Conservation & Ecology


The reintroduction of wild boar, whilst successful, has posed a danger to children and dogs


out of the window is generally rural. It is a landscape of fields, trees, woodland, streams, ponds, rivers and estuaries. The keen eye can spot all manner of wildlife on the journey, although Great Crested Newts have proved evasive! My question here is, have conservationists covered every inch of these vast tracts of rural land? Indeed, have they done similar in the urban environment? It may well be that a huge population of newts is living on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, undiscovered and untroubled by modern life. More than 600 new species


have been discovered in Madagascar’s unique habitats in the past decade, according to a report published by WWF; amongst them 385 plants, forty- two invertebrates, seventeen fish, sixty-nine amphibians, sixty- one reptiles and forty-one mammals.


New species discovered this


year alone include the Kaweesak’s Dragon Tree; it was found in the limestone mountains of Thailand and grows to a height of forty feet - a bit difficult to miss, you might think! The Olinguito is the first new carnivorous mammal described in the Western Hemisphere in thirty-five years, according to the International Institute for Species Exploration, and is threatened by its dependence on “cloud forest” habitat of the Andes. It belongs to the same family as the raccoon, but is described as looking like a cross between a cat and a teddy bear. Others include the Domed Land Snail of


Croatia, the Leaf-tailed Gecko from Australia and the Tinkerbell Fairy Fly, a tiny wasp from Costa Rica.


Stuart Roberts, who is chair of


the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS), and has been collating records for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said the organisation had received a record number of sightings of the tree bumblebee in 2013 and 2014. “The colonisation and spread of this beautiful bee has been extremely rapid,” he said. “They are these first-class pollinators.” In continental Europe, it sits side by side with many species found in the UK and is likely to be filling a niche in our eco- system. So, Mother Nature continues


to tweak her environment. She has made some interesting decisions in her time, and continues to do so. Perhaps Mother Nature has a better solution?


It is true to say that she


probably needs help from we humans, and there have been successes in some areas. Yet, the planet is changing; disappearing bees, melting ice caps, deforestation and fossil fuels are some of the top priorities. I certainly don’t have any


answers, but remain genuinely concerned, not only for the environment, but also that the politics of conservation and all things green might sometimes be cause rather than effect.


©Stuart Roberts PC JUNE/JULY 2014 I 119


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