Hoopoe – A blog by nhbs – Page 25 – The NHBS Conservation Hub

Our year in books

As 2023 draws to a close, what could be more pleasant than a look back at some of the books that we have read, enjoyed and recommended to our friends, family and customers over the past twelve months.

January

At the very beginning of the year, Richard Lewington treated us to a beautiful new Pocket Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland. Lewington’s illustrations never disappoint and this guide was a fantastic addition to our field guide bookshelves. We were also inspired by Britain’s Living Seas. Written in collaboration with The Wildlife Trusts, this user-friendly book provides a guide to the coasts around the British Isles, as well as ideas for the alternative and sustainable management of our seas.

February

February saw the publication of Darren Naish’s Ancient Sea Reptiles in which he introduces us to these strange, sometimes monstrous, marine beasts. Edited by cave scientist and conservation ecologist Dr J. Judson Wynne, Cave Biodiversity provided us with a fascinating look at both the evolution and the conservation of subterrestrial-dwelling fauna, while Planktonium, from Dutch photographer Jan van IJken, offered us a glimpse into the unseen world of microscopic plankton via his stunningly beautiful images.

March

March offered us some truly inspiring reads, including James T. Costa’s Radical by Nature which chronicles the life, adventures and achievements of Alfred Russell Wallace, including his role in the formation of the theory of natural selection. James Nardi guided us through the innermost unseen world that trees share with a range of creatures in The Hidden Company That Trees Keep and we discovered more about the wild spaces of Britain and Ireland in Patrick Barkham and Alastair Fothergill’s Wild Isles, which accompanies the popular BBC series.

April/May

In April we were treated to more marine photography with Lisa-ann Gershwin’s Shapeshifters, which is a visually breathtaking look at 100 species of jellyfish. May saw the publication of the practical and inspiring The Book of Wilding which offers rewilding advice on a range of scales. (Read our Q&A with Isabella here). In the wake of Covid-19, we also delved into Fatal Jump from Leslie Reperant, which looks at the origins of global pandemics.

June/July

June provided us with another wonderful marine title from physicist Helen Czerski. In Blue Machine she offers a timely and elegant explanation of the ocean engine and the extent to which it impacts life on our planet. It would be remiss of us to pass by July without mentioning the publication of All the Mammals of the World. This popular and sizeable volume, as the title suggests, covers all of the mammals of the world and has something to appeal to everyone, from wildlife enthusiasts to researchers and conservationists. Following on from her critically acclaimed The Genius of Birds, July also saw the arrival of Jennifer Ackerman’s What an Owl Knows which brings to life the natural history of these incredible birds. (You can read our Q&A with Jennifer here).

August

In August we delighted in Amy-Jane Beer’s The Flow, an immersive and moving memoir which went on to win the James Cropper Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing in September. We enjoyed Chris Manias’ The Age of Mammals which examines how 19^th-Century palaeontology revolved largely around mammals rather than dinosaurs. We were also fans of Brian Johnson’s Honey Bee Biology which provides an incredibly comprehensive and up-to-date reference guide to these fascinating and essential pollinators.

September

The beginning of autumn brought with it the publication of Peter Eeles’ British & Irish Butterfly Rarities. Immensely popular among our Lepidopterist customers, this valuable book is the first to focus entirely on the species of butterfly regarded as extinct, rare migrant or introduced. Other highlights for us from September included Guillaume Pitron’s The Dark Cloud, a sobering investigation into the impacts of digital technology on the environment, and Michael Bright’s Masterpieces of the Earth, a dazzling photographic compendium of natural wonders around the world.

October

October provided us with a couple of titles of huge interest to ecologists, particularly those involved in bat surveys. The 4th edition of Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists from the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT) provided updated and new content, including important information on the use of night vision equipment. (An interview about the book with Jan Collins from the BCT can be found here). Further practical advice on night vision survey was also found in Kayleigh Fawcett Williams’ excellent Thermal Imaging for Wildlife Applications. (Read our Q&A with Kayleigh here). Other highlights from October included Ben Goldfarb’s Crossings, which investigates the kinds of ecological devastation that roads and highways are inflicting upon our planet, as well as the photographic delights of Michelle Sole and Tom Hart’s Antarctica.

November

In November we received the first copies of Seabirds Count which provides an incredibly important insight into the seabird populations across Britain and Ireland. We also loved Neil Middleton and Stuart Newson’s Sound Identification of Terrestrial Mammals of Britain & Ireland which provides comprehensive coverage of a topic previously unexplored within the literature. (Enjoy our Q&A with the authors here). Other notable mentions this month include Andrew Simms and Leo Murray’s Badvertising, which examines the role of marketing on both the health of humans and that of the planet, plus Vincent Munier: The Monograph, which compiles 35 years of his stunning photography and expresses his unwavering admiration of the wild world.

December

We finish our yearly round-up with two fantastic books from December: the incredible second edition of the Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland which is instrumental in making these fascinating group of moths accessible to the general naturalist. (Read our conversation with authors Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons here). Also in its second edition was Ian Newton’s The Migration Ecology of Birds, which covers all aspects of this fascinating subject in a clear and readable style.

All that remains is to wish everyone a wonderful end to the year. We look forward to sharing plenty more great reads with you in 2024.

The Winter 2023 issue of Conservation Land Management

The Winter issue of Conservation Land Management (CLM), out soon, marks the end of volume 21. This issue covers a breadth of topics, including a discussion on the implications of rewilding on Britain’s native herpetofauna, the restoration of heathland on former conifer plantation sites, the native Black Poplar in Norfolk, the exciting potential of ecoacoustic monitoring for Hazel Dormouse surveys and the impressive Eddleston Water Project in Scotland. Read a more detailed summary of the articles featured in this issue below.

Eddleston Water is a tributary of the River Tweed, joining at the Scottish town of Peebles and draining a catchment of 69km². Over the last 200 years, land-use changes in the river valley have altered how the land drains and the river itself has been straightened to allow for the construction of a road and railway. As a result, the connection between the river and its floodplain has been severed, resulting in an increased risk of flooding downstream towards Peebles and changes to in-stream habitats important for wildlife such as Atlantic Salmon, Otter and lampreys. The Eddleston Water Project was set up in 2009 with the aim of reducing the flood risk to downstream communities and improving riparian habitats while maintaining local farm businesses. Interestingly, hydrological and ecological monitoring began two years before natural flood management (NFM) measures were first implemented, and so the Eddleston Water Project has provided, and continues to provide, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of NFM. Professor Chris Spray, the Tweed Forum’s Science Manager for the Eddleston Water Project, describes the NFM interventions that have been used, such as riparian tree planting, re-meandering the straightened channel, the creation of flood-storage ponds and the placement of high-flow restrictor log structures, and the benefits that these have provided across the Eddleston catchment.

Aerial image of a straight river being redirected around some trees at the Eddleston Water Project. The Eddleston water Project has involved a number of natural flood management measures, such as re-meandering straightened river channels. Image taken by Colin McLean. — The Eddleston water Project has involved a number of natural flood management measures, such as re-meandering straightened river channels. Colin McLean.

Ecoacoustic monitoring, the use of sound to determine a species’ presence or absence, has grown in popularity, but ecoacoustic studies have generally focused on ‘noisier’ animals, such as birds and bats. If this approach could offer a viable alternative to traditional monitoring methods for other species, it could provide a useful tool for ecologists and conservationists while also being less invasive for the animals themselves. A previous article in British Wildlife magazine demonstrated that the vocalisations of small terrestrial mammals (rodents and shrews) could be readily assigned to species with careful examination of recordings and spectrograms, suggesting that ecoacoustics could offer a new means of monitoring these animals. In this article, Jonathan Down, Stuart Newson and Alex Bush look specifically at the potential of acoustic methods in surveys of the Hazel Dormouse, a protected species that has experienced significant declines in the UK. The authors conducted a field test in south Cumbria in two areas where Hazel Dormice had recently been reintroduced in order to investigate how effective two different types of acoustic recorders, AudioMoth (a low-cost option) and the Song Meter Mini Bat Detector, were in detecting the presence of dormice. Here they describe their findings and highlight both the limitations and promise of ecoacoustics for dormouse surveys.

The native Black Poplar is the rarest hardwood tree in Britain – approximately only 7,000 trees remain in Britain. Unfortunately, the population is also heavily male-biased; in the Victorian era many female trees were felled due to the fluffy white seeds that they produce, which were considered unsightly. This and the isolated nature of the remaining trees means that sexual reproduction is essentially non-existent in the wild and many individuals are genetic clones of a small number of trees. Due to their rarity, native Black Poplars have been well recorded in most parts of the country, but in Norfolk records have not been updated since a 2007 census survey. To address this, the Otter Trust launched the Norfolk Black Poplar Project to formulate an accurate and up-to-date picture of the status of the Black Poplar in the county The locations of individual trees recorded in previous surveys were updated and mapped, and cuttings were taken from each tree for genetic testing and propagation. Genetic analysis has allowed each tree’s clonal type and sex to be identified, and here Ben Grief outlines the results from this work and discusses the potential to expand the Black Poplar population in Norfolk.

The Sandlings Heaths in Suffolk, once a vast unbroken landscape, have undergone significant landscape-scale changes in the last century. The planting of coniferous plantations played a part in this, but in 2006 the RSPB entered an agreement with the Forestry Commission to manage areas of clearfell in Dunwich Forest with the aim of restoring heathland and acid grassland habitats of high conservation value (compared to the scrub and trees likely to develop in the absence of management). Here, the authors focus on three cleared areas, describing the management that has been carried out since 2008 to restore the sites to high-quality heathland and what extensive vegetation monitoring has shown regarding the habitats that have since developed.

In Viewpoint, the final article in this issue, John Baker and Jim Foster from the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust discuss the implications of rewilding for Britain’s reptiles and amphibians. The authors broadly refer to rewilding as an approach that aims to restore natural processes with minimal or no intervention, generally applied over larger spatial scales, and highlight why, particularly for our specialist and rare species, rewilding in this sense may not always be the most suitable approach.

A Natterjack Toad photographed sat in a field on the grass. — Natterjack Toad. Jim Foster/ARC.

A green tractor ploughing a field as part of a reserve management programme. — Continued reserve management is needed to maintain specific conditions for our rare herpetofauna. Jim Foster/ARC.

In this and every issue you can expect to see Briefing, keeping you up to date with the latest training courses, events and publications, and On the ground, which provides helpful tips and updates on products relevant to land management. Other features, such as Review, which can include letters from readers or updates from our authors, also regularly appear in CLM.

CLM is published four times a year, in March, June, September and December, and is available by subscription only. Subscriptions start from £22 per year. If you would like to read any of these articles, contact info@britishwildlife.com to pre-order a copy and receive the Winter 2023 issue when it is published, in mid-December.

This week in biodiversity news – 11th December 2023

Conservation

Beavers will return to the Cairngorms after 400 years in a bid to boost biodiversity. The new population will be established by the Cairngorms National Park authority after being approved by NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency. Up to 15 families of beavers will be released at sites along the upper River Spey. This catchment is an ideal location for beaver translocation and poses a low risk of beaver/human conflict, according to NatureScot.

beaver swimming in a river — Beaver swimming by Chris Burke via Flickr.

The fight to save Red Squirrel populations continues to rage across the North of England. Retired police constable and firearms instructor, Ian Glendinning, monitors 2,000 acres of farmland in Northumberland and employs a range of techniques to keep the Grey Squirrels in check. Monitoring Northumberland’s Coquetdale, he has employed CCTV and traps that alert him via text and email when a squirrel is detected. Using this monitoring system, Glendinning has removed around 300 Grey Squirrels which has had a noticeable impact on the Red Squirrel population, allowing their population to increase from a dozen to more than 100 over the past four years.

Policy and diplomacy

Countries are set to commit to a major phasing down of fossil fuels over the coming decades, COP28 hosts expect. The United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the UN climate change conference in Dubai, has expressed “cautious optimism” regarding the commitment. Until COP26 in Glasglow in 2021, fossil fuels were rarely mentioned in these global gatherings. Even there, the only commitment was to phase down coal. While the pledge will not mean stopping the use of fossil fuels completely, it could signal a shift towards real progress on tackling climate change.

Chimneys spewing smoke from a powerplant. — Powerplant by Wladimir Labeikovsky via Flickr.

Carbon pricing could raise the money needed to tackle the climate crisis, the IMF has told COP28. The cash could be generated by putting a price on carbon emission and redirecting the trillions of dollars currently used to subsidise fossil fuels. Traditional carbon taxes have proven to be unpopular in a number of countries but Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, has said that it would be possible to achieve similar outcomes by using a combination of regulation and reducing carbon subsidies. Studies have shown that developing countries will need more than $2 trillion a year to cut emissions and the IMF has calculated that direct and indirect subsidies for fossil fuels are in excess of more than $7 trillion.

Climate Crisis

Olive oil prices are surging due to droughts in Spain. Spain is the world’s biggest producer of olive oil, accounting for 70% of European Union consumption and 45% of global consumption. The standard assumption that one bad year for olive production would be followed by a good one is shifting in the face of rising temperatures due to climate change. Spain has seen multiple years of drought in a short time frame, and together with higher fuel, electricity and fertiliser costs, Spanish olive oil production has suffered as a result. The price of olive oil has skyrocketed in Spain with prices in the UK and Ireland set to experience a similar surge once costs feed through to the supply chain.

olives with leaves in a pile on the ground — Olives for olive oil by Pom via Flickr.

Methane could be released from the Deep Ocean due to climate change, scientists have warned. Scientists at Newcastle University have shown that frozen methane trapped under the ocean is vulnerable to melting and is consequently released into the oceans and the atmosphere. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and the published report in the journal Nature Geoscience warns that vast amounts of methane stored as marine methane under the ocean could be released into the atmosphere, with the potential for accelerating rises in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

Extinction

Plans to ‘de-extinct’ the dodo have been announced by geneticists. The audacious plan was announced by the US-based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences which is researching methods to bring extinct species back from the dead. The company has entered a partnership with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) to find a suitable location for the reintroduction of the species. MWF approached Colossal Biosciences earlier this year about a partnership and has begun searching for the location that would pose the least threat to the survival of the dodo on the island. Colossal believes that the ‘de-extinction’ of the dodo would create ‘conservation optimism’; however, scientists have urged caution given how little is known about how the bird would interact with its environment. The full genome of the dodo has already been sequenced by Colossal. It hopes that it could then hybridise the dodo with closely related species like the extant Nicobar Pigeon, the bird’s closest living relative.

Forested area on rolling green hills. — Forests of Mauritius, the proposed habitat for dodos to live. By Evgenii via Flickr.

Science and research

Birds are being lured to their deaths by artificial lights in cities, according to researchers. Using weather radar data to map bird stopover density in the United States, scientists found that artificial light is a major indicator of where birds land. Light from cities lures birds into a trap where there is less suitable habitat, less food and an increased chance of collisions with buildings. Researchers suggest that more public awareness of bird migration habits and the impact of light pollution could help to alleviate the pressure on migratory bird populations. Forecasts can pinpoint the nights which are most important for reducing light pollution.

Read the last edition of Biodiversity News covering stories about nuclear fusion technology and the pollution of England’s freshwater ecosystems.

Author interview with Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons: Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland

Part of the popular Bloomsbury Wildlife Guides series, the first edition of the Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland is credited with helping to demystify the formerly obscure and specialist world of micro-moths. Among a number of pioneering features, the book boasted artwork by acclaimed illustrator Richard Lewington showing the moths in their natural resting positions, rather than as pinned specimens, capturing the essence of each species and presenting them as they would appear in life when encountered in the field or settled within a moth trap. Coupled with accessible species accounts and the latest distribution maps, the guide helped to showcase the beauty and diversity of these miniature lepidopterans and provide a gentle introduction to their identification and habits for the general naturalist.

Eleven years on, the team behind the original guide have produced an extensively revised second edition, due to be published in December. Here the authors, Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons, kindly took the time to answer some of our questions about what we can expect from the new guide, and about micro-moth recording more generally.

Authors Mark Parsons (left) and Phil Sterling (right)

To begin with, could you give us a brief overview of what’s changed in the second edition?

There are three stand-out changes for recorders browsing this second edition. Firstly, we have included many more species, nearly 300 of them; the field guide now covers over 80% of native, naturalised or immigrant species recorded in Great Britain and Ireland. That’s 1,286 from a total of 1,576 species, and the book features over 1,000 of Richard Lewington’s illustrations.

This time we have included a full set of common (or vernacular) names for the micros which appear alongside the scientific names. We reviewed existing common names being used, made changes where we felt these were appropriate and helpful, and have done this for all 1,576 species.

The order in which the species are presented is now in line with the Agassiz, Beavan & Heckford (ABH) Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles. The ABH checklist was published in 2013, a year after our first edition, and it set out a radically different order based on our current understanding of the taxonomic relationship between species, genera and families. This should make it much easier for recorders to relate the order in the field guide to established recording systems and websites.

You mention that the species coverage has been greatly expanded since the first edition. Where have these ‘new’ species come from?

There are a variety of reasons why we include more species. Most obvious are those we see today but did not 11 or more years ago. In 2007 when we started writing the first edition, Box-tree Moth hadn’t been recorded in Britain, yet it is now an abundant species across much of southern England and set to spread fast. Our warming climate is also leading to rapid increases in micro-moth species establishing and spreading, and we have included several scarcer immigrant species which do seem to becoming more regularly recorded.

We will never be up-to-date though. No sooner had the second edition gone to print than Echium Stilt Dialectica scalariella made a spectacular appearance in Britain in autumn 2023. It now appears to be resident at various sites from Kent to Devon, and possibly Suffolk, and has been found in huge numbers as a leaf-miner on Viper’s-bugloss, disfiguring the leaves. This species is listed in the field guide as British but not covered in detail.

We have taken a more systematic approach to inclusion of those that can be identified to species from their early stages, in particular leaf-miners in the Nepticulidae and Gracillariidae, and cases of the Coleophoridae. We have chosen a wide selection of these, illustrated by good quality photographs, enabling identification to species based on the early stage.

We have responded to helpful criticism that we should have been more comprehensive in our coverage of some of the more difficult families, including Gelechiidae and Depressariidae. There is better knowledge ‘out there’ today of how to separate species in the field, and we have been able include this information for some of the more challenging species within these groups.

There will be recorders who would have wished we included yet more species, maybe even all of them? But we have kept faithful to the objective of this being a field guide, for recorders to take it whenever they are out, by day and night. Most of the remaining 20% of micros require detailed examination under a microscope, extended time to rear the species from larva to adult to confirm identity, or are very rarely encountered species.

The bottom line is that we requested to Bloomsbury and they allowed us to write a bigger book than the first edition. We have packed it to our limit with more species and more information.

Mine of the Echium Stilt on Viper’s Bugloss by Mark Parsons.

For me (and I suspect many other people), the first edition of this guide was the catalyst to start paying more attention to micro-moths, having previously written them off as ‘too difficult’. How do you feel interest in micro-moths has changed in the 11 years since the original was published?

The first edition certainly achieved its aim of bringing micro-moths within comfortable reach of many recorders who had perhaps previously not considered them. Many species are actually straightforward to identify, but we think recorders were put off by the need to acquire several expensive texts to gain comprehensive coverage.

Moth recording generally continues to grow and it has wide public appeal. The National Moth Recording Scheme (NMRS), run by Butterfly Conservation, collates moth records across the four countries in Britain and Ireland and does not separate macro- and micro-moth species. We feel the distinction is fading, with recorders deciding which micro-moth families they’ll tackle in the coming year, rather than considering the prospect too daunting.

Leaf-mine of the Sorrel Dot Enteucha acetosae on Sheep’s Sorrel by Ben Smart.

Has that growth in interest in micro-moths helped you in your revisions to this guide, e.g. by helping to fill gaps in distribution maps and so on?

The first edition was primarily aimed at moth trappers, and we included lots of photographs of leaf-mines and larval cases to add interest. In the second edition we have deliberately chosen photographs of the early stages where identification to species level is possible based on a photograph and careful observation. We want to extend recorders’ interests beyond their moth traps to include searching for leaf-mines, cases and other signs in the field. Daytime pursuit of micro-moths can happen 365 days of the year, and there are plenty of species detectable in the middle of winter. The second edition benefits especially in this respect from photographs by Ben Smart, who has already published two small volumes on Micro-moth Field Tips, both giving month-by-month hints on how to find the early stages. Having said that, the second edition remains very much a book for moth trappers, and we have added illustrations of many more adult moths from a range of families.

Black-barred Fungus Moth Nemapogon clematella by Phil Sterling.

Could you tell us a little bit about the motivation and process behind your efforts to create the standardised list of common names in this guide?

Common names of micro-moths have never been adopted widely by recorders in Britain and Ireland. There is a long history to them, with a list first appearing in the early 17th century, and the most recent compilation was collated by Jim Wheeler in 2017. Despite the efforts, it is a ‘Marmite’ subject, with common names being used by some recorders yet remaining deeply unpopular with others. Much of the angst seems to centre on the inappropriateness of some names. All members of the Tineidae have been called ‘clothes moths’ yet this wonderfully diverse group contains only a very few species that will eat clothes, the majority are in fact detritivores and herbivores, with a range of specialists on fungi. Labelling them all as if they are clothes-munchers is just plain wrong at best, and gives moths a bad name at worst. Each fungal specialist is, not surprisingly, called a type of ‘fungus moth’, a simple revision based on its life history. There are other names that today appear to be meaningless, such as ‘tubic’, which gives recorders little to grasp when trying to remember them.

The introduction of a revised set of common names, in tandem with the increasing interest and our continued desire to promote micro-moth recording to all, seemed timely with the advent of the second edition. Very many common names remain as they are in the Wheeler list, or are slightly modified, and we have tried to make revisions that add relevance to the species, such as what it looks like, or where and how it lives. We hope that the names will make micros even more accessible by removing the perception that they somehow require more specialist knowledge to tackle.

Most recorders now use social media to communicate their finds, and it is undoubtedly easier to write an English common name than the scientific equivalent, and we have tried to keep the names as short as possible with this in mind. In summary, we hope that the revised list will be adopted in time and will encourage an inclusivity for new recorders put off by scientific names, and we trust we are putting micro-moths alongside almost all groups of British wildlife that now have common names.

Phil Sterling searching for larvae on Alderney by Peter Costen.

For any enthusiasts who have not yet looked beyond the more familiar macro-moths, what can you say about the rewards of taking the plunge into the world of micros?

Macro-moth recorders are delighted when they find something of great interest in their garden moth trap, it’s exciting, and it can happen to new and seasoned recorders. Imagine increasing your chances of this happening threefold! There are roughly twice as many micro-moth species as macros, plus their distribution is generally less well known, so the chances of finding ‘goodies’ is much enhanced. The advent of pocket-sized cameras and mobile phones with decent macro-photographic capability means that it is easier to share photos of micro-moths with others than it has ever been. Add to that the opportunity to record so many species from their early stages, and at any time of year, what are people waiting for?

Records of micro-moths are collated by the NMRS. By encouraging recording the amount of data collected will increase, along with our understanding of distributions and phenology. It won’t be long, we hope, until we can see national distribution maps for micros just like the macros.

Finally, are there any other projects you’re working on that you’d like to tell us about?

For us there is the continued quest to resolve undescribed life histories of micro-moths. Even some species seen regularly as an adult are not known as a larva, such as Dingy Knot-horn Hypochalcia ahenella. It probably feeds on herbs within its favoured habitats, sparsely vegetated stony or sandy ground. For what must be quite a large larva it is certainly secretive and has eluded us to date.

One mystery partly revealed in 2023 was the finding of a larva by Phil of Black-spotted Nest Moth Tenaga nigripunctella. The life history of this very rare tineid moth was completely unknown anywhere in the world and it was assumed that the larva might feed underground in rats’ nests. The adults have been appearing more regularly in west Dorset in the last few years, and a few were observed in a hole in a stone wall at Abbotsbury in 2023. In the wall was a dead Garden Snail Cornu aspersum, and guess what; deep within the shell a fully-fed larva of the moth that appeared to have been eating the blackened dead flesh of the snail. As far as we are aware this is the first example of a moth in western Europe found to be eating dead snails. There is so much to learn about the intriguing life histories of our more obscure micro-moths!

Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland (Second Edition) is due to be published by Bloomsbury in December 2023 and is available from nhbs.com.

Author Q&A with Kayleigh Fawcett Williams: Thermal Imaging for Wildlife Applications

Thermal Imaging for Wildlife Applications offers readers an invaluable and practical guide to this exciting technology. Covering a wealth of basics, including the history of thermal imaging and its advantages and challenges, the book also provides readers with all the information they need to begin choosing and using the right equipment. A chapter on wildlife applications covers all of the main animal groups for which the technology is of use, and a final chapter discusses the future possibilities of thermal imaging.

Kayleigh Fawcett Williams is a Wildlife Technology Trainer and Consultant and has been using technology for wildlife applications for the past sixteen years. As the founder of Wildlifetek and KFW Scientific & Creative she helps wildlife students, professionals and enthusiasts use technology to improve their wildlife work via her online training and support services. Kayleigh is also the author of the Thermal Imaging Bat Survey Guidelines which were published in 2019 in association with the Bat Conservation Trust (BCT).

During your PhD, you spent some time training to be a thermographer. What did this training involve, and how valuable do you consider this type of ‘formal’ training to be for anyone wanting to use thermal imaging equipment for their work or studies?

My thermography journey really began when I took my Level 1 Thermography Certification. This was an in-depth technical training with the Infrared Training Centre (ITC) at FLIR’s UK Headquarters in West Malling. It was a fantastic grounding in thermal science and kick-started my use of this technology. I always recommend this training to students and researchers who need to know how to carry out temperature measurement. This is usually only for very specialist research applications where the body temperature of the animal that they are working with is needed.

However, it’s definitely not for everyone. In fact, very few wildlife applications require temperature measurement, but all of them require an understanding of how the technology works, its limitations and, of course, its benefits. That’s why I have since developed wildlife-specific training for those that want to use this technology effectively but don’t need temperature measurements.

Thermal imaging equipment has been around in one form or another since the 1960s/70s. Why do you think it has taken so long for it to become more widely adopted?

It’s a long story, which I cover in much more detail in the book, but I think there are two key elements that have affected our adoption of this technology for wildlife.

Firstly, a key factor is the nature of the equipment itself. Early thermal imaging devices were expensive and cumbersome, making them largely inaccessible and impractical for most wildlife professionals. Over the decades, we have seen huge improvements in both the affordability and practicality of models available on the market. This has accelerated in recent years, where we’ve seen a massive shift towards the use of thermal imaging by both professional wildlife ecologists and amateur recorders alike.

Secondly, another major influence is the expertise of those using the equipment. Without an appropriate understanding of the technology, many have failed in their attempts to use it effectively. Unfortunately, in some cases this has led to misuse and the spread of misinformation about the technology. This has undoubtedly slowed our adoption of this technology for wildlife purposes.

Among the 300+ documents I reviewed as part of the research for the book, I noticed time and time again that these factors, equipment and expertise, determine the success or failure of thermal imaging for a wide range of wildlife species.

What do you consider to be the main challenges in working with this type of equipment?

Again, it is usually those same two factors we just discussed: equipment and expertise.

The number one question I am asked by ecologists, researchers and amateur recorders is: “What thermal imaging equipment should I buy?”. With an ever increasing list of thermal imaging devices available for us to buy, we can experience a paradox of choice where we can become confused by the array of different options on offer. So choosing the appropriate equipment for a specific wildlife application can be challenging, yet it is absolutely vital to get this bit right.

Once we have chosen our kit, the next challenge is being able to use it effectively. This requires an appropriate level of knowledge and experience, but acquiring this kind of expertise can be difficult, as I found out when I first began my work in this area thirteen years ago. Back then there were very few training opportunities and hardly anyone was using the technique outside of academia. Thankfully, things have changed a lot since then and wildlife-specific training is now available, making it much less of a challenge to access the knowledge and develop the skills that are needed.

The recently published 4th edition of Bat Surveys for Professional Ecologists includes, for the first time, new content on night-vision aids. How much of an impact do you think these recommendations will have on routine bat surveys and their results?

I think the widespread use of night-vision aids for bat surveys will be transformative for the ecology sector. Personally, I have been using thermal imaging technology for this kind of survey for many years so I am well aware of what we can achieve using night-vision aids compared to traditional methods. As a trainer, I am lucky that I also get to see lots of my students experience this for themselves. Many ecologists have told me what a game-changer it has been for them and what a difference it can make to their survey results.

So what have they been missing? Well, in the past, without using night-vision aids, surveyors often battled with the painful but common uncertainty that can lead to writing the words “possible bat emergence” on a survey form. The knock-on effects of these three words can spiral out of control, leading to a raft of unnecessary effort and costs associated with a bat that may or may not have emerged from a tree, building or other man-made structure. On the other hand, we can also easily miss bats using traditional methods. This can of course be costly financially but, more importantly, can lead to harm to the bats themselves.

So it is undoubtedly going to have some massive benefits, but it is also important to consider that, to achieve them, many ecologists out there are now having to get to grips with some new technologies. Some have found this easy and have embraced this change with enthusiasm, while others have a steep learning curve to contend with. Either way, I think it is going to be worth it.

When considering the use of thermal imaging equipment, a lot of attention is given to choosing the right product and designing a suitable survey protocol. However, do you think that the post-processing stage is equally important? And are there widely available software packages that can help with data processing and analysis?

Post-processing and analysis can be just as important, depending on the target species. When used for bat surveys, for example, post-processing and analysis using specialist software packages can make a big difference to the level of accuracy we can achieve using thermal imaging technology. To get those levels of accuracy, however, requires another level of cost in terms of effort, time and investment in software packages. Some software packages for these tasks can be quite expensive, but there are open source options as well. Thankfully, advances in automation procedures are also paving the way to streamlining this process in the future.

Finally, what’s keeping you busy this winter? Do you have plans to write further books?

I do have plans for another book, but right now I am taking a break from writing to focus on something a little bit different. I am currently filming some exciting footage for an upcoming video series called “Wildlife Detectives” on my new YouTube Channel. As part of this I will be using some really cool technologies, including thermal imaging, to find some fascinating wildlife species out in the field. Keep an eye out for it in the New Year!

Thermal Imaging for Wildlife Applications by Kayleigh Fawcett Williams was published in October 2023 by Pelagic Publishing and is available from nhbs.com.

Book review: The Mind of a Bee

***** Fascinating and information dense
Leon Vlieger, NHBS Catalogue Editor

It is tough being a social insect. When people are not trying to exterminate you, they might marvel at the collectives you form, but does anybody think much of you, the individual? Leave it to Lars Chittka, a professor in sensory and behavioural ecology, to change your views. The Mind of a Bee is a richly illustrated, information-dense book that explores a large body of scientific research, both old and new.

Chittka is very focused in his approach and The Mind of a Bee effectively summarises a large number of experimental studies in narrative form, with very few diversions. He cleverly avoids overheating your brain by having chapters flow logically into each other, but especially by dividing each chapter into short, headed sections. Each of these takes a particular question and discusses a few relevant studies in anywhere from one-half to three pages. Some of these are his own work but he ranges far and wide and includes both classic and recent research. The book is furthermore illustrated with numerous diagrams and photos that helpfully clarify experimental protocols and results. Honey bees are unsurprisingly the most intensively studied but Chittka discusses informative studies across a range of bee species and sometimes other insects as well. The book roughly covers three biological disciplines: sensory and neurobiology, ethology, and psychology.

Justifiably, the book opens with sensory biology. Before we understand what is in the mind of any organism, Chittka argues, we first need to understand the gateways, the sense organs, through which information from the outside world is filtered. These are shaped by both evolutionary history and daily life (i.e. what information matters on a day-to-day basis and what can be safely ignored). Chapter 2 deals with the historical research that showed that bees do have colour vision and furthermore can perceive ultraviolet (UV) light. Chapter 3 bundles together research on numerous other senses, including ones familiar (smell, taste, and hearing) and unfamiliar to us (perception of polarised light, Earth’s magnetic field, and electric fields). The antennae of bees, in particular, are marvels; Chittka likens them to a biological Swiss army knife, packing numerous different sense organs into two small appendages. Tightly connected to sensory biology is how this incoming information is processed in the brain, though Chittka postpones discussing neurobiology to chapter 9. He describes the discovery and function of different brain areas and highlights the work of Frederick Kenyon who would inspire the better-remembered Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Thanks to them, we now understand that brains consist of numerous specialised nerve cells. Though the bee brain is small, Chittka argues that size is a poor predictor of cognitive skills; it is the wiring of neurons that matters. Rather than be surprised that small-brained insects such as bees can do so many clever things, Chittka instead tickles the reader with the opposite question: “Why does any animal need as large a brain as a bee’s?” (p. 153).

What clever things do bees do, you ask? That is the subject of the preceding five chapters where Chittka surveys a large body of behavioural research. Honey bees are famous for their waggle dance by which they communicate the location of flowers but also, this was news to me, the location of potential nest sites when the swarm relocates. But Chittka discusses more, much more: how bees navigate space using landmarks, show a rudimentary form of counting, solve the travelling salesman problem, learn to extract nectar from complex flowers, learn when to exploit certain flowers (and when to ignore them), and learn new tricks by observing other bees. But what about instinct, something most behaviours were traditionally ascribed to? He has some insightful comments on this: “even the most elemental behavior routines need to be refined by learning: instinct provides little more than a rough template” (p. 50). What really made me fall off my chair is that bees have long been outsmarting researchers in choice experiments. Many behavioural experiments take the form of choice tests, where bees need to pick between two locations or objects that differ in e.g. colour or shape with one option containing a sugary solution as a reward. Bumblebees would simply be lazy and check out both options in random order. Until, that is, protocols were modified by adding a bitter-tasting solution to the wrong choice as a penalty.

The final two chapters explore bee psychology. One chapter shows how, in a hive full of bees, the members are not anonymous and interchangeable. Rather, they show individual differences in e.g. their preferred order in which to visit flowers during foraging or how fast they learn to solve problems. The final chapter makes the case that bees have a form of consciousness, though Chittka clarifies he is not arguing it is as rich and detailed as that of humans. That said, they show a slew of behaviours that scientists will label as evidence for consciousness when exhibited by bigger-brained vertebrates. Chittka is happy to play devil’s advocate: sure, theoretically, all the behaviours described in this book could be replicated by an unconscious algorithm. However, the required list of specific instructions is growing long and, increasingly, the more likely answer seems to be that bees possess “a consciousness-based general intelligence system” (p. 208).

As mentioned above, this book is focused. If you enjoy reading about the facts and the study system with minimal (autobiographical) diversions, Chittka has got you covered. The only digression he allows himself is to include biographical details of older generations of scientists. This includes inspiring tales such as Karl von Frisch who described the honey bee waggle dance and later barely escaped being dismissed from his post by the Nazis. And look out for repeat appearances of Charles Turner, a now largely forgotten African American scientist who published pioneering work despite having been denied a professorship based on his ethnicity. But there are also tragic stories such as Kenyon’s, who snapped under pressure of not securing a permanent job and was incarcerated in a lunatic asylum where he died more than 40 years later, alone and forgotten. Chittka includes occasional quotations from historical literature to show that “many seemingly contemporary ideas about the minds of bees had already been expressed, in some form, over a century ago” (p. 15).

The Mind of a Bee makes for fascinating reading, convincingly showing that bees are anything but little automatons. The tight structure and numerous illustrations make it accessible, though be prepared for an information-dense book.

NHBS staff picks 2023

Every year at NHBS we see a huge range of books and equipment travel through our offices and warehouse, via desks and bookshelves, finally leaving us in packages on their way to our valued customers. Invariably, we end up purchasing a number of these for ourselves, and others become gifts for our friends and families. This year, for our staff picks roundup, we have chosen the books and equipment items that we’re hoping to gift to our loved ones this Christmas.

Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World

An engrossing odyssey into oceanography that reveals a fascinating planetary engine. Equal parts physical oceanography, marine biology, and science history, topped off with human-interest stories, Czerski has written a captivating book that oozes lyricism in places.
– Leon Vlieger, Catalogue Editor

NHBS Kent Bat Box

New for 2023, the NHBS Kent Bat box is based on the proven and popular design from the Kent Bat Group. Made from untreated rough-sawn Douglas Fir, the box is self-cleaning, easy to install and reasonably priced, making it an ideal gift for the bat enthusiast in your life.
– Johnny Mitchell, Senior Wildlife Equipment Specialist

The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding Big and Small

An attractive, practical and inspiring guide that not only illuminates the greater need for wilding in the larger landscape, but also some really thoughtful ways people can engage on smaller scales. It’s hopeful too, which makes a good gift I always think!
– Oli Haines, Graphic Designer

Echo Meter Touch 2

A fantastic gift for someone with an interest in bats. To set it up, simply plug it into your phone and start recording. It converts the ultrasonic sounds from the bats into audible noises and auto-identifies the species you are listening to.
– Samuel Brook, Technical Advisor

Antarctica: A Birds-eye View

A beautiful coffee table book which I would like for myself or my photographer friends. A book that gives you an insight into a threatened world from a view you wouldn’t normally see. Both beautiful and barren, the images create a feeling of being there with the nature and environment that is threatened and disappearing fast.
– Simon Palmer, Technical Advisor

Dinosaur Monopoly

I bought this for my son as a present last year as he is obsessed with Monopoly and dinosaurs. It was such a hit, my youngest son asked for it this year. It is a great alternative to traditional Monopoly and we loved the dinosaur pieces .
– Mark Fisher, Product and Purchasing Manager

The Observant Walker: Wild Food, Nature and Hidden Treasures on the Pathways of Britain

It is always a pleasure to gift someone a book that you have previously delighted in reading yourself. The Observant Walker for me is one such book. Written in John Wright’s wonderfully conversational style, the book is both informative and witty; the perfect choice for anyone who loves nature and discovering its edible bounties.
– Luanne Wilkes, Senior Editor

Digi-Scope Smartphone Adapter

Really useful for anyone who wants to try taking pictures while they’re out exploring nature with their binoculars and want to quickly be able to take pictures of what they’re seeing through the binoculars. I use mine regularly and it’s helped me get some great images. It’s also really easy to use and a great addition to any hiking kit!
– Adam Hampton, Technical Advisor

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds (The Illustrated Edition)

This book includes an absolutely stunning collection of photographs that show the incredible detail, vibrant colours and sometimes strange features of many different types of fungi. I really love how the photographs zoom in on this often overlooked lifeform that is so difficult to appreciate fully with the naked eye.
– Jo Graeser, Marketing Assistant

Browning Recon Force Elite HP5

I installed the Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 wildlife camera on a tree in our orchard AND WE LOVE IT! It shoots both stills and video, but my absolute favourite setting is the moving image function, especially paired with the no-glow night vision LED light during the night.
– Sabine Lang, Customer Services Advisor

Biodiversity Net Gain: Key guidance and secondary legislation published

2024 is set to bring big changes to development law with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) measures becoming mandatory for most developments in England from 1st January. Small sites will not be subject to BNG laws until April 2024, while laws pertaining to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) are expected to come into force in November 2025.

East Devon View by Alison Day via Flickr.

The Biodiversity Net Gain timeline to date

Following the Environment Act 2021 receiving royal assent in November 2021, provision was made for BNG to be introduced in England commencing in 2023. It was set out that gains could be delivered onsite, offsite or through the purchase of biodiversity credits.

In February 2023, Defra published its consultation response which provided more details on how BNG would be implemented, and suggested that the law would come into effect in November 2023. This has now been revised to January 2024.

At the end of September 2023, Defra and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published a timetable for the introduction of BNG. They also confirmed that it would only apply to new planning permission applications and not applied retrospectively to applications submitted prior to 1^st January 2024.

This week, on 29^th November, key guidance documents and secondary legislation were published by the Government.

Guidance documents

Step-by-step guidance has been provided for developers, land managers and local authorities which lead users through the BNG process.

Guidance for developers includes information on measuring the impact of a specific development on biodiversity, deciding how to achieve BNG, and ensuring that the 10% gain is maintained for at least 30 years.

Guidance for land managers looks at the options available for their land type and quantity, preparation and selling of biodiversity units, registering and recording the sale of the units to a developer, and the subsequent long-term management of the habitat.

Guidance for local authorities includes information on setting local policies to support biodiversity net gain, approving planning applications and biodiversity gain plans, reviewing the biodiversity gain plan, checking metric calculations and habitat surveys, checking developers selling excess on-site gains, checking the biodiversity gain sites register for off-site gains, monitoring BNG, and working with developers who wish to buy statutory biodiversity credits.

New housing estate in Stowmarket by Andrew Hill via Flickr.

Secondary legislation

Secondary legislation are laws that add more detail to primary legislation, allowing them to be enacted and enforced. In the case of BNG, these laws will provide the practical details required for measures to be implemented under the primary legislation of the Environment Act 2021.

Statutory instruments (SIs) are the documents created that must be laid in Parliament before the law can be changed. There are six BNG statutory instruments that will need to be approved by Parliament before they can be brought into effect on 1^st January. These include:

The Biodiversity Gain (Town and Country Planning) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2023 – These regulations make amendments to the existing primary legislation on planning so that the BNG framework can be included.

The Biodiversity Gain Site Register (Financial Penalties and Fees) Regulations 2023 – This allows for fees to be incurred when registering land in the biodiversity gain register and financial penalties to be charged where incorrect information is provided.

The Biodiversity Gain Site Register Regulations 2023 – This sets out the details and eligibility criteria for the creation of a publicly available “biodiversity gain site register”. The register will be established and maintained by Natural England.

The Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Exemptions) Regulations 2023 – This sets out the categories of development that are exempt from creating biodiversity net gain.

The Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Irreplaceable Habitat) Regulations 2023 – This lists the habitats that are considered irreplaceable and for which the standard 10% requirement will not be applied.

The Biodiversity Gain (Town and Country Planning) (Modifications and Amendments) (England) Regulations 2024 – These regulations details how the BNG process will work within the existing planning application procedure. It also includes details of how appeals should be made.

The first two SIs were laid in Parliament on 30^th November and will shortly be published on the Government’s legislation website. The remaining four still require approval by Parliament, although draft versions can be viewed using the links above.

Wild flower meadow by gailhampshire via Flickr.

Next steps

In January 2024 BNG will become mandatory for new applications for planning permission, with the exclusion of small sites* where BNG will not need to be delivered until April 2024, and NSIPs which will be covered from November 2025.

Having lost nearly half of our biodiversity since the 1970s, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries; we are ranked in the worst 10% globally for biodiversity intactness. Overall, 41% of species in the UK have declined in the last 50 years, with 26% of mammals at risk of extinction. We’ve lost 97% of our meadows, 90% of our wetlands and 80% of lowland heathland.

A scheme where development will no longer lead to biodiversity loss, but instead to net gain, is a step in the right direction to preventing further loss and helping to begin repairing our degraded environment.

* (Small sites are defined as (i) For residential: where the number of dwellings to be provided is between one and nine inclusive on a site having an area of less than one hectare, or where the number of dwellings to be provided is not known, a site area of less than 0.5 hectares. (ii) For non-residential: where the floor space to be created is less than 1,000 square metres OR where the site area is less than one hectare.).

This week in biodiversity news – 27th November 2023

Climate Crisis

Plants may absorb more CO2 from human activities than previously thought, according to new research. More realistic modelling that considers critical physiological processes inside plants paints a more positive picture than previous predictions. The efficiency of carbon transport in plant leaves, the ability of plants to adjust to changes in temperatures, and how plants distribute nutrients in the canopy, often ignored in climate modelling, were examined in this study. Scientists stress that simply planting more trees is not a silver-bullet solution, but that the research does underline the importance of efforts to conserve existing vegetation.

Beach forest — Beech forest by Picccus via Flikr.

Red alerts have been issued as Brazil suffers an unprecedented heatwave. Temperatures are likely to remain 5°C above average for longer than five days and could pose a serious danger to human health. Rio de Janeiro recorded 42.5°C, breaking November records, and due to high humidity felt like 58.5°C according to authorities. The heatwave has been attributed to a combination of the El Niño climate phenomenon and climate change. The human impact of such extremes is significant with “unbearable” temperatures leading to sleepless nights, exhaustion, illness and death.

Pollution

Most bathing spots in English rivers and lakes have unsafe pollution levels, according to a new report. The campaign group Surfers Against Sewage took a sample of popular swimming and water sports locations and found that 60% had unsafe levels of pollution. This year across the UK, untreated sewage was discharged 399,864 times into waterways, resulting in a reported 1,924 cases of illness. The report highlighted the case of a physics teacher from Exeter who contracted an incurable disease known as Ménierè’s disease after surfing at Saunton Sands in Devon.

flooded river — River Windrush by Dave_S via Flickr.

The high court has ruled that Defra’s failure to protect and restore water bodies is ‘unlawful’. Fish Legal and Pickering Fishery Association took the government to court over its river basin management plan for the Costa Beck, a small river in Yorkshire. They argued that the Environment Agency had failed to follow through with proposed action against polluters. The judge accepted discharges of pollution were contributing to the poor condition of the river and that the government and Environment Agency had failed in their mandatory duty to put in place measures to restore rivers under the Water Framework Directive.

Extinction Risk

Blue Whales have returned to safe havens in the Indian Ocean where they were wiped out decades ago. Underwater recordings made by researchers in the Seychelles revealed that the whales spend months in the region, suggesting that they may be breeding there. The discovery has been hailed as a “conservation win” given the decimation of whale populations by commercial whaling. More than 300,000 Blue Whales were killed by whalers in the southern hemisphere with around 30,000 killed in a single year during the 1930’s. A crackdown on commercial whaling in the 1980’s brought the species back from the brink of extinction; however, Blue Whale numbers remain a fraction of what they once were before the development of industrial whaling operations in the 20th century.

blue whale tail — Blue Whale surfacing by Kenny via Flickr.

New research has revealed that there is a significant threat of future waves of invasive species. Biological invasions can cause extinctions, spread diseases and cost trillions in damage and control. Researchers found that, on average, around 1% of all living organisms have been transported by humans somewhere in the world. The study indicates a huge potential for future biological invasions with an expected rise in associated socio-economic and environmental impacts.

Conservation

A hedgehog fence in Dorset is helping to protect threatened seabird chicks. Little Terns are one of the most threatened seabirds in the UK and the RSPB’s Chesil Little Tern Recovery Project seeks to reverse its decline. Trail cameras had revealed that hedgehogs had been eating Little Tern eggs. Given the protected status of hedgehogs, the project worked with the charity Hedgehog Friendly Portland to design a hedgehog fence and implement diversionary feeding. At least 45 Little Terns successfully fledged at Chesil Beach in 2023, compared with just three in 2021.

hedgehog looking out from a bush — Hedgehog by Kalle Gustafsson via Flickr.

Policy

The US will outline its nuclear fusion power strategy at COP28. John Kerry, the US Special Envoy on Climate Change, will set out the plan at the UN summit that will be held in Dubai from the 30th of November. The plan has been described as being the first international strategy for nuclear fusion power commercialisation. Nuclear fusion has long been looked at as a potentially limitless source of clean energy.

Read the last edition of Biodiversity News from the NHBS Blog which follows stories on endangered echidnas and an explosion in jellyfish numbers.

Why a trail camera makes the perfect gift this Christmas

Badger image taken with the Browning Spec Ops Elite HP5

Choosing the right gift for friends and loved ones can be a tricky affair, but for any keen wildlife watcher, and particularly one with a fondness for photography, a trail camera could be the perfect option. Here’s just a few reasons why we’re fans:

1. Catch a glimpse of wildlife that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to see
An obvious one perhaps, but trail cameras give you a wonderful opportunity to see and capture footage of all sorts of wildlife, particularly species that are easily startled or those that are active at times when we’d prefer not to be out and about (such as in the middle of the night) – a trail camera will allow you to observe the hidden lives all around you. The video below, recorded with the Browning Recon Force Elite HP5, is a wonderful example of what you can achieve right outside your back door.

2. See what animals are up to at times when you wouldn’t usually be watching
A perfect example of this is observing nocturnal animals. While the hardiest wildlife watcher might not be averse to wandering the fields and woods in the middle of the night equipped with the latest night vision gear, most of us would prefer to be tucked up in our beds. Trail cameras, with their night vision technology, can take images and videos of all the action so you can view it later at a time that’s more convenient. The video below shows a young fox passing through at night, recorded using a Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 by Two J’s Wildlife Camera Set in Cornwall.

3. View behaviours and interactions that are usually unseen
While nothing beats an in-person encounter with a wild animal, such experiences are often brief and offer us limited insight into their life. Trail cameras, particularly those equipped with no-glow night vision technology (which means there is no tell-tale red flash when they take a photograph), are inconspicuous and will record footage for as long as there is movement within their capture range. This means that they are great for letting us experience a much broader range of behaviours and interactions. The video of the squabbling squirrels below was recorded by Two J’s Wildlife Camera Set in Cornwall.

4. Create stunning time-lapse videos
Almost all trail cameras can be programmed to capture images at a time interval of your choice, regardless of whether there is any movement detected. Using this function makes it possible to capture the subtle and gradual changes in the environment that would be difficult to observe in real time. Similarly, they can also be used to record behaviours that take place over longer periods, allowing you to view them at an accelerated speed.

A wren sitting on a branch in scrub. — A Wren photographed using the Browning Strike Force Pro X 1080

5. Share your findings with others
Whether you’re conducting research or simply want to know what’s happening in your back garden, the images and videos from a trail camera are perfect for sharing your findings with friends, family and colleagues. The quality of the photos/videos can be impressive, particularly when using models with high resolution lenses.

Browse the full range of cameras available from NHBS at nhbs.com.

For more advice about choosing a camera to suit your needs and budget, why not take a look at our Trail Camera Buyer’s Guide or contact us to chat with one of our experienced Wildlife Equipment Specialists.

Conservation

Policy and diplomacy

Climate Crisis

Extinction

Science and research

The Biodiversity Net Gain timeline to date

Guidance documents

Secondary legislation

Next steps

Further reading

Climate Crisis

Pollution

Extinction Risk

Conservation

Policy