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THE latest Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) report shows that the Welsh breeding curlew population has fallen by 68 per cent between 1995 and 2017. As a result of the precipitous decline in breeding numbers, the curlew (Numenius arquata), long been associated with Welsh upland and farmland, is one of UK’s most pressing conservation issues. Its decline in Wales is mirrored with an overall decline of 48% across the UK. It's not good news for Welsh swifts (Apus apus) either. Their breeding population is down by 69 per cent over the same period.

Scotland’s starling and rook populations have fallen dramatically over the past two decades, according to a new report. Surveys show numbers of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) north of the border were down by 28 per cent in 2017 compared to 1995, with a further 12 per cent loss in the past year. This is part of a worrying UK-wide decline of 52 per cent since 1995. Rook (Corvus frugilegus) numbers in Scotland have fallen by 37 per cent over the same period.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.1 million children have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as of 2016. Symptoms of ADHD include trouble concentrating, paying attention, staying organized and remembering details. Melissa Furlong, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow and epidemiologist in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, will study the link between prenatal and childhood pesticides and childhood ADHD.

It is the most miraculous bird, the ultimate winged messenger, exploring our globe, spending its life on the breeze. Sickle-shaped wings silhouetted against the sky, the swift (Apus apus) is the fastest of all birds in level flight and remains entirely airborne for 10 months, or more, feeding, sleeping and mating on the wing. These long-lived creatures can clock up 4 million miles, commuting between English summers and African winters.

A University of Guelph study is the first to uncover the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on honey bees' ability to groom and rid themselves of deadly mites. The research comes as Health Canada places new limits on the use of three key neonicotinoids while it decides whether to impose a full phase-out of the chemicals. Published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, the study revealed that when honey bees are infected with varroa mites and then regularly exposed to low doses of a commonly used neonicotinoid called clothianidin, their self-grooming behaviour drops off.

The American Bumblebee—a species once more commonly seen buzzing around Southern Ontario—is critically endangered, according to a new study led by York University. The finding, published in Journal of Insect Conservation, found the native North American species, Bombus pensylvanicus, is facing imminent extinction from Canada, considered the highest and most at-risk classification before extinction.

In the past two decades, neonicotinoid insecticides have been widely used in agricultural activities in China. Many previous studies have investigated the neonicotinoid pollution in aquatic ecosystems, but the status of water safety of neonicotinoid uses in China is very scarce. The present study aims to reveal the spatial and temporal distribution of neonicotinoids in rivers, and then evaluate the ecological risks to aquatic animals.

Researchers at the University of Neuchâtel measured the concentrations of five neonicotinoid insecticides in 702 soil and plant samples from 169 cultivated fields and 62 Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) across Switzerland’s lowland areas – EFA are areas set aside to improve the environment or climate. Organic farms, EFAs and organic seeds are supposed to be free of these pesticides. However, traces of least one of the five neonicotinoids were found in 93% of organic soils and crops and in more than 80% of EFA soils and plants.

A pesticide used to control aphids and whiteflies called flupyradifurone, sold commercially as Sivanto, harms or even kills honey bees (Apis mellifera) when exposed to low doses in combination with a fungicide, according to the results of laboratory experiments published on April 10 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The researchers find that when honey bees encounter both FPF and a commonly used fungicide, propiconazole (PRO), the effects are worse than FPF alone.

Winding between green meadows in the west Flanders countryside, the Wulfdambeek stream is fondly remembered as a place local boys would fill up their water bottles before football games. But research from the University of Exeter has offered a sharp reminder of how intensive farming methods are changing the face of the northern European countryside in ways scientists claim are not being properly understood.