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Most of our ladybirds are on the northern edge of their ranges in Britain, and so if the climate warms, it’s likely to improve things for them – species may well be able to live further north, and potentially have multiple broods in a year more frequently.
Conservationists revealed that an innovative project has increased numbers of black-throated divers from a low of 180 pairs in the late 1980s, when the project first started, to 240 pairs in 2012. The project aimed to recreate ideal breeding habitat for the birds to nest and raise their chicks.
Dreissena polymorpha superficially resemble marine mussels in the family Mytilidae, and like them, are attached to solid substrates with a byssus.
S. muticum was first found attached in Bembridge, Isle of Wight, in 1971 where it most likely had arrived from France.
Perhaps it might seem odd to think of an insect as endearing. But whilst most of them may not be as cuddly as a kitten moth at first glance, they do make for amongst the safest wild creatures for novices to handle, for both the handled and the handler.
As it was so recently introduced, we have a full chronology of its spread and there have been plenty of studies on the seaweed so a lot is known.
It is not known how either of these species were introduced in the UK. The main hypotheses for this are the same as most other species on the list; ballast transport or introduced by imported oysters.
Nature in the UK is not so much flying high as sinking fast, whether moths or otherwise.
It is our tallest breeding bird and its majestic appearance ensured that it frequently featured in art, mythology and legends.
They are marine filter feeders with a sac-like body structure. In their respiration and feeding they take in water through an inhalant siphon and expel the filtered water through an exhalant siphon.