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Saving Species

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Examining the world of nature and the challenges of wildlife conservation

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Saving Species: Series 1: Episode 9

Series 1

Episode 9

BBC Radio 4 - Saving Species, Series 1, Episode 9

Including an update on the oil spill off the Mississippi Delta.

Including an update on the oil spill off the Mississippi Delta, and a report by Howard Stableford on the biologists working on Humming Birds in the rainforests of Costa Rica.

9/40. It's a mixed bag in this edition of Saving Species, from all over the world.  we have an update from Kelvin  on the big oil spill off the Mississippi Delta.  In recent days there have been significant amounts of oil washed up on beaches and the first image of an oiled sea turtle has been beamed around the world.  We'll have the latest from the perspective of the wildlife and how resilient the soft sediment coastal habitats are to this pollution.

Sticking with the Americas, we head south to Central America and the rainforests of Costa Rica.  Howard Stableford has been there for Saving Species to meet Oregon State University biologists working on Humming Birds in the forests.  Howard discovers that the Humming Birds are crucial plant pollinators for the forest, but those birds near the forest edge will head into the banana plantations before the forest,  lured there because banana flowers are loaded with nectar, the humming birds food.  What then are the implications for rainforest regeneration without their humming bird pollinators?  Howard asks the questions.

We'll also be on the  Australian Great Barrier Reef to encounter Sea Snakes.  Our reporter James Brickell is on the reef and files his first report.

And the Spoonbill Sandpiper - a small wading bird that winters in Myanmar and breeds in East Asian Russia, is the subject of  emergency research by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).  The BTO tell us this bird species is declining by 25% a year.  Why such a steep population decline and what can be done about it.  We hear both from the Wash Estuary in England and  from the work in Asia to save it.



Presented by Brett Westwood
Produced by Sheena Duncan
Series Editor Julian Hector.

Saving Species: Series 1

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Brett Westwood examines the world of nature and the challenges of wildlife conservation

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