NEWS IN BRIEF

BIRDFAIR FUNDRAISING

Last year’s Birdfair has yet again broken its fundraising record. A massive £320,000 was raised by the event, which will go to help safeguard migrating birds flying between Europe and Africa. The money raised will go towards a project that aims at reducing the scale of the killings, while improving protection and laws throughout the region. Results from the BTO’S “What’s Under Your Feet” project might have unearthed information with far reaching implications for Britain’s birds. The project, undertaken by 40,000 schoolchildren from more than 1,600 schools across the UK, seems to have found evidence that the more recently rain has fallen on a section of land, the fewer invertebrates will be found in it. This may mean the floods in northern Britain this winter could have a large impact on the ability of birds in that area to find food. Sales of Lush ‘Skydancer’ bath bombs – used to add oils to bathwater – have now raised more than £100,000 for the RSPB’S Hen Harrier Life+ Project. The money will help the RSPB to satellite tag as many Hen Harrier chicks as possible in an attempt to protect them from persecution. Peatland experts have called on Scottish Energy Minister, Fergus Ewing, to scrap plans for a 39-turbine wind farm in Caithness and Sutherland’s environmentally important Flow Country. An open letter sent by the International Mire Conservation Group cited loss of biodiversity, carbon storage and beauty as reasons why the proposed Strathy South wind farm should not be built. RSPB Scotland is also opposed to the project.