Dr Jocelyn Elson-Riggins gave us a fascinating insight into the research being done on the impact of whale populations on marine ecosystems. The Rugvin Foundation in the Netherlands was established to monitor whale populations and Jocelyn first worked for them as mentor for a scientist carrying out their PhD research on lungworm parasites in whales. In studying whale poo, they gained valuable understanding of the importance of its role in the ecosystem of our oceans.

In the mid twentieth century, when we lost half the population of whales in the Southern Ocean due to intensive whaling, the counter effect of an increase in krill, key food source for baleen whales, was expected, but these small shrimp-like crustaceans actually decreased in quantity during this period. Why was that?

To give an example of the number of krill consumed by a whale, we learned that a Blue whale, the largest animal ever to have lived on our planet, eats 40 million krill and releases 5000 kg of poo a day, the weight of an elephant. Whales come to the surface to poo, due to the water pressure, and surprisingly for its weight, it floats (and is very stinky)! We inspected slides of yellow masses of floating poo and were introduced to an important member of the research team, Fargo the Rottweiler, who despite suffering from motion sickness could scent whale poo in the water up to a nautical mile away, which vastly sped up their collection rate.

Whale poo has nitrogen, phosphorus and iron and whale urine has nitrogen and phosphorus, all necessary in the fertilisation of phytoplankton on the surface of the ocean. As whales feed at the poles, lots of poo is deposited there and as they migrate towards the Tropics their urine nourishes the oceans. Phytoplankton, the food source for krill, consume carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen and glucose, thus playing a vital role in our planet’s carbon cycle and oxygen production. Once you deplete the whale poo stores of the marine ecosystem, the phytoplankton, krill and the photosynthesis cycle are affected, leading to a decrease in krill.

Jocelyn also talked about the whales’ role in carbon storage, how a Bowhead whale for instance can live up to 200 years in the Arctic, holding the equivalent carbon of 1500 trees. When it dies a natural death and falls to the sea floor it gives a lot of food to deep water organisms, with its remains locked into the sediment.

Jocelyn finished with some examples of why we need to continue campaigning for the protection of whales.

• Krill fishing is on the increase for the supplements, pet food and  fish food industries.
• The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 2024 failed to create new Protected Areas since Russia and China refused to agree any changes.
• Whaling continues in Iceland, Norway, Japan and the Faroes.
• 300,000 whales are estimated to be caught in nets as a result of bycatch globally each year
• Plastics in the oceans mean that pollutants build up in the blubber and toxins pass to their calves who then die.
• The likelihood  of ship strike has grown with the increase in shipping around the world.

This was a very interesting talk which sparked many questions and much discussion afterwards. A donation will be given to the Rugvin Foundation by the Society in lieu of a speaker's fee at Jocelyn's request. 

Debbie and Andrew Carter were treated to some engaging antics of two goldcrests displaying to their own images reflected in a window.

In our last meeting in February, about 50 people listened to Peter Thompson, formerly from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, elaborate on the future of British farming.
 
Peter started by giving us a warning about his intention to be provocative! Peter remarked on the fact that there have been 11 Defra ministers in the last 15 years, each trying to make changes in policy. He contrasted it with his own long experience in farming  -Peter trained as an agronomist and during his time at the GWCT, he was instrumental in the invention of the farmer clusters that now are spread about the country, aiming to do positive things for nature conservation. Peter proposed we should have a long term plan for the countryside beyond party politics.
 
Peter then went to speak on a range of broad topics such as agriculture, climate change and people involvement. He touched on issues within agriculture, such as food security, overseas trade and food costs, and intensive agriculture. He remarked that water is going to be massive problem in association with climate change, either we have too much or too little, and then went on to speak about soil erosion and worms. An interesting anecdote he mentioned was that Darwin recognised the earthworm as the most important being on earth. He remarked on the importance of stock for land management and the paradox of vegan diets, which are not necessarily better for the environment in comparison to non-intensive stock husbandry..
 
Rewilding was necessarily part of the reflection and Peter explained that rewilding shouldn’t be applied everywhere but targeted to specific areas - giving the example of heather moorland, an important habitat maintained thanks to human intervention and which would be lost if it stopped. He remarked on the importance of rewilding river margins and creating wildlife corridors. Another topic he touched upon was tree planting and afforestation - but not the only solution to carbon capture! Peter also touched on housing, which of course adds pressure but it can bring opportunities, for example for solar farms on their roofs rather than on farmland.
 
Peter ended by speaking about the importance of community involvement, educating future generations and even adults - 85% of the people in the UK live in an urban environment. Finally, he reminded us to stay positive and the importance of submitting our wildlife observations as records to the Biological Record Centre, which compiles all of them to provide baseline data for nature conservation, planning, etc.

Peter Shallcross

​Thursday 6th March at 6pm. Doors/bar open 5.30pm at Victoria Hall, Tisbury. Members free and non-members donation of £2.

BASED ON THE BESTSELLING BOOK BY ISABELLA TREE
Wilding tells the story of a young couple that bets on nature for the future of their failing, four-hundred-year-old estate. The young couple battles entrenched tradition, and dares to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down the fences, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild. It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe.
Link to trailer https://youtu.be/Uw084uIMo8Y. 

Dr Jocelyn Elson-Riggins is a locally-based Whale Poo Ambassador for the Rugvin Foundation and a self-employed research consultant specializing in the fields of marine biology, veterinary parasitology, and wildlife disease.

Jocelyn joins us on Thurs 13th March for her talk "Pooping for the planet: why whales are marine ecosystem engineers" in the Victoria Hall, High Street, Tisbury at 7:30pm. The doors to the Victoria Hall will be open from 7pm and the bar will be available then too. Members are free and guests £2 at the door.

Jocelyn obtained a BSc from Bangor University, an MS from California State University Long Beach and a PhD from the University of California, Riverside. She then spent four years lecturing at Montana State University Billings before undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), UK. Prior to becoming self-employed, Jocelyn was the Supervising Scientist of the RVC’s Clinical Investigation Centre laboratories. Most recently, she has been lecturing part-time at Bournemouth University.

In this session, Jocelyn will give an illustrated and entertaining talk on the roles whales play in marine ecosystems and in the mitigation of climate change. This will include findings from the latest scientific research. These discoveries have shattered previous assumptions about the importance of whales. Finally, she will talk about the threats whales face in today’s world and will open the floor to group discussion.

The Rugvin Foundation’s “Whale Poo Game” will be on display at the talk and if any Young Nature Watch members want to come have a look at it before the talk, they are most welcome. This game was developed as part of a workshop for school-age children. These uplifting and educational workshops are designed to raise awareness of how sustainable living and protection of whales can contribute to healthy ecosystems and the fight against climate change.

We would like to encourage those of you with children or grandchildren to visit the Dorchester Family Science Festival on Sun March 16th where Jocelyn will be running the game in conjunction with Prof. Genoveva Estaban and Dr Demetra Andreou of BU. The children will play the whale poo game first. They will then move on to Genoveva's table where they will see phytoplankton for themselves under the microscope. Then, they will learn about environmental DNA with Demetra. They will "process" water samples to generate a DNA barcode, which they will use to match to a specific marine organism (one of the ones they learned about in the whale poo game).

Soon after we moved in, I planted some gorse at the back of our garden. It soon established, so I now must cut it back annually to keep it in check. It does, though, bring colour and fragrance at a dull time of year. It has been blooming since December and as the year advances the number of flowers increase to become thick masses by late spring. As soon as some sun gets onto the flowers, they emit a wonderful coconut scent and are attractive to insects.

It is not commonly found in the Nadder valley, but on the downs you will find thick clumps of it. Further afield, in the New Forest and on the Purbeck Heaths it is extremely common and can be invasive, forming impenetrable thickets. Volunteers spend many hours keeping it under control for the benefit of other flora and fauna, which gets shaded out.

Gorse leaves are thin, sharp spines which animals are only able to graze as young shoots. With its thick spiny thickets, gorse provides shelter and nesting sites for birds and animals. Birds such as stonechats and dartford warblers can often be seen singing from atop gorse bushes where they feel safe from mammal attack.

Dead leaves lower down the stems are highly flammable, so making dead gorse is ideal for kindling and fuel. In the past, gorse may have been prevented from dominating the UK’s southern heaths by commoners regularly harvesting gorse for fuel.

Gorse is a member of the pea family of plants, as can be seen from the shape of the flowers and the pea-like seed pods. Like other legumes, it can fix nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria around its roots. This helps it to colonise and enrich poor land and sandy soils. The common gorse, Ulex europeaus, is the most frequently seen species but there are two others found in the UK, western gorse, and dwarf gorse, both of which are lower growing. They both flower later in the summer than the common, helping to separate the species.

Some say that folklore has it that you should not kiss your loved ones when gorse is out of bloom. I prefer my mother’s saying “when gorse is in bloom, kissing’s in season” which I think puts a more positive spin on the fact that at most times of year, you will likely be able to find gorse in bloom somewhere.

​Andrew Graham