Latest news with #Post-2010BiodiversityFramework
The Citizen
12-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Citizen
Watch this ace move: Wimbledon balls turned into homes for tiny mice
With the last day of Wimbledon finals set for Sunday, field mice will soon be in for a treat. Wimbledon sees about 55 000 tennis balls being used each year, but what happens when the tournament ends? According to an article published in Sustainability Magazine, which is based in Birmingham in the United Kingdom, while many are sold to raise money for the Wimbledon Foundation, some are donated to Wildlife Trusts, a grassroots movement of 46 independent charities working to bring back and support wildlife. The organisation transforms the balls into homes for one of the UK's smallest – and most vulnerable – animals, harvest mice. According to Wildlife Trusts, the tiny harvest mouse lives in tussocky grassland, reedbeds, hedgerows, farmland and around woodland edges. Mainly vegetarian, they eat seeds and fruits, but will also eat invertebrates. Harvest mice build a spherical nest of tightly woven grass, high up in the tall grasses, in which the female will give birth to around six young. The UK Mammal Society says harvest mice, Britain's smallest rodent, weighing only four to six grams, are 50mm to 70mm long and have a tail of 60mm. With agricultural practices having dramatically reduced harvest mice's natural habitat and the harvest mouse on the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework's priority list, a tennis ball makes an ideal home. According to The Sun, the Wimbledon balls are modified by cutting small openings that allow the thumb-sized mice to burrow in. They are then placed in tall grass, which is where the mice are often found, or mounted on poles to help them escape predators. The initiative has been running for 15 years and is just one part of Wimbledon's environmental efforts. Watch: The surprising second life of Wimbledon balls. Video: Yahoo! Sports While we're on the topic of Wimbledon, no words will do this justice… Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Wales Online
18-06-2025
- Science
- Wales Online
Man catches huge rare shark off Welsh beach
Man catches huge rare shark off Welsh beach The shark is a very rare find but its discovery might be a sign of something more troubling Alex with his majestic catch (Image: Alex Mcglynn/The Hooky 2 ) A massive shark weighing around 40lbs was pulled off the Welsh coast in a rare and unexpected find. Local angler Alex Mcglynn caught the tope shark in Swansea Bay and said he'd never seen one in the area in his 20 years of fishing. Alex, a biology graduate form University of South Wales with a focus on marine biology, has been fishing ever since he was introduced to the hobby as child by his father. He said: 'So I've been fishing for years, since I was like five years old, my father got me into it. "I worked in a tackle shop in Swansea for a number of years as well. I'm online, and I'm big in the social Facebook groups, and I heard on the grapevine that somebody said that they caught a tope off of Swansea Bay, which is really rare. So, we went down there with that target in mind to try and catch one, and obviously we were successful.' The tope shark is incredibly hard to catch on sandy beaches (Image: Alex Mcglynn/The Hooky 2 ) Apart from just being rare, the tope shark is also listed as critically endangered by the IUCN Red List and is a Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here He said: 'They're a vulnerable species in general, but tope numbers are increasing. They are generally a deep water shark, so you catch them off the boats, that sort of thing.' Article continues below Though tope sharks are a rare find close to the shore, west Wales is among some of the places where it is a little easier to find the marine animals. 'If you were to catch them of the shore, your best bet is generally off west Wales, where you've got deep water in close, off rock marks down there,' Alex said. 'It is rare to catch some off sandy beaches in shallower water. "What we've got in Swansea is such big tides. You've got the advantage that you can walk out at low tide, cast out into the deep water and as the tide comes in, your bait's in deeper and deeper water. So that's sort of the advantage of why you can get the bait so far out in Swansea Bay.' Alex believes that there are several reasons why the fish might have made their way into the Swansea beach. 'It's definitely a combination of factors. Obviously, waters are warming up, climate change and the increased water temperatures are going to bring more shark activities, not just tope sharks but in general,' he explained. 'In the south coast of Cornwall, they're getting pelagic species [fish that live in the open ocean] such as tuna coming in close as well. 'Off the coast of west Wales you're getting lots of blue sharks coming in, or beagle sharks. So shark numbers in general are increasing." Overfishing of prey fish could also be reason for sharks to close to the shore, according to Alex. 'Another thing is that a primary food source for a tope shark would be mackerel which are becoming overfished,' Alex said. 'So you are getting a decline in those numbers of their primary food source. 'So tope may be coming into coastal waters in search for alternative food sources. You get a lot of juvenile bass that they might be feeding on, or blackfish.' This, Alex says, can also have a negative impact on the overall biodiversity of waters. 'If you look at biodiversity, the increased tope shark could mean there'd be less of other species in a sense, because they feed on pretty much anything. They will eat crabs, crustaceans, small juvenile fish. It does have an effect on the the fish stocks.' However, he does not believe that these sharks would pose any risk to humans. 'In terms of like a threat to swimmers or anything like that, I can't imagine there being any issues on that side of things. I don't think there were any cases of tope sharks ever attacking any people, so there's definitely no danger of people going swimming in Swansea Bay.' As the shark had to be released soon after its capture Alex could not weigh it properly, but he estimates it to be around 40lbs or more. His catch, filmed for his YouTube channel YouTube channel, 'The Hooky 2' has generated significant interest, being one of his fastest growing videos, but he urged people to be aware of the proper 'catch and release' methods before getting into the hobby. 'I want to promote fishing as much as possible. It's a great sport, something I'm really passionate about,' he said. 'But you just want to make sure that it's done properly just for the safety of the angler and obviously the fish as well. When you're actually landing the fish, make sure they're not taken out of the water for a long time. I've actually got the video of me landing the shark. "Admittedly I'm quite excited at the time catching the shark because it is a really rare catch. However, I try to make sure that I keep those principles as well. So I always keep the fish in the water, just taking it up briefly for photos." He added: 'Make sure it recovers its strength before you release it. In terms of fishing tackle, make sure you've got strong enough fishing tackle. So, strong enough rods, strong enough line. At the minimum, I'm using a 25lb line. Article continues below 'I'm also using a wire bite trace, they will bite through any normal fishing line, so you've got to use a wire-bite trace, just so you don't have any sharks with hooks left in their mouths. 'I would recommend barbless hooks as well if possible, just to make sure that it comes out easily. And then obviously using the appropriate sort of appliance to remove the hook. If it is the case where a shark does swallow a hook, the best thing to do is not try and pull it out, just cut the line and the hooks will rust away eventually anyway.'
