Oh, that is AMAZING news. That really lifts my spirits!
Incredible, so inspiring!
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I am revegetating my 5 acre block on the fringes on Northern Sydney. Greater Sydney Landcare have an initiative called ‘Creating Canopies’ funded by the state government to get private landholders to plant trees and midstorey plants. The idea is to increase biodiversity. I have put 250 plants in and another 100 are coming. They went in in April this year. I am loving seeing them sprout in the flush of spring. We have no predating pets on this block. The birds love it, and our families of white winged choughs, wood ducks and plovers are flourishing. I am hoping to get little birds back in the spiky bushes I have planted. I want to get more dilapidated land and do the same. I often feel black with gloom too. I am miserable about the fate of our environment and the fate of factory farmed animals. I cannot bear how often we treat other species with complete disregard.
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Something more widespread than a lot of the local conservation projects I see here which is also amazing: many lichen communities are now recovering following reductions in sulphur dioxide pollution since it peaked back in the 70ies.
Some are still having trouble, but around here and in neighbouring countries, several large parmelioids have become much more common in recent years (though part of this is due to warming), a number of the so-called “smoothies” (lichens of very smooth thin bark, mostly in hazel groves) are recolonising areas where they’ve been lost and several jelly lichens thought to be extirpated here in Denmark have been refound (on fibre-cement roofs and in pavement cracks even!). Meanwhile Lecanora conizaeoides which used to completely dominate urban areas now takes a little effort to find and is restricted to more naturally acidic substrates such as lignum and sandy pine forests.
Sadly not all lichens are doing this well, especially old-growth dependent ones and now also nitrogen sensitive ones, and some of the sulphur-impacted species have difficulty recovering, but it clearly shows that it is possible for change to be made and matter, also on a level of large scale ecological communities
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I was recently reading Scott Weisenthal’s recent book, “A World on the Wing”. He was discouraged with his research and the loss of birds around the globe. But, he was encouraged by something that happens every year in Quebec. I actually read about this last year; but, I forgot about it. If you can get Scott’s book, his description of this spectacle will make you shake your head in wonder.
Here are two links. One describes the unbelievable number of birds passing by. The other is one checklist from eBird. Look at the numbers. They are just estimates.
While numbers of birds are in decline, there are still lots of birds out there. If humans can just give them places they need, they will continue to be with us to enjoy. There is so much we don’t know. So much we think we know that is questionable. (Read Scott’s book.) But, setting aside land is one thing we can do right.
https://www.audubon.org/news/ebird-report-record-warbler-flight-tadoussac-canada
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The news can be full of worrying stories but the occasional snippet of hope sneaks through. Maybe we can have a thread where we post the good stuff for everyone to share. It will be interesting to see what’s happening in other peoples’ part of the world. Just nature stuff for now please.
Here’s one near me:
Leucistic magpie spotted
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The Guardian’s Week in Wildlife is always worth keeping an eye out for.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2024/mar/22/week-in-wildlife-in-pictures-a-majestic-crane-a-clumsy-owlet-and-sleepy-seals
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merged topics, unlocked thread, updating top post now
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New Research Reveals Habitat, Range, and Behavior of Recently Rediscovered Hummingbird Species
No observations of this species on iNaturalist yet, although it was only rediscovered in 2022!
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I think it’s even easier to get disheartened in school. You get taught about all the issues, and then the time you could use to act on the pain caused by learning about them is taken up by homework or just trying to recover from school.
But I should be talking about success stories! So here are some I can think of.
There’s Kapiti island, which has been reforested after being cleared for farmland. It has become a fantastic habitat for birds, bugs and the few reptiles we have in nz. The birdsong is nearly constant during the day, and their unique hybrid species of weka is doing so well it’s almost a problem.
Kapiti island is also part of a chain of nature and marine reserves, now including a large wetland which had previously been farmland.
A little south, in Wellington, control of introduced mammalian predators is quite successful. The miramar peninsula is now rat, stoat, and weasel free. The impact is clearly visible: twenty years ago a tui was a rare sight, now tui are some of the most common birds.
And then there’s groups like Love Rimurimu (rimurimu is a Te Reo Māori word for seaweed) and Mountains to Sea. The first is working on reforesting wellington’s underwater landscape, and the second raises awareness and runs some of their own projects, like beach cleanups.
It seems a lot of people are willing to put in a bit of time to help the environment, they might just need an organised project to get them started.
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