Farmers to showcase farmland bird conservation work
24 January 2021 |
Farmers and gamekeepers play a crucial role in the future survival of farmland birds
Farmers are being encouraged to get behind this year s Big Farmland Bird Count to showcase the conservation work being done on farms across the country.
The Big Farmland Bird Count returns in 2021, and organisers are asking farmers and land managers - who look after 71% of Britain s countryside - to join in.
The project helps show which farmland birds are benefitting from conservation efforts while identifying the species most in need of help.
The annual count, run by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), is scheduled for the 5 – 14 February 2021.
Feed sheep tree leaves to cut greenhouse gases, study says
20 January 2021 |
Scientists say feeding tree leaves to sheep could help cut greenhouse gases
Introducing tree leaves to a sheep’s diet could play an important role in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, new research suggests.
Scientists monitored four groups of six Aberfield x lambs, half of which were fed around 200g of goat willow leaves each per day.
When their urine patches were monitored, they found significant reductions in both nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide in those groups which fed on willow leaves.
The work by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) also found lower emissions of ammonia from urine patches where lambs were fed willow.
Feeding willow leaves to sheep could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, study suggests
Study comes amid debate over what role livestock can play in a sustainable British landscape
The GWCT, which commissioned the research, say it points to a role for sheep in agroforestry
Feeding willow tree leaves to sheep could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study which suggests grazing the animals in forests would be more environmentally friendly.
Sheep excrete nitrogen in their urine, which is converted to ammonia and nitrate, and ultimately to nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, during chemical processes in the soil.
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The eyes of the jungle: A new study sheds light on the harsh and unsafe conditions forest guards in India have to work under
ByRizwan MithawalaRizwan Mithawala / Updated: Jan 17, 2021, 07:08 IST
Photo by Anish Andheria
A new study sheds light on the harsh and unsafe conditions forest guards in India have to work under.
Twenty-four-year-old Deepu Rana, a forest guard with the Madhya Pradesh forest department, was out on patrol on May 4 last year, in the Ghatigaon forest, west of Gwalior city, when he heard a gunshot. As he walked in the direction of the sound, he came face-toface with a poacher and his catch, a dead jungle fowl. Before he could take stock of the situation, the poacher fired at him and fled the scene. Rana was rushed to the hospital, where he died within minutes of arrival.