NatureBureau Ltd

09/12/2024

🌪 In the wake of our second recent large storm system in the UK, Storm Darragh, many treasures can be found washed up on your local beach.

🌊The strong currents and large waves that come with storms will often wash in a collection of marine items which we can admire.

⛱ One of these items is a cuttlebone. Making up the only solid structure inside a cuttlefish, cuttlebones are often the only part of these animals left after death, and their feather-light nature means they are easily washed far up the beach.

🧐Cuttlebones are fascinating to look at and can tell a story about the life of the cuttlefish! For example, the markings and holes seen in these cuttlebones give us a clue about what animals may have eaten the cuttlefish, leaving indents of their beaks or teeth behind 🔍. Sometimes you can also see black lines on the cuttlebones (seen here in picture 4) which indicate a period when the cuttlefish went to deeper water to feed🍴.

Now that the weather has calmed, why not take a walk along the beach to see what treasures you can find! 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️👣

04/12/2024

🌺It's World Wildlife Conservation Day!🌺

💚At NatureBureau, we are passionate about protecting wildlife from endangerment and even extinction. 

🌳Whether it is through our ecology projects which protect a range of environments on local (land owners and town councils) to large (Europe and globally) scales 🍃, or through our books which often highlight endangered species 📖, we always aim to improve the status of the environment. 

🦋For example, the mourning cloak butterfly pictured here is featured in "British and Irish Butterfly Rarities" written by Peter Eeles and published by Pisces Publications (on Christmas offer now! 🎁👀)

Let's celebrate wildlife in all it's glory!🎉

02/12/2024

❄️It is officially winter!❄️

🧐It's a common misconception that winter is the worst time of year to see nature in the UK, the truth is quite the opposite!

🌤 Just as some of our spring and summer visiting animals move southwards for the winter, Arctic animals find refuge in our warmer climate.

🪶Common overwintering species include birds such as starling, Arctic waders and Brent geese. In the marine environment, grey and common seals haul up onto the British coastline in cold winter months to court and breed their pups. 🦭

🌨There is still plenty of wildlife to be seen despite the low temperatures, so make sure to plan some nature walks into your festivities for the month!👣

28/11/2024

❗New blog alert❗

We have a double whammy for new blog posts this week! 2️⃣😮

🌿"Inspiring the next green generation" is now available on our website. Read about our Marine Ecologist Athena's experience volunteering alongside at the National School and College Leavers Festival in Birmingham.

Have a look on the link below! 👀

https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/blog/inspiring-the-next-generation

25/11/2024

❗New blog post alert❗

Visit our website on the link below to read about our Senior Marine Ecologist Lissa's thoughts on COP16! 💬

The blog covers the summit's wins 🏆 as well as areas lacking progress 〽 at a pivotal point in our fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.

Have a read below!
https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/blog/biodiversity-loss

22/11/2024

🎉This week our Marine Ecologist Athena had the pleasure of presenting her work at the Molluscan Forum 2024 held at the Natural History Museum, London by the Malacological Society of London

🦑 Athena has been researching cephalopod ecology alongside colleagues for 2 years and is involved in a number of projects studying the egg distribution of Loligo squid, the mortality rates of UK cuttlefish, and best practice examples of sustainable octopus fisheries.

🎤Athena presented her work on combining cephalopod science and citizen science, and presented a poster on her work studying predation marks on cuttlebones from Belgium.

🥇It was her first time presenting her work at a conference and she is hoping to do many more!

17/11/2024

It was a great couple of days spent at the NSCL Festival! Lovely to speak to so many aspiring ecologists 🌿🌳🦋🐬

Our education and youth team had a busy couple of days representing national parks and at the National School and College Leavers Festival in Birmingham this week, which was attended by 25,000 young people 💚

NPA Education and Youth Officer, Ella said: 'It was a fantastic opportunity for us to share our passion for the environment and the special qualities of all 15 national parks, network with other green organisations Lantra and the RHS, as well as learn from different sectors about how they engage with students.'

Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management - CIEEM, NatureBureau Consultancy Royal HaskoningDHV Lantra RHS - Royal Horticultural Society National Parks UK

07/11/2024

🔙Throwback Thursday!🔙

💙Today we are reminiscing about the weekend when we celebrated World Basking Shark day!

🌊These marine giants are one of the marvels of UK waters and can be spotted all along the west coast (from Cornwall up to Scotland) Basking sharks feed on plankton in the water column by swimming with their mouths wide open, filtering plankton and small crustaceans out of the water with their long, tightly set gill rakers. Adult basking sharks can grow up to 45ft in length, with juveniles measuring around 6.5ft (longer than most humans!).

🧐Here at NatureBureau, one of our Directors Dr Sarah Fowler MBE is a founder of the Shark Trust who run a well-known Basking shark citizen science project. Basking sharks are often spotted along the UK coastline from May - October, and you can help the Shark Trust by reporting any sightings of these majestic creatures online (https://www.sharktrust.org/basking-shark-project).

⛅Something to add to the activity list for any holidays along the west coast next summer!

05/11/2024

🔥Remember Remember ... wildlife when you light a bonfire!🔥

🦔Many protected species in the UK, such as toads, newts and hedgehogs, will hibernate or overwinter in leaf and log piles during autumn and winter. They may not only get disturbed if these materials are being moved about and used for bonfires, but they can also end up in the bonfires as they are lit!

🐸To protect wildlife this bonfire night, build your bonfire piles on the day you intend to use them and take a minute to check them over before you light them. If you light from just one the side, it also gives some wildlife time to escape.

🦇At NatureBureau, our Ecology team often work with clients to conserve protected species, such as newts, bats, and hedgehogs. Our terrestrial team offer ecological surveys, habitat protection or improvement advice and management options for any building works planned to take place in and around protected species habitats. To find out more about our ecology work, visit our website:
👉 www.naturebureau.co.uk

01/11/2024

❗️We have moved!❗️

We are pleased to announce that we have now moved over to this page! The NatureBureau Ecology and NatureBureau Design & Publishing pages have now been taken down.

We have plenty of news, wildlife facts, and interesting ecology and design projects in store so make sure you give us a follow!

Head over to our Instagram account now () to check out some great wildlife photos in celebration of World Ecology Day!

31/10/2024

🦇Halloween myth busting!🦇

🎃 Far from the spooky creatures from Halloween stories, bats are actually an ecologically valuable and highly protected species in the UK.

🏠 Oftentimes, bats can be found living among us, inside our attic spaces and under our roof tiles.

🦟 Common pipistrelles, pictured here, are one of the UK's most common bat species and are crevice dwelling bats, often found roosting in small spaces under roof tiles. They weigh no more than a pound coin and feed on a number of insects from moths to mosquitos and midges.

🌿 Kristina, one of our terrestrial ecologists, specialises in bats and works hard each summer completing preliminary roost assessments (PRAs) and bat emergence surveys (BERS) on different buildings, ensuring that planned building works are completed with minimal disturbance to the bats.

📢 For more information on Kristina's work, read her recent blog on bats on our website (www.naturebureau.co.uk)! Book now with Kristina for a PRA next season!

👻 Happy Halloween! 👻

28/10/2024

🌳 We are starting our week off on a high! 🌳

Last week Kristina, one of our terrestrial ecologists, completed and passed her CS38 Tree Climbing and Aerial Rescue Course!

After a busy week of theory lessons, ropework, and learning to rescue others from high in the tree canopy, Kristina is now qualified to climb trees in a professional capacity to undertake ecology surveys!

Congratulations Kristina and happy climbing!!

🧗‍♀️🌿🪢🌳🎉

25/10/2024

📢One week to go until our old Facebook accounts are taken down!📢

We have recently merged our previous Facebook accounts (NatureBureau Design and Publishing and NatureBureau Ecology) into this NatureBureau Consultancy page!

The old pages will be taken down at the end of next week, so make sure to follow us here to keep up to date with our work!

23/10/2024

📢Our latest newsletter is out! This month it features a blog about one of the staples of the Halloween shopping shelves - bats. 🦇

🦇DYK: There are only three species of vampire bat on Earth – none in the UK – and they will very rarely bite a human. We have 18 native UK species and all of them are insectivores, helping to keep our pest populations down!

👉Find out more truths behind the myths here: https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/blog/the-truth-about-bats

👉Sign up to our e-newsletter for more nature news here: https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/

17/10/2024

📢 Sign up to the NatureBureau e-newsletter today! 📢

We have recently launched a new e-newsletter to keep everyone up to date with our work, and it's super easy to sign up:

✅Click the link below
✅Let us know your email address
✅We will do the rest!

Sign up now to receive our next edition on Monday 21st October containing a piece on our recent staff Fungi foray! 🍄

https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/

14/10/2024

🍄‍🟫 NatureBureau Fungi Foray Day! 🍄‍🟫

Today we went out on a staff day on Greenham Common hunting for fungi! We found some great species including Field Blewit, Moziac Puffballs and Snowy Waxcaps!

Once we were back at the warmer (and drier!) office we made use of our Grassland Fungi Guide to make sure we were identifying the correct species.

Keep an eye out for Fungi species in grassland and woodlands over the next couple of months whilst you're out on a walk!

🍄‍🟫🍄🍄‍🟫🍄

10/10/2024

🌿It’s but did you know that spending just 2 hours a week in nature can significantly boost your mental health? Studies reveal that those who immerse themselves in natural settings report higher levels of happiness and wellbeing. This health benefit has even been translated by The Wildlife Trusts into NHS savings of £635 million per year.

🌼Nature can take many forms – from local parks and nature reserves to beaches, canals, and even our own gardens. Simply watching nature on TV has been shown to have its benefits too!

🐦The key to improving wellbeing is to truly notice and engage with the natural world around us. Activities that that deepen this connection, like listening to birdsong or smelling freshly cut grass, can lead to feelings of calm, joy, creativity, and improved focus.

📚So why not take a moment to enjoy the natural world? NatureBureau’s ‘A Guide to Finding…’ series of mini field guides can help you explore and connect with nature.

🍄🌰This autumn, try our A Guide to Finding Woodland Fungi (in Berks, Bucks & Oxon) and take time to look at the smaller wonders of woodlands. Or use our A Guide to Finding Wild Food (in BBO) and feast your senses with a whole host of tasty treats foraged from nature.

👉Visit our bookshop: https://www.naturebureau.co.uk/a-guide-to-finding-series

Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust - BBOWT Chilterns National Landscape