Fact File: European Hedgehog

Most people love hedgehogs, they're cute and even had their own road safety campaign that lots of us loved when we were children! Teaching us all to Stop, Look, Listen, Live.

So it's sad to know that the numbers of hedgehogs are in decline. Why? It's hard to tell, although more intensive agriculture could be part of the problem, with larger fields and less hedgerows and undergrowth for the hedgehogs to find sufficient cover.

How can we help? If you see a hedgehog in spring/summertime and it seems healthy the best thing to do is leave it alone, we don't want to cause any unnecessary stress. However, if you come across a sick hedgehog, the most common sign of a sick hedgehog is if they are 'staggering' around during the day or the winter. This can be a sign of hypothermia. In this case the hedgehog is in desperate need of your help! Take them inside in a box, with a well wrapped hot water bottle underneath them, do not let the hot water bottle go cold! The next step of course is to call the British Hedgehog Preservation Society for further advice!
If you have a resident hedgehog who frequents your garden you can always leave some food out for them in the colder months when it is harder for them to find the worms and slugs that they normally munch on! A big no-no however is giving them milk - hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and this can cause dehydration, many pet stores now sell ready made tinned hedgehog food for convenience or you can make your own with recipes found on the internet!

Hedgehogs are being affected in many ways, and a study that was conducted 40 years ago by Pat Morris to see whether climate change is affecting the hibernation patterns of hedgehogs is now being repeated.

To find out more hedgehog facts or to take part in the study visit the website at

 www.hedgehogstreet.org 

Measuring Precipitation - The Results

Life very much got in the way of updating this blog in the last few weeks so I apologise for being unable to post!

Over the last two weeks the rain gauges that I constructed (see Measuring Precipitation - Making my Rain Gauges) have been outside collecting rainfall, although it was typical that not much happened at all!

The Results over the 2 week period are as follows:

Gauge 1: The Daily Mean Precipitation for week 1 totals 0.4mm ± 0.5
Gauge 2: The Daily Mean Precipitation for week 1 totals 0.7mm ± 0.5

Gauge 1: Mean Daily Precipitation for week 2 totals 0mm ± 0.5
Gauge 2: Mean Daily Precipitation for week 2 totals 0mm ± 0.5



Therefore the mean daily precipitation over a two week period using these results for gauge 1 totals 0.2mm ± 0.5 and for gauge 2 totals 0.4mm ± 0.5 .

Not a lot of rainfall at all! Over the next week I have to write a summary of my experiment for use in my TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment) so expect more ramblings on measuring precipitation!

Measuring Precipitation - Making my Rain Gauges

Completed Rain Gauges

Who'd have thought I'd ever be so happy to see rain? 

Yesterday, my rain gauges were finally dry and ready to be placed outside so that I can begin collecting data. Over the next two weeks I will measure the daily precipitation in both bottles (the one with a funnel should have less evaporation and therefore higher amounts of precipitation should be present) after each week I will calculate the mean daily precipitation from my results. 

If  you would like to make your own rain gauges and calculate the mean daily precipitation in your local area, it's pretty simple! All you need is two collecting vessels, these must have straight sides and a flat bottom area; for one of the collecting vessels you will need a funnel, so plastic bottles are ideal. 

However, plastic pop bottles do not have a flat bottom so some DIY is necessary. 

To make my rain gauges:

• I cut off the top of two bottles, keeping one for my funnel for gauge 2.
•  I then used Play-Doh (£2.15 for 4 tubs) to press into the bottom of the bottles to level the area.
• I left the bottles next to a radiator for a few hours to harder the Play-Doh
• To make the bottom of my containers watertight, I painted a layer of varnish over the top of the top of the Play-Doh and left to dry. 

Over the next few weeks I will update you on my findings of precipitation in my local area (Although knowing my luck, it won't rain!). 

Fact File: Javan Slow Loris

It's not hard to see why these beautiful creatures are heavily sought after as pets after watching this video; any animal lover would melt. 

But the Javan Slow Loris,  along with four other known species of Slow Loris, is an endangered species. Even more at risk in recent years due to the overwhelming 'army' of online fans (after the video of a Slow Loris being tickled went viral) seeking to keep them as pets. 

These cute animals are not as they seem however, surprisingly they have a bite so venomous they can kill, they are the planet's only poisonous primates. To avoid this happening, Lorises sold on the black market would have their teeth horrifically ripped out with wire cutters.

If this illegal pet trade continues these beautiful primates won't be around for much longer, and we will never understand why this particular primate is poisonous.

 

I only hope it's not too late to save these primates from extinction!

Jubilee Woods: The Queen Plants a Tree for her Jubilee

In celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the Jubilee Project by the Woodland Trust, aims to create 60 special 'Diamond Woods' and hundreds of smaller 'Jubilee Woods' to reach a goal of planting 6 million trees across the UK.

Yesterday, February 3rd 2012, Her Majesty The Queen and Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal planted a native English Oak at the Sandringham Diamond Jubilee Wood. They then spent the day talking with 150 schoolchildren, who helped plant over 500 trees aided by the Woodland Trust's Trustees and guests.  

Photo from the Woodland Trust's Jubilee Wood website.

The Woodland Trust however, need your help, they are seeking landowners to host their own Jubilee Woods or others who may be able to donate towards acquiring the land for their flagship Diamond Wood.
Other ways you can help is by joining in with celebrations, by planting your own tree or finding a tree planting event near you!

There are many reasons why you should get involved in this fantastic celebration, trees support life, help absorb carbon dioxide and provide us with natural shade and give birds and other animals shelter.  It's also a great way to teach children how important trees are within our ecosystem, I will definitely be looking into planting a tree!

There is no excuse, there are trees for any size garden and even ones that can be planted in pots and starting at a reasonable price of £6.95 for a sapling there really is a tree for everyone to join in with!

To find out more about this amazing project, visit the website at:

www.jubileewoods.org.uk 

Join the Rebellion! Greenpeace's Attempt to turn VW away from the Dark Side.

As the biggest and most powerful car company in Europe, Volkswagen claim to have a 'green' image; surprisingly it may seem then that VW oppose key environmental laws that we need in order to stop our planet going boom!

Greenpeace are not asking much from this giant of a car company, and using the Star Wars theme they have created this 'Rebellion' with the simple aim to turn VW away from the Dark Side and help the planet.

The "Rebel Manifesto" as it were, is simple. Volkswagen must join other progressive companies such as Google and Ikea in the support of reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, at the moment VW are spending millions of Euros funding lobby groups who are against this reduction! They must also support strong fuel efficiency standards, more efficient cars are cheaper to run, they use less oil and omit less CO₂, it's basically an all round victory! And finally, with the technology that VW have their efficiency components should be a given in all of their cars, not available as an expensive extra!

To read the full report and to join the rebellion visit the site at:

http://www.vwdarkside.com/en

 As Yoda would say...

"Save the Planet, We Must"

Global Warming: Rumours of Catastrophe?!

Anyone with any common sense knows that the media like to exaggerate everything; especially things that they don't understand. Introducing 'Global Warming', I have no doubt that you will have all heard about this impending 'doom' in the media recently, anything strange that occurs in the weather (flash floods, huge amounts of snow, an unusually warm winter month) instantly is labeled as a consequence of global warming.

However, the question is, should we jump to these conclusions?

The Independent: January 8th 2004

If we are to believe this headline, it seems inevitable that we are 'doomed' to the consequences of global warming. But what is the truth? Is there anything that can be done to stop this?

It is difficult to distinguish whether an unusual weather event is linked to global warming, though in some cases it is easier to see a drastic event than in others. Take a look at this image for example:

With this image of an ice shelf on the Antarctic peninsula you can see the rapid disintegration of an area of 3200 km² that occurred during a mere 35 days. Of course this leads to another of those big questions: Is the sea level rising? How gradual is this rise?

Well, according to a report published in 2001 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by 2100 the average global sea level is likely to rise between 0.09 m and 0.88 m. Although I realise these figures do not seem like much, but a gradual rise in sea-level will inevitably destroy many coastal regions, which in some countries these coastal regions are the most productive and most populated. The overall loss of these coastal regions will most likely be caused by the rise in occurrence of flooding, so it can cause severe consequences on a very short timescale.

Global Warming is a very real thing and we need to take action now to prevent the devastating events it may cause. The media should probably focus on the positive things we can do to slow down the effects of Global Warming instead of focusing on the 'impending doom' we are powerless to prevent.

I am going to investigate this subject a lot further over the course of the next few weeks, starting with Greenhouse gases and their effects and the use of fossil fuels!

I would love to hear your opinions on this subject!

Pippa Jayne xx