In 2014 the numbers of farmland birds (as measured by overall trends in 19 species – see below) were at the second lowest level of the last 45 years (since, almost, records began). Guess what? The lowest level was in 2013! This is not a record of which any politician can be proud. The farmland…
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Ash die-back – plague or sniffle?
This morning I spent a couple of hours learning about Ash dieback, and other Ash problems (notably emerald ash borer (sounds nice – is deadly!) and other tree problems. I was invited to attend a focus group (we were quite focussed actually) about how the public would react to various potential solutions to the problems…
Globally threatened vultures
After Chris Bowden’s two informative Guest Blogs on vultures (Asia vulture crisis and Africa and Europe) it is worth noting that the recent global reassessment of species’ status has resulted in six species of African vulture being assessed as more threatened than previously. In fact, four species, all of which I have seen, Hooded, White-backed,…
Corner Laughers’ UK tour
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I’m looking forward to doing a couple of reading from A Message from Martha at the Corner Laughers‘ Cambridge gig in the Portland Arms, a week today. I see they are also appearing in Bethnal Green (8 Nov), Nottingham (10 Nov), Brighton (12 Nov), Swindon (13 Nov) and York (14 Nov).
Globally threatened birds
It comes to something when four species of birds I have seen this year in the UK are added to the list of globally threatened bird species. The IUCN Red List is updated periodically, after much sucking of teeth and poring over the data (some of which are a bit ropy) and Birdlife International are…