Tim writes: while photographing Ring Ouzels in the Crowden Valley I was distracted by the sound of this Spotted Flycatcher snapping its beak as it tried to catch an insect. Now you can guess what Flycatchers eat as the clue is in the name, and even its scientific name Muscicapa means flycatching. So I had…
BLOG POSTS
Jane V. Adams – Mercury Rising
Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Guest blog – Eco-impacts of badger culling, by Tom Langton
Tom Langton is an ecological consultant who has helped small organisations and individuals find free and low cost ecological advice and representation for legal cases over the last 15 years. These include many civil and criminal trials, with action for horseshoe bats in the Forest of Dean, damselflies, fish and rivers in New Forest and…
Lead shot lack of progress
On Wednesday a paper was published showing that, so far, nothing has changed in lead ammunition use – see here. Report in the BBC – click here and listen to BBC Inside Science – click here about half way through. Report in the Telegraph – see here. The GWCT take it on the chin (and…
Press release – Trees for Life on Beavers
Legal challenge to Scottish Government’s beaver killing policy can proceed says Scottish Court of Session Scotland’s supreme civil court has given Trees for Life permission to challenge the Scottish Government’s beaver killing policy through a judicial review. The rewilding charity says the Government’s nature agency NatureScot is breaking the law by failing to make the…
An interesting/dull and important/unimportant paper published today
This paper was published today and sometime soon it will be available free online, but at the moment the ‘free’ bit hasn’t kicked in. I have a copy of the paper sent to me by the BTO, and also by Natural England, so I’ve read it all (but don’t have access to the supplementary material…
National Trust press release
National Trust and partners signal hope and healing with blossoming ambitions around the UK Conservation charity and partners choose spring blossom as a symbol of reflection and hope, with plan to plant blossoming tree circles in towns and cities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland over next five years Tree circles and individual blossom tree…
Countryfile
I normally give Countryfile a swerve, until someone tells me there was something horrific on it, or the horrific thing is me, but last Sunday I had to watch it as it featured my adopted neck of the woods – the Nene Valley in Northants. It was quite good (as was the bit on fisheries,…
Guest blog – Jagged Ends by Les Wallace
Who I am – Scottish with a fascination for wildlife from childhood – in lieu of formal qualifications (and not being able to flash them about!) – was on the 1990 International Youth Conservation Exchange to Hungary, was the 1993 winner of the BBC Wildlife Magazine ‘Realms of the Russian Bear’ competition and spent nearly…