... A FORUM TO STIMULATE DEBATE ... ... JUST ADD A COMMENT AT ANY ENTRY BELOW... ... FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF TOWN AND VALLEY ...

Monday 18 May 2015

BBC Springwatch: starts Monday 24th May

It will soon be that time of year: Whitsun Monday bank holiday will be bringing the ever-popular Springwatch back to our screens:
BBC Two - Springwatch

For the past ten years the programme has been incredibly successful in engaging people in watching nature:

From 2005 until 2007, the BBC ran a Springwatch survey in conjunction with the Woodland Trust. Viewers were encouraged to record key events indicating the passage of spring, including the first sign of frogspawn, blossom on hawthorn trees and the arrival of swifts. By comparing the results with previous years, the surveys established that spring was arriving sooner than average. The BBC are no longer involved in the annual survey (now called Nature’s Calendar) but the results are still reported on the programme. It remains the largest survey of phenology in the world.
Springwatch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has been especially successful in 'citizen science' - in getting us to look at and record what we see:
Futures Forum: Citizen science on Springwatch - with the Woodland Trust >>> tracking how fast spring moves

At the beginning of the month, for example, we were being asked to look out for May blossom, or hawthorn:
BBC Two - Springwatch, BIG Spring Watch: Hawthorn Blossom

Their Facebook pages are very active, showing we are really interested in engaging with what's going on out there. This snapshot is also from the start of the month, when spring was really beginning to spring forth:

BBC Springwatch
is on Facebook.
To connect with BBC Springwatch, sign up for Facebook today.
Sign UpLog In
The Big Spring Watch is well underway with over 14,000 sightings of our BIG Five logged. 
 
Swallows have been seen over most of the country, even as far north as Orkney. But we’ve yet to have any reports from Shetland. Iolo Williams will be heading up there for Springwatch, so we particularly want to know when swallows arrive on the islands.
 
First sightings of seven spot ladybirds and orange tip butterflies have tailed off, though lots of you have been recording your first oak leaves, as you can see here on this map http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/map/current.htm?rsid=158&reid=2&ry=2015&rs=S

You can log your sightings here - http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/bsw
BBC Springwatch

BBC Springwatch


TV Programme
It's Hedgehog Awareness Week!
Did you know that in the 1950's there were around 30 million hedgehogs in the UK; estimates today put it at less than one million.

Public urged to help what is arguably the UK's most iconic mammal during Hedgehog Awareness Week
BBC.COM
 · Comment · 
  • Elinor Robinson, Jane Thomas, Rachel Thomas and 2,212 others like this.
  • Jason Everson We have a family of them living in the back garden. They've been there for several years now.
    41 · 4 hrs
  • Gary Mitchell We have one we rescued last year as it was under weight.We took it to our local wildlife hospital.They looked after it over the winter and fed it up.They then rang us to pick it up and release it where we found it.They advised us to cut a hole in our b...See More
    37 · 3 hrs
Some advice worth sharing….
Helping wildlife in the spring…
As the weather gets warmer, we will inevitably spend more time outside, and so it’s likely that, at some point, you’ll witness s...
See More
 · Comment · 
  • Janet O'malley, Carole Maitland, Richard Jenkins and 1,436 others like this.
  • Catherine Lynne Sykes My cat brought in a baby woodpigeon last week. I took it to a vet who gave it antibiotics and said the cat had picked it up as if it were a kitten and had only broken the skin on the back of its neck. I brought it home as the vet didn't know what to do...See More
    33 · 6 hrs
  • Barbara Goddard Reminds me of when (some years ago) I found a blackbird abandoned in my garden. Having exhausted the garden of worms to feed it, I bought maggots and hand reared the bird with help from a man who had i njured birds in his garden who taught my bird to feed itself. I eventually released the blackbird in a park where it flew to a tree and sang a song of thanks to me; very gratifying !
    30 · 6 hrs
A majestic bird and a conservation success story but does the red kite get your vote?

Vote for Britain's national bird: red kite
BBC.COM
 · Comment · 



BBC Springwatch | Facebook
.
.
.

No comments: