A few things that caught my eye:
- next weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch
- gamekeepers all ask for gloves for Christmas
- statement from OUP on removing nature from their junior dictionary
- I had my first Reed Bunting of this winter in the garden this week
- a link to Miles King’s excellent blogs on Rampisham Down being thretened by solar farm – this will be a cause celebre to rival Lodge Hill – watch this space (and Miles’s space too)
- Ian Newton gave an excellent talk to the mid-Nene RSPB group, on migration, on Thursday evening – next month David Lindo
- e-petition on banning driven grouse shooting approaches 20,500
- I enjoyed talking to the Reading RSPB local group on Tuesday evening – a very nice crowd who bought lots of copies of A Message from Martha
- petition to save world’s rarest spider’s (perhaps) site has big boost from readers of this blog and passes 6000 signatures – thank you for supporting it
- has the membership of the Greens overtaken that of UKIP – maybe?
- December 2014 was globally hot
- Sir Ian Botham hasn’t got his 100 farmers to criticise the RSPB yet.
- Migrating birds will drop altitude to save energy
- e-petition asking SNH to protect Mountain Hares gets boost from this blog’s readers and approaches 5500 signatures – thank you for supporting it
- 2014 as a whole was hottest year
- uninformed views on raptors in Irleand causes a media storm
- ICYMI, as they say (no, really, they do), Patrick Barkham’s long piece on Hen Harriers and grouse shooting in the Guardian
- interested in endocrine disruptors and people and wildlife – an interesting video?
- I’ll be talking to the Medway RSPB Group in Gillingham, Kent on Tuesday evening.
An excellent and useful summary, Mark.
Thanks for the link Mark.
When you speak to the Medway RSPB group next week, you might just possibly mention Lodge Hill in your talk. If you do, could you mention in passing that, as well as being a top place for Nightingales, it is also one of the most important places in the UK for unimproved grassland, with a number of rare and declining plants, including the lovely Dyer’s Greenweed (note apopstrophe). I can send you a photo of said Genista if you like. DG also has a number of extremely rare moths which are dependant on it – which no-one has yet looked for at Lodge Hill.
Could I write a guest blog for you on Rampisham Down?
Miles – thank you. Who knows what will come up on Tuesday but it is likely to be dominated by passenger Pigeons and Hen Harriers i would guess!
I already have a Guest Blog promised for me on Rampisham Down, but I would be happy to ahve yours too if that isn’t a problem for you.