FrancesD

♥ Life 🌈

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

On the hottest May day on record yesterday, I finally got to visit the most urban beavers in Britain at the Ealing Beaver Project & was frankly blown away by witnessing nature’s finest engineers close hand.

Billed as a ‘Beaver Safari’, I was surprised that the meeting point was outside a McDonalds next to a main road. This surprise continued when I discovered that not only were we allowed into the beaver enclosure but that the enclosure was also a public park with a cycle route running through. The beavers had got so used to humans that just the day before a beaver who had recently given birth was spotted dining on a delicious blackthorn branch just feet away from a bench where people were sitting in the park. We weren’t quite so lucky, but did see a beaver swim through a pipe under bike path & then haul itself out to cross their beaver dam to go downstream.

The beavers are not only a magical creature to witness though. They produce a cascade of environmental benefits. Their dams have raised the water level creating an amazing wetland home to reed warblers, water fowl, numerous bat species & wood peckers. Their dams help humans too by filtering urban pollution, alleviating droughts reducing flooding downstream. The wetlands they create also act as a giant air conditioning unit, cooling the city around it and reducing the urban heat island effect.

This project really shows that not only can humans & beavers live alongside each other, they can actively benefit each other as well. We now need to release natures engineers in rivers and wetlands across London so they can get to work building their dream homes, which make the city better for us humans too.

[Richard Page-Jones @RLPageJones]

#Firecrest, a scarce winter visitor, showing well in the winter sunshine in #SouthwarkPark. A lovely park and a great place for wildlife. #londonbirds

[GreenJJNews @GreenJJNews]

"a country soaked in record rainfall arranging a deal to use tankers to import Norwegian water... I can't even finish my sentence."

@GreenJennyJones explains why existing powers could lead to 40% more investment cleaning up sewage if we stopped paying shareholders and creditors

[Seaskywatch @SeaSkywatch]

Being a regular South Devon seawatcher I first started to see Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) off the coast back in 2010 (14 years ago). They are now a regular sight usally arriving in August, numbers peaking in October and I see them into December.

[FrancesD @Plot7a]

@Matt_Pinner A capital city with crumbling, leaking waste water infrastructure & precarious drinking water supply. The city’s water company has seemingly borrowed without limit & is £16.5bn in debt. It’s paid out £10.4 billion in dividends since it was privatized in 1989.

[Dave Goulson @DaveGoulson]

I'd never have guessed...

[Phil Sturgeon @philsturgeon]

Oil beetles are endangered, and part of this is due to eating dog poop. Dogs are given worming tablets, and these don’t just kill worms, they kill the oil beetles who eat it.

I saw 50 dead or dying beetles today.

Leaving dog poo behind isn’t just gross, it’s ecocide:

[Joshua Styles @joshual951]

Raised bed [bog] construction complete! Decided to turn a big chunk of the patio over to this beast today which will be a huge help in propagating rare species currently absent or very rare across the Manchester Mosses SAC 😍🌱

[Dr Ellie Chowns MP @EllieChowns]

5 peaceful climate protesters are facing an excessive sentence under the undemocratic Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

I’m calling on Labour to repeal the Conservatives’ repressive anti-protest laws which undermine our obligations under international law.

[Joshua Styles @joshual951]

Thank you SO much to everyone who helped plant 1/3 of a hectare of severely degraded raised bog with Sphagnum…

In a few years, all these wee clumps should form a continuous carpet alongside heaps of wild cranberry, sundews and a lot lot more! 🥰🌱

[Mick Crawley @crawley_mick]

You probably know that Oak does not produce flowers on its regrowth shoots. What is happening here is called Multiple Peduncle Syndrome. No acorns are ever produced from these strange female peduncles. Commoner than usual this strange year.

[Joshua Styles @joshual951]

Known from <15 places in England, Im sooo excited to have found this Bladderwort (Utricularia stygia) at a site in Cumbria!

It’s one of 12 carnivorous plants native to Britain, and a special chappie indeed! 😍😍🌱

[Jenny Jones @GreenJennyJones]

Dear @SteveReedMP and @DefraGovUK This sounds tough, and perhaps a good step forward, but I think you are missing the public's depth of anger towards the water companies.
We don't trust them to be accountable.
Please at least consider putting water back into public ownership.

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"Water company bosses could face prison time in new Labour crackdown on sewage infested rivers, lakes and seas."

That idea is already part of the Companies Act and has been for almost 20 years. Wanna know how many company bosses have ever been prosecuted never mind gone to jail in that time? That'll be none.

What a wasted opportunity.

https://t.co/iPu1lquLpn

[Red_Birder @HarringayBirder]

So we all went on the Zoom call, and we were all told in earnest tones how much better care they were going to take around the plane trees this year. What happened, @krankbrother? @haringeycouncil @JustPlaneNews @FinsParkFriends

[Get Wild 🐦 🦋 🐝 🍃 @mitchellsnik]

The tidy brigade 😡

[Peter Murray OBE @PGSMurray]

On June 20 the City of London votes on whether current restrictions on Bank Junction should remain. Black cabs have been lobbying hard. They cite the benefits for the disabled. But disabled users don't agree. Watch this video of wheelchair user Ben Foley @citypolicychair

[leanahosea @leanahosea]

Half the people in Gaza trapped by Israel’s siege & bombardment face death and starvation by mid-July, according to a UN report. That’s over one-million people facing death because Israel is preventing humanitarian aid getting through, as well as relentlessly bombing.

[FrancesD @Plot7a]

@fungi_flowers 😍 Here’s Taphrina padi on Clendish Marsh, Tottenham Marshes #LeeValleyWildlife

[FrancesD @Plot7a]

Strange beauty Taphrina padi fungal #plantgalls on Bird Cherry, Prunus padus #ClendishMarsh, #TottenhamMarshes #LeeValleyWildlife #wildflowerhour