I think we’re all supposed to say that it has been an awful year – and it has had its moments – but actually, I’ve had a lot of fun. The bad things have been mostly to do with not seeing friends and family enough. Our two offspring have had big events in their lives…
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Thoughts on 2020 (6) – this blog
2020 was a record year for readership (pageviews) on this blog. Here are the previous five years (1 Jan – 31 Dec) and this year: 2020, 1,331k pageviews (with a few hours still to go) 2019, 1,139k pageviews. 2018, 898k pageviews 2017, 876k pageviews 2016, 1,254k pageviews 2015, 808k pageviews But what of the content?…
Thoughts on 2020 (5) – nature conservation
I don’t think that nature conservation, as a movement, comes out of 2020 very well. The economic challenges should have brought home to many nature conservation organisations that they have morphed too much into being part of the entertainment industry in recent years and have loosened their nature conservation and environmental roots. When it came…
Thoughts on 2020 (4) – politics
Do you think better or worse about politicians at this end of 2020 than this time last year? Has a crisis of COVID-19 and the challenge of Brexit raised or lowered your estimation of the politicians that you and our fellow voters elected? Come to that, do you feel more impressed or less impressed about…
Thoughts on 2020 (3) – birdwatching
I’m a poor naturalist but a half-decent ornithologist and birdwatcher. I haven’t seen many birds this year – certainly in terms of number of species. Although I know of many who do (overwhelmingly males) I do not keep a bird list for the year. Some of my friends and acquaintances would be able to reel…
Thoughts on 2020 (2) – coronavirus
Let’s hear it for the virus – a remarkable product of evolution by natural selection. A small chunk of RNA in a protein coat that has changed our lives dramatically, and ended many too. You have to admire it, or rather the process of evolution that has shaped it and made it so effective. I’ve…
Thoughts on 2020 (1) – Driven Grouse Shooting
You have to feel sorry for the grouse shooters, don’t you? Well maybe not. 2020 was another awful year for those involved in grouse shooting, and one which brought the end of driven grouse shooting closer. For those of us determined to see an end to this damaging hobby, it represented a great leap forward….
Guest blog – Swift Bricks by Dick Newell
Lifetime bird watcher and over 60 years an RSPB member, Dick Newell, retired from the software industry, now devotes time to devising ways to help Swifts, which led recently to the BTO giving a Marsh Award for Innovative Ornithology to Action for Swifts. actionforswifts.com documents a large number of case studies, designs and ideas. Swift Bricks…
Reminder – these were this blog’s books of 2020
Comments Off on Reminder – these were this blog’s books of 2020
This appeared in mid-November – in time for you to use it as a reminder and perhaps a guide to Christmas presents but too early to catch every 2020 book. You can’t win them all! I’ve reviewed over 40 books here this year – a record. Here’s where I reveal my shortlist of eight books…
Guest blog – Exposing limitations in planning submissions by Tim Reed
Although an ornithologist by training, Tim Reed has a background in monitoring and data quality- starting with standardising management planning and data recording for the statutory sector, moving on to developing the widely-used Common Standards site condition model. After a long period introducing peer-reviewable data and biodiversity and ecosystem reporting models in big corporates around…