Standing up for Nature
This is a common and widespread bracket fungus often found in the summer on dead or dying deciduous trees. It can grow to a huge size, perhaps as large and heavy as any British species. The problem is the large and easy-to-spot specimens are not much use as food as they quickly become tough and…
The smell of mint induces a feeling of nostalgia in me that no other plant can match. One of the few jobs I was trusted not to mess up as a small child was to go out into the back garden to gather a few springs of mint for the Sunday roast. It must have…
In a bold but sensible move, Ruth Tingay and the Scottish Raptor Study Group are seeking leave for a judicial review of SNH’s careless and foolish licensing of a Raven cull in Scotland. Please support it with your dosh – I have.
I am a 63 year old retired British and Sultan of Oman’s Army Officer living overseas, in Oman, running a small business advisory consultancy in Muscat, helping small to medium sized British and European Companies achieve business there. I am a salt water (mainly) catch and release fly fisherman who occasionally shoots for the pot…
Michael Gove has done nothing visible to me to deal with the many ills and misdemeanors of driven grouse shooting. In fact, he is said to have told representatives of grouse shooting that he was seeking to ‘protect their vulnerable flank’, whatever that might mean (grouse shooting has enough exposed flanks to be spherical). Crispin Odey is a…
Tim writes: Snipe make a weird noise known as drumming, but it does not sound like a drum, more like a humming vibrato sound. During the early years of the twentieth century debate raged as to whether this sound was produced vocally or mechanically as wind rushed past the outer tail feathers. The conundrum…
I’m keeping a note of whether I see Red Kites on each day through the year – in May the tally was a feeble 7 days out of 31. My absencves from the country this month, and from the world range of the Red Kite, explain the low strike rate. Let’s see what June has…
Tim writes: In Britain, Choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) are rather rare, and probably always have been as there are few English folk names for them. There are many ancient references to Chough but that is because this was the name originally applied to the Jackdaw. Shakespeare refers to Choughs in seven of his plays but at…
Would you really want to pick a violet? They look so frail and tender to me. They look like they need a helping hand rather than a rough tug. But Plantlife says it’s OK provided we don’t go overboard in our picking. Who thought of calling them dog violets? What sort of a name is…