Rainbow beekeepers breeding on the Norfolk coast this summer and three rare black-winged stilts in Yorkshire are “optional signs” that disaster has hit Britain, conservationists say.
Bird watchers flock to northeastern Norfolk to see bee-eaters, a colorful rare visitor from Africa and southern Europe, after seven birds were spotted near Cromer by a local birder.
Several bee-eaters have been observed nesting in a small sand quarry near the coastal village of Trimingham, raising hopes that they will breed successfully.
Bee-eaters did not breed in Britain between 1956 and 2001, but this is now the sixth nesting attempt in the century, with birds nesting in Durham County in 2002, Herefordshire in 2002, and the Isle of Wight in 2014. , Cumbria in 2015 in Nottingham17, when the nests in the quarry failed due to bad weather.
“These seven bee-eaters are certainly the most colorful and exciting birds you can see in the UK right now,” said Mark Thomas of the RSPB. “Although an amazing sight, we must not forget that the arrival of these birds to our shores is due to changes in our climate and the subsequent pressure on wildlife both here and around the world.
“Driven north by climate change, these exotic birds are likely to become established summer visitors in the future, as the last two decades have been an early and inevitable sign that the disaster of nature and climate has reached our shores.
Starling-sized bee-eaters have red backs, blue bellies and yellow throats, and can be seen feeding on bees, dragonflies and other flying insects that they catch in the air.
At the Potteric Carr Nature Reserve in Doncaster this week, three black-winged stilts emerged from what is considered Britain’s northernmost nest for blissful species, which are rare in the country and do not breed here every year.
Andy Dalton, operations manager at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said: “It was a busy wait, but we are very happy. Potteric Carr is a green oasis on the outskirts of Doncaster, surrounded by busy roads and industrial development – the conservation work we do here has a significant impact on wildlife, including rare species such as black-winged stilts.
Danny Heptinstall, director of policy and partnerships at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, warned that nature-rich sites must be protected and restored on a large enough scale to ensure that species forced north by global warming find refuge in Great Britain.
“The only reason we have black-winged stilts bred in Potteric Carr is because we have a fantastic nature reserve on a landscape scale of several hundred hectares with ambitions to expand it further. If we do not create a habitat for these species in the United Kingdom, they will have nowhere to go, “said Heptinstall.
“This is a positive, exciting and brilliant endorsement of the work we are doing at Potteric Carr, but it is also a wake-up call. The downside is what we lose at the same time. In Yorkshire, we are anxiously watching our seabird populations, including cats, fulmars and puffins.
Of the 25 nesting seabird species in the United Kingdom, 24 have red or amber status on the list of endangered birds, which means that they are at risk of local extinction. As sea temperatures rise, fish stocks move north or disappear, reducing the success of seabird breeding further south and forcing species to move to where they can find food.
* The RSPB and North-East Norfolk Bird Club have set up a parking lot and observation area in a large grassy field near Gimingham Road near Trimming, so beekeepers can be observed without fans disrupting their nesting attempts.
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