I love to travel, mainly to Africa where I was born, I enjoy reading and playing bridge. I go for rambles in the countryside. I collect stamps and go to T'ai Chi classes. I love my two cats and my garden birds. I adore the African wildlife and try to help Conservation groups.
Poland halts wetlands road plan.
By Adam Easton - BBC News, Warsaw
Lynx, wolves and rare warblers live in the valley. Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said planned work on a road through one of Europe's last remaining wetlands will not go ahead. Earlier, Poland said construction work on a bypass through the environmentally protected Rospuda river valley would start on Wednesday.
But the prime minister changed his mind after the EU applied for an immediate injunction to stop the work. The valley is home to rare plants as well as wolves and eagles.
Speaking on Polish public radio, Mr Kaczynski said his government had failed to convince the European Commission and it was now time to show a certain restraint. The valley is also protected under the EU's Natura 2000 conservation scheme.
The government wants to build an elevated highway right through the valley to ease traffic in the nearby town of Augustow. The town lies on the main route from Poland to the Baltic states and thousands of heavy goods lorries pass through it every day.
Hundreds of people from the town spent the whole night blocking the road in a peaceful protest. They want the bypass built as quickly as possible, even if that means routing it through the valley. Until now, the government has argued that an alternative route suggested by environmental conservation groups would take too long to build.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Oddie hosts new wildlife series.
The show promises a fresh perspective on Britain's wildlife. Springwatch host Bill Oddie is making a new series for BBC Two, taking a sideways look at Britain's wildlife. Bill Oddie's Seriously Wild Show will be a light-hearted magazine programme, with producers promising an "eclectic mix" of features.
Oddie, 66, will delve into the legends and folklore of Britain's animal population, and set tricky challenges for wildlife cameraman John Aitcheson. The ten-part series will be shown on BBC Two in early 2008.
"Historically, Bill has gone to part of the country and covered the wildlife population there," said director Stuart Armstrong. "In this series, he'll bounce around the country. Whatever makes a good wildlife story has potential for inclusion."
Filming on the series started earlier this year, and is due to continue into September. Several sequences have already been shot with sound recorder Chris Watson, who reveals the techniques for capturing the hidden sounds of Britain's animal population. The series will investigate why hares became feared in England.
."Chris is like a version of Q from James Bond," said Mr Armstrong. "He has all the kit to let you hear things you don't normally hear." Mr Armstrong added that Oddie would be looking at the mythology of Britain's wildlife. "The interesting thing is that when an animal can take on human form people make up stories," he says. "For example, hares box as part of their mating ritual in the springtime and they often stand on two legs. "In olden days, when people didn't have glasses, they'd see these hares standing on two legs and think it was a group of witches."
Bill Oddie's Seriously Wild Show is being produced by the BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Whale trapped in river put down.
Divers tried to coax the whale back to the North Sea. A 15ft whale which was stranded in a river near a busy ferry port has been put to sleep by marine experts. They said they wanted to prevent the juvenile Northern Bottlenose, which has been trapped in the River Orwell near Ipswich since Friday, from suffering.
Experts said it would almost certainly have died of starvation or dehydration if it had not been put down.
The whale was seen on Friday afternoon and became beached in shallow water under the Orwell Bridge hours later. Crowds gathered on the banks of the river as divers in boats tried to coax the whale back to the North Sea.
Trevor Weeks, from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Group, said: "At first light this morning at about half four, five o'clock we were able to get a veterinary team out to the animal and we started the process of euthanasing the animal." He added that he received confirmation an hour and a half later that the whale "had finally passed away".
Mr Weeks said the whale was the latest in a series to arrive on the east coast over the past 18 months. He said whales had appeared in the Thames, at Skegness, Lincolnshire, in The Wash off north Norfolk and the river Humber near Hull, East Yorkshire. None had survived. Mr Weeks said he suspected that the whale began its journey off the Norwegian coast and found itself in the North Sea by mistake.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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Concern over gorilla 'executions'
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The bodies of three females and one male were discovered by rangers earlier this week in the Virunga National Park. Officials said the "executions" were not the work of poachers because they would have taken the bodies. Since January, seven of the large apes in the region have been shot dead. "This is a senseless and tragic loss of some of the world's most endangered and beloved animals," said Deo Kujirakwinja of the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Congo programme. "This area must be immediately secured or we stand to lose an entire population of these animals," he added. 'Scare tactics' The four animals belonged to a group of 12 gorillas, known to researchers as the Rugendo family, which was often visited by tourists.
Because poachers would have sold the bodies as food or trophies, conservationists think the apes were killed by a group that was trying to scare wardens out of the park. The IWC said the protected area was coming under increasing pressure from "outside exploitation", including the charcoal trade. "Whatever the motive underlying this tragedy, the gorillas are helpless pawns in a feud between individuals," said Mark Rose, chief executive of Fauna and Flora International. "We are deeply concerned about this incident, which follows more than 20 years of successful collaboration for mountain gorilla conservation." A census carried out in 2004 estimated that 380 gorillas, more than half of the world's population, lived in the national park and surrounding Virunga volcanoes region. The latest killings take the number of shootings in the area to seven. Earlier this year, two silverback male gorillas were shot dead in the same area of the park, while a female was killed in May. BBC NEWS REPORT.
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Vick to face dog-fighting charge.
Vick will appear in court in Virginia on Thursday. Atlanta Falcons star quarterback Michael Vick has been ordered to stay away from training after he was charged with involvement in dog fighting. Pre-season training starts on Thursday, the same day Vick is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of sponsoring a dog-fighting operation.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he would review whether Vick had violated league policies. The Falcons will withhold disciplinary action until after the league review. The Falcons play their first pre-season match in New York on 10 August, with the regular season beginning in Minnesota on 9 September.
Vick, the first overall pick in the 2001 college draft, last season became the first quarterback ever to rush for more than 1,000 yards. Since the charges were brought, pressure has been mounting on the league and the Falcons, particularly from animal-rights groups.
There were demonstrations at Falcons' headquarters in Georgia on Monday, following similar scenes outside NFL offices in New York last week. Activists also put pressure on companies that have endorsements deals with Vick to cut their ties and Nike has already delayed the launch of a new shoe bearing his name.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
US cat 'predicts patient deaths' !
Oscar meows in protest if removed from the room of a dying patient. A US cat that is reportedly able to sense when a nursing home's residents are about to die is baffling doctors. Oscar has a habit of curling up next to patients at the home in Providence, Rhode Island, in their final hours.
According to the author of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the two-year-old cat has been observed to be correct in 25 cases so far. Staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one.
"He doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," David Dosa, a professor at Brown University who carried out the research, told the Associated Press news agency.
Oscar was adopted as a kitten at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre. The cat is said to do his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses at the home, but is not generally friendly to patients. Although most families are grateful for the warning Oscar seems to provide, some relatives ask that the pet be taken away while they say their last goodbyes to their loved ones. When put outside the room, Oscar is said to pace up and down meowing in protest.
Thomas Graves, a feline expert from the University of Illinois, told the BBC: "Cats often can sense when their owners are sick or when another animal is sick. "They can sense when the weather will change, they're famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes."
A doctor who treats patients at the home said she believed there was probably a biochemical explanation, rather than the cat being psychic.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Trio held in India 'insect theft'.
By Subir Bhaumik - BBC News, Calcutta.
Sikkim is renowned for its natural beauty. Three French nationals have been detained in India after they were allegedly caught collecting butterflies, moths and beetles. Forestry officials in the northern state of Sikkim detained the trio on Friday in a Himalayan forest.
They were allegedly in possession of 41 insects, contravening the Wildlife Act. The two men and a woman deny theft. They have not been arrested but have been asked to stay in west Sikkim until investigations are over, officials say. The three, who are all thought to be in their early 20s, were detained in Budang reserve forest near Soreng.
They say they were collecting the insects only for research purposes and were not involved in wholesale theft. The state is a haven for flora and insects The additional principal chief conservator of forests of Sikkim, ST Lachungpa, said that the three had violated wildlife rules, because they did not have the necessary permission from the state forest, wildlife and environment department.
Equipment, including nets and gadgets to attract butterflies, were also seized from them, Mr Lachungpa said. The three accused say that they are students of ecology and were collecting the samples for study.
Forestry officials say that have now forwarded the case to the chief wildlife warden at the forest secretariat in Sikkim's capital, Gangtok, for further investigation. Seven years ago two Russians were arrested under similar charges, and subsequent investigations found that they had been collecting rare species of butterflies.
They served a short prison sentence.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Great Bustard lays eggs in wild.
The chicks reintroduced to Wiltshire were brought from Russia. A bird once extinct in the UK has laid eggs in the country's wilderness for the first time in more than 170 years. In spring, a female Great Bustard, part of a group of chicks reintroduced from Russia, nested in Wiltshire and laid two eggs, however no chicks were born.
The Great Bustard Group delayed releasing details of the event due to fears of egg thieves and disturbance from bird watchers. The last UK wild Great Bustard eggs were laid in 1832.
David Waters, from the Great Bustard Group, said: "It had been thought 2008 would be the first year that nesting activity would be seen and it is a tremendous boost to have this happening earlier. "Although males were seen displaying to females this spring, it is understood that males have to be about five years old before they can breed. "The eggs were incubated by the female, but then abandoned and, after examination, found to be infertile. "This is likely to be linked to the young age of the males."
The Great Bustard was wiped out in England in the 19th century but was reintroduced to Salisbury Plain in 2004.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Scientists map elephant evolution.
The African elephant is known for its large, floppy ears. Scientists say they have calculated the date at which the African and the Asian elephant went their separate ways. The two elephant species diverged from a common ancestor some 7.6 million years ago, experts working in the US, Germany and Switzerland say.
They came to their conclusion after comparing a genetic analysis of the two species with material derived from the extinct woolly mammoth and mastodon.
The African elephant is much bigger than its Asian counterpart. It is known for its large, floppy ears, and both sexes have great ivory tusks, unlike the Asian elephant where typically only the males have large external tusks.
The now extinct mastodon was very similar in appearance to the woolly mammoth - with lots of hair and big tusks.
Genetically, however, it was very different and is only a distant relative of the elephants. The mastodon was similar to the woolly mammoth. Its genetic profile had not previously been mapped, but now thanks to the analysis of material extracted from a fossilised tooth found on the banks of an Alaskan river, scientists have the first genetic portrait of the creature. By comparing the mastodon's genetic map with existing genome sequences for modern elephants and the woolly mammoth, they have built up a family tree for the elephants.
The tree has the African elephants diverging from both the Asian elephant and the mammoth about 7.6 million years ago. Then, at 6.7 million years ago, the Asian elephant and the mammoth also go their separate ways.
"The cool thing about the mastodon is that we know pretty exactly from the fossil record when it diverged from the elephant and the mammoth," said Dr Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, one of the lead researchers.
"So using that time point and the genetic data, we could date when the African elephant, Asian elephant and mammoth diverged from each other," Dr Hofreiter added. "That took place in Africa in the same place where humans, chimps and gorillas diverged."
The fact that it is now judged that the elephants went their separate ways in the same place and at about the same time we humans diverged from our ape brethren may of course be a coincidence, says the BBC's Neil Bowdler.
Or, as Dr Hofreiter suggests, there may be a common environmental or climatic event which set both elephants and humans on their eventual evolutionary course.
Greek mastodon find 'spectacular'.
The tusks were well preserved The remains of a prehistoric mastodon - a mammoth-like animal - have been found in northern Greece, including intact long tusks. A Dutch scientist at the site, Dick Mol, says the find near Grevena should help explain why mastodons died out in Europe two to three million years ago.
The mastodon's tusks measure 5m (16.5ft) and 4m, Mr Mol told the BBC. They are the longest tusks ever found on a prehistoric elephant-like animal. "It is spectacular," Mr Mol said. There have also been rare mastodon finds in northern Europe, notably in England, Germany and the Netherlands.
Mastodons are thought to have first appeared about five million years ago and became extinct in North America about 10,000 years ago - much later than in Europe. The animals were similar to woolly mammoths, but had tusks that pointed forwards, rather than spiralling upwards. Their teeth were also different.
The team of palaeontologists, including Professor Evangelia Tsoukala of Greece's Aristotle University in Thessaloniki (Salonica), began the excavation on 16 July and is planning to finish it on Wednesday.
Scientists will study the remains at a research centre in the Milia region of northern Greece, and there are hopes that some of the creature's DNA is still intact, Mr Mol told the BBC News website. Various parts of the skeleton have been dug up, along with teeth.
The animal's height was about 3.5m at the shoulder and it weighed some six tons. The mastodon feasted on leaves, unlike the woolly mammoth, which grazed. Eventually it will go on display at a museum in Milia.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Court review for animal testing.
Tests showed a rise of 4% on last year's figures. The UK government is being taken to court over its duty to cut suffering to lab animals, as figures show another rise in animal tests. News of the judicial review coincided with the release of official Home Office figures showing a moderate rise in animal experiments last year.
A total of three million procedures were carried out on animals in 2006, a rise of 4% on the previous year.
Scientists said tests were necessary to help cure life-threatening diseases. In total, 2.95 million animals were used in procedures last year in England, Scotland and Wales.
The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) announced it was taking the Government to the High Court in London on Tuesday over the fate of laboratory animals. The case will seek a declaration that the government has failed to ensure animal suffering in Home Office licensed laboratories is kept to a minimum.
The judge will be asked to order the Home Office to re-examine its licensing regulations. But the Home Office strongly disputed the claims by the BUAV. "The UK runs the strictest animal testing regime in the world. Under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, animal procedures are only allowed where the research is essential, there is no other way of obtaining the information, and suffering will be kept to an absolute minimum," a spokesperson said.
"The Home Office carries out its regulatory responsibilities under the Act with great care and strongly contests the claims made by the BUAV."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Seagull becomes crisp shoplifter.
A seagull has turned shoplifter by wandering into a shop and helping itself to crisps. The bird walks into the RS McColl newsagents in Aberdeen when the door is open and makes off with cheese Doritos. The seagull, nicknamed Sam, has now become so popular that locals have started paying for his crisps.
Shop assistant Sriaram Nagarajan said: "Everyone is amazed by the seagull. For some reason he only takes that one particular kind of crisps." The bird first swooped in Aberdeen's Castlegate earlier this month and made off with the 55p crisps, and is now a regular. Once outside, the crisps are ripped open and the seagull is joined by other birds.
Mr Nagarajan said: "He's got it down to a fine art. He waits until there are no customers around and I'm standing behind the till, then he raids the place. "At first I didn't believe a seagull was capable of stealing crisps. But I saw it with my own eyes and I was surprised. He's very good at it. The seagull takes the crisps outside and eats them. "He's becoming a bit of a celebrity. Seagulls are usually not that popular but Sam is a star because he's so funny."
A spokesman for RSPB Scotland said: "I've never heard of anything like this before. "Perhaps it tried some crisps in a shiny packet in the street, and was just opportunistic one day at the shop when it saw what was inside. "As everyone knows, gulls can be very quick and fearless, and clearly this one is no exception."
He added: "We'd discourage people from feeding gulls though, as gulls in towns generate lots of complaints every year, and the availability of food is the only reason they live in urban settings."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Farm bird decline 'can be halted'.
Farmers who provide "bed and breakfast" for wild birds could help reverse the decline in farmland species, according to results from a five-year study. The report showed bird numbers could increase four-fold if new measures were implemented in "green" farming schemes.
Six techniques were identified that would help reverse declines of species such as skylarks and yellow wagtails. The report was carried out by Sustainable Arable Farming For an Improved Environment (Saffie).
The organisation is made up of 21 farming, environment and research groups including the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the National Trust and Syngenta.
James Clarke, Saffie project director, said: "The measures suggested by the Saffie research could enhance farmland biodiversity and are compatible with modern arable farming. "This is a real opportunity for the government to meet its targets for reversing the decline of farmland birds. It's about providing bed and breakfast for farmland birds."
Research for the £3.5m Saffie project was carried out on 36 farms in England and Scotland. It found that "skylark plots" - small bare patches in arable fields - together with strips of grasses and wild flowers on field edges, increased the numbers of some birds three or four-fold.
Plant diversity and open spaces in these strips were important because they encouraged beetles, which are sought by birds as food for their young, and allowed birds access to them. Using a herbicide to control fast-growing grasses allowed other plants, bees and butterflies to flourish.
Skylark plots were incorporated in the government's environmental schemes two years ago, but take-up has been low. The authors of the report believe changes to government schemes based on Saffie's findings will prompt more farmers to take part.
Mr Clarke added: "We don't want uniform fields or field margins and are not suggesting that all farmers should do the same thing. But we need a diversity of habitat and, if we have that, we'll have a wide variety of thriving wildlife."
RSPB chief executive Graham Wynne said: "Measures for wildlife can be used by farmers without harming a farm's profits. "The recommendations Saffie is making could make an enormous contribution to helping farmland species recover their numbers and making rural businesses more sustainable. "We very much hope the government and Natural England will take these proposals on board."
The most recent State of the UK's Birds report painted an alarming picture of decline in farmland birds. It said the skylark, the tree sparrow, the corn bunting and the yellowhammer were either in decline or had only stable numbers.
BBC NEWS REPORT
No big tent for elderly elephant.
The last touring elephant in Britain will not enter the big tent in Ayrshire after animal campaigners raised objections. Anne, who is aged 54 and suffers from arthritis, is believed to be one of the oldest elephants in Europe.
East Ayrshire Council agreed with the Bobby Roberts Super Circus that Anne would not be used for commercial purposes during the run in Kilmarnock. Animal rights campaigners welcomed the decision. At a meeting on Monday, the council's licensing panel decided, with the agreement of Mr and Mrs Roberts, that the elephant would not take part in any public performance or any other commercial venture.
Ross Minett of Advocates for Animals told the BBC Scotland news website that Anne no longer performed tricks in the circus. However, audience members were able to have their picture taken with her during the interval. "We are very pleased that East Ayrshire Council took our concerns seriously and has put restrictions on the use of Anne the elephant," said Mr Minett.
"The conditions the council has imposed regarding how the circus can use Anne gives a clear message that traipsing an old and arthritic elephant around the country and using her for public entertainment is completely inappropriate."
Advocates for Animals plans to ask the council to consider banning all animal circuses from its land. The campaign group will also be asking Dumfries and Galloway to stop Anne being used for commercial purposes when the circus travels on to Dumfries.
Bobby Roberts Super Circus could not be reached for comment. However, in a statement on its website Mr Roberts said he was "surprised and saddened" by a campaign to "retire" Anne. He said: "Anne is a member of our family and we have grown up together. "Our standards of animal husbandry are excellent, Anne gets the best possible veterinary care and is lovingly looked after 24/7."
He said claims that Anne was still performing were "entirely fictional", adding: "Anne is retired from the circus ring and has been for some time. "Our opinion is that if Anne was taken away from her familiar surroundings, and the company of those she loves, she would quite simply pine away and die.
"It would be a most unkind separation which would be far more detrimental to her wellbeing than continuing the way of life which she has known for many, many years."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Disastrous' season for seabirds.
Guillemot are among the birds suffering, the RSPB said. Scotland's seabirds are having a "disastrous" breeding season, according to RSPB Scotland. It said mid-season reports had found cliffs, where there should be thousands of birds, almost empty. Parts of Shetland, Orkney and Cape Wrath in the Highlands were among the worst affected.
RSPB Scotland said climate change appeared to be disrupting food supply, but added that more research would need to be done. The charity said Scotland's coastline supported 45% of the European Union's seabird breeding population. It said that for some areas the season was worse than last year and heading towards being the worst since a "dreadful" 2004 season.
However, reserves on the east coast such as Fowlsheugh and Troup Head along with southern colonies like Mull of Galloway were doing better, but still down on previous years. Common terns and guillemots were doing badly, while kittiwakes were holding on in the south and east.
Norman Ratcliffe, seabird ecologist with RSPB Scotland, said chicks were not getting enough food. He said: "Some cliffs which should be packed with birds are just about bare as adult birds abandon the nest once their breeding attempt has failed. This is all linked to food availability, which can be disrupted for a number of reasons. "We're fairly certain that on the east coast, rising sea temperatures are leading to plankton regime shifts, which in turn affects fish like sand eels - a major food source for seabirds."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Experts seek to save rare turtle.
By Jonathan Kent - BBC News, Kuala Lumpur.
Leatherback turtle numbers are falling in Terengganu. Conservationists and scientists are meeting in Malaysia to hatch a plan to save one of the world's most critically endangered sea creatures. Experts say there are fewer than 5,000 leatherback turtles left, but with swift action they believe that their decline can be reversed.
The meeting's organisers say there is a certain irony in their choice of venue. Terengganu on Malaysia's east coast was once home to one of the world's largest leatherback turtle nesting sites. Tens of thousands would come ashore each year to lay their eggs.
But no more. Numbers are so low that the state has dropped the turtle as its symbol. The creatures have fallen prey to humans who either raid their nests for eggs or who catch them in fishing nets at sea.
Peter Dutton, the head of a US government marine turtle research programme, says it is a critical time for the leatherback. He wants to see more action to protect their nests.
Scientists have already identified the most critical nesting sites and hope that this meeting will decide how best to put into action a plan to save them. There is broad agreement that the leatherbacks' decline can yet be stemmed.
However, campaigners say that without reliable funding for conservation programmes, the task of ensuring the survival of the largest of the world's turtle species will be that much more difficult.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
New hope over 'extinct' echidna.
A species of egg-laying mammal, named after TV naturalist Sir David Attenborough, is not extinct as was previously thought, say scientists. On a recent visit to Papua's Cyclops Mountains, researchers uncovered burrows and tracks made by the Attenborough's long-beaked echidna. The species is only known to biologists through a specimen from 1961, which is housed in a museum in the Netherlands.
The team will return to Papua next year to find and photograph the creature. The month-long expedition by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) involved travelling to parts of the mountain range, covered by thick jungle, which had remained unexplored for more than 45 years.
Jonathan Baillie, ZSL's Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (Edge) programme manager, said: "We hope that Sir David Attenborough will be delighted to hear that his namesake species is still surviving in the wilds of the Papaun jungle."
The creature had not been recorded since a Dutch botanist collected the only known specimen in the cloud forest of the Cyclops Mountains in 1961. As a result, it was widely assumed that the shoe box-sized species (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was extinct. But while the Edge team were in the area, they spoke to local tribespeople who said that they had seen the creature as recently as 2005. The scientists also discovered "nose pokes", holes in the ground made by the echidnas as they stuck their long noses into soil to feed.
In the programme's blog, Dr Baillie wrote: "Attenborough's echidna is one of five monotremes (egg-laying mammals) that first inhabited the Earth around the time of the dinosaurs. Parts of the Cyclops Mountains were unexplored for more than 45 years. "This group includes the duck-billed platypus, which helps demonstrate how different these are from all other mammals."
Very little is known about the animal's ecology. It is thought that it is nocturnal, foraging for earthworms among the forest litter, then spending the day resting in shallow burrows or hollow logs. When threatened, it is believed the solitary living echidna erects its spine-covered coat to protect it from predators. The team is planning to return to the Cyclops Mountains next year to carry out further research and to also install camera traps in order to photograph a living Attenborough's long-beaked echidna.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Endangered bird 'makes comeback'.
1,633 pairs of woodlarks have been spotted in the UK.The woodlark, one of England's most critically endangered birds, is making a dramatic comeback, the RSPB has said. In the last 10 years, numbers have almost doubled from 1,633 breeding pairs in the UK in 1997 to 3,084 pairs, according to the charity's survey.
But conservationists fear woodlarks' good fortune may be short-lived. They say that undisturbed and untilled farmland where the birds like to nest may begin to disappear as pressure to use land for biofuels increases.
Sue Armstrong-Brown, the RSPB's head of conservation, said: "The return of the woodlark to our fields, heaths and forests is brilliant news - and shows how important set-aside [land] has become as a refuge for wildlife on our farmland." But she warned it was crucial their recovery was not "sabotaged" and called for increased efforts to restore and manage lowland heaths to create suitable conditions for the birds.
THE WOODLARK
Streaky brown bird with a white eye-stripe
Short tail and broad, rounded wings
Breeds mainly in eastern and southern England
Spotted all year round
Eats seeds and insects
Source: RSPB
The woodlark was first red-listed as a species of conservation concern in the 1980s following a dramatic decline in its population in the previous two decades. At its lowest point in 1986, there were just 241 breeding pairs. Its decline coincided with the loss of traditional farmland in the south west of England and Wales, and the loss of heath land across the UK.
However, the European agricultural policy of the early 1990s proved an unlikely saviour. Farmers were paid to take land out of production to reduce EU food mountains. It became known as set-aside land and proved a boon to wildlife, including the woodlark.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Industry 'threat' to rare African flamingo.
By Adam Mynott - BBC East Africa correspondent .
Plans to build a soda ash plant alongside a lake in Tanzania threaten the future of one of the world's most beautiful birds, a rare species of flamingo, according to wildlife experts.
Lake Natron is a vital breeding site for the lesser flamingo. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has condemned the proposals for the industrial plant next to Lake Natron, where 75% of the world's population of lesser flamingos gather to breed in the summer.
It is one of the most iconic and beautiful sights in Africa: the brilliant pink fringe around Lake Natron formed by half a million lesser flamingos strutting in the lake's shallow waters.
Lake Natron, close to Tanzania's border with Kenya in the Rift Valley, is a soda lake rich in salt, vitamins and bacteria which the flamingos feed on. It is the most important breeding site for the lesser flamingo, a bird whose future is far from secure.
It is the salt in Lake Natron that has attracted the attention of industrialists who want to build a soda ash plant next to the lake.
Lake Natron Resources Ltd, linked to the Indian multi-national Tata company, is holding a meeting on Thursday to outline its proposals.
A spokesperson for the consultants working for the company said the scheme was in the very early stages of planning and it wanted to hear from all parties which have an interest in the lake, including naturalists and environmental groups.
The RSPB says they have not been invited. Dr Chris Magin of the RSPB says the industrial plans "are bonkers", and threaten to mark the beginning of the end for the lesser flamingo. Dr Magin also expressed concern about rumoured plans to introduce a non-indigenous hybrid shrimp into the lake to make the waters more saline. "Bringing an alien species into the lake could cause damage that no-one can foresee," he said.
The lesser flamingo is close to being an endangered species. "The world is already reeling from the consequences of deliberate and accidental introduction of alien species, like mink in the UK, rabbits in Australia and Nile Perch in Lake Victoria in Africa."
Norconsult, the company behind Thursday's meeting, said there were no plans to introduce any alien species, and any proposals put forward would be conducted with particular care and attention to the environment. The lesser flamingo is a rare bird and close to being put on the endangered species list.
They are said to be very sensitive to alterations in water conditions, and the RSPB fears that if they are forced to leave Lake Natron, it may precipitate the extinction of the species.
Flamingos in Africa's Rift Valley are already facing an uncertain future because of the effects of global warming on the lakes they breed and feed on.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Huge dog is reluctant media star !
At 6ft 5ins (1.96m) on his hind legs, Samson must be the perfect guard dog. But to his owners, Julie and Ray Woods, of Boston, Lincolnshire, the three-year-old Great Dane-Newfoundland cross is simply a much-loved pet.
Samson - who weighs in at 19st 10lb (125kg) - is being billed as "Britain's biggest dog" after scrap merchant staff who weighed him contacted the media.
But the placid dog has been unsettled by the attention and has missed his quiet life, Mrs Woods said.
The couple adopted their pet from the local RSPCA centre when he was six months old and weighed a mere 16st 2lb (102kg). Mrs Woods, 54, had only kept small dogs before while her husband, Ray, had kept larger dogs, including Alsatians.
"I said to my husband that, if he wanted a bigger dog this time then he could go for it," she said. "When we called the RSPCA they said Samson was available, and if we arrived that day we could have first option."
When they arrived at the kennels, Mrs Woods said Samson "bounded over and pinned us both to the wall". "But he really is a gentle giant and he has the kind of nature that means you can't help but love him," she added.
Samson is still growing and, after going through several dog collars, he now has to have them specially made. But the vet says Samson is not overweight and is just a big dog, she added. With a 59in chest some body builders would envy and a 29in neck, Samson also wears pony coats to protect him from the rain.
Mrs Woods said it was visitors to their home who made them realise Samson's expansion. "Because we live with him, we didn't really see that he was growing so much. "But people kept saying he was getting larger and larger."
Mrs Woods says Samson has been "very unsettled" by the media interest and so she and her husband have ruled out any more photographs or filming. She added: "He's a very placid, laid-back dog and I don't think he liked being ordered about - he just likes the quiet life."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Gaza lion freed after two years.
A lioness has been reunited with her brother in the Gaza Zoo after being released by Hamas from a clan who had abducted her nearly two years ago. Sabrina was kidnapped aged just three months, shortly after being brought to the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
Hamas militiamen say they freed her after a shootout with the clan members.
Gaza has been under Hamas control since 15 June, when they defeated forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Zoo officials say Sabrina is in poor health and very tired, and shows signs of mistreatment.
"The thieves had cut off the end of her tail, the black hair that is considered to be the symbol of pride of African lions. I am very sad for her. She must have felt very humiliated," zoo veterinarian Saoud al-Shawa told the Reuters news agency. He added that her captors were charging tourists to be photographed with her.
Zoo officials said Sabrina's brother Sakher, who had roared inconsolably when his sister was stolen, instantly recognised her and the pair started to play. The Islamist movement Hamas took control of Gaza on 15 June after routing the security forces loyal to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement now controls the West Bank.
They have vowed to impose law and order in Gaza.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Global warming 'made lake vanish'
Scientists in Chile have blamed climate change for the sudden disappearance of a lake in the south of the country. Park rangers who patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March reported that the two-hectare (five-acre) glacial lake was its normal size.
But two months later they found a huge dry crater and stranded chunks of ice that previously floated on the water. Experts now say melting glaciers put pressure on an ice wall that acted as a dam, causing it to give way.
Water in the lake flowed out of the breach into a nearby fjord and then out to the sea, said Andres Rivera, a glaciologist with Chile's Centre of Scientific Studies.
Mr Rivera flew on Monday in a navy airplane to take hundreds of photographs of the site, which is some 2,000km (1,250 miles) south of the capital, Santiago.
"On one side of the Bernardo glacier one can see a large hole or gap, and we believe that's where the water flowed through," Mr Rivera said in a navy communique. "This confirms that glaciers in the region are retreating and getting thinner."
He noted that the lake now appears to be filling up again, probably because of the melting of slabs of ice left on the lake bed. The advance and retreat of glaciers is part of the normal dynamic of the Patagonian region but climate change was distorting the process, Mr Rivera said.
"This would not be happening if the temperature had not increased," he added.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Cat returns home after 10 years.
A cat has been reunited with its owner 10 years after going missing. Lynx disappeared from her home in Hook, Hampshire, in 1997, and her owner, Patricia Charnet, thought she would never see her pet again. Earlier this week a stray was found in Carterton, Oxfordshire, and handed in to the Blue Cross centre in Burford.
A scan showed that the 12-year-old tabby was microchipped and the centre tracked down her owner, who lived 60 miles away. Ms Charnet said that when the animal sanctuary phoned her, she thought they had made a mistake.
Lynx turned up 60 miles away 10 years after disappearing."You still have it in the back of your mind," she said. "And it happened this time, for real. That was unbelievable, it is a wonderful feeling. "If only she could talk she would have a story to tell."
Mandy Jones, from the Blue Cross said staff at the centre were amazed to discover that Lynx had been missing for 10 years. "I still can't believe we were able to reunite her with her owner after such a long time - it goes to show how important microchipping is," said Ms Jones.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Wind farm 'is threat to eagles'
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News
The Pairc peninsula is a good habitat for golden eagles.Golden eagles are gravely threatened by a £200m wind farm scheme proposed for the Hebridean island of Lewis, campaigners have warned.
Three of the predatory birds a year could be killed in collisions with turbine blades - the highest mortality from any wind power project in the UK. The figures come from the developer's own environmental statement.
The planned 205 megawatt (mW) Pairc wind farm in south-eastern Lewis would comprise 57 turbines. Campaigners are also alarmed at the possibility of peat slides in some areas where the 145 metre (475ft) structures are to stand.
Developer Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) found 10 infrastructure sites on the Pairc peninsula were at a high risk of peat slides, a further 16 were considered to be at moderate risk.
"The eagle kill is pretty horrific, as is the threat of peat slide," said Catriona Campbell, of anti-wind farm group Moorland Without Turbines (MWT). Golden eagles are on the Amber list of birds of conservation concern and are afforded the highest level of protection under UK law. There are about 60 pairs in total on Lewis.
"[Pairc] is a significant site, not only for golden eagles but also for sea eagles," said Martin Scott, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Western Isles conservation officer.
The site has a high density of eagles in a relatively small area. There are three to four golden eagle pairs in the vicinity of the wind farm, with one pair nesting at the heart of the site. The figure of three deaths per year over the project's 25-year lifetime arrives at a figure of 76 golden eagles killed in collisions over the course of the scheme.
Proponents of the wind farm say the actual figure would be much lower. They argue that once the pair whose territory is centred on the new farm is lost, a void will exist, causing the eagle mortality to drop off after the first few years. Eagles on the periphery of the scheme may move elsewhere - with few moving in to claim the territory.
"Even if this is true," said Mr Scott, "Our concern is that the void caused by the loss of the pair would act as a sump to draw other [bird species] into the turbine area, because there are no eagles to chase them away. "On Lewis - where there are now three big schemes - when people talk about displacing birds from one area to another, they are simply moving them on to another wind farm."
The developer's peat assessment has also generated consternation.
The destructive potential of peat slides was amply illustrated when, in 2003, nearly 0.1 sq mile (0.5 sq km) of bog slid 1.5 miles (2.5km) down a hillside at Derrybrien, western Ireland.
An investigation concluded that construction on a 71-turbine wind farm contributed to the landslip.
The 13,837-acre (5,600-hectare) Pairc site varies in altitude between 20 metres (65ft) and 180 metre (590ft), with topography generally sloping upwards from west to east.
SSE said that after mitigation - such as specialist monitoring of construction and careful placement of turbines - the peat slide risk is reduced to "low" for 20 infrastructure sites and "moderate/low" for the remaining six.
But MWT said residents on the Pairc peninsula should be concerned.
The wind farms have split opinion on Lewis. Council leaders said renewable energy schemes will help safeguard the island's economic future, but critics insist they threaten the island's natural beauty, its ecology and wildlife.
Ms Campbell said that, taken together, the three schemes comprised 40 miles (64km) of turbines. She said the cumulative impact of all three schemes needed urgent assessment. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) has not yet adopted a position on the Pairc scheme.
Calum Ian McIver, the council's head of economic development, said several hearings would be held as part of its evaluation process, allowing interested parties to submit their views. Council members will decide whether or not to approve the scheme later this year. The final verdict rests with the Scottish Executive.
SSE declined to comment for this report.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Brown pushed over marine wildlife.
The UK coastline is home to 18 exclusively coastal seabird species.Prime Minister Gordon Brown must ensure the protection of the UK's marine wildlife, the RSPB has urged. It says UK seas support 18 endangered species of fish, mammal, bird and reptile but that there are only three protected marine sites of importance.
The government launched its long-awaited White Paper, aimed at protecting the UK's seas and marine life, in March. The RSPB says the PM must ensure laws form part of the 2007 Queen's Speech. The proposed legislation, a manifesto commitment at the 2005 general election, goes out for consultation with the aim of passing a bill next year.
The UK coastline was also home to 18 exclusively coastal species of seabird, including the gannet and the guillemot, the RSPB said. Other species, including the great skua and the Manx shearwater, had their most important populations in the world in the UK, it added. It complains that "the protection of sites and species on land is not mirrored in the marine environment".
RSPB spokesman Mark Avery said the government had "a very poor track record" on designating marine wildlife sites. "We trust that Gordon Brown will honour his party's manifesto commitment to provide a Marine Bill before the next election," he added. "His commitment to marine protection will be an early test of his environmental credentials."
As well as creating protected areas, ministers plan to improve the regulation of inshore fisheries and ease planning for offshore industry. Environmental groups began campaigning for such a bill more than five years ago. They were delighted when Labour included it in its manifesto for the last general election, but were dismayed when it did not make the 2006 Queen's Speech.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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