Three of the world’s leading conservation and advocacy organizations will today begin a mass mobilization of their 22 million supporters to call on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to veto the Forest Code bill passed by the House of Deputies.

WWF, Greenpeace and Avaaz say the proposed changes to the Forest Code would threaten recent successes in reducing forest loss and compromise efforts to tackle corruption in the Amazon region.

Already more than 1.3 million people from around the world have signed Avaaz’s petition (http://www.avaaz.org/en/veto_dilma_global/?wwf) calling on President Rousseff to veto the proposed Forest Code; this number is expected to rise dramatically in the next few days. Likewise, hundreds of thousands of WWF and Greenpeace supporters have echoed the call on social media channels such Twitter, using #SOSBrazil and #VetaTudoDilma, and by posting messages directly to the Facebook page of the president’s political party, Partidodos Trabalhadores (http://www.facebook.com/pt.brasil).

The petition will be bolstered by a campaign by the three groups to have their millions of supporters deluge Brazilian embassies around the world with messages and calls showing global opposition to the bill.

President Rousseff has not given public reaction nor indicated whether she intends to fight the measure since it was passed on 25 April. The groups say that only a full veto will safeguard Brazil’s forests and the global climate. President Rousseff received the bill this week and has until 25 May to veto all or part of the bill, or to allow it to become law.

“Over the past decade, Brazil has achieved stunning progress in reducing deforestation in the Amazon. We recognize that President Rousseff is under massive political pressure from those who would burn the forest for short-term gain, but we urge her to stand firm for the protection of the forest resources that are so vital to the future of all Brazilians, and the world,” said Jim Leape, WWF International Director General.

Brazil’s Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) has estimated that the new legislation could lead to the loss of up to 76.5 million hectares (190 million acres) of forest, which translates to 28 billion tonnes of added CO2 in the atmosphere. This would make it impossible for Brazil to reach its carbon reduction targets.

“Thousands of people from all over the world are sounding the alarm and calling Brazilian embassies to urge President Rousseff to save the Amazon. Nearly 80 per cent of Brazilians want this catastrophic bill scrapped, and so far over a million people across the world support them. President Rousseff has a choice – sign the Amazon’s death sentence or protect the planet’s lungs and emerge a public hero,” said Ricken Patel, Avaaz Executive Director.

“President Dilma Rousseff stands at a defining moment for her presidency. The choice is clear. She can ignore the Brazilian people and side with ‘destruction as usual’ as enshrined in the new Forest Code or exercise her veto and support the call for a new Zero Deforestation Law. We urge her to take the visionary path of a leader who understands that with power comes responsibility,” said Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Executive Director.

The groups further criticize the bill’s amnesty provisions for past illegal forest clearance. The proposed amnesties would not only free environmental criminals from prosecution, but also forfeit an estimated US$4.8 billion in fines.

The groups are urging President Rousseff to listen to her own constituents – 94 per cent of whom say they are concerned about the environment, according to a recent survey conducted for the National Industry Confederation – and to the global movement that is calling for a veto.

A ranger and two Congolese soldiers protecting evacuating civilians in Virunga National Park have been gunned down in an ambush, park
officials say. The men came under machine gun fire by a group of 100 unidentified militia members while attempting to secure an important transit route.
“We are deeply saddened by the deaths of these men who have served their community so honourably,” said Natasha Kofoworola Quist, WWF-Central Africa Regional Programme Office Representative. “We owe them and their families a debt of gratitude for their courage and sacrifice.”

Ranger Paris Paluku leaves behind a wife and two children. “Paris will be remembered as one of the most courageous men to have worked in the park,” Chief Warden Emmanuel de Merode said (http://gorillacd.org/2012/05/10/three-of-ours -killed-during-militia-attack-near-rwindi/). “He was always at the head of any patrol, which put him at risk and ultimately cost him his life.”

Over 150 Virunga rangers have died in the line of duty since 1990.

Mountain Gorilla © Nik Borrow, from the surfbirds galleries.

Virunga National Park, located on Democratic Republic of the Congo’s border with Rwanda and Uganda, has been infiltrated by four distinct militia groups in recent weeks, according to de Merode. Local residents are said to be fleeing the area to avoid violence in “a large scale population displacement,” he said. The park is currently closed to tourists due the ongoing instability.

Earlier this week a militia group entered an area of park that is home to approximately 200 critically endangered mountain gorillas. Currently, the gorillas are not believed to be at risk.

“The situation remains volatile and must be contained so that insecurity does not spread into bordering communities or wildlife habitats,” said Raymond Lumbuenamo, Country Director of WWF-Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A patrol of Congolese and Rwandan rangers who were on a mission to remove poachers’ snares from critical mountain gorilla habitat were forced to flee into Rwanda at the outbreak of unrest. The men are now on their way to safety, according to WWF’s partner organization Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (http://greatervirunga.org/?p=817).

At least 23 of Virunga National Park’s mountain gorillas have been killed since the outbreak of armed conflict in the region in 1990. In February, a mountain gorilla was found dead (http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?203506/Rare-mountain -gorilla-found-dead-in-poachers-snare) after being caught in an illegal snare intended for antelope.

There are only an estimated 786 mountain gorillas remaining across Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. WWF works in Virunga National Park to conserve forests, freshwater and species and to help communities better manage natural resources through our Virunga Environmental Programme and the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (http://igcp.org/).

Conservationists are celebrating the establishment of a new nature reserve in Colombia that provides the first sanctuary for the endangered golden poison frog, an animal that also has the distinction of being possibly the world’s deadliest animal. Its poison is so toxic that even coming in contact with a paper towel that has touched the frog has been fatal to animals. Although they are only two inches long, it is estimated that each golden poison frog has enough toxin to kill ten adult people within minutes.

In one of the wettest tropical rainforests in the world, along the Pacific coast of western Colombia, World Land Trust, American Bird Conservancy, and Global Wildlife Conservation have helped purchase 124 acres of threatened Chocó forest, creating the Rana Terribilis Amphibian Reserve named for the Spanish word for frog – rana – and the frog’s Latin name Phyllobates terribilis. The reserve is owned and managed by Fundación ProAves, Colombia’s leading conservation organization. This is the second amphibian reserve owned by ProAves in Colombia – the first is the Ranita Dorada Reserve.

This frog is named because of its bright orange skin that is covered by a secretion of deadly alkaloid poison (batrachotoxins). The toxin prevents nerves from transmitting impulses, leaving muscles in a constant state of contraction – leading to heart failure. Death comes within minutes.

The species has long been recognized by indigenous cultures for its lethal poison and is strongly embedded within cultural traditions. The Chocó Emberá Indians use the frog’s toxin as poison in their darts used to hunt food; by gently brushing the tips of arrows and darts on the frogs back, without harming it, the weapons can keep their deadly effect for over two years.

The frog’s poison is entirely for self-defense, yet it does little to help its chances of survival against its single biggest threat – bulldozers. Habitat damage and destruction continues to  escalate due to illegal gold-mining (an estimated 100 bulldozers and excavators are destroying the area), and illegal logging.

Despite this frog’s infamous reputation and its importance to indigenous cultures, it is considered by many to be on the edge of extinction, and until now the species was completely unprotected. Dependent on primary forest, the golden poison frog occurs patchily across an area less than the size of the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados.  Due to its restricted range and low population, the frog was added to the list of some of the world’s most imperiled creatures identified by the Alliance for Zero Extinction.

Notably, the reserve will also afford protection for several key bird species, including the endangered Baudó Guan, a medium-sized game fowl whose worldwide population is estimated at 10,000-20,000 individuals; the vulnerable Brown Wood-Rail, a medium-sized, mostly rufous-brown rail whose population is estimated to be between only 1,000 and 2,500 individuals; and the vulnerable Great Curassow, a large, pheasant-like bird whose population is estimated to be between 10,000 and 60,000 individuals.

“The support from our partners made the creation of this critical new reserve possible, and one of the world’s most amazing creatures, the beautiful and deadly golden poison frog, is now protected.” said Lina Daza, Executive Director of Fundación ProAves.

“That this effort is helping to save even a portion of a rainforest is significant, and we’re glad we have been a part of it.  We need to halt the
continued, rapid disappearance of rainforests and the resultant loss of wildlife that depend on them,” said Dr. George Fenwick, President of American Bird Conservancy.

Acclaimed journalist Simon Barnes, a WLT council member, wrote in The Times of London newspaper in September 2011: “Astonishing: we are on the edge of wiping out one of the most extraordinary and thrilling creatures on the planet. No matter how well a creature is protected by nature and by evolution, it is always vulnerable to humans. There’s nothing we can’t do when we put our minds to it. Still, at least we are now beginning to put our minds to saving the golden poison frog: we would all be much poorer without such a creature to give us nightmares.”

The new reserve is also the initiation of an ambitious project called the Chocó Corridor that will connect many highly threatened habitats, from the mangroves on the Pacific Coast to cloud forests on the highest peaks of the western Andes. The Golden Poison Frog Reserve and Choco Corridor is supported by Conservation International, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the Beneficia Foundation, and private donors.

The RSPB and Severn Trent Water have today expressed their outrage at the wanton destruction of the nest of one of Britain’s most persecuted and rare birds of prey over the last few days. The RSPB is offering a reward of £1000 for information leading to a conviction.

The crime is the latest in a long-running series of attacks on birds of prey in the Peak District. It leaves only one active goshawk nest in the entire Derwent Valley, which previously has held six pairs of these birds of prey.

Mark Thomas, investigations officer with the RSPB, said: “Once again we’re faced with the destruction of birds of prey in Britain’s most visited national park.

“The sight of goshawk eggs smashed, only days from hatching, lying on the forest floor is a heart-breaking sight and proves that this bird is being systematically wiped out in the north of the Peak District.”

The Derwent Valley has been subject to a catalogue of bird of prey persecution incidents, with the most recent confirmed case being Glen Brown, a gamekeeper convicted of using a caged pigeon to lure birds of prey to a trap.

Derbyshire Police have launched an investigation of this crime, which took place on land managed by Severn Trent Water.

Goshawk © Keith Mitchell, from the surfbirds galleries.

Sickened

Hazel Earnshaw, of Severn Trent Water, said: “We are sickened that this protected species has once again been subject to persecution, despite extensive efforts to protect it. The Goshawk should form a natural part of the ecosystem here in the Upper Derwent Valley. We are working closely with the RSPB to protect these birds and to identify the guilty parties.”

Darren Belfield, a sergeant with the Derbyshire Constabulary, said: “This is a further instance of senseless destruction and persecution of a protected species. The individuals responsible show no regard for the law or for the conservation of bird of prey species within the Peak District National Park.”

The Derbyshire Constabulary is encouraging anyone with any information relating to this incident to contact the Police immediately on 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Conservationists are embarking on an urgent mission to save one of the UK’s most threatened birds from extinction.

Operation Turtle Dove (www.operationturtledove.org) launched today (Thursday May 10) by the RSPB, leading sustainable farming specialists Conservation Grade and Pensthorpe Conservation Trust in Norfolk, is a three-year project to reverse the decline of one of England’s best-loved farmland birds.

From The Bible to the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare, the turtle dove is well known in literature and folklore as a symbol of love and devotion.  But numbers have fallen dramatically in recent years and there now just nine birds for every 100 there were in the 1970s.  Once widespread across much of England and Wales, the species has been lost from many areas. It has remaining strongholds in East Anglia and south-east England.

The cause of the population crash is not fully understood. However the birds’ diet consists almost entirely of small seeds from wild plants which grow in crops and changes in farming practices mean these plants are now scarce in our countryside.

Turtle Dove © Graham Clarke, from the surfbirds galleries.

The project’s partners will work with farmers in turtle dove hotspots to establish plots of seed-rich plants on their land. Scientists from the RSPB will work alongside Conservation Grade’s sustainable farming experts and Pensthorpe’s aviculturalists to measure the impact on the birds’ diet and breeding success.

Simon Tonkin, RSPB farmland bird advisor, said: “Turtle doves are really struggling. After many years of decline we are facing the very real possibility of losing this beautiful bird from the UK.

“This new project will build on a lot of positive work which has already been done by farmers and conservationists. As well as putting in place measures which will bring back some of wild plants which farmland birds like the turtle dove rely on, we need a better understanding of the causes of this devastating decline.”

Tim Nevard, executive director of Conservation Grade and a Pensthorpe trustee, said the key to saving the turtle dove across Europe, and in England in particular, is to ensure the right nesting and foraging habitats are provided on farms.

He said: “Conservation Grade combines first-class farmland wildlife conservation with the best sustainable agriculture production standards, and so is ideally placed to develop the right habitats to ensure the survival of turtle doves.

“We have captive turtle doves at Pensthorpe which we will use to trial a number of seed mixtures to identify the most palatable and nutritious options – from breeding to fledging and beyond – so that the right choices about forage habitat creation can be made.

“We will be working closely with Natural England, our nationwide farmer network and commercial partners to encourage widespread uptake of these habitats.”

Other factors may be contributing to the decline of the turtle dove, including illegal hunting in the Mediterranean as the species makes its annual migration, agricultural changes in the African wintering grounds and the avian disease trichomoniasis which is common in pigeons and doves.

Simon Tonkin added: “The story of the turtle dove in Europe is unsettlingly similar to that of the passenger pigeon in North America.

“A once common and widespread bird, the passenger pigeon was driven to extinction 100 years ago as a result of hunting and habitat loss.  We must not let a tragedy like this happen in our countryside.”

A  virtual oil slick has oozed across the National Audubon Society website since April 20,  the second anniversary of BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. On the last day of the campaign, April 26, the focus shifts to future threats in the Arctic.  As you read this, a drilling fleet under contract to Shell Oil is making its way to a patch of seabed less than 15 miles from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the earth’s most pristine wilderness areas and a national refuge.   

“If you liked the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, you will love Shell’s plan for Alaska,” said Mike Daulton, V.P. of Government Relations for Audubon. “Shell has never demonstrated the ability to effectively clean up a large oil spill in the Arctic Ocean. Beyond the usual problems of handling a major spill, Alaska has huge ocean waves, gale force winds and widespread sea ice. A major oil spill in Alaska would be Deepwater Horizon meets the Titanic.”

Broken ice covers the Arctic Ocean for much of the year. Storms with hurricane-force winds can whip up 20-foot seas. Temperatures drop to 40 below zero. Plus it is dark half the year.

The waters along Alaska’s northern coast provide vital habitat for polar bears, endangered bowhead whales, and millions of migratory birds. As the “headwaters” for the flyways of the Americas, few places on earth are as vital to the protection of birds.  Each spring – more than 200 species, many of which we see in our backyards in the lower 48 during the year — journey to the Arctic to nest, feed, and raise their young.

The U.S. Government’s own non-partisan watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report last month raising fundamental concerns about whether a major spill could ever be managed in icy conditions. Yet Shell has secured nearly all the government permissions it needs to begin drilling operations in a body of water that is ice-covered much of the year.  The last test of oil-in-water spill clean-up capability in 2000 was a recognized “failure.” Retired Vice Admiral Roder Ruff, who helped prepare the Coast Guard’s review of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, described the U.S. ability to address a spill in icy conditions as “pretty abysmal.”

“The potential harm from a BP-scale spill is almost beyond comprehension;” wrote Audubon President David Yarnold in The Huffington Post; ”And, there is growing evidence that we simply do not need to take risks like this to meet our nation’s energy needs. Oil imports are down. Oil production from domestic wells is up thanks to new technology.  Energy independence is becoming a real possibility.”

Audubon’s online supporters are urged to take action.  To make a difference, supporters can write a letter to President Obama, who in his State of the Union address said: “I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago.”

On Day One of the Audubon campaign, people were encouraged to support the RESTORE Act which would ensure that 80 percent of the penalty money resulting from the BP oil spill goes to restoration projects on the Gulf Coast. As participants take action each day, the oil slick recedes from Audubon’s website, to reveal a healthy coastline of clear water on April 26. That happens to be the birthday of artist John James Audubon, the namesake for the society founded in 1905.

A two-year seabed study off the eastern coast of Brazil confirmed that the Abrolhos shelf is home to the largest known continuous bed of rhodoliths in the world.

The study, which was conducted by scientists with Brazil’s National System of Biodiversity Research (SISBIOTA) and Conservation International, was published last week in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Using remote operated vehicles (ROVs), side scan sonar and SCUBA diving, the researchers measured the size of the rhodolith bed to occupy 20,902 square kilometers, an area nearly the size of El Salvador.

Sometimes mistaken as coral, rhodoliths are roughly spherical objects on the ocean floor that are made of many layers of hard red algae. Together with kelp beds, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs, rhodoliths are one of Earth’s largest seabed primary producer communities.

“Finding the largest rhodolith bed in the world on the seabed of Brazil’s Abrolhos shelf is more evidence of how important this part of the ocean is,” said Rodrigo Moura, Professor at Rio de Janeiro Federal University and co-author of the study. “Rhodoliths play a critical role in a healthy marine ecosystem by providing primary habitat that can yield diverse and abundant communities of fish and invertebrates of high commercial value.”

These unique plants build their hard layers out of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), which provides their rigid structure, gives these beds structural complexity, and enables them to create stable habitats for other species. The researchers also estimate that the rhodoliths of the Abrolhos Shelf alone accounts for approximately 5 percent of the world’s total carbonate banks.

“Rhodolith beds like this one are major carbonate factories, and could play a significant role in regulating global climate,” said Les Kaufman, a senior marine scientist with Conservation International. “But in order to understand what that role might be, and how significant a role, we must learn more about them.”

Rhodolith beds face an array of threats including ocean acidification, sedimentation from land-based sources and large scale dredging and mining. Though acidification looms the largest and cannot be managed regionally, the other threats to the health of the Abrolhos shelf rhodolith bed can be managed on a local scale. The bed falls within the Abrolhos seascape, a 9,5000 square kilometer (37,000 square miles) area of ocean where Conservation International works with the Brazilian government and community organizations to conserve and manage ocean resources.

“Based on the relatively high vulnerability of coralline algae to ocean acidification, the rhodolith beds are likely to experience a profound restructuring in the coming decades,” said the lead author of the study, Gilberto Amado-Filho, a  researcher at Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden. “With the Abrolhos shelf bed producing an estimated 25 million metric tons of calcium carbonate a year, its protection and continued study should be prioritized.”

In addition to the rhodolith beds, the study also revealed huge areas of seabed covered by seaweeds, deep holes (buracas) harboring dense clouds of juvenile fishes, and deep reefs composed of corals and coralline algae. While awed by the vast size and surprise of these newly revealed seascapes, scientists have also gained a new perspective on just how precious and imperiled the reefs are that hug the coast and islands, nourishing tourism and fisheries in coastal Bahia.

Nesting White-tailed Eagles have been confirmed on a small island on Lough Derg, near Mountshannon in County Clare, which marks the first documented evidence of breeding since the species became extinct from Ireland over 100 years ago.

Human persecution was the primary reason behind the disappearance of the White-tailed Eagle from Ireland during the early 20^th century. However a reintroduction scheme was initiated by the Golden Eagle Trust in 2007 with the aim of re-establishing these birds in Ireland.

Through the reintroduction scheme young White-tailed Eagles have been taken under licence from nests in Norway and released in Killarney in County Kerry every summer for the past five years. These birds have since matured and dispersed and travelled throughout the country, however the pair which have settled on Lough Derg are the first which have been confirmed breeding. The re-introduction project was initiated in 2007 by the Golden Eagle Trust, under license and in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. One hundred White-tailed Eagles have been released between 2007 and 2011 in Killarney national Park, Co. Kerry.

Nest building began in recent weeks with the birds spending much time in and around the nest site before laying at least one egg. If everything goes accordingly, hatching will occur around the last week of May.  The breeding pair, a four year old male and three year old female collected on the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway, settled in the Mountshannon area in early 2011.

White-tailed Eagle © Stephen Daly, from the surfbirds galleries.

The movements and behaviour of these birds have since been closely monitored with anticipation by Dr. Allan Mee, project manager of the
White-tailed Eagle reintroduction scheme for the Golden Eagle Trust. He commented “We had hopes that this pair might try and build a nest but because the birds are relatively young we really didn’t expect them to breed”, Dr. Mee added. “The odds are stacked against young first-time breeders because they have no experience of nest-building, mating and caring for eggs and young. They have to get everything right to succeed. But so far so good”.

Commenting on the positive news, John Lusby, Raptor Conservation Officer with BirdWatch Ireland said “ It was through human influence that these magnificent birds were previously driven to extinction in Ireland, the significant efforts on the part of the Golden Trust, the NPWS  and  the other bodies involved in this project have been well rewarded by this news of breeding, which is the first step in rectifying the historical losses. Although there may be tentative moments ahead, we hope that the pair will be successful and that by the end of the summer the first Irish born White-tailed Eagle in over 100 years will be back in our skies”.

Lusby added “given the nature and historic relevance of this news, it is likely to attract the attention of many people who will want to witness these impressive birds, however we strongly urge anyone who intends to visit the area to abide by the requests of the Golden Eagle Trust and under no circumstances to approach the island on which the birds are nesting, as such disturbance could be detrimental”.

The nest itself can be easily viewed from the nearby pier in Mountshannon, and telescopes and binoculars, as well as information on the birds will be provided by the Golden Eagle Trust. Alan Lauder, Chief Executive of BirdWatch Ireland commented “this success represents a phenomenal milestone for bird conservation in Ireland and BirdWatch Ireland extends warm congratulations to the project team and hope we can offer support to the GET’s efforts to see further success in future.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan has also welcomed the development.

“Already the white-tailed eagles are a wonderful asset to tourism around Killarney and wider afield in Kerry, and their spread will benefit business as well as giving joy to anglers and naturalists around the Shannon,”Mr Deenihan has said.

<b>Notes</b>

The White-tailed Eagle re-introduction project was initiated in 2007 by the Golden Eagle Trust, under license from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. One hundred White-tailed Eagles have been released between 2007 and 2011 in Killarney national Park, Co. Kerry. To date 20 birds have been recovered dead.  In addition, the Golden Eagle and Red Kite re-introduction projects are managed by the Golden Eagle Trust in partnership with the National Parks & Wildlife Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in the Republic of Ireland.

See http://www.goldeneagle.ie/portal.php?z=248 for further information.

Over the past four years White-tailed Sea Eagles have dispersed throughout Ireland and beyond. Manyeagles have been reported from Northern Ireland and at least six birds have travelled to Scotland. One male that spend 8 months away from Kerry in 2009 travelled over 2,000 kilometres to the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland before returning to Kerry. In early 2011 this male was found paired
with a female in south Kerry. Immature White-tailed Sea Eagles may disperse over a wide area but once birds begin to mature and pair up at 4-5 years old they establish territories along the coast and inland lakes where they are resident throughout their lifetime.

Last year’s record-breaking spring helped some of the UK’s rarest butterflies recover following years of decline, a scientific study today revealed.

The hot, dry weather provided perfect conditions for early spring specialists enabling them to benefit from extended flight periods as they emerged weeks earlier than usual.

The threatened Duke of Burgundy bucked a trend of recent declines as its population rose by 65% between 2010 and 2011.

Other rare spring butterflies prospered – the Grizzled Skipper recorded a rise of 96% and the scarce Pearl-bordered Fritillary saw numbers jump by 103%.

But despite last year’s much-needed respite, many of our most threatened butterflies remain in a state of long-term decline and need further targeted conservation work to turn their fortunes around permanently.

Duke of Burgundy © Elliott Staley, from the surfbirds galleries.

Common garden species such as the Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Common Blue all recorded major population falls as the dry spring gave way to the coldest summer for 18 years.

Summer-flying woodland specialists also struggled. The White Admiral recorded a 51% fall and the threatened Black Hairstreak, which recorded a substantial increase between 2009 and 2010, declined last year.

Data was gathered by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) jointly led by Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).

Some grass-feeding butterflies had a good year. The threatened Lulworth Skipper, confined to a small stretch of the Dorset coast, saw an 84% increase following years of decline and the Northern Brown Argus, found mainly in Scotland, saw a 21% rise.

Migrant butterflies were recorded in good numbers. The Red Admiral saw a 123% increase and the Clouded Yellow recorded a rise of 41%.

Despite a number of species thriving in 2011 the overall picture for many butterflies is bleak. Almost three quarters of UK butterfly species have decreased in population during the last decade.

Dr Tom Brereton, Head of Monitoring at Butterfly Conservation, said: “The great spring weather provided respite for our beleaguered butterflies but wide-ranging conservation efforts are needed to reverse long-term declines.”

UKBMS has run since 1976 and involves thousands of volunteers collecting data every week throughout the summer from more than 1000 sites across the UK.

Dr Marc Botham from the CEH added: “Annual trends show us how strongly the day-to-day weather can affect butterfly populations in the short-term but the UKBMS dataset collected over 36 years reiterates the importance of long-term data in assessing the state of UK butterfly populations beyond these annual fluctuations.

“The high quality data of the UKBMS is attributable to the continuous support of thousands of volunteer recorders.”

The UKBMS is operated by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Butterfly Conservation and funded by a multi-agency consortium including the Countryside Council for Wales, Defra, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Forestry Commission, Natural England, the Natural Environment Research Council and Scottish Natural Heritage. The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S.D.A. Forest Service (FS), and American Bird Conservancy (ABC) have begun identifying and implementing  solutions to solve a widespread and potentially enormous bird mortality threat that is associated with 3.4 million mining claims on public lands, mainly in the West. Official state birds from at least nine western states have so far been killed by deadly mining claim markers (Cactus Wren (AZ), Mountain Bluebird (ID), Western Meadowlark (KS, MT, NE, ND, OR, WY), Mountain Bluebird (NV)).

Small birds apparently see the opening of PVC pipes used to mark mining claims as a hollow suitable for roosting or nesting or possibly gathering to pool body heat during migration. The birds may enter the holes, only to become trapped because the walls are too smooth to allow them to grapple their way up the sides and the pipes are too narrow for the birds to extend their wings and fly out. Death from dehydration or starvation follows.

“This is a very significant bird mortality threat, likely accounting for a million or more bird deaths each year,” said Darin Schroeder, Vice President for Conservation Advocacy for ABC. “Many of the birds tragically found dead in these pipes are also experiencing declines in their populations. American Bird Conservancy believes the agencies must act quickly and require mining companies to replace their uncapped PVC pipe-markers with solid, high-visibility stakes when they seek claim re-registration in order to prevent further unnecessary bird deaths.”

This threat has been documented from Oregon to New Mexico. In November of 2011, the same month ABC learned of the bird deaths in Nevada, BLM specialists in Oregon also documented alarming rates of bird mortality at claims in the Burns area. BLM offices in California and Nevada have elevated the assessment and treatment activities in a three-way internal partnership between the minerals, wildlife, and abandoned mine land programs.

Mountain Bluebird © John Hague, from the surfbirds galleries.

The Washington Office of the BLM is urging all states to use partnerships and available funds to discover, then cap, fill, or pull pipes that are used for mining claims or other activities. An example of enhanced public outreach may be found on the following California BLM Website.

BLM is presently drafting policy to directly address this issue, and at the same time, addressing the issue in its draft Migratory Bird Strategy. Some BLM offices such as in Montana are already considering this issue as part of their state migratory bird policy. BLM has also formed pipe removal programs in California and Nevada, and has made plans to incorporate this issue in upcoming training programs related to the protection of birds. In addition, local pipe pulling efforts have been carried out by the Nevada Department of Wildlife and Red Rock Audubon.

While most birds recovered from markers are cavity nesters – the Ash-throated Flycatcher and the Mountain Bluebird are the most frequent victims, and others commonly trapped included woodpeckers, sparrows, shrikes, kestrels, and owls – there is strong evidence that indicates that a variety of other species will naturally rest in a group in a natural cavity during migration. The difference is that the insides of natural cavities have a rough surface, enabling the birds to climb out and continue their migration.

According to the BLM publication Public Land Statistics, in 2010 there were 3,388,400 mining claims on record on BLM-managed lands in 12 western states. Each claim has a minimum of four corner markers, though some sites also have boundaries staked with a dozen or more markers. It is not clear exactly how many of those markers are deadly bird traps, but there is little dispute that the percentage is high, meaning millions of birds are likely being killed. Pipe pulling efforts in the Nevada Desert are showing an average of one bird death per pipe, with the the highest fatality at a single pipe being 26 birds.  Oregon, on the other hand, showed an average mortality of two birds per pipe
with a high of 32 bird deaths in a single pipe.

“We take the incidence of unintended bird mortality from these pipes very seriously and we will work quickly with our Forest Service units and partners to prevent bird losses from pipes,” said Leslie Weldon, Deputy Chief, National Forest System.

FS, BLM, and ABC agreed to meet further on the issue in the early summer after various approaches have been reviewed.

Nevada has the most federal mining claims – over one million, followed by Utah, with 401,828, Wyoming (which includes minimal numbers from Nebraska) with 306,588, California, with 300,809, and Colorado with 278,326. These figures include mining claims administered by BLM on Forest Service lands.

A 1993 Nevada law prohibits installation of new uncapped or uncrimped pipes for marking the boundaries of mining claims in an effort to prevent injury to wildlife. However, about half of the protective caps that have been installed on markers since then have become displaced, thereby re-establishing the hazard from the pipes. Although a subsequent law ruled that stakes without caps or crimps would no longer be recognized as claim boundary markers, this did nothing to address the countless stakes that remain in place from old or abandoned claims that continue to kill birds.