon born from mid-May Adventures
and Dall sheep. temperatures. are spawning. into June. • Wildlife Worldwide
• Naturetrek

Spotability POSSIBLE IF YOU’RE LUCKY LIKELY

98 BBC Wildlife July 2019

 OUR WILD WORLD

WORKING FOR NATURE

Katy Potts
Longhorn beetle recording, UK
All over the Katy is keen to
share her growing
world, devoted expertise in beetle
individuals are identification.

doing their bit

by volunteering
to get involved
with wildlife.
Megan Shersby
meets a woman
who is sharing her
love of longhorns.

K aty is curatorial assistant in the

Coleoptera section of London’s Natural History
Museum (NHM), but her passion for these creatures
goes beyond working nine to five – she also spends
her spare time managing the National Longhorn
when she became a trainee on an Identification
Trainers for the Future placement, run by the
NHM, Field Studies Council (FSC) and National
Biodiversity Network Trust between 2014 and 2018.
How you
can help...
Three projects you
can get involved in:
The legacy of the programme continues.
Beetle Recording Scheme. “I was taught by specialists about some of the iRecord
“I love everything about beetles, and longhorns UK’s more cryptic groups of wildlife, and trained Identify and submit
are such an interesting and beautiful group, so in teaching so that I can pass these skills onto your beetle sightings to
taking on the volunteer role was others in hope of addressing the decline support conservation
a no-brainer,” she says. in taxonomic and field biology skills.” efforts in the UK.
Katy and fellow entomologist S I was taught This led her to then teach a number of brc.ac.uk/irecord
Wil Heeney were approached to about some courses for the FSC and to lead a trip
run the scheme by Martin Harvey to Greece with Operation Wallacea, an Buglife
from the Biological Records of the UK’s environmental research and conservation Get top tips on how
Centre. Since it began in 2016, the more cryptic expedition organisation. to start gardening for
citizen-science project has received If that wasn’t enough, Katy and Wil invertebrates.
over 10,000 records from across groups of have also been running workshops, doing buglife.org.uk/
the UK, including sightings of the wildlife. T outreach activities and creating a FSC activities-for-you/
invasive Asian longhorn beetle. fold-out identification chart, published in wildlife-gardening
“Our focus is to get people 2018. “We are proactive on social media to
interested in recording longhorn encourage more people to love longhorns, Opal Bugs Count
beetles, via iRecord, spreadsheets, photographs and run a stall at natural history events. I love the Survey
or written records,” says Katy. Records aren’t moment when you see children’s fascination and
Aimee Mcardle/NHM London

This summer, take part

just limited to the present, as the scheme has curiosity light up, once they see an insect up close, in a nationwide hunt to
also received data from museum collections, and it ignites a fire within me.” find out how the built
which allows for the species’ historical environment is affecting
distribution to be mapped. bugs near you.
Katy has always been interested in wildlife and FIND OUT MORE National Longhorn Beetle opalexplorenature.
insects, but the turning point in her career came Recording Scheme: bit.ly/ukbeetlerecording org/bugscount

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 99

 OUR WILD WORLD

Your photos
Amazing images
taken by our readers
Enter our Your Photos
competition at discoverwildlife.
com/submit-your-photos

Sibling squabbles Star

This photo was taken when I photo
went to Chongming Island,
China, in 2017. Two young
black-crowned night herons
were arguing for quite a while
and the noise caught my attention.
I quickly took the shot and was
thrilled to catch this moment.
Tony Zhang, London

ENTER TO WIN This month, our star photo wins 10x42 Viking Azura binoculars, worth £139.95. These general
A PAIR OF purpose binoculars are waterproof and come with twist-down eyecups for spectacle wearers,
BINOCULARS as well as a rain-guard, case and strap. vikingoptical.co.uk

100 BBC Wildlife

 OUR WILD WORLD

1 Flora and fauna

We discovered this
peacock day gecko
among the flowers.
It provided a welcome
respite to the strenuous
hiking on our tour of
Madagascar in 2018.
We loved how the plant
showed off this animal.
James Douse,
Chelmsford

2 Peek-a-boo
I spotted this bronze
grass skink climbing
through a hole in a dry
leaf in Jessore Sloth Bear
Sanctuary, India, during
the monsoon season.
I took the shot silently,
without moving, so as
not to disturb the reptile.
Anuj Raina,
Gujarat, India
1
3 Taking flight
2 I visited a lake near my
home to photograph
some water birds. After
a few minutes, this
Indian spot-billed duck
swam across the water
and decided to fly off. I
felt very lucky and glad
to capture this frame.
Naveen S,
Tamil Nadu, India

4 Gotcha!
We were on the shore of
Laguna Amarga in Chile
3
when we spotted these
young South American
4
grey foxes. A blur of
activity – chasing each
other, running and
jumping – they were a
challenge to photograph.
David and Shiela Glatz,
Illinois, USA

5 Caught off guard

During a trek through
Virunga National Park, a
huge figure materialised
from the shadows. With
no time to change my
lens, I decided to snap a
tight portrait. Captivated,
I only realised I had sat
in gorilla poo when we
returned to camp.
5 Jack Lammas, London

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 101

 OUR WILD WORLD

Feedback
EMAIL US WRITE TO US BBC Wildlife,
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the ideal place

FOLLOW US facebook.com/wildlifemagazine;
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E Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol, BS1 4ST twitter.com/WildlifeMag; instagram.com/bbcwildlifemagazine

parts of Central Europe where

Star Scottish lands wolves are common. Their
letter introduction would have to be
Like Robert Macfarlane (Beneath the carefully trialled.
surface, May 2019), I spent much of John Kirtkland, via email
my youth in the far north of Scotland. I
went on to spend the next 40 years living Packham’s polemic
Can estates
and working around the Highlands and support shooting
The interview with Chris
islands. From that perspective, I have to as well as wildlife? Packham (Change is coming,
say that the words attributed to Robert Read our news June 2019) highlighted a big
regarding the uplands and land reform feature on p58 issue. Neither side seems
seem rather out of touch with the reality. prepared to listen to the other’s
The catalyst for the present debate the community groups are effectively point of view.
was in 1992 when the Assynt Crofters’ becoming sporting estates in order to I love wildlife and I try to
Trust acquired their land. As a result of achieve an income while controlling deer help where I can, but I'm also
the process that followed the formation numbers. It is in the traditional sporting a realist and acknowledge that
of the Community Land Unit, we now areas that there is, generally, the most in some circumstances animals
see a much greater diversity of land- effective control. are considered to be pests and
holding interests in the Highlands and And, in fact, there are now some are killed. While I would never
islands, with community land trusts and very large private estates with a strong agree with killing for the sake
woodland groups joining environmental conservation purpose; many of them of it, I know that culling is
charities and others. espouse the ‘rewilding’ cause which sometimes considered to
Jamie Lamb/Getty

Yes, it would be nice to have far fewer Robert is keen on. be necessary.
deer; but many of the new landowners and Robin Noble, via email I think that people need to
be able to see others’ points of
view. If everyone was able to sit
down and talk, we could achieve
Returning wolves Secondly, wolves would Jim Crumley’s writing on greater success when it comes
I disagree with Jim Crumley’s no doubt predate livestock – wolves’ return was outstanding to protecting wildlife.
flowery and dreamy article (A something we already see with and thought-provoking. Owen Hollifield, Caerphilly
land fit for wolves, June 2019). sea eagles and ravens. The A strong argument in favour
I think you would find that only farmers have a tough enough would be that wolves would Though Chris Packham’s
a small minority would relish time with existing predators, keep the number of deer down intentions might be laudable,
the return of wolves. so another would not help. and reduce the considerable they have unintended
Firstly, we are all encouraged This country is not large damage that they do to young consequences. We no longer
to get outside and enjoy the enough for wolves, and there saplings. Unarguably we need have a balanced ecosystem and
countryside, but having wolves are plenty of other countries to increase the planting of trees those working in conservation
roaming about would make it that have the room. as part of our efforts to offset have to be pragmatic about
too dangerous. Tricia Brown, Perthshire the effects of climate change. the solutions.
To what extent they pose a As gamekeepers, we see
threat to farm animals and this all too often. Efforts to
to humans is debateable, restore ground-nesting birds
suggesting that controls need such as the wild grey partridge
to be implemented. Farmers have been seriously hampered
would need to be compensated by three things: habitat loss,
for the loss of stock, and armed a reduced food supply and
rangers would need to be increased predation.
employed to ensure that attacks We have to make stark
on humans were avoided. choices to save declining species
Not everyone
Parts of Scotland are wild and sometimes combining
thinks wolves
should return and inaccessible, but cannot be predator control, with habitat
to Scotland. compared to the wild tracts of management and the provision
countryside that are found in of food is the only answer.

July 2019
 OUR WILD WORLD

When dealing with a sensitive

issue like predator control, it is
TALES FROM THE BUSH
important not to confuse the
historic reasons for a species’
decline with the reasons for its
Cat among the mongooses
failure to recover now.
Liam Bell, National
Gamekeepers’ Organisation
causes a commotion Have a wild
tale to tell? If so,
please email a brief
Cats and birds When you’re observing wild mammals, it’s hard not to get synopsis to
I read James Fair’s article (On attached to individuals, as Emily Richens discovered. jo.price@
the prowl, spring 2019) about immediate.co.uk
predation by cats with interest.
Of course cats are a major cause
of the decline in songbirds.
Birds are struggling against
many factors, including human
disturbance; climate change;
loss of habitat, food and nesting
sites. In addition to the hard
grind of raising young.
At a time when our wildlife
needs all the help it can get,
keeping cats is environmentally
unacceptable. While collars
with bells may have some
effect, few seem to wear them, Juvenile mongoose
and I doubt that additional ‘Rumple’ soon
feeds would conquer their became a firm
predatory instincts. favourite for
researcher Emily.
Ella Parkin, via email

pending six months Moving with extreme

S studying dwarf
mongooses in the
South African bushveld
for my behavioural ecology
degree, I was bound to
S A sudden
uproar caught
my attention
as hornbills
caution and military
efficiency, they crossed their
territory to settle in safer
quarters. As I followed,
I carefully counted each
encounter interesting wildlife. individual several times,
Karen spied During my fieldwork in
and drongos and soon discovered that
this stoat
from a hide.
Limpopo province, I witnessed flew in alarm.T poor Rumple was gone.
stand-offs between mongooses Until that moment, I
and Mozambique spitting hadn’t realised how attached
Stoatally amazing cobras, and violent territorial disputes I had become to these wild mammals. As a
I enjoyed Robert Fuller’s article between groups. But by far the biggest drama zoologist, I understand the balance of nature
on stoats (Stoat city, spring occurred, rather fittingly, on my final day. – I would record absent individuals, noting
2019), particularly as I couldn’t I was with ‘Bookworms’, one of the largest ‘assumed predated’ – but mongooses are
believe my eyes when a stoat and longest-standing families habituated for endearing creatures, especially when you’re
appeared recently when I was the dwarf mongoose research project that studying them for 12 hours a day.
using a friend’s bird hide in was started in 2011 by a University of Bristol I was saddened to see one of ‘my own’ at
Norwich. I messaged my friend, student. This particular group included the receiving end of an attack. At the burrow,
and apparently it’s only the third my firm favourites, charismatic juveniles I watched the last individual go down for the
sighting of a stoat there in four Benny and Rumple. night and reflected on my time as a ‘gooser.’
years. I’ve seen so many types of While I was busy recording the GPS I hadn’t simply been observing these
birds there, but never anything location, a sudden uproar caught my mammals for the past few months, I’d
like this and so close. attention as hornbills and drongos flew out become consumed by their personal lives.
Karen Allen, via Facebook of the trees in alarm. I dashed towards the After I returned home to the UK, I was
tumult to see a serval (wild cat) with a surprised and relieved to learn that Rumple
mongoose in its claws and my heart skipped had turned up. Perhaps it’s not just cats that
a beat when I realised it was Rumple. have nine lives.
QUIZ ANSWERS (see p83)
The Wild Words are: 1C, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5C, 6A When it saw me, the serval turned tail
and the 21 ‘gooses’ vanished. I searched EMILY RICHENS is currently
COMPETITION WINNERS
Rohan competition: L Hutchinson, Cumbria.
frantically for the family, eventually relocating completing her Master of
them at their termite-mound burrow. Research at University of Bristol.

July 2019 BBC Wildlife 103

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kk Drift into the dreamy world of the damselfly

kk The very best British wildlife to see this summer Jan–Dec 18
total 30,727

kk We investigate the growing ‘animal selfie’ trend

kk What is the science behind stings?
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July 2019 BBC Wildlife 105

VIEWPOINT

WILDLIFE CHAMPION

JAMES GLANCY
In our series about people with a passion for a species, we ask TV presenter
and former Royal Marine James Glancy why he admires the oceanic whitetip.

Why are you championing beautiful, long fins – once caught,

this species? their carcass is often discarded. In
Sharks have captivated me since I was the Northwest and Western Central
a child. Aged 14, I learnt to dive and Atlantic, enormous declines have
encountered my first bull shark on a been reported. In the Gulf of Mexico,
family holiday in Florida. I’ve chosen it’s thought to have declined by 98
the oceanic whitetip because it is an per cent over a 30-year period.
amazing fish that doesn’t have any
champions. It used to be one of the How can we save it?
most abundant shark species seen We need to create larger marine
in deep water but has suffered huge protected areas with proper
declines. I’ve studied whitetips for enforcement; conserve populations by
years and got in the water with them agreeing on international regulation
while presenting a TV show in 2018. for sustainable fishing policies; ban gill
nets and reduce the use of long-line
What was it like to dive with vessels and the amount they can catch.
oceanic whitetips? Educating people about how sharks are
During filming, I spent 43 hours in
the ocean – free diving in the day and S Whitetips are caught and where shark products end
up is also really important.
in a netted aluminium pen at night – portrayed as
to see how the sharks reacted to people truth. They are lone, mindless What action do you want?
in the water. In the first five hours, 12 actually cautious, Political will to give this species and
whitetips showed up. At night their despite being bold, killers but this other sharks better protection. These
behaviour changed as they went into and are intelligent is far from apex predators need the same attention
hunting mode, bumping into the pen animals that rely on as elephants, rhinos and pangolins.
with their snouts but they didn’t try social interaction. the truth. T On average, humans kill 100 million
to bite. As predators, they remind me These sharks are sharks a year. When you compare this
of the way wolves or dogs act – on opportunistic to about six documented human deaths
their own, they are unlikely to attack scavengers. a year from sharks, humans are the
unless they are extremely hungry threat, not sharks. Jo Price
or aggravated but they are more Why is the whitetip
JAMES GLANCY is director of conservation
dangerous when they work together in trouble? for the charity Veterans for Wildlife. He will
and a few confident individuals make Fishing pressure throughout its present on Shark Week 2019, on the Discovery
Channel from 28 July.
the first move. range is a huge threat to this highly
migratory species. It is caught in
Does it deserve its large numbers as bycatch, in pelagic The expert view
bad reputation? fisheries, longlines and gill nets.
h d h h d df h kf Oceanic whitetips are protected
through international agreements,
such as CITES, and some national
legislation. However, compliance and
Shark: Alex Mustard/naturepl.com

regulation are challenging, as oceanic whitetips

often range across the high seas, beyond national
boundaries. Given current declines, we urgently
need more data to better protect the species.
David Curnick is a research fellow at the Zoological
Society of London’s Institute of Zoology, investigating
the behaviour patterns of sharks and tuna.

July 2019
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AMANDA MARKS, TRIBES TRAVEL

WWW.ZAMBIATOURISM.CO.UK | @ZAMBIATOURISMUK