Nature yays

[Jubal]

The extinct-in-the-wild Rosy Saxifrage has been reintroduced to the wild in Wales. It's been placed in a secret location to avoid collectors getting it. Thought it was a nice story, anyway, hopefully it'll establish properly
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjkkm4re518o

[Jubal]

Fun news from Czechia, where a $1.2 million public water restoration project has been done for free by beavers before they could actually start work:
https://www.voxnews.al/english/kosovabota/qeveria-po-e-planifikonte-prej-7-vitesh-kastoret-ndertojne-brenda-dy--i84652

[The Seamstress]

Fun news from Czechia, where a $1.2 million public water restoration project has been done for free by beavers before they could actually start work:
https://www.voxnews.al/english/kosovabota/qeveria-po-e-planifikonte-prej-7-vitesh-kastoret-ndertojne-brenda-dy--i84652

Humans: Let's plan this for years and still don't get it done
Beavers: *roll their eyes* Amateurs

[Jubal]

In Very Important News, someone in the UK found a partially-leucistic shrew that looks like a humbug.

Article: https://insideecology.com/2025/07/03/once-in-a-lifetime-finding-of-incredibly-rare-humbug-pygmy-shrew-photographed-in-cornwall/

And more importantly, shrew:

[Jubal]

Today's news from Austria where a cow called Veronika is scratching herself with a broom.

Which I sort of wouldn't have batted an eyelid at but actually tool use among other species is really quite rare, and she uses the tool multifunctionally for different sorts of scritching.



Article on this and its unexpectedness in terms of animal cognition:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0n127y74go

[The Seamstress]

Finally, something that makes me feel proud to be Austrian.  Hooray Veronika!

[Son of the King]

Not really nature news but I've been enjoying the National Trust's Farne Islands Puffin Camera recently. Puffins have such character, really excellent birds.

[Jubal]

I do love puffins I've never really been around them much IRL, I should rectify that.

Also in nest-cam news, my alma mater the University of Birmingham has a webcam for its peregrine falcons which is fun. Their nesting went poorly this year, only one egg hatched, but that chick seems healthy.


Also TIL that the world's largest beaver dam in Canada is longer than the Hoover Dam, and holds back ca 70,000 cubic metres of water: https://parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/nature/beaver_gallery

[Jubal]

Cute story about a pelican knocking on some fish scientists' door for help:

"A recent quiet morning at a Florida marine research facility was interrupted by tapping at the back door.

A biologist walked over to investigate and found a brown pelican standing on the stoop and pecking at the glass with its long beak. It stood there patiently, as if waiting for help. A quick inspection revealed the pelican was injured.

Fishing line was wrapped around the pelican's right wing, and a double-barbed treble hook was stuck in the wing, restricting the bird's ability to fly. About a dozen cactus spines were lodged in its left foot.

When Annsli Hilton, a University of Miami research associate who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research facility, heard the commotion, she figured someone had brought in the injured bird. She was shocked to hear the pelican came on its own to the lab in Panama City.

"I always kind of thought in my head – and liked to think that – animals would know to either come to me for help or to come to the lab for help," Hilton said. "... But I never thought it would happen."

Link: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/scientists-heard-a-knock-at-the-door-it-was-a-pelican-in-need-of-help/