Nature Watch

Nature Watch

Birdwatching, April 2023.

Published in Nature Watch

We are delighted to share Steve Jones's report from a fruitful week's birdwatching in April 2023.

'Gulls in the harbour - storm at sea'

Published in Nature Watch

Birds as weather forecasters

"BEE HAPPY" 2022.

Published in Nature Watch

Hvar's first observation beehive, celebrating World Bee Day, May 20th 2022.

Brief Nature Watch, Spring 2022

Published in Nature Watch

Nature watcher Steve Jones paid a short visit to Hvar in April.

Beware: caterpillars processing!

Published in Nature Watch

The caterpillars of the pine processionary moth (thaumetopoea pityocampa) come out any time between February and April each year.

Luki finds the first Orchids!

Published in Nature Watch

Luki is one of Hvar's happiest dogs, and one of Hvar's greatest nature-lovers. On March 15th, he sniffed out early orchids not far from Vrboska. 

Hvar's Springtime Treats

Published in Nature Watch

Sunshine, mild weather and some occasional outbursts of rain are bringing Hvar's spring on at great speed.

Saving Wildlife and Biodiversity: Looking to the Future

Published in Nature Watch

November 2019 saw the launch of the European Citizens' Initiative petition under the title 'Save Bees and Farmers'.

Dragonflies and Damselflies

Published in Nature Watch

These delicate-looking, exquisite creatures play an important part in the natural chain. They are especially useful to humans because of their voracious appetite for mosquitoes and other biting insects such as midges.

You are here: Home environment articles Nature Watch

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Experts are trying everything from drums to whale calls to lure kʷiisaḥiʔis – or Brave Little Hunter – out of the Canadian lagoon she has been trapped in since the stranding death of her mother

    As a two-year-old orca calf circled a lagoon off the west coast of Canada on Monday, she heard a comforting sound resonating through the unfamiliar place in which she found herself: the clicks and chirps of her great-aunt.

    But the calf, named kʷiisaḥiʔis (pronounced kwee-sahay-is, which roughly translates as Brave Little Hunter) by local First Nations people, could not locate another whale in the shallow waters. The calls, broadcast from speakers placed underwater, were part of a complex and desperate operation still under way to try to save the stranded calf.

    Continue reading...

  • A group of hospitals serve up a menu rich in plants – and say they have had few complaints

    Patrick Burrichter did not think about saving lives or protecting the planet when he trained as a chef in a hotel kitchen. But 25 years later he has focused his culinary skills on doing exactly that.

    From an industrial park on the outskirts of Berlin, Burrichter and his team cook for a dozen hospitals that offer patients a “planetary health” diet – one that is rich in plants and light in animals. Compared with the typical diet in Germany, known for its bratwurst sausage and doner kebab, the 13,000 meals they rustle up each day are better for the health of people and the planet.

    Continue reading...

  • Experts say the hybrids risk ‘polluting’ the genetic stock, but scientists disagree on how to deal with them. In Piedmont, Italy, the sight of a blond wolfdog signals the risk of another new litter

    • Photographs by Alberto Olivero

    From the moment the rangers first saw him on their trail cameras, the problem was apparent. The wolf, spotted deep in the woods of Italy’s Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park, was not grey like his companion, but an unusual blond. His colouring indicated this was not a wolf at all, but a hybrid wolfdog – the first to be seen so far into Piedmont’s alpine region. And where one hybrid is found, more are sure to follow.

    “We thought he would go away,” says Elisa Ramassa, a park ranger in Gran Bosco who has tracked the local wolves for 25 years. “Unfortunately, he found a female who loves blonds.”

    Elisa Ramassa and fellow ranger Massimo Rosso search for wolf tracks in Gran Bosco di Salbertrand park; and a wolfdog in the mountains (photographed by Massimo Rosso)

    Continue reading...

  • Subsidence linked to extraction of groundwater and natural gas, and weight of buildings pressing into soft ground

    A number of cities on the US east coast are sinking, increasing the risk of flooding from rising sea levels.

    Between 2007 and 2020 the ground under New York, Baltimore and Norfolk in Virginia sank between 1mm and 2mm a year, other places sank at double or triple that rate, and Charleston, South Carolina, sank fastest, at 4mm a year, in a city less than 3 metres above sea level.

    Continue reading...

  • World’s fossil-fuel producers on track to nearly quadruple output from newly approved projects by decade’s end, report finds

    The world’s fossil-fuel producers are on track to nearly quadruple the amount of extracted oil and gas from newly approved projects by the end of this decade, with the US leading the way in a surge of activity that threatens to blow apart agreed climate goals, a new report has found.

    There can be no new oil and gas infrastructure if the planet is to avoid careering past 1.5C (2.7F) of global heating, above pre-industrial times, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has previously stated. Breaching this warming threshold, agreed to by governments in the Paris climate agreement, will see ever worsening effects such as heatwaves, floods, drought and more, scientists have warned.

    Continue reading...

  • Decision increases concerns about financial future of UK’s biggest water firm and increases prospect of nationalisation

    Investors in Thames Water have pulled the plug on £500m of emergency funding amid a standoff with the industry regulator over attempts to raise bills, increasing the prospect that the heavily indebted company may be nationalised.

    The beleaguered utilities company said on Thursday that its shareholders had refused to provide the first tranche of £750m funding to secure its short-term cashflow, after the company had failed to meet certain conditions.

    Continue reading...

  • Welsh Marches, Shropshire: After all the rain, cold winds and more rain, suddenly an explosion of flowers from this Mount Fuji cherry tree

    The way to the spring equinox was precarious. We began to wonder if spring would come and go, and it would still be winter. Daffodils looked pissed off. Bleachy damson and blackthorn blossom stained early. Rain, cold winds, rain, floods, more rain. Then suddenly this – boom – an explosion of flowers into a moment of balance.

    Emerging from the dark half, I thought it might be the Mount Fuji cherry, Prunus serrulata ‘Shirotae’. Battered by decades of standing outside a Shrewsbury nightclub, surrounded by walls and traffic in the corner of a shopping centre due to be demolished, and entangled with gossamer packaging material, this cherry had endured its suffering, and suddenly flowered like a Japanese painting. A Zen moment at the equinox.

    Continue reading...

  • Call for environmental emergency to be declared after data reveals 105% rise in raw sewage discharges over past 12 months

    Water companies in England have faced a barrage of criticism as data revealed raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas last year in a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

    The scale of the discharges of untreated waste made 2023 the worst year for storm water pollution. Early data seen by the Guardian put the scale of discharges at more than 4m hours, but officials said the figures were an early estimate.

    Continue reading...

  • Rivers in north of England among most polluted, shows new data. Search your postcode to see how sewage spills into your local river

    Rivers in the north of England are bearing the brunt of the sewage pollution crisis, analysis by the Guardian reveals, with the region’s waters experiencing the highest rates of waste discharge in the country.

    Storm overflows around the Irwell valley, where the rivers Croal and Irwell run through to Manchester, discharged raw sewage 12,000 times in 2023 — the highest rate of all English rivers when accounting for length, at 95 spills per mile.

    Continue reading...

  • A woman rushed a pompom to a wildlife hospital, thinking it was an injured baby hedgehog. These cases of mistaken identity happen more often than you might think …

    Name: Baby hedgehog.

    Age: Unknown.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds