Drought
How do our frogs survive as the reserve’s ponds and streams dry up in the drought?
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It’s hot!
Here are some ways in which you can help your garden’s wildlife through the heatwave.
Continue reading “It’s hot!”Personal choices
Research has shown that making small changes to our lives can have a huge impact in reducing carbon emissions. Apparently, we can help avert climate collapse by making just six fairly easy lifestyle changes.
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Reindeer
There were reindeer here in Britain in large numbers around the time of the last ice age, 35,000 to 50,000 years ago. There were wild herds of reindeer in Scotland right up until the 13th century when, like so many of our large native herbivores, they were hunted to extinction.
Continue readingWarming oceans
Albatross divorce rate rises
No, we haven’t seen an albatross flying over the reserve but occasionally a story from beyond our particular corner of Southwick catches our eye.
Continue reading “Warming oceans”Migration changes
Analysis of records kept since 1964 has found that some species of European migratory birds are spending up to 60 days less each year in their sub-Saharan wintering grounds. Over the most recent 27-year period, migratory birds, including the whitethroats commonly seen in our reserve, were found to have increased their time in Europe by an average of 16 days. It has even been suggested that some species may stop flying south for the winter altogether.
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Wiltshire Council has published a draft Climate Strategy which will help them to shape the next five years of their action on climate change. You are invited to contribute by taking an online survey.
At the same time they are consulting on a document called the Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Wiltshire. You are invited to contribute to this consultation by taking another online survey here.
Continue readingCarbon dioxide landmark.
The Met Office has forecast that during 2021, atmospheric carbon dioxide will reach levels 50% higher than before the industrial revolution.
Continue reading “Carbon dioxide landmark.”Stormwatch
That could have been the longest official heatwave, with temperatures over 35°C, that the UK has ever recorded. As it breaks and the thunder rolls around the hills, here, just for the fun of it, is a link to a website where you can watch the storms as they happen.
Sunniest May on record
According to the Meteorological Office, spring begins every year on March 1st and ends on May 31st. Let’s look back at 2020’s meteorological spring.
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Changing temperatures are initiating plant growth earlier and earlier every year. In the park, there are already primroses in flower.
Continue readingFantastic Mrs Fox
No, we haven’t seen an arctic fox in the park; that would be silly. Instead, here is the irresistible story of a record-breaking journey undertaken by an arctic fox, which demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of all the vulpine species, our common red fox included. It also raises questions, pertinent to everybody, about the effects of the frighteningly rapid loss of arctic ice.
Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 