Author Archives: Mark
A fairly proper reply
A fairly sensible response from Defra is now beginning to find its way back to MPs and their constituents. Here, below is one sent me by a reader of this blog and I had a very similar letter at the weekend too. Those of you who have written to your MPs and not taken their […]
This week
It’s a busy week. I’m giving a talk to the mid-Norfolk Wildlife Trust group on Tuesday evening – see you there? Maybe I’ll fit in a bit of birding on the way there but I’ll be back home late and then up early for an early train from Wellingborough station to the High Court. I […]
Waitrose – we’re still waiting
Waitrose are selling game with a health warning about lead shot on the pack (admittedly the bottom of the pack) but that is good, and worth a cheer or two. But the health warning is inaccurate – see here, here, here – which is bad. Waitrose said they were looking into it – that’s good […]
Smoke and mirrors from Defra/NE
This post exposes the worthlessness of Defra’s/NE’s formal agreements with grouse moor managers in the matter of burning of vegetation of blanket bogs. Introduction: Grouse moor managers want to burn our uplands to blazes in order to maximise the habitat quality for Red Grouse – the shooting of which can be sold at high prices […]
Paul Leyland – Figwort Sawfly
Lots of insects love to imitate wasps, for the protection it gives them. This one is no exception, it wasn’t until I noticed the lack of a “wasp waist” that I could tell it was a sawfly. Sawflies belong to the same Order as wasps and bees, Hymenoptera, but one of the main differences, apart […]