Posts tagged with "factfile"
Wednesday, 5. November 2008, 19:45:10
Sawflies, Stoneflies, mecoptera, scorpionflies
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When is a fly not a fly? Many insects are referred to as ‘flies’ but technically any insect that doesn’t belong to the Order Diptera, is not a true fly. Below is a brief summary of the groups found in Britain that are referred to as flies:
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Thursday, 2. October 2008, 00:00:14
palaeontology, factfile, Dasornis, uk
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Being that I have a bsc in Palaeobiology + Evolution and an MSc in Micropalaeontology there has been a notable lack of anything relating to these on my blog. And today when I found a story on my 'beloved' London Clay, on which my undergraduate project was on, I thought it was time I rectified this.
The bird in question's fossil skull was found on the Isle of Sheppey, North Kent and was a relative of ducks and geese, which lived in the Eocene. Based on the fact it was found in the London Clay, around 50 million years ago that would make it Early Eocene (Ypresian) in age.
(picture of skull from
here Credit: Fred Clouter)
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Thursday, 21. August 2008, 20:02:28
results, birds, 2008, birdwatch
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The results for the ‘RSPB Big garden bird watch’ 2008 came out a while back and I’ve been meaning to put them on here for a while, so I thought I’d put them up to compliment yesterday’s
Britains commonest bird post. This survey is the result for a one hour bird watch by almost 400,000 people, over the weekend of 26 and 27 January 2008, which counted more than six million birds across 228,000 gardens. The numbers below the species are the average number per garden
The top 10 species were:
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Thursday, 21. August 2008, 19:36:00
uk, british, britains, britain
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After the question of what is
Britains biggest bird, I thought I ask and answer another question: What is Britains commonest bird? The first set of data I have used is that based on numbers of breeding pairs or breeding territories. This is because the actual number of each bird species in the UK rises and falls depending on the time of year due to migrations, breeding and deaths in winter etc, so the number of breeding pairs gives a clearer picture of the true abundance of each species. I also used this data as it is easily accessible on the
RSPB website The top 10 most common British birds are:
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Tuesday, 17. June 2008, 20:52:54
alien, terrapin, red, non-native
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Although they are native to North America, Red eared terrapins have now become a fairly common sight in urban park ponds in the UK, especially in London. This one is in Round Pond, in Kensington Gardens, London
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Monday, 16. June 2008, 23:16:52
species, alien, non-native, goose
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Canada geese
Branta candensis are now the biggest geese species found in Britain, and now probably the most common species found in urban parks. They are native to North America, and there are 9 or 10 subspecies, which show differences in size, patterns of colouration and in range.
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Friday, 16. May 2008, 00:17:22
species, alien, fish, factfile
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I thought I would start the series with some thing many people in the UK may not have heard of, unless of course you’re an angler, the Pumpkinseed fish.
Some of the American readers may recognise it as it is native to Southern Canada and the USA.
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Wednesday, 14. May 2008, 21:17:16
alien, non-native, fish, mammal
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I thought to start off this series I would make a list of the non native species that do or have occurred in the UK. This is in no way exhaustive and I will probably add to it at a later date. But for now here is the list, including some surprising species…
Mammals
Fallow deer
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Monday, 17. March 2008, 17:46:46
britain, tortoiseshell, comma, butterflies
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In the warm days we’ve had this year you may have noticed butterflies flying around. These species will (hopefully if we get some nicer weather!) appear more frequently this month, look for them basking in sunny areas. This is a guide to the species that can be found flying around soon, if not already:
Peacock
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Tuesday, 26. February 2008, 18:54:04
british, britain, bird, factfile
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What is the UKs biggest bird? It’s a question that comes up in conversions between birders, questions from inquisitive youngsters (and adults) and, I guess, pub quizzes. So what is the answer? Well there it depends on how you define ‘biggest,’ i.e. is it the tallest, the heaviest or biggest wingspan?
We’ll start with the tallest:
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