May 2023

In this issue

The Mixed Fortunes of the Azure Hawker in Britain – Costs and Benefits of Feeding Garden Birds – Vascular-plant Epiphytes – Bovine TB and Badgers – The New Forest: A Model for the Future?

Articles in this issue

Jack Pease (CC BY 2.0)

The New Forest: shaped by the past and a model for the future

Jonathan Spencer

The New Forest, in Hampshire, is an extraor­dinary place. Some 23,000ha of largely natural vegetation, located on lowland, nutrient-poor soils in the south of England, it has a maritime climate ameliorated in winter by the warmth of the Solent.See more

Bovine TB and Badgers: a weakened link

Tom Langton

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Life in the trees – observations on the species composition and ecology of vascular-plant epiphytes in Britain and Ireland

Richard G. Jefferson

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Identifying the costs and benefits of feeding garden birds

Mike P. Toms

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The mixed fortunes of the Azure Hawker in Britain

Pat Batty

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Features
in this issue

Book review: When the Kite Builds: Why and How we Restored Red Kites across Britain

Mike Pienkowski was pivotal in setting up the Red Kite reintroduction programme in the late 1980s, and chaired the group overseeing the initial, experimental stage of the project. His book deals with all aspects of the work, from early discussions about whether it would succeed (many thought not) to the practicalities of establishing a team,

Book review: One Thousand Shades of Green: A Year in Search of Britain’s Wild Plants

Full disclosure here. I am the author of a similar book to this one, about plant-hunting within a single calendar year, and called Chasing the Ghost. More recently, Leif Bersweden wrote Where the Wild Flowers Grow, another personal botanical journey through Britain. Still, there is room in the meadow for more flowers yet, and it

Jim Champion (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Conservation news

May’s conservation news covers the Office for National Statistics’ first experimental accounting estimates of the value of England’s natural capital, the damage to the River Lugg SSSI in 2020 and the recent sentencing of the farmer responsible, an oil leak at Wytch Farm in Poole Harbour, and much more.

Marc Evans (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Wildlife reports

May’s wildlife reports highlight plans to release captive-bred Wildcats in the Cairngorms in summer 2023, some of the threats facing orthopteran species in Britain and Ireland, the discovery of Early Meadow-grass at Wellington Bridge in Co Wexford, the usual updates on lichens, birds and freshwater life, and much more.

Allan Harris (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Habitat management news

May’s habitat management news features a new study that compares the hydrological response of mature broadleaf woodland and grazed pasture after storm events. Also covered is a study that compares bryophyte diversity in grazed and ungrazed upland calcareous grassland.

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