Vendace Brought back from the edge of Extinction

When I was a child, I started making a list of the whole of the Flora and Fauna to be found in the British Isles. Really Geeky I know, but I have always been an odd ball. This was originally a paper record. Then back in 1981 I bought a computer. It was really basic compared to the ones available now, no hard drive, storage was on five and a quarter floppy disks. On this computer I was able to record much of the wildlife this country holds.

But what with work and other commitments I eventually abandoned the project. Also, as computers improved, I discovered that to transfer the data to a new computer was going to require retyping in thousands of records. In many ways it was a project that would have been ideal for the internet age.

While I did abandon this, it did enable me to discover just how rich our wildlife was, and I discovered species that I would never have known. One such species was the Vendace. However when I was doing this it was uncertain if this fish was extinct or not. It has been the loss of species that has been my driving force in conservation for most of my life.

Therefore, it was pleasing to discover this article about the Vendace and how it is now thriving in a new location when it has died out in three of the four of its natural locations.

The article on the Project

Further Information One Two Three

Climate Change and Bird Populations

While the effect of a warming climate will have many predictable consequences, it is the impacts that the majority of the population don’t think about that are in fact the more serious ones.

In some migrating birds choosing not to winter in the UK, many people will assume that this is just a minor matter. Interesting to note but what will be the impact upon my life, they will say. Well, the impacts could be greater than people assume.

Because of the importance of the UK as wintering grounds our agriculture practices have been modified to accommodate these influxes of birds. This is not just about the crops that are grown but the husbandry of farm animals. When you have large populations of birds migrating to the UK there has to be a food source for them, geese and ducks will help clear large areas of grass, thus reducing the cost of farming these lands. Also some of the birds will feed on grubs and insects that present over winter, keeping that population in check. Who knows what the effect on human and animal health this change will bring.

Further there is the impact upon tourism in the areas where these birds flock; there are many small communities that are reliant upon the tourist pound that the bird’s presence brings.

Then there are the problems for the communities where the birds are now choosing to over winter. Will the birds be competing for valuable or scarce resources? Are they competing with man for these? If the answer to any of these is yes the populations of these many species of birds will be at serious risk.

Climate change is already creating a serious problem for the summer breading populations of sea birds. The warming of the seas is reducing the populations of sand eel’s that so rely on to feed and raise their young. This means that populations of internationally important species are in decline. But its not just the effect upon the birds that this should be causing concern, what about the rest of the food chain and the fish that humans eat? In the North Sea fish stocks are already looking as if they are in terminal decline.

There will be some people who will think that this doesn’t really matter, there are other more important issues to worry about, but the reality is this is the most important issue of the day. Unless we act now, we not only risk causing the mass extinction of animal populations, but our own extinction as well.