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FenTyger Grey Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Total posts: 6 Location: Isle of Ely Gender: Female |
 Posted: 25-07-2013 20:56 Post subject: |
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[quote="hunck"]Not so little - upwards of 6" I reckon.
The turtle we saw was maybe slightly larger than your average pet tortoise, so what, about 8-10 inches across the shell? |
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rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 20323 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-07-2013 17:24 Post subject: |
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North Berwick drivers warned over hidden puffins
Motorists in an East Lothian town have been asked to check for disorientated young puffins - known as pufflings - hiding under their vehicles.
The Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick said pufflings regularly wander into the town by mistake after leaving their burrows for the first time.
They often settle underneath cars after searching for somewhere dark to hide.
North Berwick lies on the coast of the Firth of Forth, which houses large puffin colonies on its islands.
Staff at the seabird centre said puffins around Scotland's coastline are due to leave their breeding burrows and return to the sea over the next few weeks.
However, some pufflings become disorientated by the lights from neighbouring towns.
The Seabird Centre has, in previous years, been alerted to numerous lost pufflings - including one that was found wandering along a corridor in North Berwick's Marine Hotel.
"Where's the bar?!" 
Another was found hiding under a vehicle in the local supermarket car park.
The centre's chief executive, Tom Brock appealed for drivers in North Berwick and the surrounding area to be vigilant and to contact the Seabird Centre or the Scottish SPCA if they discover a lost puffling.
Mr Brock said: "This is a key time of year for our puffins as they head out to sea after the breeding season. However, as pufflings literally fly the nest, their parents leave for sea without them. The young can become disorientated and head into town.
"My request to people along in and around North Berwick to look under your car - you may find a cute young puffin. Puffins are wonderful seabirds and an important part of our marine ecology. They are also very popular and an important part of Scotland's growing wildlife tourism economy."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-23493852 |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17657 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-08-2013 00:43 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Wolf found in Netherlands is no joke, scientists say
August 7th, 2013 in Biology / Plants & Animals
A stuffed wolf is displayed on August 7, 2013 in Naarden, The Netherlands, during a press conference
A stuffed wolf is displayed on August 7, 2013 in Naarden, Netherlands, during a press conference. A female wolf's body was found by the roadside near the tiny village of Luttelgeest in the north of the country in July. The first wolf found in the Netherlands in over 140 years walked there freely from eastern Europe, scientists said Wednesday, dismissing allegations it was a joke.
A stuffed wolf is displayed on August 7, 2013 in Naarden, Netherlands, during a press conference. A female wolf's body was found by the roadside near the tiny village of Luttelgeest in the north of the country in July. The first wolf found in the Netherlands in over 140 years walked there freely from eastern Europe, scientists said Wednesday, dismissing allegations it was a joke.
The first wolf found in the Netherlands in over 140 years walked there freely from eastern Europe, scientists said Wednesday, dismissing allegations its body had been dumped as joke.
The female wolf has mystified the Netherlands since its body was found by the roadside near the tiny village of Luttelgeest in the north of the country in July.
Some had even suggested that eastern European agricultural workers employed in the Netherlands had brought the wolf from their home country in order to confound the Dutch.
But now a bevvy of Dutch scientific and wildlife groups have come together to establish the truth.
The Dutch Wildlife Health Centre (DWHC) said in a statement after a press conference that "the wolf died from a heavy blow to the head, apparently from being hit by a car."
The wolf was in good health, around one and a half years old and had just eaten some young beaver, the DWHC said in a joint statement with the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, the Alterra research institute and WolvenInNederland (Wolves in the Netherlands).
The wolf apparently originally came from "eastern Europe, near the Russian border," Naturalis and Alterra said.
It seemingly entered the Netherlands "by natural means" and lived here for some time before being run over, WolvenInNederland and Alterra said.
However, more research needs to be done to be more precise, the groups said.
"In any case the body showed no signs of having been transported to the Netherlands. There were no signs it had been frozen.
"Furthermore there were no signs of wear on the fur, paws or claws that would suggest captivity."
Wolf droppings have also been found in the area, although they did not necessarily come from the dead wolf, the statement said.
Alterra researcher Geert Groot Bruinderink told state broadcaster NOS that "there's a big possibility" that wolves are present in the Netherlands.
"If one is found then there are more," he said.
The last sighting of a wolf in the Netherlands was in 1869, but in the southeast of the country near Germany, national news agency ANP reported.
Changing conservation policies since the 1990s have allowed wolf populations to increase in western Europe, including in France, Germany and Italy.
© 2013 AFP
"Wolf found in Netherlands is no joke, scientists say." August 7th, 2013. http://phys.org/news/2013-08-wolf-netherlands-scientists.html |
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| Zilch5 Vogon Poet
Great Old One Joined: 08 Nov 2007 Total posts: 1463 Location: Western Sydney, Australia Gender: Male |
| Posted: 08-08-2013 02:49 Post subject: |
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| It is my understanding that Wolves have made a slow but steady return to Western Europe since the fall of the Iron Curtain. If they are in what once was Western Germany (and they certainly are), then there is now reason to believe they can't make it to the Netherlands. |
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