Seabirds not breeding.

"The poor breeding of Scotland's seabirds is giving cause for "serious concern", according to RSPB Scotland.
Early reports from coastal reserves indicate continuing problems for the internationally important populations of guillemots, kittiwakes and others.
Nests have been abandoned, with cliffs which "should be teeming" now empty.
..."At our Copinsay reserve on Orkney, the kittiwake population has plummeted drastically since the mid 1980s, when there were at least 10,000 birds on the cliffs, but today there are just under 2,000."
He added: "The declines are primarily being driven by changes in the availability of the fish that these birds depend on.
"Seabirds are indicators of the health of the marine environment and, like the canary in the coalmine, the decline in their fortunes should be a wake-up call to us all that we must pay attention to." LINK

Eeeeek! This is too horrible to even think about!

Warmer winters have allowed millipede populations in Germany and Scotland to explode, leading to serious problems. A town in Germany built a wall around their village, and in Scotland, affected towns are blacking out their homes for the first time since WWII!

"The local council says it cannot help so the estate owner, the John Muir Trust (JMT), has come up with a novel solution. Based on experience in Australia, where homes have suffered similar invasions, residents are being urged to black-out their homes at night so they are less of a target. European black millipedes – tachypodoiulus niger – are most active between one hour after sunset and one hour before dawn.

One resident planning to impose a blackout is postmistress Bridget Graham, who has lived in Balchrick for 37 years."I'll try anything," she said. "They could start appearing any time now and everyone is desperate to stop it. They are horrible. They start in April and last year they were still coming in in October."

All the residents tell stories of millipedes swarming across village roads and getting into baths, showers, bedrooms and cupboards. Across from the post-office, holidaymaker Fiona Young, who visits her family in Balchrick every year during the summer, found them crawling over her four-year-old son when she went to wake him in the morning.

Millipede experts believe the explosion in numbers could be attributed to a succession of milder, wetter winters which have allowed more eggs to survive to hatching time." LINK

Climate change affecting Scottish salmon, too.

"For more than 150 years, the start of Scotland's salmon fishing season on the river Tay has been celebrated in the middle of January.
But the apparent impact of climate change on spawning patterns has forced conservationists and anglers to postpone this year's official seasonal opening on sections of the waterway for two weeks.
For the first time in decades, salmon fishing in parts of Perthshire has had to be delayed because the fish, which begin breeding in earnest as soon as the first heavy frost of winter starts to bite, have been thrown into confusion by the mild weather."
LINK

Soon there'll be no salmon. I can't face a world without smoked salmon.

7.1 Earthquake off Taiwan knocks out communications

Link to BBC article.
"Taiwan's largest telephone company, Chunghwa Telecom Co, said damage to an undersea cable had disrupted 98% of Taiwan's communications with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Some foreign exchange trading was reportedly affected.
"Trading of the Korean won has mostly halted due to the communication problem," a dealer at one South Korean domestic bank told Reuters news agency."

Hm. Wow, December 26th is a hell of a day for earthquakes. 6.7 in Bam, Iran in 2003, and the 9.3 Sumatra Andaman earthquake in 2004. The annoying invisible Scottish non-earthquake and a this 7.1 off Taiwan yesterday.

What on earth are they on about? Invisible earthquake in Scotland.

Ok, I'm deeply annoyed. I do not understand this, and I hate not understanding something. This Times Online article is all hipped up about a 3.5 earthquake that they claim happened in Scotland on dec. 26th, near Lockerbie. Ok, I don't want to doubt them, but... Neither the USGS nor the IRIS have this earthquake showing up on them. So it's very annoying. I don't understand! I am filled with rage and bafflement!

OK, the damn thing is still not showing up on IRIS or USGS, very suspicious, but I did find this, so I am less rage-y and baffled. Still don't see why its not showing up anywhere else though.

Summary:
Magnitude ML 3.8
Region SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM Southern Scotland
Date time 2006-12-26 at 10:40:05.0 UTC
Location 55.1 N ; 3.63 W
Depth 40 km
Distances 95 km SE Glasgow (pop 610,268 ; local time 10:40 2006-12-26)3 km N Dumfries (pop 30,656 ; local time 10:40 2006-12-26)