Earth ChangesS


Butterfly

2016 could be worst year on record for UK butterflies, experts warn

Patrick Barkham
The Guardian
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 10:22 UTC
Many common species, such as the small copper butterfly, appear to be extremely scarce this year.
© Bob Eade/Butterfly Conservation/PAMany common species, such as the small copper butterfly, appear to be extremely scarce this year.
A deadly combination of a sunless summer, cool spring and mild winter may make 2016 the worst year for butterflies since records began, experts warn.

Sir David Attenborough is urging the public to take part in the Big Butterfly Count so that scientists can discover just how disastrous the unsettled weather is proving for Britain's 59 butterfly species.

The count, the largest insect survey in the world, begins today with people asked to spend 15 minutes recording which butterflies they see in a park, garden or countryside.

Richard Fox, of Butterfly Conservation, which runs the survey, said: "It's not looking good at all but we will only know how bad a year it's been if lots of people take part. Even if you see only one butterfly - or none - please submit these sightings because that's what we need to tell how good or bad this year will turn out to be for our butterflies."
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Attention

Carcass of sperm whale found in the Firth of Forth, Scotland

Cheryl Peebles
The Courier (UK)
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 17:41 UTC
The carcass of the dead sperm whale
© Scottish National HeritageThe carcass of the dead sperm whale
A dead sperm whale has been found floating in the Firth of Forth nine days after one or more were spotted swimming further upriver.

The 40ft carcass was spied near the Isle of May.

A group from the island launched a boat and found the young whale about a mile out.

On July 5, up to three whales believed to be sperm whales were sighted off the coast of Kinghorn.

The massive species, which grow to over 50 ft long, are rarely seen so far up the Forth.

Observers reckoned that one of the whales was sick or injured, as another whale appeared to be supporting it.

David Steel, Isle of May reserve manager for Scottish Natural Heritage, said it was a "sad end for a giant of the sea".
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Wolf

10-year-old girl killed by stray dogs in India


andhrawishesh.com
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 17:19 UTC
Girl killed by dogs
In a tragic incident, a 10-year-old girl died on the spot after stray dogs attack her.

According to the police, the incident happened in Srikakulam on Thursday. The girl D. Spandana, a Class V student was walking to the field to give tea to her father D. Bodesh. But stray dogs attacked her. The dogs bit the girl with such severity that a nerve on her neck was damaged.

Police said "the dogs attacked the girl outside the village. The scene indicated that Spandana tried to resist before collapsing from the attack. No one else was at the spot at the time of the incident. Locals rushed her to the hospital, where the doctors declared her dead."

TD legislator and government Whip Kuna Ravikumar and few others visited the family members of Spandana to console them.
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Bizarro Earth

Angry birds: City birds are more aggressive than their country cousins

Lindsay Key
Phys.org
Fri, 15 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
angry birds, aggressive urban birds
© Virginia Tech Scott Davies, a postdoctoral associate in biological sciences in the College of Science, measured territorial aggression in male song swallows at three rural and three urban sites in the New River Valley during the spring of 2015.
No need to head to the movie theater or download the video game app: Angry Birds can be found right in your backyard this summer—if you live in the suburbs, that is.

Virginia Tech researchers recently found in Southwest Virginia that birds that live in suburban areas exhibit significantly higher levels of territorial aggression than their country counterparts. The results were published in Biology Letters June 22.

"A possible reason for this is that these birds have less space but better resources to defend," said Scott Davies, a biological sciences postdoctoral associate in the College of Science. "Living near humans provides better food and shelter, but it also means more competition for these limited resources."

Davies and co-author Kendra Sewall, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the College of Science, measured territorial aggression in 35 urban and 38 rural male song sparrows at three rural and three urban sites in the New River Valley during the spring of 2015.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning strike kills thoroughbred horse near Midway, Kentucky

Eric Mitchell
Blood Horse
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:53 UTC
Lightning
Grade I winner and freshman sire Brilliant Speed was found dead in his paddock at Three Chimneys Farm the evening of July 13, struck down by lightning, according to Chris Baker, chief operating officer for the farm.

"He was found stricken in his paddock," Baker said. "The autopsy confirmed the cause was a lightning. We got hit by a freak storm that came up. It wasn't in the forecast of the any of the several resources we use to monitor the weather."

Brilliant Speed was a son of Dynaformer, who was a perennial leading sire and hallmark stallion at Three Chimneys, near Midway, Ky. Dynaformer died at age 27 in 2012 shortly after suffering an aortic valve rupture.

Brilliant Speed
© Louise ReinageBrilliant Speed
"Brilliant Speed was a class horse in the form of Dynaformer," Baker said. "We had high hopes for his progeny, which you would have expected to get better with age. You know the best lies ahead."
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Cloud Lightning

Woman likely killed by lightning strike in Stewart County, Tennessee


newschannel5.com
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:39 UTC
Lightning
A 65-year-old woman has died after allegedly being struck by lightning in Stewart County.

According to Greg Barrow, Stewart County Coroner, the woman from Clarksville was camping at Piney Campground in Dover.

Her husband called for help around 11:50 a.m. Thursday. He stepped inside his tent and heard a loud boom. When he looked outside he saw his wife lying underneath a tree.

When emergency crews arrived at the scene the woman was pronounced dead. Her identity had not been released.

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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills one man and injures another in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Charles Lussier
The Avocate
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 11:12 UTC
Lightning
One man died and another was injured Thursday after lightning struck a tree the two were standing under during a rainstorm in the 11800 block of Old Hammond Highway, police said.

East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark said his office plans to do an autopsy Friday.

"Until then I don't want to talk about whether lightning is the cause of death," Clark said.

The man, who has not been identified, died shortly after the strike.

The two had been working on a roof just after noon. The duo sought cover under a tree after a heavy downpour started when lightning suddenly struck nearby, said Sgt. Don A. Coppola Jr., a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Coppola said he's not sure of the extent of the second man's injuries, but he's expected to survive.
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Cloud Precipitation

Over 5,000 displaced by floods in Nicaragua and Guatemala; 14 inches of rain in 24 hours for the latter

Richard Davies
Floodlist
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 10:35 UTC
Flooding in Prinzapolka, Nicaragua
© Marlon SalinasFlooding in Prinzapolka, Nicaragua
Around 5,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes after heavy rain caused floods in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The heavy rain began to fall on 09 July, 2016. La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City recorded 360 mm of rain in 24 hours between 10 and 11 July. Flores in El Peten Department, Guatemala, recorded 170 mm during the same period.

Nicaragua

In Nicaragua, the Caribbean coast area was worst affected. Local media reports say that levels of the Prinzapolka, Escondido and Rio Grande de Matagalpa rose rapidly, threatening communities nearby. In the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, around 4,000 people were evacuated and 300 homes damaged, mostly in the municipality of Prinzapolka.
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Tornado2

Incredible waterspout filmed in Big Pine Key, Florida

Ultimate Chase
You Tube
Sun, 10 Jul 2016 10:08 UTC
Water spout Florida
Watch as this extremely large Waterspout threatens waterfront homes in Big Pine Key, Florida.

This video was shot by legendary storm chaser Jim Leonard.

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Attention

2 rare Irrawaddy dolphins die in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

N.Adri
The Jakarta Post
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 09:57 UTC
Protected species -- A local resident rescues a wounded Irrawaddy dolphin, locally known as pesut, from the Mahakam River, East Kalimantan. Mahakam pesut currently number only 87 individual animals, down from 96 recorded last year.
© TempoProtected species -- A local resident rescues a wounded Irrawaddy dolphin, locally known as pesut, from the Mahakam River, East Kalimantan. Mahakam pesut currently number only 87 individual animals, down from 96 recorded last year.
Conservation activists are calling for a more concerted effort to protect the habitat of Irrawaddy dolphins, or pesut, in Mahakam River in East Kalimantan after two of the protected species were found dead, thought to be as a result of widespread environmental problems.

Save Mahakam Pesut Community activist Innal Rahman said the Mahakam pesut was a protected species as it was critically endangered. The population of Mahakam pesut now numbers only 87 individual animals, down from 96 recorded last year.

The first dolphin was found dead in Kutai Kartanegara regency on July 3. It was suspected that the female dolphin died four days before it was found by local residents traveling on the river.

"We saw it stranded near a coal stockpile of coal company PT Morris," said Rahman, who spotted the dolphin at the location. At 233 centimeters in length and a body circumference of 128 cm, it is believed the dolphin was fully mature.
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