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The Green Ark : Beneficial Moisture Levels across Western Sahel
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2010-08-12 10:15.
Italian town sets wonderful example in saving the once Common Swift
Tuscan Archipelago National Park and the Municipality of Marciana (Isle of Elba, Italy)
The following is the text of the latest amended Building Regulations in the Municipality of Marciana, Italy as released by Aurora Ciardelli on May 26, 2010
The Town of Marciana on the Isle of Elba amends its Building Regulations to help Swifts and Swallows
Submitted by admin on Thu, 2010-05-27 13:47.
Little Weavers - pair at the nest with food
And finally: Martin has sent me this one: of "the boy and the girl" at home ... "a great capture" etc.
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Aerial view of Little Weaver breeding site in Serengeti
Just because we can:
Isn't technology wonderful?
Here's Martin's aerial photo of the Little Weaver breeding site in the Serengeti NP. Note the big-game: three Toyota Landcruisers. It was taken on the very same afternoon!
All thanks to Geoff and Anabel Harries for this one.
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Little Weaver breeding in Serengeti National Park
Male Ploceus luteolus kavirondensis taken at the (single) nest site in the Serengeti National Park at the "hippo pool ford" just east of Seronera in early March 2007 by Martin Goodey.
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Silent Springs Eternal - for our Plutocracy
One of the most worrying aspects, at least for a confessed euro-ecological-exile, when watching the recent UK general election, via our global-info-grid, was discovering how little "the environment" matters to modern British politics. Especially our home i.e. UK environment. Any recent ripples, of the global-green-waffle, which have been washing at our shores on these little islands were drowned out by fears for the economy stupid. "No growth, no dream; no dream, no power".
In fact, so far as I could see, there was hardly any serious discussion at all of what I consider to be the environment during this last election.
But then in cool Britannia; in England's green and pleasant land, apart from a few, mostly rather old uncool crusties, who needs "Nature" anyway?
The wannabe leaders might as well have been saying to each other:
"We must ensure we can let them .. eat ice cream ... with their .. nitrazepam cake"
But we do care! Just look how quickly we announced our Minister for Energy and - er ... what's it called - ... Climate
When will these plutocrats realise that we ALL need to learn to respect a healthy, living planet? Realise that we can no longer parasitise it with impunity?
All of us, no matter how rich we are, or what school we went to?
We share the same one planet.
Our kids will not be happy with the endgame of our dissolving status quo! Even the richest kids, all children of seriously 'short-sighted' parents, living there indoors, in over-fed nations.
It seems to me there are three simple interconnected things politicians like Cameron, Clegg et al. don't understand.
Let's call them:
Life, Nature, Love
UK early morning - and where are the migrants?I - that is Charlie Moores at Great Chalfield in Wiltshire, England - found about six singing Common Whitethroats, one Lesser Whitethroat, three or four Chiffchaffs and perhaps the same number of Blackcaps - but I’ve only heard two Willow Warblers all spring, and I’m still to hear (let alone see) a Garden Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, or Reed Warbler. We have an abundance of insects around the estate, plenty of nesting habitat, freshwater, brooks, and farmland. What we don’t have are Cuckoos, Turtle Doves, or Quails utilising them. I don’t realistically expect to be seeing or hearing Red-backed Shrikes, Wheatears, or Nightingales (though naturalists living locally just a hundred years ago might have done), but where have all our Spotted Flycatchers gone?
More Endemic Birds on the Greater Serengeti Safari
Safari Birding Guide to Tanzania Endemics
This is one of the easiest of the Tanzanian endemic birds to find.
The "best option" (i.e. the shortest-time/least-cost locality) for "getting" this endemic is to spend at least one night at the delightful Ndutu Safari Lodge. This excellent lodge in an excellent location is nestled within the ecotone that forms the boundary between the dry steppe of the westernmost NCA (the Ngorongoro Conservation Area) and the short grass plains of the easternmost Serengeti, (it straddles the border in fact) and is only an hour and a half westward from Olduvai Gorge, the "cradle of mankind". Oldupai is actually far closer to the sound of this Maa word which they use for the lance-leaved wild sisal or mother-in-laws's tongue: Sansevieria ehrenbergiana). It's about three hours at a 'relatively comfortable' pace west from the Ngorongoro Crater ascent road.
If you don't stop at Ndutu you have to trek into the Seronera bushlands, at the hub of the Serengeti National Park tourist system, and suffer yet more $50 per head park fees, high camping fees and/or some seriously inflated lodge prices. Amongst a huge variety of 'good birds' around Ndutu Safari Lodge Fischer's Lovebird is absolutely abundant, coming to drink in hordes outside the restaurant, as is Rufous-tailed Weaver and the Usambiro Barbet is tolerably common.
If you happen to be coming north from Mwanza on the main road alongside Lake Victoria-Nyanza stop-in at Speke Bay Lodge because they are here too; in the 30ha of largely mown grassland and semi-natural bush that this lakeside hotel maintains.
A strange form (or some form of intermediate taxon between this and Red-necked Spurfowl) of this endemic, with deep maroon-coloured legs, occurs albeit in very small numbers around Lobo Wildlife Lodge, in the north-eastern Serenegeti, and occasionally they can be seen along the road toward the Klein's Camp corner or else toward the vast "Arabiya" private hunting concession which lies just to the east.
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Birdlife: Biodiversity in Africa is declining fast (being crushed)
Biodiversity in Africa's Protected Areas is declining Fast
The status of Biodiversity is progressively declining in African Protected Areas according to BirdLife International. This was unveiled during a side event today (sic!) hosted by BirdLife during the on-going SSTTA meeting attended by Government delegates from all over the world.
In total, BirdLife is working in 22 countries in Africa in over 1,200 IBAs. While all countries have increased efforts to conserve biodiversity, much more is still to be done. The side event in Nairobi, Kenya, shared results from a monitoring project of Protected Areas at 117 sites, across seven African countries, implemented by BirdLife and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) and funded by the European Commission.
The monitoring results clearly show that the state of biodiversity in Protected Areas is declining. Sites identified as being in a poor state increased from 43% in 2001, to 57% in 2008.
At the same time there has been a general increase of threats facing Protected Areas. "The results of our monitoring indicate that the pressures on biodiversity have been increasing, falling far short of the target to reduce biodiversity loss", said Dr Muhtari Aminu Kano - BirdLife International's Global Policy and Advocacy Advisor.
Delegates at the meeting heard how BirdLife used a simple 'State, Pressure, Response' Model for the monitoring of African Important Bird Areas (IBAs), of which 46% are Protected Areas.
The data from the monitoring have been used to develop indicators to show trends over time within IBAs. These results form important components of the suite of indicators suitable to track biodiversity progress towards the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) target, and wider sustainable development around the globe.
"The results also show that if proper management responses are put in place it is possible to improve the state of biodiversity and reduce pressures", said Achilles Byaruhanga - Executive Director of Nature Uganda (BirdLife Partner).
"This was well demonstrated through the sites monitored in Botswana - Central Kalahari Game reserve, Okavango Delta and Mannyelanong - where comprehensive and effective uses of existing management plans have been instituted".
BirdLife told delegates that it is important for policies to be implemented and alternative livelihoods be provided to reduce the pressures facing Protected Areas and ensure that governments start moving towards meeting their biodiversity target under the CBD.
"BirdLife's monitoring tool is a useful tool and can be used by Governments to identify threats, assess their impacts and that of conservation action while at the same time helping to develop solutions", said Dr Julius Arinaitwe - BirdLife Africa Partnership Director.
"BirdLife supports a post 2010 commitment (sic!) by Governments (2020 target) that urges for urgent action to halt biodiversity loss; to reduce pressure on biodiversity, prevent extinctions, restore ecosystems while equitably sharing the benefits, thus contributing to human well being and poverty reduction", concluded Dr Arinaitwe.
