Given what we know about the impacts of intensive grouse moor management on flood risk and water quality it would be interesting to know the state of play with United Utilities, Northumbria Water, Severn Trent Water and Yorkshire Water, on how much land they own and how much is managed for grouse shooting. Of this…
Author: Mark
Born Bristol, UK
Educated: Cleeve House School Bristol, Bristol Grammar School and Downing College Cambridge
Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, Winter activity of pipistrelle bats.
NERC post-doctoral Research Fellow, Edward Grey Institute, Oxford University
Former Conservation Director of the RSPB, 1989-2011
Biofuels – let’s dump them
The idea that up to 7% of the fuel you put in your vehicle could come from food crops – not waste but actual food crops – is obscene in a world where people are starving. It’s even more obscene where the calculations show that (for various reasons which I won’t go into now) this…
Black Hairstreak
It was almost like Glastonbury yesterday in Glapthorn Cow Pasture – a huge crowd (of eight of us – but that is huge for there) and muddy underfoot. The Black Hairstreaks were performing very nicely – and the eight of us had about a half a butterfly each on average. You can always tell where…
How do we get to rewilded uplands?
The simple vision of rewilded uplands painted yesterday prompted a question from a reader (Ezra Lucas) that is answered, or at least discussed, here. The question is how do we get from where we are to a more rewilded upland situation, and how do we get from a post-grouse shooting world to rewilded uplands? First,…
46000
Another 1000 passed! Hooray! We will soon have 100 Westminster parliamentary constituencies in the ‘100 Club’ and two thirds (or more) of them will be Conservative seats. High Peak becomes the third seat to pass 200 signatures. There are more than 12 weeks to go – I wonder what the final total will be. I…