"souls in Purgatory. The association with Christmas more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red jackets and were nicknamed ""Robins""; the robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card. In the 1960s, in a vote publicised by ""The Times"", the robin was adopted as the unofficial national bird of the UK. In 2015, the robin was again voted Britain's national bird in a poll organised by birdwatcher David Lindo, taking 34% of the final vote. Several English and Welsh sports organisations are nicknamed ""the Robins"". These include the"
"the record was at fault, and a critical reappraisal of the evidence should have been prompted by the (then relatively recent) discovery in the North Atlantic of Swinhoe's storm petrel, and that the committee was instead too heavily swayed by the views of a single expert. A petrel seen from Dungeness, Kent and believed by its observers to be Britain's first herald petrel was rejected, although the committee noted that the bird was clearly ""an amazing seabird"". This decision sparked a number of letters to ""British Birds"" questioning whether the committee's stance is too strict. Fea's petrel is now officially"
"Conservancy in 1990. Northern Ireland does not have an official national bird, but the Eurasian oystercatcher (""Haematopus ostralegus"") was unofficially selected in 1961. ""The Irish Examiner"" has put the rook (""Corvus frugilegus"") forward as a possible national bird, due to their ""wild hardiness, spirit, and resilience, in the face of all difficulties, and their ability to cope with style and a bit of craic, with anything that the world throws at them."" In 2016 Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland listed ten possible national birds: European robin, peregrine falcon, common house martin, Eurasian curlew, roseate tern, barn owl, common swift, Bohemian"
"which monitors the birds in the valley. Breeding birds include common chiffchaff (""Phylloscopus collybita""), common whitethroat (""Sylvia communis""), dunnock (""Prunella modularis""), Eurasian blackcap (""Sylvia atricapilla""), Eurasian wren (""Troglodytes troglodytes"") and sedge warbler (""Acrocephalus schoenobaenus""). Other birds found include brambling (""Fringilla montifringilla""), cirl bunting (""Emberiza cirlus""), common grasshopper warbler (""Locustella naevia""), Eurasian siskin (""Spinus spinus""), lesser redpoll (""Acanthis cabaret"") and subalpine warbler (""Sylvia cantillans""). Rareties ringed in the autumn of 2014 were aquatic warbler (""Acrocephalus paludicola""), barred warbler (""Sylvia nisoria"") and paddyfield warbler (""Acrocephalus agricola""). A first for Britain occurred on 8 October 2008 with the trapping, and the measuring of"
"by the World Owl Trust. A new pair in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, have been attracting public attention due to having successfully reared three young to flight. There have also been reports of a further two pairs active in the local area as well as another pair breeding chicks in Northumberland in 2005. Eagle-owls have also been confirmed breeding in Scotland, with sightings of wild birds confirmed in Galloway, Invernesshire, Sutherland and Slough . The World Owl Trust now believes that the eagle-owl should be added to the British Ornithologists Union's list of official British birds – indicating the"
"and an ex-situ captive breeding population has been set up in partnership with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Zoological Society of London, North of England Zoological Society, Parken Zoo and the Governments of Montserrat and Dominica. Releases from this programme have already taken place in a hope to increase the numbers of the frog and reduce extinction risk from Chytridiomycosis. The national bird is the endemic Montserrat oriole (""Icterus oberi""). The IUCN Red List classifies it as Vulnerable, having previously listed it as Critically Endangered. Captive populations are held in several zoos in the UK including: Chester Zoo, London Zoo, Jersey"
"1998, coming to the conclusion that it was, as had been believed by many observers, a first-summer slender-billed curlew. This identification was accepted by the British Ornithologists Union's Records Committee, leading to the addition of this species to the British List. The record was reviewed in 2014, and, after a split decision by both the BBRC and the BOURC, the record was found not proven and subsequently removed from the British List. A subcommittee was set up in 1997 to undertake a review of rare bird records from the years immediately prior to BBRC's establishment. The purpose of the review"
"pipit, Savi's warbler, aquatic warbler, serin and common rosefinch. Savi's warbler was re-admitted to the committee's list in 1998, due to declining numbers of occurrences. Thirdly, in 2006, a further 17 species were dropped from the list: ferruginous duck, Wilson’s petrel, great white egret, black kite, red-footed falcon, American golden plover, white-rumped sandpiper, white-winged black tern, alpine swift, red-rumped swallow, red-throated pipit, subalpine warbler, greenish warbler, dusky warbler, Radde's warbler, Arctic redpoll and rustic bunting. Their selection was based on different criteria from those previously used: more than 200 records in Britain ever, and more than 100 occasions in the"
"an inland site, it also attracts rare warblers, notably the aquatic warbler in 1955; Hume's warbler in 2004; and yellow-browed warblers in 1994 and 2003; however, most significant was an Iberian chiffchaff on 3 June 1972, the first recorded in the UK. The current list of birds recorded at the reservoir numbers 251 species. The most recent species added to the list was the Caspian gull in 2015. Many other forms of wildlife have also been studied and were documented in the Birds of Brent Reservoir. There have been 29 species of butterfly at the reservoir, including breeding marbled white"
"with additional funding from Welsh Power Ltd. The resulting reports were published in 2012 with the launch of the Welsh Beaver Project, which is a partnership led by the Wildlife in Wales, and are downloadable from www.welshbeaverproject.org. A 2009 report by Natural England, the government’s conservation body, and the People's Trust for Endangered Species recommended that beavers be reintroduced to the wild in England. This goal was realised in November 2016, when beavers were recognised as a British native species. The first sustained and significant population of wild-living beavers in the United Kingdom became established on the river Tay catchment"
"the government and anglers as 'control freaks': ""I'm an angler, and the Angling Trust does not represent me on this issue...most anglers, in my experience, have a powerful connection with nature. The chance of seeing remarkable wild animals while waiting quietly on the riverbank is a major part of why we do it."" On 28 January 2015, Natural England declared that the beavers would be allowed to remain on condition that they were free of disease and of Eurasian descent. These conditions were found to be met on 23 March 2015, following the capture and testing of five of the"
"flights, Smith has said: ""Crawley’s prosperity depends on the success of Gatwick Airport and the publication of this new draft master plan goes a long way to securing future growth in the town. I have always supported the airport growing within its existing boundaries."" His parliamentary candidacy at the 2015 general election was personally endorsed by Queen guitarist Brian May on the grounds of his animal welfare record. May had worked with him in opposing the government's badger culling. In parliament, Smith has also spoken against the export of live animals, the import of foie gras, the ivory trade, fur"
"in Britain was due to be passed in 2015, but Conservative MP Christopher Chope repeatedly blocked the bill under the reasoning that ""The EU Membership Costs and Benefits bill should have been called by the clerk before the circuses bill, so I raised a point of order"". He explained that the circus bill was ""at the bottom of the list"" for discussion. The Animal Defenders International non-profit group dubbed this ""a huge embarrassment for Britain that 30 other nations have taken action before us on this simple and popular measure"". There are nationwide bans on using some if not all"
"accepted in 2007), long-toed stint (Britain's first, in Cornwall in 1970, accepted in 1994), least tern (Britain's first, and to date only record, accepted in 2005, after first occurring in 1983), black lark (Britain's first, from Spurn, Yorkshire in 1984, accepted in 2004 after a second set of notes came to light), Sykes's warbler (the first three records, from 1959, 1977, and 1993, accepted in 2003), Iberian chiffchaff (the first two records, from 1972 and 1992, accepted in 2000), and Hume's leaf warbler (the first 27 records, the earliest from 1966, accepted in 1998). Occasionally, decisions have been delayed due"
"Hand jokingly suggested RRS """"Boaty McBoatface"""". This quickly became the most popular choice and was the runaway winner when the poll closed, with 124,109 votes. The name has been described as a homage to ""Hooty McOwlface"", an owl named through an ""Adopt-A-Bird"" program in 2012 that became popular on the internet. On 6 May 2016, British science minister Jo Johnson announced that the choice had been made to name the ship after naturalist Sir David Attenborough, but that ""Boaty McBoatface"" would be the name of one of ""David Attenborough"" remotely controlled submersibles. A petition calling for Sir David Attenborough to"
"2015. A third phase for Islands opened in Summer 2017. The third phase included new exhibits for Malayan sun bear, Palawan Binturongs, Malayan tapir, and a new songbird aviary featuring various birds from Indonesia as well as the Critically Endangered Javan green magpie. An exhibit for Dusky pademelons and Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo was completed and opened in May 2018, alongside enclosures for cloud rats, tree shrews and Prevost's squirrels. Chester was the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed Asian elephants in captivity. The most famous of these was Jubilee (1977–2003), so named as he was born in 1977, the"
"June 2015, the National Trust, one of the largest landowners in the UK, stated it would not be allowing badger cullers onto their land until the results of all 4 years of pilot trials were known. The 2014/15 cull targets had been lowered to 316 badgers in Somerset and 615 in Gloucestershire. Overall, the aim was for a reduction of 70% in badger populations over the successive culls. This was to be achieved with an emphasis on trapping badgers in cages and shooting them at dawn, rather than ""free shooting"". As in the 2013/14 cull, hundreds of protesters entered the"
"Britain by, for example, supporting the reintroduction of the beaver and recognising the pioneering achievements of the Knepp Estate in lowland rewilding. Rewilding Britain Rewilding Britain is an organization founded in 2015 that aims to promote the rewilding of Great Britain. It is a registered charity in England and Wales, and also in Scotland. One of the people involved in setting up the charity was George Monbiot who published ""Feral"", a book about rewilding, in 2013. Rewilding Britain has called for the reintroduction of predators such as lynx and wolves which were hunted to extinction in Britain centuries ago. Its"
"and Coleoptera (beetles), the latter group including a RDB soldier beetle, ""Cantharis fusca"". The area as a whole is of national and international importance for breeding and wintering birds. It supports seven species listed on Annex 1 of the EC Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, populations of six species of Red Data bird and several species of candidate Red Data bird. Amongst the breeding birds three species are particularly noteworthy. Up to 20 pairs of stone curlew representing 12% of the British population breed on the plain. The area accounts for approximately 20% of breeding records for quail"
"reported in ""The Independent"" newspaper in January 2006 and in June of that year, the UK-based Northern Kites Project reported that kites had bred in the Derwent Valley in and around Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear for the first time since the re-introduction. In 1999, the red kite was named 'Bird of the Century' by the British Trust for Ornithology. According to the Welsh Kite Trust, it has been voted ""Wales's favourite bird"". In June 2010, the Forestry Commission North West England announced a three-year project to release 90 red kites in Grizedale Forest, Cumbria under a special licence issued"
"Saxifrage, Alpine Catchfly, Sword-leaved Helleborine, Norwegian Sandwort, Dark-red Helleborine, Iceland Purslane, Small Cow-wheat and Yellow Oxytropis. A number of non-native, invasive species have been identified as a threat to native biodiversity, including Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed and Rhododendron. In May 2008 it was announced that psyllid lice from Japan, which feed on the Knotweed, may be introduced to the UK to bring the plant under control. This would be the first time that an alien species has been used in Britain in this way. Scientists at the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux International do not believe the lice will cause any environmental"
"2015 including over 800,000 on British Territories. Employing measures such as covert camera surveillance (including a drone), exclusion zones and impounding vehicles, trapping activity at Dhekelia fell by 72%. In 2016 an estimated 800,000 birds were killed at Dhekelia and in the following year trapping activity fell by 72% and bird deaths to an estimated 180,000. The beaches in the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) are important nesting sites for the endangered green ""Chelonia mydas"" and loggerhead ""Caretta caretta"" turtles. The SBA Environment Department, assisted by a large volunteer effort, has monitored turtle nesting success on SBA beaches since 1990."
"his animal welfare record. In July 2015, May criticised UK prime minister David Cameron for giving Members of Parliament a free vote on amending the ban on fox hunting in England and Wales. During a live television interview, he also attacked the pro-hunting organisation the Countryside Alliance as ""a bunch of lying bastards"" for their support for a change to the law. The vote was postponed by the government following the intervention of the Scottish National Party's Westminster MPs, who committed to vote to keep the ban as it existed. May told anti-hunt protesters in a rally outside Parliament that"
"records show a very different temporal occurrence pattern than more recent birds, the large numbers of gull-billed tern records from the English south coast from the 1960s, and desert wheatears, to establish racial identifications. Most records received by the committee are processed within a year and published in its annual report in ""British Birds"". Some records prove problematic, and for some species, it has taken the committee many years to come to a decision. This has particularly been the case where the species or subspecies in question was new to Britain—examples include northern harrier (Britain's first, in Scilly in 1982,"
"resonant and lower-pitched on average: ""kloo-kloo-kloo"" in groups of three or four. Whooper swans are much admired in Europe. The whooper swan is the national bird of Finland and is featured on the Finnish 1 euro coin. The whooper swan is one of the species to which the ""Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds"" (AEWA) applies. Musical utterances by whooper swans at the moment of death have been suggested as the origin of the swan song legend. The global spread of H5N1 reached the UK in April 2006 in the form of a dead whooper swan found in"
"that the ""red kite never suffered the indignity of its relative's nickname"", in recent years, following the successful reintroduction of the red kite into Scotland and England during the 1990s, the term has also started to be used for the red kite in Britain, apparently due to confusion between the two species of kite. Thus, in 1999, Lord Burton announced in the House of Lords that ""[p]ossibly one of the most highly protected birds today is the [red] kite, known by the British Army throughout the world as a shite-hawk"". In March 2011, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio programme"
"through wild breeders or vagrants. The introduced species admitted to the British list are: Western capercaillie, ""Tetrao urogallus"", and white-tailed eagle, ""Haliaeetus albicilla"", are reintroductions of formerly breeding species. British avifauna The British avifauna consists of the birds which have occurred in Great Britain. This article is a general discussion of the topic. A full species list can be found at List of birds of Great Britain. In general the avifauna of Britain is, of course, similar to that of Europe, consisting largely of Palaearctic species. As an island, it has fewer breeding species than continental Europe, with some species,"
"with 15%. Many of the shortlisted clips are available on the BBC Earth Youtube channel. The lyrebird clip has been viewed more than 3 million times since it was first made available. Web users in the UK can also find them, along with many other clips, in the David Attenborough's Favourite Moments collection on the BBC Wildlife Finder. Favourite Attenborough Moments Favourite Attenborough Moments is the name of a television poll conducted by the UKTV Documentary channel in 2006. The poll called on members of the British public to vote for their favourite moment from Sir David Attenborough's 50-year career"
"population. In the twenty years up to 2016, the population is estimated to have declined by more than 50% in England and Scotland, more than 80% in Wales, and more than 90% in Ireland. At the end of 2015 it was placed on the United Kingdom's red list of most endangered bird species. Eurasian curlew The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (""Numenius arquata"") is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia. In Europe, this species is often referred to just as the ""curlew"", and"
"a mixture of characters. One such bird, a vagrant in Suffolk, England in 1982, the ""Sizewell bunting"", is documented and illustrated with photographs in ""British Birds"" Some doubt has been cast upon male birds which appear to all intents and purposes to be pure pine buntings, but show yellow primary fringes. Previously, in Britain, these were regarded as potentially hybrid birds, and not accepted by the British Birds Rarities Committee. However, since 2004, BBRC has regarded these birds as acceptable if they also meet the following conditions: The pine bunting's natural food consists seeds, and when feeding young, insects. The"
"British finches The British finches are made up of several species of finch which were formerly very popular as cage birds in Great Britain. They are not currently commonplace, but are still kept by a few dedicated fanciers. In Victorian times British finches were hugely popular as cage birds throughout the British Isles, often replacing canaries. Due to a lack of protection, thousands of birds were captured for the pet trade every year. Their popularity is reflected in the well-known British music hall song, ""My Old Man (Said Follow the Van)"", in the line, ""I walked behind wiv me old"
"raised a petition calling for a ban on the practice. By its closure on 21 September 2016 the petition had attracted 123,077 signatures, triggering a parliamentary debate on the practice, held in Westminster Hall on 31 October 2016. A 2017 study commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage into the fate of satellite-tracked golden eagles concluded that ""Corroborative information points to the perpetrators of the persecution of tagged eagles being associated with some grouse moors in the central and eastern Highlands of Scotland,"" and that ""[t]his illegal killing has such a marked effect on the survival rates of the young birds that"
"a stilt sandpiper in 2005, and a black-winged pratincole and a black-headed wagtail in 2009. Water voles are a highly threatened species in the UK, with a huge decline in numbers, mainly due to predation by the introduced American mink. They are still common at Titchwell, which is one of a number of East Anglian sites now of national importance for this species. Both common and grey seals can be seen off the beach. Other vertebrates include European eels, common toads and three-spined sticklebacks. In summer, the dragonfly pond can hold up to ten species of dragonflies and damselflies. The"