The results of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch were released last week. They show considerable stability in identities and rankings of the UK’s top 10 winter garden birds. That’s what usually happens with small changes in rankings from year to year and larger changes becoming apparent over longer periods. It’s worth looking at the…
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Sunday book review – Uncommon Ground by Patrick Galbraith
I’m a fan of Patrick Galbraith’s writing – his book In Search of One Last Song –see my review – was my blog’s book of the year in 2022 but this is an even better read. Here, again, Galbraith travels the land and talks to some interesting people in some interesting places and the subject…
Sunday book review – Rare Plants by Peter Marren
The first thing that strikes you on picking up this book is that it is heavy. That’s what 400 pages of high quality paper feel like. On those 400 pages are high quality images and high quality words from an author who knows how to write and who knows his subject very well. What more…
No whaling for Fin Whales in Iceland this summer
There will be no whaling for Fin Whales this summer by the sole Icelandic whaling company, Hvalur hf. Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur hf told Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið “As the situation appears to us, Hvalur hf. sees no other situation than to wait for better times, but the situation will be taken up again in…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 13 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…