Endemic species are those found (in the wild) only in a particular area, so Britain’s endemic species are those found in Britain and nowhere else (in the wild at least). Such species are interesting as indicators of the workings of evolution since the last ice age and are ones whose futures lie entirely in our…
BLOG POSTS
Sunday book review – The Book of Bogs edited by Anna Chilvers and Clare Shaw
This book grew locally in West Yorkshire in response to Walshaw Moor’s landscape and wildlife and to the threat to it from a proposal to build an enormous windfarm on its deep peat soils. But although many of the writings collected here, some previously published elsewhere, relate to this moor, most famously the Wuthering Heights…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 22 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…
RSPB responds to government’s Planning Bill amendments
Dr James Robinson, RSPB Chief Operating Officer, said: “Dropping 67 amendments to the Planning Bill at the eleventh hour isn’t just poor process, it’s legislative chaos. There’s no time for proper scrutiny, no clarity on the cumulative impact, and no confidence this is about good planning rather than political optics. It looks like a cynical…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 42 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…
Bird flu – positive cases in species of wild bird 2016-2025
Comments Off on Bird flu – positive cases in species of wild bird 2016-2025
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published positive cases of bird flu for each week since the last two weeks of December 2016. These figures used to be updated weekly but large gaps are now appearing between updates – click here. Positive cases are dead birds sent in to the authorities in…
Defra quote challenge – winning entry by James Gilbert
Mark wrote: This Defra quote, “Britain is a proud nation of nature lovers, and this government is committed to turning the tide on its decline after years of neglect. We are progressing plans to designate nine new national river walks, one in each region of England.” (see here) might win a prize for stupidity if only…
Guest blog – How donations to World Land Trust can be Multiplied Six Times by Andy Langley
Andy Langley is a wildlife enthusiast, who for the last seven years has completed an annual sponsored birdwatch to raise money for World Land Trust (WLT). Each year, money raised up to £5,000 is matched by his employer, Ecclesiastical Insurance (part of the Benefact Group), and multiplied again as part of WLT’s Big Match…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 6 by Nick MacKinnon
Comments Off on Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 6 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…
Patrick Galbraith now a Telegraph environment correspondent
The most interesting thing about this story in the Telegraph is its byline: that of Patrick Galbraith, former editor of Shooting Times and author of this blog’s Book of the Year (2022), In Search of One Last Song, and his most recent book, Uncommon Ground which in my view is a cracking read (see review)…