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Archives for July 2010

Classic clips to celebrate National Marine Week

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:15 UK time, Friday, 30 July 2010

Editor's note: Whilst Jeremy is away, researcher Ella Davies presents a taster of the seaside celebrations coming up next week.

Next week, the Wildlife Trusts are celebrating our marvellous marine life. In fact, there's so much to enjoy, National Marine Week lasts until the 15th of August and we'll be bringing you a full fortnight of inspiring ideas, activity guides, fabulous photos and expert insights.

To get you in the mood for some briny brilliance here are a few video clips from the BBC archive.

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Butterfly colour scheme quiz

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 10:20 UK time, Friday, 30 July 2010

Editor's note: Whilst Jeremy is away here is researcher Emma Brennand with an exploration of nature's palette and a summery butterfly quiz.

Butterfly week has brought a welcome decoration of vivid colours to the more subtle tones of the BBC Nature UK office. To celebrate this weeks' rainbow of butterfly colours we have put together a butterfly colour scheme quiz.

Update 6th August:  You can find the answers to the colour scheme quiz on this blog post.  No peeking!



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The BBC Nature UK team's big butterfly count

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:55 UK time, Thursday, 29 July 2010

Jeremy's away so researcher Ella Davies gives a first-hand account of the BBC Nature UK team's big butterfly count.

With only a few days left to complete a Big Butterfly Count for Butterfly Conservation, the Nature UK team decided to practise what we preach. I ventured out with fellow researcher Emma Brennand to spot some flying beauties here in sunny Bristol.

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Butterflies after the big freeze

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 14:28 UK time, Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Guest blogger: Ray Barnett is a naturalist and entomologist who has worked in museums for over 20 years. Publications include the main author for the 'Butterflies of the Bristol Region' and the 'Moths of the Bristol Region', with a volume on dragonflies in the pipeline.

It may seem a distant memory now but cast your minds back to the snow and ice of last winter. We shivered and slithered in conditions which have become less familiar to a younger generation. What impact did the snow cover and low temperatures have on our native wildlife?

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Butterfly videos from the BBC archive

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 18:30 UK time, Tuesday, 27 July 2010

We've gone butterfly bonkers this week on the Nature UK site and today we want to share some of our favourite encounters with these special insects from the BBC archive.

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Guide: The butterflies and moths of high summer

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 12:31 UK time, Monday, 26 July 2010

Guest blogger: Stephen Moss is a naturalist, author and TV producer at the BBC Natural History Unit. He is currently working on Birds Britannia, a series on birds and the British for BBC Four.

With a month or so left until autumn arrives, it's time to check out some of our finest insects - the butterflies and moths of high summer. Too late to look for orange tips or elephant hawkmoths, but there's still plenty to see.

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Flickr favourites: Your butterfly photos

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:15 UK time, Friday, 23 July 2010

Judging by the number of butterfly photos in the BBC Nature UK Summerwatch Flickr group (145 at the last count), plenty of you have been fascinated by our fluttering friends this summer.

This week Butterfly Conservation are asking people to take part in their Big Butterfly Count so what better time to share some of your beautiful butterfly pics (and a few facts about the species you're likely to see out and about too). I've also thrown in a couple of the office's favourite rarities for good measure.

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July Flickr favourites

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:58 UK time, Tuesday, 20 July 2010

The Springwatch Flickr group was so good we just couldn't bear to see it end. So we started the BBC Nature UK Summerwatch group for all your wonderful summery wildlife photos. It's only been up a week and already we've had some crackers. And here are some of the best of them.

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Ospreys, kestrels, swallows and... kippers

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:35 UK time, Thursday, 15 July 2010

Great news! After weeks of concern, the Loch of Lowes' oldest female osprey has made a miraculous recovery and helped her chicks find their wings and take to the skies.

The 25-year-old bird, named Our Lady, worried Loch of the Lowes reserve staff and webcam viewers across the world when she became ill back in June. She stopped eating and was unable to open her eyes or stand over her chicks. Instinctively though, the juvenile male osprey rose to the challenge and fulfilled the role of two parents, both hunting and feeding his family.

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What's in a name?

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 10:39 UK time, Monday, 12 July 2010

Strange office that we are, much of our conversation this week has been centred around animal names. For instance, how can something be both a dogfish and a catshark? What's a sweetmart when it's at home? Is a daddy long legs different to a crane fly?

As keen naturalists we just had to investigate. So here are some of our favourite identity crises and the results of our investigations of how they came about.

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Chris Packham's Springwatch T-shirts

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 09:34 UK time, Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Judging from the comments on the messageboard, Twitter and blog, Chris's cryptic T-shirts got a few of you rather intrigued during Springwatch. So here's a video of the man himself to explain the meaning behind his range of nature-inspired, typically quirky T-shirts.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.

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Your exotic sightings

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 12:47 UK time, Monday, 5 July 2010

We had a great response from you on the blog when Martin asked you to tell us about exotic species in the UK. The topic prompted a lot of discussion on our messageboard and in our Flickr group too so we wanted to share some of best sightings with you.

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Your strangely coloured animal sightings

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 10:38 UK time, Monday, 5 July 2010

When Simon first asked if you'd seen a black fox, he wasn't prepared for the influx of fascinating stories about these and all kinds of animals in colours we wouldn't expect. So he put out a request for your sightings of other extraordinarily coloured animals and what a response we had...

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Does our wildlife have more than a future just on film?

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 16:38 UK time, Friday, 2 July 2010

Guest blogger: Rebecca Bangay, nature enthusiast and web producer for BBC Nature.

Wild Night In recently reported on threatened species across the globe. So how are our more local creatures faring? Are we getting our house in order? Chris Packham highlighted how we can't complain about the destruction of the rainforests if we aren't sorting out our own backyard and helping British wildlife for us and future generations to enjoy.

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Update from the Pensthorpe kestrel and sparrowhawk nests

Jeremy Torrance web producer Jeremy Torrance web producer | 10:47 UK time, Friday, 2 July 2010

At the end of Springwatch we promised we'd keep following our kestrel and sparrowhawk families and update you on their progress. The good news from the kestrel nest is that dad has continued to be an excellent provider. All the chicks now look very ready to fledge. Not so good news from the sparrowhawk nest though...

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