Scientist’s lifelong obsession with mystery of elusive ‘pink zebra’ seaweed
The Great Barrier Reef might be the world’s most famous underwater ecosystem, but hidden in UK waters lies an ancient marine world you may not have heard of.
Known as maerl beds, these carpets of coral-like seaweed create some of the richest habitats in the sea.
And 40 years ago, while studying one such bed for her PhD, Prof Christine Maggs found a fragment of pink-striped seaweed living on maerl she had never seen before.
The discovery would become a lifelong obsession and a decades-long scientific puzzle.
Photo: pink seaweed Francis Bunker
Full story on this link>> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czrxepy3vn3o
AI-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk
For many birdwatchers, recording a species outside its normal range is the holy grail. In the UK, the discoveries often make national headlines. The western reef heron, for example, usually found in Africa and southern Europe, was spotted in a seaside town in north Wales in June, and widely celebrated on birding forums.
But a new scourge is threatening to disrupt the fun: AI slop.
‘Nobody is falling for a toucan sighting in Siberia’ …
This image is AI-generated, using ChatGPT. Illustration ChatGPT
Full story >> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/20/ai-slop-manipulated-fake-images-birds-citizen-science-aoe
Young white-tailed eagles released on Exmoor
Photo: White Tailed Eagle: Clare Bullock
Six young white-tailed eagles have been released at a national park, the first to be introduced there after they disappeared 200 years ago.
The birds were released on Exmoor by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, as part of a project to restore the area’s biodiversity.
Up to 20 additional young birds will be introduced in the area over the next three years.
Angela Eagle, environment secretary for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, said the return of the “majestic” species showed the government’s “commitment to reversing the decline of nature and protecting it for generations to come”.
The project started in 2019 on the Isle of Wight and since then, 45 white-tailed eagles have been released from the population.
In 2023, the project celebrated the first white-tailed eagle chick to be born in the wild in southern England since 1780.
Now it is being extended to include Exmoor, which was chosen after tracking data from released eagles showed the area had often been visited by several of the birds.
Experts say the national park’s coastline offers the birds ideal foraging opportunities, including an abundance of fish.
Zoe Smith, from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said: “We’re restoring a native species that should be here and has been removed from the landscape.
“We have a lengthy consultation process before we’re granted a licence.”
She added that the scheme only removes one chick at a time from nests, and the birds are checked for bird flu before they are released.
Full story>> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74g0jz3d4yo
Tiny parasitic wasp named after David Attenborough for his 100th birthday
Attenboroughnculus tau © The Trustees of the NHM London
A specimen from 1983 lay forgotten at the Natural History Museum until recently, when spotted by a volunteer and identified as new genus.
He has lizards, bats, frogs, weevils, flatworms, snails and spiders named after him. But now Sir David Attenborough can celebrate his 100th birthday with an entirely new genus named in his honour.
Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have paid tribute to the world-renowned broadcaster for his 100th birthday on 8 May by describing a new genus of parasitic wasp and a new species found within the museum’s collections.
Attenboroughnculus tau is an enigmatic ichneumon wasp with a body just 3.5mm long. The species name, tau, refers to a striking T-shaped marking on the insect’s abdomen.
The specimen was collected in 1983 in the Valdivia province of Chile but lay forgotten in an unsorted drawer in the Natural History Museum until recently, when its unusual characteristics were spotted by Augustijn De Ketelaere, a volunteer, during a detailed examination of the ichneumonid collections.
Dr Gavin Broad, principal curator for insects at the Natural History Museum, led the study of the newly described insect, which is so distinct from its closest relatives that it cannot logically fit into any established genus.
“When I was far too young, I learnt about taxonomy from David Attenborough’s Life on Earth series and resolved to be a taxonomist. Amazingly, I ended up a taxonomist, so I have Sir David to thank for that,” said Broad.
Nothing is yet known about the new species’ habits or life-cycle, apart from that its eggs are laid inside another animal.
Attenborough at the Natural History Museum in 2014. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
“One of its fairly close relatives in Australia attacks spider egg sacs so that could be what this group of species does, but who knows?” said Broad. “I am sure it will still be found in Chile, where there are some weird and wonderful species, but trying to find particular wasps is the proverbial needle in a haystack. The vast majority of ichneumonid wasps are undescribed still, and even in Britain we’re describing new species every year.”
Broad said he hoped Attenborough would be pleased with the naming, particularly with the honour of having a entire genus, a taxonomical subfamily, named after him – although “he may not be quite as excited about it compared to the echidna”. Attenborough has said the Natural History Museum is one of his favourite buildings.
A critically endangered echidna was named Zaglossus attenboroughi in 1998, after a single individual was collected in the Indonesian province of Papua in 1961. There were no sightings of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna again though until 2023, when the first video footage of a living individual was recorded.
Scientists hope that the discovery of a new subfamily of parasitic wasps will encourage other scientists and taxonomists to look again to see if further unique species are hiding in historic collections, requiring new scientific descriptions and names.
Jennifer Pullar, science communications manager at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the paper published in the Journal of Natural History, said: “We hope to inspire global scientists to take another look in their collections to see if there is something small that could contribute to our collective understanding and therefore the future of our natural world.”
Some of Britain’s rarest birds of prey are still being illegally killed despite decades of legal protection, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Shooting organisations say gamebird shooting contributes to rural economies © Getty Images
The charity’s report, to be published on Wednesday, records 921 confirmed attacks between 2015 and 2024, with more than half, according to the RSPB, on or near land managed for game shooting.
Mark Thomas, head of the RSPB’s investigations unit, said the killings were “about money”, with birds of prey targeted to stop them taking young pheasants, partridges or grouse, leaving more birds to be shot by paying customers.
Shooting organisations strongly deny persecution is widespread across the industry. They say it is carried out by a small minority and condemn it outright.
But the RSPB is calling for gamebird shooting in England and Wales to be licensed, arguing estates should face tougher consequences when protected birds are killed on their land.
Targeted species include eagles, red kites, peregrine falcons, hen harriers, goshawks and barn owls. The RSPB says it only classifies cases as “confirmed” when they are backed by forensic, eyewitness or video evidence.
Its investigations unit, staffed by former police officers and bird experts, works to identify those suspected of killing protected birds. The RSPB says evidence gathered by its investigators, including hidden-camera footage, has helped secure three convictions this year.
Two involved birds being beaten to death after they were caught in traps. One case involved a buzzard, the other a goshawk. Some live-capture traps are permitted for pest control of species like crows and pigeons, but traps must be checked regularly and non-target species released unharmed.
The third case involved covert surveillance at a hen harrier roost in the Yorkshire Dales where investigators captured evidence of a planned attempt to kill one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey.
RSPB footage showed head gamekeeper Racster Dingwall arriving with a shotgun while hidden audio recorded a discussion of killing other protected birds and whether a harrier might be satellite-tagged.
Dingwall later admitted offences linked to an attempt to kill a protected hen harrier and was ordered to pay a fine of £1,520.
The RSPB says recorded incidents have fallen in recent years, but argues the long-term pattern shows criminal prosecutions alone are not enough.
It wants gamebird shooting in England and Wales to be licensed, as red grouse shooting now is in Scotland. It says licences could be suspended or withdrawn at the civil standard of proof, even where a criminal prosecution is difficult.
Shooting organisations oppose the proposals, saying it would penalise responsible estates and risk conservation work.
“What we should do is strengthen law enforcement to prosecute individuals who commit these crimes. They have no place in the modern shooting community,” Dr Marnie Lovejoy, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, told the BBC.
She said licensing would add another layer of regulation to activities already covered by law and would affect everyone involved in shooting.
She added that the sector makes a significant contribution to nature recovery, spending around £500m a year on conservation work – the equivalent, BASC estimates, of 26,000 full-time jobs and 14m workdays.
The government has not backed the RSPB’s proposals, but says it will work with the shooting sector and others to explore wider measures, including licensing.
A Defra spokesperson told the BBC: “Many estates already meet high environmental standards, and we want all estates to achieve these same high standards.”
Professor Davy McCracken, from Scotland’s Rural College, has spent 35 years studying upland management and wildlife. He says the tension between protecting birds of prey and managing land for grouse shooting is ultimately economic: “That is where the root of the conflict actually lands.”
But he agrees persecution is carried out by a minority of those with game-shooting interests, and says focusing only on them can obscure conservation work elsewhere in the sector.