Latest news with #WWT
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Common crane chick hatches at wetland centre in UK
The first common crane chick in three years recently hatched at the WWT Washington Wetland Centre near Sunderland. Common cranes were once extinct in the UK but have been making a comeback. This chick is the second chick from the same parent birds at the Wetland centre after they were moved there as part of the Great Cane Project. The chick's parents were hatched in the Netherlands and then moved across to the 2008, these parent cranes were moved to Sunderland and since then have been happily living in the wetlands. They first had a chick together in 2022 when they hatched a young female, and now she has a family is now spending some time off-show at the wetland centre to bond in a quiet, protected environment. What is a common crane? Common cranes are the UK's tallest birds, standing at around 4 foot (1.2 metres) tall. Cranes are mainly grey and have long legs, a long neck and drooping, curved tail eat seeds, roots, insects, snails and once extinct in the UK, this stunning bird can now be found across England, Scotland and Wales.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
More Races Need Pyrotechnics
IndyCar put on a heck of a show on Sunday night under the lights at World Wide Technology Raceway just a few miles from the St. Louis Arch National Park, and it all started with a massive bombastic pyrotechnics display as the cars drove down the back straight under formation heading to green flag to start the race. With dozens of cannons of fire aiming straight up into the late evening sky, loaded down with flammables for a display that would easily pass for a strafing in a Hollywood production of a war film, the WWT team was really prepared for a show, and the 325-mile race absolutely delivered. While WWT Raceway has traditionally set off a pyro display at the start of its IndyCar races, this one was above and beyond anything we've ever seen. The massive explosion scared the crap out of Will Power's wife Liz, for example, and front-row starter Scott McLaughlin took to Twitter after the race ended to say "Brother that head through the helmet was intense." It was definitely enough to make me jump backward from the television screen watching it happen live. Yeah, it's wasteful and bad for the local environment, and probably could have killed an entire flock of birds, but it looks cool and makes the fans excited for the race to come, and I think that's all the more reason to do this more often. I want to see big balls of flame at every race I go to. This is truly an IndyCar kind of thing, F1 could never. Read more: These Are The Cars You Love Getting As Ubers And Lyfts There was more to this race than just a few dozen giant balls of flame, though, because the racing across the so-called Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was truly stellar and at times even more explosive. Polesitter Will Power hit the wall with a cut tire early on. Onetime race leader Josef Newgarden drove full-speed into the side of Jacob Abel's spun car, causing one of the worst-looking crashes I've seen in quite a few years, with thankfully both drivers walking away unscathed from a crash that would likely have been career-ending 15 years ago. In the end it was another victory for Kyle Kirkwood, holding off Pato O'Ward for his third win from the last six races, and his first win on an oval. Despite the strong field of drivers and fighting at the front, only Kirkwood and series points leader Alex Palou have won races this season. Anyway, I, uh, really like fire. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Festival of Nature in Bristol involves Millennium Square wetland
Organisers of what they say is the first ever pop-up wetland to be built in a UK city centre has said it is "like a mini oasis".A large section of Millennium Square in Bristol has been transformed into an immersive wetland experience ahead of the Festival of Nature this popup features reeds, wildlife sounds and sculptures of warblers, water voles and kingfishers."We want to widen people's awareness of wetlands and the beauty of them and their importance," said principal designer Jez Clarke. About 200 years ago, the areas around Millennium Square like Canons Marsh and Queen Square lay on marshland, according to the charity for wetlands and wildlife (WWT).But wetlands are vanishing at a crucial pace, said the charity, with 75%of inland wetlands lost in the last 300 years."They're a crucial eco-system", Mr Clarke added. "They're just incredibly bio-diverse and hugely important for sustainability". Mr Clarke said he hoped the popup will help to draw visitor attraction to wetland centres like Slimbridge in Gloucestershire."We're focusing on indigenous species to Slimbridge whether that be birds, frogs, butterflies or dragonflies", added Mr Clarke."The idea is once you're in here, in the festival, it is like a little mini oasis"."The ultimate aim is that people suddenly feel that they are just down the road at Slimbridge".The Festival of Nature, which runs from 7 to 15 June, is celebrating the theme of water this year.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
WWT Washington at 50: Founder 'wouldn't recognise' site today
A nature reserve's founder would not recognise it today as it has been "completely transformed" in the 50 years since it opened, its current manager has said. Washington Wetland Centre, near Sunderland, welcomed visitors for the first time on 29 May a century later, what was once predominantly farmland has helped bring new species to the area including birds that were "virtually extinct". Reserve manager John Gowland said he hoped founder Sir Peter Scott would be proud of what the site has achieved. "It's kind of a double celebration for me," added Mr Gowland, who also turned 50 earlier this year. Over the past five decades the farmland has been turned into an array of ponds, waterways and lakes, all of which did not exist before."The wardens at the time and Pater Scott himself, I don't think they would recognise that," Mr Gowland said. "The layout is the same. The ponds and a lot of the wetlands were created by Peter Scott, so they are there. "It is just completely transformed, alive with wildlife as well, with the trees and the meadows."Hopefully they would be very proud of where we are." At least 120 bird species visit the site annually and thousands of different plants and insect can also be seen. Mr Gowland said the reserve had played important role in increasing the population of said the birds had been "virtually extinct" in the UK, but were breeding regularly at WWT Washington since 2016 and had expanded to 15 pairs. "No-one could imagine, even a decade before, that that avocets would be as common as they are," he said. "They are nesting elsewhere in the North East so that initial colonisation at Washington has allowed them to expand their range."Grey herons were another species that would not be in the area in great numbers if it had not been for the first chicks hatched on the reserve's Wader Lake in 1989 and there are 40 pairs now. The centre has welcomed three million people since it opened and has more than 70,000 visitors Gowland, from Sunderland, first visited WWT Washington when he was six and later became a volunteer and a worked at WWT London before returning to Washington as reserve manager in said climate change meant new animals - including bat species, butterflies and dragonflies - could move up to the area. Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI-Powered Defense at the Edge: Check Point Launches New Branch Office Security Gateways with 4x Faster Threat Prevention Performance
Optimized for SD-WAN, New Quantum Force Branch Office Firewalls deliver protections against growing attacks on branch offices and superior end user experience REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a pioneer and global leader of cyber security solutions, today announced major advancements to its family of Quantum Force Security Gateways. All Quantum Force Security Gateways for the data center and perimeter are receiving a 15%-25% performance boost in threat prevention throughput – delivered automatically via software update. In parallel, Check Point is launching a new lineup of AI-powered Quantum Force Branch Office Security Gateways designed to provide enterprise-level firewall security with up to a 4x increase in threat prevention performance from previous models. These four new branch firewalls deliver industry-leading 99.9% block rate, lightning-fast cloud application performance, and are optimized for SD-WAN to meet the growing demands of hybrid networks and the modern distributed workforce. According to the latest data from Check Point Research (CPR), branch offices are now facing an average of 713 weekly attack attempts per location, a 36% rise from the same period last year. Additionally, 50% of branch offices encounter attempts to exploit vulnerabilities from external sources, highlighting the urgent requirement for robust branch security and scalable management in the AI era. 'As we continue to prioritize innovation and efficiency, Check Point's new Quantum Force Branch Office Security Gateway firewalls are built for speed, simplicity, and security,' said Nataly Kremer, Chief Product Officer at Check Point. 'They're 4x faster than previous models, optimized for SD-WAN, and backed by our latest AI-powered threat prevention. And with automatic performance upgrades, existing Quantum Force customers will receive a 15-25% performance boost with a software update — no hardware changes required.' Today's branch offices play a crucial role in engaging directly with customers but often represent the most vulnerable point in network security. Their direct links to the public cloud and the internet make them more susceptible to cyber threats. With the current threat environment and a staggering 44% rise in cyber-attacks year over year, as highlighted in CPR's 2025 Security Report, there is a significant need to implement strong enterprise firewalls that can effectively defend against online threats without impacting network performance by causing delays or disruptions. 'World Wide Technology (WWT) provides security products and services to customers across a variety of industries including financial services, manufacturing, retail and healthcare with distributed branch offices,' said Chris Konrad, Vice President of Global Cyber at WWT. 'Check Point's new next-generation Quantum Force Branch Office Security Gateways with enhanced AI powered threat prevention, empower us to protect these customers from the latest attacks on branch offices. These innovations help our clients reduce risk, streamline operations, and scale securely across hybrid environments — turning cyber resilience into a competitive advantage.' Check Point's Quantum Force Branch Office Security Gateways capabilities include: Industry-leading threat prevention: A 4x boost in threat prevention throughput with a tried and tested industry leading 99.9% block rate based on Miercom's 2025 security benchmark report. Optimized for Cloud Applications: Lightning-fast security performance for SaaS apps by optimizing for SD-WAN, expanding network connectivity up to 10X to 10 GbE, and increasing port capacity 2X. Unified Management: Top rated unified security management for enterprise, campus, branch, and cloud environments along with zero-trust policy across the entire enterprise. 'Branch offices are often the soft spots in enterprise security, providing vulnerable entry-points for attacks and compromising the security posture across the enterprise,' said Pete Finalle, Security Research Manager, at IDC. "Check Point's new Quantum Branch Office Security Gateways deliver robust threat prevention to the edge, enabling organizations to secure their branch offices from emerging cyber threats while keeping pace with the demands of the hybrid workforce.' AvailabilityThe four new Check Point Quantum Force Branch Office Security Gateways are available now through our network of global partners. For more details about Check Point Quantum Force, visit our website or check out our blog. Follow Check Point via:LinkedIn: X: YouTube: About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. ( is a leading protector of digital trust, utilizing AI-powered cyber security solutions to safeguard over 100,000 organizations globally. Through its Infinity Platform and an open garden ecosystem, Check Point's prevention-first approach delivers industry-leading security efficacy while reducing risk. Employing a hybrid mesh network architecture with SASE at its core, the Infinity Platform unifies the management of on-premises, cloud, and workspace environments to offer flexibility, simplicity and scale for enterprises and service providers. This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or our future financial or operating performance. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements related to our expectations regarding future growth, the expansion of Check Point's industry leadership, the enhancement of shareholder value and the delivery of an industry-leading cyber security platform to customers worldwide. Our expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results or events in the future are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those projected. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2024. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Check Point as of the date hereof, and Check Point disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. MEDIA CONTACT: Ana PerezCheck Point Software Technologies press@ INVESTOR CONTACT:Kip E. MeintzerCheck Point Software Technologiesir@
