Latest news with #wetland
CBC
21-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Alberta ducks in fowl situation as wetlands remain dry despite recent rains
A survey of waterfowl habitat in southern Alberta found that recent precipitation was absorbed by the dry soil without much impact on wetland water levels. Ducks Unlimited said population numbers have dropped in recent years because of the dry period.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Country diary: This wetland is dry and scratchy as a loofah – for now
As wetlands go, this one isn't. It's a hot, dry day in what has so far been a hot, dry summer. There hasn't yet been summer enough to really frazzle the landscape, and green still just about holds the balance over parched yellow. Indeed, the only water here at Brearley Fields, in the deep trough of the Calder Valley, occupies that grey area between small pond and large puddle. Elsewhere, grasshoppers chirp and reel in the scrub. Fibrous grasses, cleavers, thistles and greater plantain grow waist-high. This is a wetland only when it needs to be. The threat of flood has long hung over the towns and villages of the valley here. The harrowing Boxing Day floods of 2015 remain all too fresh in the memory, as does the dismal wail of the repurposed second world war air-raid sirens that serve as the valley's flood alert. This is why Slow The Flow, a local volunteer force, is working to find natural, sustainable ways to accommodate the flood waters of the Calder in spate. The conversion of the old Brearley playing fields into a wetland was one of those ways. If today the reserve feels as stiff and sharp and scratchy as a dried-out loofah, that's only because the Calder is low and quiet, and burbles agreeably past the exposed shingle foreshore to the south (a rusted shopping trolley watches on). Once the rains come and the Calder gets its dander up, this transient wetland will give the river room to breathe and the baked soil will quickly turn soggy, squelching, soused, drenched: wonderful words to a man stood squinting in the sunshine with scratched ankles and a red neck. On its own, of course, this little wetland would make only a marginal difference to floodwater levels, but it isn't on its own – it's just one safety valve in a network of new flood projects across the region. A garden warbler is singing. The translucent new berries of the rowan saplings planted along the fence catch the sun like glass beads. From deep in the grass, the soft butter-and-eggs peaflowers of greater bird's-foot trefoil peep out – a marsh plant, a damp lover, an intimation of what is to come. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Alberta ducks in fowl situation as wetlands remain dry despite recent rains
A survey of waterfowl habitat in southern Alberta found that recent precipitation was absorbed by the dry soil without much impact on wetland water levels. Ducks Unlimited said population numbers have dropped in recent years because of the dry period.
Japan Times
16-07-2025
- Japan Times
Lake Inawashiro registered as internationally important wetland under Ramsar Convention
The Environment Ministry announced Tuesday that Lake Inawashiro in Fukushima Prefecture has been newly designated as an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention. This marks the 54th wetland in the country registered under the international treaty, officially known as the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, and the second in the prefecture following Oze, which was registered in 2005. Lake Inawashiro is roughly in the center of the prefecture, straddling the cities of Aizuwakamatsu and Koriyama and the town of Inawashiro. The designated area covers 10,960 hectares and is highly valued for attracting many tundra swans to overwinter. A registration certificate is planned to be presented to representatives of the two cities and the town at the Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Ramsar Convention in Zimbabwe, starting on July 23.
BBC News
14-07-2025
- BBC News
Climate 'superhero' sites unveiled as new nature reserve
An ancient wetland at the "forefront of nature recovery" in a heavily urbanised area has been unveiled as a new nature Holcroft and Chat Moss National Nature Reserve (NNRs) in Greater Manchester and Cheshire is part of the King's Series of 25 NNRs being developed to mark King Charles's spans nearly 529 hectares across 11 sites of the lowland peatland of Salford, Warrington and England described the sites as "superheroes in the fight against climate change" by soaking up and locking in carbon. It said the area is being transformed into a resilient and inspirational Paul Thomas from Natural England told BBC Radio Manchester the nature reserve had the "wow factor" for visitors to enjoy wildlife and for nature to thrive."It is an ancient wetland that is wild," he said."We started off with individual sites but we have started to link them all together to make something that's bigger... so nature has got a chance then." The senior officer for peat and wetlands said. "We have these hotspot sites for nature but it can spread out and join between the sites and move. "Species have got the chance to move."The area has a hugely important carbon storage sink described as the "rainforests of the North". Dr Thomas said the landscape was recovering after taking a battering during the Victorian era. "The landscape was used for the cutting of the peat by hand for horse bedding. Liverpool and Manchester were growing at the time with loads of horses in the cities."They needed bedding... so the peat was dug up and loaded on trains and taken into the cities to use as horse bedding."Seven partners are collaborating on the nature reserve after working together across this landscape for the past two decades in the Great Manchester Wetlands partnership. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
