04.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Environment at 8:24 am by allan
Attacks by killer whales may be helping to drive the sudden and mysterious decline of seals around the northern coasts of Scotland, new research suggests.
British populations of harbour seals (also known as common seals) are falling steeply, with numbers in Orkney and Shetland dropping by 40 per cent in the five years to 2006.
So far, the declines are unexplained, but a new theory is that killer whales, or orcas, the bulky, black-and-white predators which are in fact the largest members of the dolphin family, have increased their taking of seals to such an extent that it may be causing populations to shrink.
Full story: Independent
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04.09.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Tay Dolphins, Environment at 7:45 am by allan
SCOTLAND’S seas and coastline are facing a new series of threats because of rapid climate change, The Scotsman can reveal.
The first report into the state of the nation’s seas highlights the fact that 12 per cent of the country’s coastline is already subject to serious erosion, and that is set to get worse.
The report, Scotland’s Seas – Towards Understanding Their State, was ordered by Richard Lochhead, the Rural Affairs Secretary, to provide an analysis of what needs to be done to protect Scotland’s marine environment and to help inform forthcoming marine legislation.
The authors warn that climate change will bring stormier seas, higher sea levels and bigger waves. They claim that 740 miles of Scottish coastline has already suffered serious erosion problems, increasing the risk of more flooding and damage to the natural habitat of wildlife.
The report also states that sea temperatures are now rising at between 0.2 and 0.4 per cent per decade compared to 0.07 per cent 100 years ago.
There is also evidence that water acidity levels are increasing in some areas, which adversely affects wildlife such as bottlenose dolphins. But the report admits there are gaps in the knowledge on bottlenose dolphins, which are believed to be in decline in the Moray Firth and along the east coast.
Populations of common seals and Arctic terns are being dramatically reduced, although some species like gannets have seen an increase in numbers.
The report, which was drawn up by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Fisheries Research Council (FRC) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), once again underlines the problem of the over-fishing of cod in Scottish waters and says stocks are in a dangerous state.
Worries are also raised about some of the life forms at the bottom of the food chain – zooplankton – which are the diet for many seabirds.
The authors said that 34 special areas of conservation have been set up in Scottish seas and are showing “favourable signs” of improvement but that it may take “decades or even centuries for full recovery in some cases.”
Full story: Scotsman
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04.07.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Environment at 8:17 am by allan
Anti-submarine sonar may have killed a group of whales found dead in the Hebrides in one of Britain’s most unusual strandings, scientists believe.
Five Cuvier’s beaked whales, a species rarely seen in British waters, were discovered on beaches in the Western Isles on succeeding days in February. Another animal from a related species was discovered at the same time.
Experts consider such a multiple stranding to be highly abnormal. They calculate, from the state of the carcasses inspected that the whales died in the same incident out in the Atlantic to the south and west of Britain, and then drifted towards the Scottish coast over two or three weeks.
The main suspect in the case is sonar, as it is known that beaked whales are highly sensitive to the powerful sound waves used by all the world’s navies to locate underwater objects such as submarines.
Groups of beaked whales have been killed, with sonar suspected as the direct cause, several times in recent years; well-documented incidents include anti-submarine exercises in Greece in 1996, the Bahamas in 2000 and the Canary Islands in 2002. In 2003, an American judge banned the US Navy from testing a new sonar after a court case brought by environmentalists to protect marine life.
Britain’s Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has now submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Ministry of Defence over the Hebridean strandings, with the aim of finding out if any Royal Navy activity coincided with the possible location and timing of the whales’ deaths. So far, the MoD has provided no answers, but it is possible that other navies might have been involved.
Full story: Independent
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03.02.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Environment at 2:18 pm by allan
THERE WILL be blood, and oil will be to blame. Scotland’s seas and the wildlife they harbour are facing one of the biggest threats they have ever encountered.
A massive new search for oil and gas launched by the UK government will put whales, dolphins and other marine life at risk. And it will jeopardise global attempts to cut the pollution that is causing climate chaos.
Plans to open up virtually all of the seas around Scotland to multinationals seeking to find oil and gas have been greeted with widespread horror by experts and environmentalists.
“This represents the most substan-tial threat to Scotland’s seas in the modern age,” warned Green MSP Robin Harper.
“Practically every mile of our coastline could see drilling and seismic exploration, putting marine ecosystems and wildlife at risk. This amounts to exploitation of the crudest sort, and undermines every improvement in marine conservation since the 1970s.”
Harper demanded that UK ministers abandon the plans, and called on the SNP government in Edinburgh to oppose them.
“UK ministers seem determined to take us in exactly the wrong direction,” he said. “Have they forgotten that their dependence on fossil fuels is what has led to the threat of climate change in the first place?”
Full story: Sunday Herald
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02.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:18 am by allan
Walkers in the Highlands are being asked to help discover the true numbers of one of Britain’s most secretive creatures - the Scottish wildcat.
It became extinct in England and Wales 150 years ago but continues to be sighted in Scottish woods and moorland.
Some estimates suggest just 400 survive - although there could be up to 4,000.
Now Scottish Natural Heritage is asking everyone who uses the countryside to take part in a year-long survey and report sightings of the timid animal.
Full story: BBC
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:13 am by allan
FIFE RESEARCHERS studying the resting behaviour of wild sperm whales have found evidence that they literally drift off to sleep and can “cat nap” during rhythmic dives.
The new study, by Dr Patrick Miller of St Andrews University, reveals a novel drifting behaviour, and sperm whales were captured on video as they eerily floated vertically and motionless at or just below the ocean surface.
The research and footage demonstrates that sperm whales in the wild switch off completely for short periods of time, and it is now thought sperm whales may sleep less than any other mammal in the wild.
Dr Miller, of the school of biology’s sea mammal research unit, said the drift diving behaviour had been recorded by tagging devices attached with suction cups to 59 whales around the world.
The whales were recorded consistently performing this behaviour in each location, indicating that it is stereotypical for the entire species.
“Many mammals show species-typical sleeping behaviour, such as dogs circling before lying down, lending support to the idea that sperm whales sleep during these drift dives,” said Dr Miller. “One exciting aspect of this finding is that it suggests the largest toothed whale actually might sleep in a fashion that we recognise as similar to sleep in terrestrial mammals.
Full story: Courier
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02.02.08
Posted in Uncategorized, Environment at 9:53 am by allan
CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSALS to transfer million of tonnes of Russian crude oil between ships off the Fife coast have been rejected.
In a surprise announcement yesterday, Forth Ports plc said it was not proceeding with an application to carry out ship-to-ship (STS) oil transfers in the estuary.
Forth Ports group chief executive Charles Hammond insisted that although STS was feasible, it had been decided not to go ahead because of the uncertainty surrounding the scope of the proposed project.
The unexpected move was warmly welcomed by the many groups and individuals who had campaigned against the plans since The Courier first revealed them in March 2005.
They had argued that threat of an environmental disaster from a major spillage outweighed the limited economic benefits.
Full story: Courier
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01.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:28 am by allan
New evidence has been compiled by marine scientists that prove the normally placid dolphin is capable of brutal attacks both on innocent fellow marine mammals and, more disturbingly, on its own kind.
Film taken of gangs of dolphins repeatedly ramming baby porpoises, tossing them in the air and pursuing them to the death has solved a long-term mystery of what causes the death of so many of these harmless mammals - but has left animal experts baffled as to the motive.
Another mystery is that the animal ‘murders’ have only been reported in two parts of the world - along Scotland’s East Coast and in America off the beaches of Virginia, where even more alarmingly, the victims were scores of the dolphins’ own young.
Full story: Telegraph
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Posted in Uncategorized at 10:26 am by allan
Education time for young killer whales also means the hardest of lessons for eider ducks - or at least those surviving the experience.
Grey seals are the main targets of orca pods venturing regularly into the inshore water of Scotland’s Northern Isles but isolated attacks on groups of swimming eider have also been noted in recent years.
This happens during the late summer period when these largest of UK sea ducks can’t take to the air through moulting their flight feathers - so making them vulnerable to one of the fiercest of marine predators.
But why should huge hunters, averaging around eight metres long and weighing up to 7,200kgs (eight tons), with big appetites - even in captivity they eat 45kgs a day - bother with comparative small fry?
Full story: Telegraph
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01.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:39 am by allan
WHO’LL BE this year’s top ten? Will the goldfinch continue its amazing climb? Have we seen the last of the dunnock, and will the chaffinch keep its top spot?
Just some of the questions the RSPB could answer with just an hour of your time this weekend when the world’s biggest birdwatching exercise takes place.
Last year saw 30,000 Scots among 500,000 in the UK who took part in the Bird Garden Birdwatch. It involves an hour spent looking at the garden, itself a stress-relieving activity.
Since 1979, the annual Garden Birdwatch has helped provide a picture of the impact on common birds of climate change, or last year’s wet summer and the increasing range of foods put out for birds.
Anecdotal evidence suggests increased numbers of migrants such as goldfinch, siskin and redwing in Scotland this year. People can take part by visiting www. rspb.org.uk/birdwatch
Full story: Courier
Take part in Birdwatch: RSPB
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