Standing up for Nature
I’m really pleased that the Hookpods project got to its £100,000 crowd-funding target with days to spare. That is fantastic. With these things, it is all or nothing – £99,999 would not have been enough! Thank you to all readers of this blog who contributed – I’m told by David Agombar that his Guest Blog…
Readers of Jeremy Greenwood’s guest blog (4 August) will be glad to hear that he has been granted access to the data obtained in the study that he criticized (see here and here). Watch this space for more on this subject later in the autumn.
A couple of weeks ago I popped down to Malmesbury for the official opening of the Waitrose store there (see previous blogs here and here). I’d been down a week earlier too and the changes since the spring, and in that last week, were quite amazing. ‘Just in time’ hardly covers it! Whereas…
Good news from the Isle of Wight – the pair of Bee-eaters (the first to nest successfully in the UK since 2002) have fledged four young. That’s pretty good going out of the seven eggs they normally lay. Let’s hope the next few weeks are sunny and insect-filled and they fuel-up for their journey south…
I am grateful to the RSPB Chair, Prof Steve Ormerod for his Guest Blog on licensing of grouse shooting. As always, the RSPB has a well thought-through position which could make a difference to the plight of the Hen Harrier. However, I don’t think they have the best thought-through position on this particular issue, especially…
It’s quite funny how the shooting community is falling over itself in its bid to express its love for the Hen Harrier these days. Anyone mentioning the phrase ‘rats wi’ wings’ is shushed severely. One of the more striking and welcome expressions of love for the Hen Harrier (a strong candidate for the shortlist for…
David Lindo, the Urban Birder, has launched a vote, whose winner will be announced on election day next year, for Britain’s National Bird. Currently it is the Robin – a feisty little bird with a nice song that is familiar to almost all. There’s nothing wrong with Robins. On the long shortlist of 60 species…
It’s lovely to get e-mails like this completely out of the blue: ‘I finished reading Martha about ten minutes ago and because you are so easy to contact I felt I had to let you know how much I enjoyed reading your book. I found it very moving and very thought provoking. I have been…
I really enjoyed the Bird Fair this year. I always do, but somehow this year was very good. It is partly because I signed a lot of books and that helps if you are aiming to make a bit of money from them! And it’s also, partly, because I gave a few talks and they…