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The Great Big Dorset Hedge Project

25th October 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

Perhaps a happier note compared to some of our more recent blogs… The Dorset Climate Action Network has launched the Great Big Dorset Hedge Campaign in an effort to map, plant and join up sections of hedgerow across Dorset. It is hoped that this will promote biodiversity and encourage wildlife across the county. The long-term project aims to create a network of connected and managed hedgerows as wildlife friendly corridors and refuge areas, with the help of the local communities along the way. By inspiring communities to take part by becoming hedge surveyors, coordinators or planters and providing the relevant training it is hoped that it will bring people closer together as communities and closer to nature. Why are hedgerows so important? Miles of ancient hedgerows have been removed to make way for agriculture and development. Hedgerows are thought of by many ecologists as an ecosystem itself due to the range of biodiversity within. They provide a home for 80% of the UK’s woodland birds, hedgehogs, many species of bats, great crested newt, dormice and butterflies. The re-planting of hedgerows...

A week of wildlife reports

5th October 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

Last week two big reports were published by conservation groups Rewilding Europe and BirdLife International. The State of World Bird’s 2022 report sadly warns that nearly half of the world’s bird species are in decline and more than one in eight are at risk of extinction. BirdLife has been studying and documenting birds for 100 years. This is the fifth edition of the report, and it is a really important document, not just for birds but for biodiversity and the planet. The report explains: “It focuses on birds because they are an excellent barometer for planetary health. Being widely distributed, relatively easy to survey, and responsive to environmental change, birds are useful biodiversity indicators, revealing wider trends in natural ecosystems.” As we have seen as a familiar theme with a lot of our recent blogs, we know the reasons behind this decline with many factors caused by human actions. But we are doing very little to stop it and are at a crucial...

Autumn already?

24th August 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

Have you noticed leaves changing colour and dropping from the trees? Or thought that it seems a little early to be seeing blackberries? It’s not just you, following the high temperatures and drought across the country we are now thought to be experiencing what is called a “false autumn.” Leaves are changing to their autumn colours and dropping early due to the trees being stressed from the lack of water. They are doing what they can to be able to survive the drought conditions. While this will help the older trees, it means that younger ones are more likely to die. It has been said that trees have been losing leaves almost 2 months early because of the hotter weather. Berries are also appearing on plants and shrubs much earlier which isn’t good news for the wildlife that relies on them throughout autumn and into the winter months. Birds will pick their berries carefully depending on how ripe they are to ensure that they...

Hibernation linked to longer lifespan of bats

18th August 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

Why bats? A mammals lifespan tends to be linked to its body size. So in theory, the larger the species, the longer it will live. Bats seem to be an exception to this rule with an unusually long lifespan for their body size. Some are shown to live more than four times longer than similar sized mammals. The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) is the most common bat in North America. A 2022 study on a colony of bats in Ontario, Canada has been looking into their unusually long lifespan of up to 19 years and found a link between longevity, biological ageing and hibernation! A previous study had contributed to the discovery of “longevity” genes. The more recent research suggests that these genes are very closely associated to those related to hibernation. How do they know? A biological process involved in the way in which genes are expressed, called DNA methylation, was measured to find that changes in this process took place in certain...

Finding a plastic pollution solution

9th August 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

If you search for plastic pollution news articles you will find that it is at least weekly if not daily that there is something plastic related to talk about. Most recently as an example, published by the BBC on the popularity of artificial grass. There is so much information out there with where we are going wrong, what we can be doing to help and what is and isn’t working. Writing a single blog on this topic is not the easiest, especially with where to start. We all know that plastic pollution is an issue. Campaigns, research and projects have been ongoing for years highlighting the problems, what needs to be done and what can be done but is it just getting worse rather than better? Plastic pollution is literally everywhere. It has been found deep in ocean trenches, uninhabited islands, Antarctica and even inside animals. The scale of plastic pollution is summarised in the UN’s Pollution to Solution report. You don’t need...

Beavers on the return to the wild?

27th July 202215th February 2023 By chXout Team Comment Closed

In 16th Century Britain the Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) was sadly hunted to extinction for its fur, meat and scent glands. Beavers are known as a keystone species or ecosystem engineers, meaning that they benefit the area around them. This has resulted in projects across the UK trialling the re-introduction of beavers to the wild starting with large enclosures at nature reserves. Beaver Benefits Creation of dams and ditches which aids in the formation of wetland habitat Wetland habitat holds more water in the landscape which filters silt and agricultural chemicals from the water Wetlands are crucial to combatting climate change due to the capturing and storage of carbon and the reduction of greenhouse gases Reduction of flooding Encouraging new species into the area, increasing biodiversity Changes in vegetation composition and diversity (Summarised from current project information by the Wildlife Trusts.) Consideration for the wider release of beavers into the wild is now able to take a step forward with DEFRA announcing legal protection for the species from October 2022...