Nature lovers are being urged to look out for lobsters in Britain’s woods – a bizarre request that will actually help conservationists monitor moth populations.
The lobster moth, whose caterpillar looks remarkably like the marine crustacean, is just one of hundreds of species of moths found in woodlands and forests. Butterfly Conservation and Lepidoptera journal Atropos are asking the public to send in records of woodland moths during Moth Night 2014 to see how they are faring in wooded habitat.
Woodlands are vitally important for moths and other wildlife, but increasingly face a range of threats including development, tree diseases such as ash die-back, habitat loss and invasive species.
They provide the richest habitat for moths and are home to two-thirds of the UK’s larger moths.
Balls all wrong with border terrier
A playful border terrier has bounced back from a serious health scare after a ball went unnoticed in its stomach for two years.
Trixie had come down with a mysterious illness and after becoming concerned her owner took her into hospital for a scan.
This showed a small object in her stomach which, after surgery, was revealed to be a bouncy ball that the pet had swallowed two years earlier.
Owner Melanie Pounder, 42, from Sunderland, said: “When it turned out to be the ball, I couldn’t believe it, we just assumed Trixie had passed it through her system two years ago. To think it’s been there the whole time is just incredible.”
Tearful politician video goes viral
A Japanese politician has burst into tears during a press conference over questions about his spending on trips to a hot spring – and a video of it has gone viral.
Ryutaro Nonomura, 47, was filmed bursting into tears, uttering nonsensical phrases and banging on the desk.
“To change Japan and society, I’m putting my life on the line,” the Hyogo Prefectural assemblyman says in a choked voice, stopping mid-sentence, sometimes sobbing so loudly he shouts.
One site for the video has already drawn nearly 640,000 views. His news conference followed a Kobe Shimbun newspaper report that raised questions about Mr Nonomura visiting the hot springs 106 times last year, using public money.