29th October 2025
Hurricane Melissa
Digital illustration
Hurricane Melissa still threatens the Caribbean having caused extreme damage in Jamaica already with wind speeds there of 185mph, the highest ever recorded and amongst the highest records for any storm anywhere. Tragically, there has been some loss of life although fortunately, through the work of the authorities, not many deaths have been reported although inevitably and tragically this number must rise as communications are restored. Disruption and damage however is extremely severe and the island will need the help of the international community to recover, as well as drawing on its own resources and the strength of its people.
One question being asked is whether the damage from Melissa is linked to climate change. The answer is, as always, not that simple. Meteorological records clearly show shifting climate across the world and in general a rise in average temperatures, the prediction from this is for an increase in severe weather events. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) at the UN has suggested however that the number of tropical storms has actually slightly decreased but the severity of those that happen is now significantly greater, with higher wind speeds and larger amounts of rainfall. This might be expected since Hurricanes draw their energy from the sea and sea temperatures are confirmed to be higher now, including around Jamaica. Models also suggested that with changing climate, hurricanes might move more slowly giving them longer to absorb energy from the warmer seas. Hurricane Melissa was noted for advancing at only 1-2mph, a notably slow speed for a tropical storm
Weather and Climate Extreme Events in a Changing Climate
Human-caused Ocean Warming has Intensified Recent Hurricanes
As well as the effects on people hurricanes can also have severe impacts on wildlife. Information on what has happened in Jamaica is yet to be reported, rightly the focus is on people, but it is possible that animals and habitats have suffered. Birds can of course move but only so far and with a storm the size of Melissa, that may not be far enough. Jamaica is known for its seabirds and the coasts are of course particularly exposed.
Digital illustration – Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis
Brown Pelicans have been observed to shelter and take cover when threatened by severe weather
What Do Birds Do in a Hurricane?
Digital illustration – Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscatus
Sooty Terns follow a migration that puts them at risk from hurricanes in the Caribbean and in severe storms fatalities are recorded. It is also only after very strong winds that Sooty Terns are found inland having been literally blown there and away from the coast.
Migratory Seabird Deaths Linked to Hurricanes
Digital illustration – Brown booby, Sula leucogaster
Brown Boobies may even try and hunt around the edges of a storm but this can come at a huge cost. The species is known for being blown inland by hurricanes a long way from their real habitat. In these sightings they are known as ‘Hurricane Waifs”
Digital illustration – Magnificent Frigate Bird, Fregata magnificens
Frigatebirds try and escape a storm by flying to high altitudes to try and get above the disturbance. They have also been recorded trying to stay in the calm ‘eye of the storm’ till the winds ease.
Digital illustration
Inland there are also important wildlife habitats, including rainforest which is the home of the Jamaican Amazon, a parrot only found on the island and nowhere else in the world. Their strategy is to take cover in the forest in any shelter they can find snd rely on.
Digital illustration – Jamaican Amazon, Amazona collaria
Digital illustration – American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus
There has also been another unfortunate effect of the storm on local wildlife. Jamaica is home to a population of American Crocodiles, a large but fortunately not very aggressive species. With the flooding and damage, some of these have been displaced into residential neighbourhoods and there is an official warning for people to take care.
Digital illustration – American Crocodile, Crocodylus acutus
7th October 2025
Storm Amy
Photograph – damage from Storm Amy
Highland Scotland has just been battered with one of the most severe storms in recent records and one which has come earlier than typically in the year. The tens of thousands of houses without power have now had their electricity supply restored after a very real reminder of just how dependent we all are on staying powered up and staying connected. Being concerned and vulnerable to the weather is nothing new, it’s something we share with Pterosaurs from millions of years ago and they had more to be frightened of than having to do without the internet for 36 hours.
Digital illustration
Travel back to around 150 million years ago in what is now part of Southern Germany and archaeologists have for some time excavated fossils, which have confirmed that the area referred to as The Upper Jurassic Solnhofen Archipelago was a population centre for Pterosaurs, the giant flying reptiles from the age of the dinosaurs. It is also believed to be a time of severe weather and extremely intense storms and the flying reptiles, which varied in size but included species with wingspans up to 10 feet (3 metres), would have had to have coped with the conditions just as wildlife has to manage with bad weather today.
So, picture the scene, it is 150,000,000 BCE and a storm is coming. Two Pterosaurs spread their massive four inch (10cm) wings and take off, possibly to fly somewhere for shelter. Yes, these are neonates, they are only just hatched and they are that small, their total wingspans are eight inches (20cm) each and yet it is now believed that they could fly even when they were that young, weeks at most. The flight does not go well, there is no sign of impact trauma but both sustained fractures of the humerus, for humans the upper bone in the arm. This is presumed from the absence of trauma and the similarity to known wind strength fractures in birds and bats to be from the wind forces alone and must then be thought to have fallen in to the sea and drowned, where they sank to become rapidly covered by the mud sediments stirred up by the storm meaning they were very well preserved when their fossils were discovered. There is also reason to think small, almost baby, Pterosaurs will be more intact in the fossil record than adults.
The world and the weather can be a threat, something all living creatures have had to contend with from the dawn of time. We have names for the strongest storms, Pterosaurs probably did not. It is just possible though that if our two ill fated youngsters were together when events began that they looked at each other before they took off, and by sounds, movements or simply shared consciousness, exchanged the thought ‘Oh no, not another one of those’, when they saw the clouds gathering on the horizon.
Digital illustration
19th February 2025
Don’t tell fish they only have short memories, they may hold it against you for a very long time
Digital illustration – Black Sea Bream, Spondyliosoma cantharus
It has long been said that fish, Goldfish in particular, only have memories measured in seconds, possibly as short as three seconds. There have long been grounds to question this. Some fish form stable pair bonds and the ‘who are you?’ moment after three seconds apart on the reef could be awkward. Research has confirmed far more developed memory functions than a few seconds including in Goldfish, the three second hypothesis has for some time been confirmed as wrong. A recent study raises the need for respect of fish cognitive functions even further. The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Southern Germany looking at Sea Bream in the Mediterranean has shown that the fish have a real ability to analyse the dress sense of divers and translate that information into advantageous behaviour:
https://www.ab.mpg.de/660867/news_publication_24151953_transferred
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0558
What the study showed was an ability to learn to recognise divers by the colours of their equipment and know from a developed response which one to follow for food. Two divers were in the water and only one went on to feed the fish. If they wore different coloured sets of equipment, for example the fins, then the fish learned which diver to follow. If they wore identical equipment, the fish were unable to choose which to go with. As one of the researchers notes on The Institute web site, ‘Now we know they see us, it’s time for us to see them.’
5th January 2025
Northern Lights
Photograph – Aurora Borealis, Glen Convinth, Inverness-shire, Highland Scotland
A subtle but beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis above Highland Scotland last night and for the technical the disturbance level was reported at 135nT. For the rest of us there was about twenty minutes when there was a shifting pattern of green light on and above the Northern horizon.
3rd January 2025
Venus
Digital illustration
A special event for lovers of the night in the last few days, Venus was especially bright in the sky and close to the new moon.
23rd December 2024
Just in time for Christmas it’s not just people who have problems with alcohol
Digital illustration
If you were in Sweden and found a Moose (European Elk) with its head stuck in a tree being ‘under the influence’ would probably not be the first reason for its predicament you would think of but you could be wrong. This was one of the reports confirming alcohol use and abuse is not just for people in a new review of evidence by a team cantered on The University of Exeter that has shown that many animals ranging from insects to elephants and primates consume alcohol from natural sources and sometimes really suffer the effects.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution – The evolutionary ecology of ethanol
The review notes that the natural alcohol sources of sugar rich fruits and fermenting yeasts have been around since the Cretaceous period which even throws up a vision of a drunk dinosaur and although there is absolutely no evidence to support this even the slightest possibility is terrifying. It’s also possible that evidence could be available. Dinosaur footprints are still being discovered, what if there were a set where it looked like walking in a straight line was too much of a challenge?
Photographs, text and illustrations ©Nick Sidle, all rights reserved