Landscape Juice

Get a bit batty with the Big Bat Map

If you are a bit batty about bats then check out the Big Bat Map from the Bat Conservation Trust.

Not only is it a great looking website, it brings together bat spotting and online maps to create an interactive experience that lets you learn more about one of the UK's most intriguing animals.

The Bat Conservation Trust warns that bats face many threats, they are losing their homes in buildings and trees, and losing their feeding ground in woods, fields and parks.

It is time to befriend a hedgehog, says Dr Toni Bunnell

Hedgehogs may become extinct within 15 years the Telegraph has claimed, referring to a report commissioned by Eden TV, the digital TV natural history channel, into the condition of Britain's wildlife.

Otters now found in every English county

It is heartening to see that otters have been able to turn the tide, and after being close to extinction, can now be found in every county in England.

Wildlife experts at the Environment Agency have confirmed that there are at least two otters in Kent, which have built their holts on the river Medway and the river Eden.

The two sightings have delighted conservationists, who previously predicted that otters may not be resident in the county for another ten years.

Get your Big Butterfly Count stats in

If you took part in this year's Big Butterfly Count then don't forget you only have until 31 August, 2011 to enter your findings online.

Wildlife-friendly gardening is not boring, says Marc Carlton

These days the essence of pollination biology has become the subject of domestic chit-chat, at least as far as bees are concerned.

For one thing what happens to bees affects us all. Bees sitting on flowers are about as tangible and normal as raindrops falling from a cloud and about as essential to life, or that's what we all learn from an early age.

So why then did Marc Carlton, a statistician and keen gardener, refer to studying pollination biology in 2005 as a flash of insight?

European budget threat to UK bird habitat

Birdsong in the UK and European countryside could fall silent unless secret plans to scrap funding for wildlife-friendly farming are averted, warns the RSPB.

The RSPB is concerned that the European Union is considering scrapping payments to farmers to protect vulnerable species on their land. The RSPB estimates that the future of some of the UK’s most-loved farmland birds will face an uncertain future, or even extinction, if these plans are realised.

The threat has surfaced in the run-up to the latest EU budget, which is due to unveiled on June 29.

Worms, the rain and night crawlers find their way around

If it is raining and you take a walk across an open patch of earth you are very likely to see a garden worm. This is the one time they come up to the surface as more often than not they are down below, only occasionally turned up by a garden fork.

Bird decline halted by farmland management

More fields than ever before are being managed to halt the decline in farmland bird populations, according to new figures from Natural England.

The organisation says over 152,000 hectares (375,000 acres) of arable farmland are now providing vital winter food and habitat through farmers adopting bird-friendly measures as part of their environmental stewardship (ES) agreements.

More than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of farmland bird options were added by farmers within higher level stewardship schemes in the last year alone.

Natural England, the RSPB and farmers have focussed on creating the right sort of conditions for farmland birds. By growing seeds, insect-rich foraging habitat and nesting plots, farmers are helping species such as the lapwing and grey partridge whose populations have plummeted over the last 40 years.

Blue hare population checks are thwarted

The Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) was hampered in its evaluation of the number of mountain hares by the unusually heavy snows of last winter the BBC has reported.

The mountain hare population size needs to be estimated in order to advise on license quotas, or bag limits, and for conservation and sustainability plans.

"Unfortunately, the cyclical nature of hare populations, combined with the practical difficulties in accurately counting the animals, mean that the data required to advise on bag limits are not currently available," Rob Raynor, the SNH Policy & Advice Officer (Mammals) said.

DNA testing to stop fall in UK's adder population

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Images of adders kindly provided by Robin Ward

The number of adders has dropped by more than a half in the past fifty years the BBC reports. The adder is the UK's only venomous snake.

To help to explain and overcome the causes for the decline, The National Amphibian and Reptile recording scheme (NARRS) began pilot survey counts as far back as 2005.