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Description
Saving Species on BBC Radio 4 explores biodiversity, conservation and natural history, both in the UK and across the globe. In earlier episodes of Saving Species we followed the life and times of B...ritish seabirds on the Isle of May and the Cliffs near Tain, both in Scotland. We reported good news and bad news in a number of seabird species from both sites at the time they were rearing their chicks: Puffins seemed to be doing alright, Fulmars not so, Kittiwakes not good - but shags in places have had a good year. Over recent weeks lots of data has been crunched and we have ornithologist Bob Swann telling us how Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Puffins and Shags and other seabirds have done in various places around the UK - and in particular from two colonies he has been monitoring for upwards of 40 years in Scotland. And we take the plight of British birds story further. Biologists from Oxford University have been studying the decline in British birds and have come up with work that indicates that bird decline in the UK is an indicator of wider mass extinctions over the world. What exactly does this mean? And how can British birds inform us about the rest of the world? We will find out. Also, bees. We report new research looking at what the Honey Bee waggle dance tells us about nectar sources in gardens and the countryside. And to a great source of autumn nectar, Ivy, and the Ivy Bee. Kelvin Boot hunts down this Euro Bee - one of the new visitors to this country linked, we're told, to warmer winters and a super-abundance of Ivy in southern England.
Metadata describing this Open University audio programme
Series: Saving species; Series 1
Episode 24
First transmission date: 2010-10-12
Original broadcast channel: BBC Radio 4
Published: 2010
Rights Statement: Rights owned or controlled by The Open University
Restrictions on use: This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OU Digital Archive web pages.
Duration: 00:30:00
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Producer: Mary Colwell
Presenter: Brett Westwood
Contributors: Kelvin Boot; Margaret Couvillon; Clive Hambler; Vicky Pope; Francis Ratneiks; Robert Swann; John Walters; Brett Westwood
Publisher: BBC Open University
Production number: PBS04110WZ0024
Available to public: no