Plants and Animals

Ann Novek lives in Sweden. She was once a medical student, but quit to work as a wildlife rehabilitator. She works mostly with birds, and has a special interest in helping birds affected by oil spills.

Ann has also been a supporter of this blog, sending in wildlife photographs and also information about whaling. My favourite wildlife photograph from Ann was probably of the Arctic Fox.

Now Ann has her own blog: http://annimal.bloggsida.se

She plans to post on whaling, diseases amongst birds and wildlife accidents. I have always found Ann’s ‘wildlife accident photographs very distressing but it is important to be reminded of the levitra suffering.

I wish Ann all the best with the new blog, and hope we can do some joint posts – even on wildlife accidents and even though I find the pictures distressing.

A duck with a plastic ring. Photo courtesy of Swedish Veterinary Institute.

On this Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday, I thought that I would issue a challenge to our Politics & Environment Weblog community:

To whom or what does this face belong?

I can tell you that it is not a member of Australia’s legislature. Neither is it employed in Australia’s public service. It is definitely Australian, but it is not a contributor to our discussion on this blog, so it would be vexatious to suggest any of our local identities.

I’ll wait to see what our readership comes up with, before revealing the identity.

Australians might be surprised to hear that many visiting travellers perceive the country as dangerous … a landscape teeming with deadly snakes and spiders and surrounded by crocodiles, sharks and jellyfish, but what of its floral dangers?

Gympie Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides) is arguably the world’s most painful plant. Covered with hypodermic hairs on its leaves and stems, it can inject poison that causes extreme pain.

It grows most virulently in damaged rainforest along Australia’s north-east coast. Its seeds remain dormant in the soil beneath a dark understory, until germinated by exposure to intensified sunlight, such as when a rainforest tree collapses. It is found most frequently as a single-stemmed plant, 1-2 metres high. Its large, long-stalked, alternate leaves are broadly heart-shaped (∼30 x 22 cm) with serrated margins. The central vein stops short of the periphery, terminating with the stalk attachment, on the underside of the leaf. Its mulberry-like, bright pink to purple fruits are borne upon axillary stalks on female plants.

Contact with human skin can cause extreme pain, starting as a rapidly intensifying burning sensation. The pain may persist for days, but upon exposure to cold air, water or when rubbed, the pain can be reinvigorated for up to two months or more, beyond the original sting.

I’m into my second year as a member of The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. I was considering burying a bumble bee nest box in my garden, but the other day I noticed that there is no need – the little critters have already made a nest utilising a pre-existing hole in a flower bed next to our conservatory. Now, I’m no Neil when it comes to wildlife photography, particularly as I don’t currently have a sophisticated digital camera, but I’ve done the best I can by capturing a couple of bees in flight during the frequent trips to and from the nest.

Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild flowers and crops in the UK. Already 3 species are extinct and 9 more are threatened. No, not due to ‘global warming,’ but habitat loss. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust explains the problem:

“It is thus essential that we take steps to conserve our remaining bumblebee populations, and if possible restore them to something like their past abundance. This cannot be achieved with existing nature reserves. Bumblebee nests are large, containing up to 400 sterile workers, each of which travels more than 1 km from the colony in search of suitable flowers. Each nest needs many hectares of suitable flower-rich habitat, meaning that to support a healthy population which is viable in the long term, large areas of land must be managed sympathetically. UK nature reserves are simply too small. The only way to provide sufficient areas of habitat for bumblebees is if the wider farmed countryside and the vast areas covered by suburban gardens are managed in a suitable way. To do this we need to educate people…

We need to and encourage farmers to adopt wildlife friendly farming methods through uptake of the Entry Level Stewardship scheme (ELS). We need to support the replanting of hedgerows and the recreation of hay meadow and chalk grassland habitats. These activities will not be at the expense of farming, but will actually benefit it, by improving crop yields at the same time as enriching the countryside. Meanwhile, in gardens nationwide we need to use wild flowers and traditional cottage-garden plants.”

A worthy cause, not tainted by the global warming bandwagon like the WWF or the RSPB, which is partly why I joined the the BBCT and am an ex-member of the RSPB.

For some professional, close up photos of bumblebees, check out the BBCT gallery.