Shared Earth is a series from the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Natural History Unit which celebrates the natural world and explores what we can all do to help conserve wildlife and habitats and reduce our footprint on the planet
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Cormorants Cormorants are large, black, pre-historic birds that were mainly seen along the British coast. 20 years ago. Now they are now spreading throughout inland Britain, spending the winter, and breeding, in colonies as far from the sea as it is possible to get. So what is going on?
One idea to exlpain the change in the cormorants nesting habits, is the birds are making use of the huge number of well stocked lakes and rivers that have appeared over the last 40 years. The cormorants seem to have a keen eye for finding hot spots for food which also happen to be the best places for anglers.
Many fishermen want to see a concerted cull of the birds with no limit on the numbers shot. Ecologists who have studied the effect of culling say it isn’t an effective way to reduce the numbers of fish being taken. How to deal with this problem is far from clear because our stocked waterways are perfect feeding habitats for cormorants.
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A Fishy Controversy On the River Severn, lave (pronounced as in cave) fishermen use a traditional method to catch salmon. There are only seven of these fishermen left in Wales and they wade out into the middle of the river, a favourite place is between the two crossing bridges, with a net that looks like a large lacrosse net, and watch the surface of the water for any signs of movement.
This method of fishing is so difficult that they only catch 7 to 10 fish a year. However, the Environment Agency is applying restrictions on the fishermen to conserve the wild salmon fish stocks that pass through the River Severn on their way to the River Wye.
The River Severn has a fierce tidal race that could easily sweep the unwary off their feet; it is one of the most treacherous estuaries in the UK.
The Environment Agency value the rich heritage and traditions of the lave fishermen, and will allow them to continue, but will enforce a cap on the number of fish caught. But this situation has really highlighted the terrible state of our wild salmon stocks. If so few fish are crucial then the future of wild salmon is looking more and more threatened.
Blue Tits A great British pastime is to watch birds at bird tables in our gardens. One of the well known visitors is the blue tit. Up until this year they have been one of the most common birds feeding on the nuts
Numbers this year are noticeably down and it is all due to the terrible weather the UK had in May/June 2007, which were crucial feeding weeks for the blue tit chicks.
Blue tits normally time their breeding season with the seasonal abundance of caterpillars but the wet weather killed or washed away the food and almost half of the blue tit chicks died in the nest from either getting wet and chilled or starving.
A good, traditional, warm summer this year to help the birds recover.Ìý The long range forecast is looking hopeful so far.
