BBC Wildlife - May 2020

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WILDLIFE & WELLBEING PULL-OUT MAG INSIDE

PABLO ESCOBAR’S HIPPOS THE WORLD’S HEFTIEST INVASIVE SPECIES

HELL ON EARTH WHY MILLIONS OF FLAMINGOS FLOCK TO A TOXIC LAKE

Why the badger cull is still not a black-and-white issue

P H OTOY STO R

TO IT!

Meet South America’s tiny treehoppers

Spr ng 2020 | Vo . 38 No. 05

Out of the woods?

GOODBYE TO

THE CIRCUS

· Kept in cramped beastwagons · Forced to perform night after night · Constantly on the road Four lions have spent their whole lives in a travelling circus. Part of a circus act, they were trained to entertain audiences across France for so-called entertainment. They now need a lifetime home. You can help give them a better future at our big cat sanctuary in South Africa.

Help rewrite the stars for four lions bornfree.org.uk/goodbye-circus Registered Charity No: 1070906

Spring forward... imes like these can bring out the best in all of us, and I couldn’t be prouder of the team here at BBC Wildlife Magazine, who have pulled out all the stops to bring you these 124 pages. Don’t get me wrong. We love what we do, and feel very lucky that we get to do it for a living. But at the same time, getting this issue out has been something of a challenge – to put it mildly! We spend months planning each issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine. We debate and discuss every element before it goes into production. Then, our passionate and talented team spends around four weeks lovingly crafting each page before sending it all off to be printed, packaged and delivered. It’s quite an operation at the best of times! But with everything that’s happened over the last few weeks, like many of you,

Cover: badger: Richard Birchett; treehopper: Javier Aznar; This page: Brian A Jackson/Getty

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we’ve had to reinvent how we work, dismantling our systems and reassembling them piecemeal from home. I like to think that the quality hasn’t suffered – our in-depth look at the government’s changing view of the badger cull makes sense of a challenging issue at home. Overseas, we report on life at the extremes – the giant arapaima fish; the flamingos that live in a caustic lake, and a selection of extraordinary minibeasts hidden deep in the forests of South America. As if that’s not enough, our supplement this issue takes a look at how wildlife can work wonders for our wellbeing, both physical and mental – something I’m sure we could all do with boosting just now. So, I hope you enjoy this issue. I hope it brings a chance to connect with the wildlife we all

love so much. I hope it offers a welcome break from, well, everything. And let’s also remember to celebrate spring – my favourite time of the year – when life explodes from all around, and hope for the future bursts from every bud, egg and shoot. In the meantime, we’ll get cracking on May’s issue. After all, how hard can it be? All the best!

Paul McGuinness Editor

While you’re stuck indoors, why not take a look at our website – discoverwildlife.com – where you’ll find plenty to keep you occupied, whether that’s swotting up on our species guides, picking up tips of how to get more wildlife in your garden, or simply basking in our wonderful photo galleries.

PS

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Spring 2020

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BBC Wildlife

Spring 2020

The people behind our stories Spring 2020

CONTENTS WILD MONTH 12

76 Carbon offsetting Can there ever be such a thing as guilt-free flying?

Seven species to spot

JAVIER AZNAR GONZÁLEZ DE RUEDA Documenting treehoppers was a joy for photographer Javier. “I want to reveal the hidden world of creatures that crawl below the horizon of most people,” he says. See p66

What to look for in spring

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OUR WILD WORLD

Mike Dilger’s wildlife watching Discover acid grassland

23 Nick Baker’s hidden Britain

87 At home Natural history TV, books and more

Red-tailed mason bee

Badger: Frederic Desmette; arapaima: Clark Miller; treehopper: Javier Aznar; flamingos: Paul Souders/Worldfoto/NPL; woodlark: David Kjaer/NPL; illustration by Michael Driver/Folio Art

24 News

91 Working for nature

COVER STORY

Pablo Escobar’s hippos: the world’s heftiest invasive species

27 Conservation report

Apithanny Bourne hopes to inspire others

93 Puzzles 94 Your photos

Northern river terrapin

96 Feedback

29 Mark Carwardine

Your letters and Tales from the Bush

The conservationist discusses calls for a cormorant cull

REGULARS

30 Meet the scientist Reintroducing harvest mice to Northumberland

31

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In focus Mayflies, chimpanzee and jewel grouper

Truth or fiction? Can pine martens control grey squirrel numbers?

46 Behind the image Common octopus

80 Q&A

FEATURES

Are any species immortal?

34 News: potions from the oceans Scientists are uncovering a wealth of

106 Wildlife champion Why film-maker Patrick Aryee cares so much about the northern white rhino

sea creatures that have medicinal use

40 Hell on Earth

SIMON BIRCH Can carbon offsetting work? Journalist Simon set to find out. “More of us are now coming to the uncomfortable conclusion that if we’re to save the world from climate meltdown we’ve got to curb our flying habits,” he says. See p76

JAMES FAIR The badger cull debate has raged for half a century. Journalist James provides an overview, following the latest government announcement. “This is just the latest in a long line of plans and strategies,” he says. See p56

COVER STORY

Tanzania’s otherworldly Lake Natron hosts millions of flamingos

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48 Big fish In Guyana, arapaima have become a must-see for tourists from far and wide

56 Out of the woods?

COVER STORY

The latest developments surrounding the badger cull debate

66 Photo story: hop to it!

COVER STORY

Meet South America’s tiny treehoppers

SUSANNE MASTERS Ethnobotanist Susanne dives into the fascinating world of marine bioprospecting. “In our constant search for new cures and treatments from the wild, attention is moving from land to sea,” she says. See p34

and marvel at their flamboyant forms Spring 2020

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Eduardo Blanco/naturepl.com

IN FOCUS | One night only The saying ‘life is short’ is especially true for mayflies. Though their nymph stage can last for more than a year, when the adults emerge, they take to the air – sometimes in mass swarms – then perish mere hours later. But not before producing the next generation, so the whole cycle can start all over again. From dusk to dark, the sky can become clogged with winged bodies, creating the perfect opportunity for predators, such as this European mantis, to gorge themselves.

Eric Baccega/naturepl.com

IN FOCUS | Tree hygge We all love a comfy mattress, and this female chimpanzee having a nap is no exception. After gathering her materials (Ugandan ironwood is a favourite) she carefully weaves them into a sturdy nest – you don’t want to fall out of bed when it’s at the top of a tree. Though her species is endangered, she’s one of around 1,500 chimps living in the protected area of Kibale Forest National Park in Uganda, so hopefully she’ll be able to sleep soundly.

Jeff Rotman/naturepl.com

IN FOCUS | Tropical treasure The jewel grouper enjoys the balmy waters and rich feeding grounds of tropical reefs. This polka-dot beauty was photographed in Egypt’s Red Sea, where it tends to favour shady areas of the reef. In the dim light, the bright markings of this ambush hunter provide it with surprisingly good camouflage as it waits for unsuspecting prey to swim past. This stout, almondshaped fish forms harems of one male and several females, each of which has her individual territory within their home range to keep a close eye on.

WILDMONTH What to look out for this spring as birds and frogs pipe up and delicate blooms reach for the sky. By Ben Hoare

WILD SPRING ONLINE

FREE THINKING 1 | WOOD ANEMONE

Oliver Rackham and Wildwood Ideas

Alex Hyde

Rays of light Sometimes a flower is more than just a flower. The wood anemone, which brings to mind a beautiful white buttercup (it belongs to the same family), can tell us a lot about the land. In early spring, before trees are in full leaf and block out the light, it blooms in sunny woodlands throughout Britain and Ireland. But not just any woodland. If you see an impressive display of anemones carpeting a clearing like a constellation of blinking stars, the chances are you’re in an ancient wood, at least 400 years old. Wood anemones also grow out in the open on banks and verges, or at the edges of fields: here too, they may serve as historical clues. Their presence in an apparently odd

location often points to a vanished wood, long since cleared, as if the land has a memory in leaf and petal form. Countryside historians such as the late Oliver Rackham refer to these flowers as “woodland ghosts”. Anemones spread exceptionally slowly, by means of swollen roots called rhizomes, which creep outwards like fat fingers through the rich woodland soil. This is why they are seemingly so reluctant to colonise new ground. Having said that, they’re popular with gardeners, too – you can’t always be sure that someone hasn’t planted them.

FIND OUT MORE Ancient woodland indicators: discoverwildlife.com/indicators

2 | SEDGE WARBLER

Ringing the changes

ONLINE

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Now’s the best time to set your alarm and get out in the garden to appreciate the dawn chorus – by 6.30am, it has peaked already and is dying down. One of the jazziest performers is this streak-backed little bird, which sings its scratchy, chattering song from reeds and bushes, often in quite small wetlands beside rivers or canals. Some say a male sedge warbler never sings the same song twice. He has “endless capacity for variation”, writes Simon Barnes in his book On the Marsh, “as if…the whole spring was one song.”

Weekly birdsong podcast with guest hosts.

GET INVOLVED Join a Dawn Chorus Day walk on 3 May.

3 | JELLY EAR

Freakish fungi ONLINE

FUNGI: AN ALIEN ENCOUNTER

FIND OUT MORE Guide to common species: plantlife.org.uk/uk/ discover-wild-plants-nature 14

BBC Wildlife

Spring 2020

Warbler: Laurie Campbell; jellyear: Alex Hyde; shrew: Jelger Herder/Minden/FLPA

Some fungi produce fruiting bodies year-round, and jelly ear is one. It grows weird, rubbery mounds on elder bushes and is most visible in winter and spring, being tough enough to survive frosts. The squidgy structures have an unsettling resemblance to wrinkly old human ears. Jelly ear is proof that, while we associate fungi with autumn, hyphae never stop. Hyphae are the mass of tangled fungal threads spreading unseen through wood, plant matter and earth in unimaginably vast numbers, harvesting nutrients for the parent organism.

WILD SPRING 4 | PYGMY SHREW

Small wonder This is easily the dinkiest British land mammal, usually no heavier than 6g. Close up, its long snout recalls a tiny tapir, albeit one with twitching whiskers and pinprick eyes. But the pygmy shrew is seldom glimpsed alive, as it spends spring and summer deep in the forest of grass stalks. A hyperactive lifestyle burns the calories, yet the shrew has little in reserve, so must hunt more or less nonstop, consuming one-anda-quarter times its body weight in insects and spiders every day.

FIND OUT MORE UK mammals: mammal.org.uk/species-hub

WILD SPRING 6 | GOLDEN PLOVER

Beauty of the bog In spring and early summer, northern peat bogs come alive with the plaintive cry of golden plovers. These quicksilver, arrow-winged birds fly fast – so much so, a debate in 1951 about their aerial prowess led Sir Hugh Beaver, of the famous brewing dynasty, to dream up the Guinness Book of Records. Peatlands are a vital habitat for ‘goldies’ and other wading birds, as well as important carbon sinks. But even now, they are still damaged by peat extraction for sale to gardeners.

5 | RED CLOVER

Living lawns

FIND OUT MORE

‘Rolling in clover’ certainly applies to bumblebees. They can’t get enough of the nectar-packed pompoms of red and white clover, and there is a simple way to help. Join the ‘no mow’ campaign and leave part of your lawn uncut. Clover should be quick to appear, often with daisies, buttercups and (from June) selfheal. Yet a measly 30 per cent of participants in Gardenwatch, the UK’s biggest ever garden survey, run by Springwatch, the Open University and BTO, said they allow their lawns to grow long.

Peat bog ecology: moorsforthefuture.org.uk

GET INVOLVED Wildlife gardening tips: discoverwildlife.com/wildlife-gardens

7 | MARSH FROG

Frog chorus

COSTING THE EARTH Alien invaders: is eradication the answer?

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FIND OUT MORE Our guide to the species: discoverwildlife.com/marsh-frog Spring 2020

Clover: Genevieve Leaper; plover: Nigel Blake; frog: Jason Steel

ONLINE

Of all the exotic amphibians to have gained a toehold in Britain, the marsh frog is the most colourful, appearing Kermitgreen at times. It’s about half as big again as our common frog, with a voice to match. In April and May, the males keep up an incessant squeaky chorus, inflating their huge vocal sacs. As with every introduced amphibian, the species’ spread is closely monitored. So far, this handsome alien is restricted to Kent, East Sussex and around London.

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MIKE DILGER’S

WILDLIFE WATCHING DRY ACID GRASSLANDS

In his series of great places to watch wildlife in the UK, the star of BBC One’s The One Show this month shines the spotlight on dry acid grassland landscapes and the specialised flora and fauna to see there.

ew people outside conservation or ecology circles have heard of dry acid grasslands. But they’re among the best British habitats around. More or less confined to the warm southern lowlands, these are open, expansive places. They tend to be confined to nutrient-poor, free-draining soils lying above sandstone or sand and gravel deposits. As these substrates create an acidic environment, the soil pH plummets to between 4 and 5.5, driving the development of a specialised flora and fauna. Acid grassland is frequently found alongside or mixed in with another special lowland habitat – heathland – but what defines the former is its historic use. Most acid grasslands were formed by the heavy grazing of domestic livestock, a practice that

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in some locations may well date back to Mesolithic times. All that incessant nibbling has resulted in the more palatable heather largely becoming eliminated, so that the tougher grasses, sedges and rushes hold botanical sway.

Poor soil, rich habitat Not all acid grassland is associated with heathland, however. The large expanse of Breckland, or ‘Brecks’, that straddles the Norfolk-Suffolk border has formed from centuries of lightly cultivating the poor, dry and sandy soils. But in the New Forest, where a significant proportion of Britain’s acid grassland is to be found, the relative amounts

of grassland and heathland are in a state of flux, with the level of grazing dictating which way the balance is tipped. Though acid grasslands don’t match the exceptional floral diversity of neutral and calcareous meadows, they do support interesting lichens and mosses. This habitat’s hot, parched characteristics also make it attractive to a wide range of reptiles and invertebrates. Adders and ground-dwelling or burrowing insects, such as solitary bees and wasps, are particularly well represented in acidic grasslands, with a large proportion considered either scarce or rare in a national context. Spring is often too early in the year to catch up with some of the heat-loving Spring 2020

WILD SPRING

Grassland: David Chapman/Alamy; woodlark & stone curlew: David Kjaer/NPL; butterfly: H Lansdown/ A amy; andscape: Chr s Gomersa /2020V S ON/NPL; adder: Danny Green/2020V S ON/NPL

Clockwise from top left: acid grasslands are open, warm and dry habitats; a green hairstreak butterfly on a gorse bush; acid grassland is often mixed in with heathland; an adder basking in the sunshine; dry acid grassland is the best place to spot stone curlews; woodlarks breed in this habitat.

invertebrates, but a warm, sunny day in April or May will give you the best chance of spotting the specialist reptiles and birds. Adders, for example, will have fully emerged from hibernation by April and can be seen basking in the spring sunshine, while sites in the Brecks and Suffolk Sandlings will by now have welcomed back their stone curlews after a winter spent in the Mediterranean or North Africa. In spring, most self-respecting acid grasslands should also have at least a couple of pairs of breeding woodlarks. This species is among a select cadre of countryside birds that is not just content with increasing its population, but is also expanding its range. Since woodlarks overwinter closer to their breeding Spring 2020

BBC Wildlife

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WILD SPRING

In common with many valued habitats, acid grasslands have become much reduced over the last 50 years.

conifer plantations. Elsewhere, the grasslands’ low agricultural productivity, and hence limited commercial value, has resulted in large swathes being cleared for development. But there is good news. In the many small abandoned pockets quietly left to scrub over, the original acid grassland can be reinstated. Once the scrub has been removed and light grazing reintroduced, certain sites have been able to bounce back remarkably quickly. At ‘flagship’ nature reserves such as Weeting Heath in Norfolk, the all-important grazing regime is maintained free of charge by the legions of rabbits – to the obvious delight of all the wildlife so dependent on this significant and yet much underappreciated habitat.

Torment : N ck Upton/A amy

grounds than many of our summer migrants, this should mean that most of the females will currently be incubating their first clutches, leaving the males free to keep the competition at bay with their wonderfully lyrical song. In common with many highly valued habitats, acid grasslands have become much reduced and fragmented over the last 50 years. Much of Breckland, for example, has become carpeted with

C H O IC E LO CATI O N S

1 2 3 54

1 Weeting Heath is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) and is simply the best place in the country to catch up with stone curlews. The reserve is also home to many rare Breckland plants.

S P EC I ES TO LO OK OU T FO R Stone curlew

2 East Wretham Heath is the oldest

A startling sandy-coloured wader with long yellow legs, large yellow staring eyes and short, blacktipped bill, the stone curlew cannot be confused with any other British bird. It underwent a long-term decline, but conservation efforts are finally paying dividends, with the breeding population now over 350 pairs.

nature reserve in East Anglia’s ‘Brecks’ and is also managed by the NWT. Look out for woodlarks and stoats, the latter often seen while attempting to catch one of the reserve’s abundant rabbits.

Tormentil is a characteristic flower of acid grassland.

Woodlark Slightly smaller than its more celebrated cousin, the woodlark also has a shorter tail, less-obvious crest and a clear-cut black-and-white patch at the bend of the wing when perched. More than 3,000 pairs now nest in Britain. Listen out for the males’ sweetly musical song, which incorporates a series of fluty ‘lu-lu-lu’ notes.

Adder Britain’s only venomous snake is a stocky beast, with a dark zigzag running along its back. The species has disappeared from

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many of its previous haunts, but having said that, can still be surprisingly common in rough grasslands where there is a reasonable amount of cover and human disturbance is kept to a minimum.

Green hairstreak Diminutive and charming in equal measure, the green hairstreak’s outstanding features are its vivid green underwings, which can be clearly observed at rest. The first adults emerge in mid to late April, with the

males taking up territorial perching posts, such as gorse bushes, as they wait for females to flutter past.

Tormentil This is the quintessential flower of acid grassland, heathland and even moorland. Tormentil has buttercup-like flowers, but differs in having four petals, rather than five. It always grows close to the ground, and has deeply toothed leaves, which have a silvery underside. A fine source of nectar for solitary bees.

3 Sandlings Heaths and Forest is managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. It represents a remnant of the vast unbroken heathland landscape that once stretched almost the entire length of the Suffolk coast. 4 Hyde Common is on the northwestern fringe of the New Forest National Park in Hampshire. Grazed by livestock, the site has breeding woodlarks and scarce Dartford warblers.

5 Copythorne Common Nature Reserve was once a training ground for the US Army, prior to D-Day. Today, it is managed by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and hosts snakes, lizards and woodlarks.

While the spread of COVID-19 means it’s not possible to visit these locations at the moment, we hope they offer some inspiration for days out once the pandemic is behind us.

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