It’s difficult to imagine why this land in Nidderdale might be closed on these days during the grouse shooting season – but the closure does not affect the rights of way. A land owner can restrict public access for 28 days/year without having to give any reason – this seems perfectly fair to me. There…
BLOG POSTS
Birdwatch magazine’s 2020 Birders’ Choice awards
Comments Off on Birdwatch magazine’s 2020 Birders’ Choice awards
It’s that time of year when Birdwatch magazine invites its readers and the world (almost the same, surely?) to vote for their Conservation Hero of the Year, Guano Award for Environmental Harm, Book of the Year and a host of other awards. I’ve had a quick look, and some categories I find easy and others…
Speaks for itself really
Press release – Viridor and Beddington Farmlands
Beddington Farmlands habitat creation continues this autumn Viridor’s restoration of the 120-hectare Beddington Farmlands in South London is continuing with the creation of the first phase of the wet grassland habitat, including the start of a seeding programme that has seen over 150kg of seed spread across this first phase ahead of further habitat management….
Grouse moors, burning and climate change
I’m a Radio 4 addict but I missed PM yesterday as I was engaged with lawyers then, and for a lot of the day. But I caught up with this piece on climate change (starts 45 minutes into programme) and the mention of the government inactivity on banning burning on peatlands being possibly due to…
Badgers
Today Wild Justice is attempting to overturn the refusal of permission for judicial review of Natural England’s licensing of Badger culls. It’s a remote hearing and we’ll be watching by video-link (not available to the general public I’m afraid). The quickest way to hear what happened will be to sign up to the Wild Justice…
UK Biodiversity Indicators (4)
Following three earlier blog posts today (here, here and here). This is a quite spectacular graph showing the decline in public sector biodiversity spend in the UK over the last decade or so. There has been a steady increase in expenditure by NGOs but not enough to fill the spending gap left by our taxes…
UK Biodiversity Indicators (3)
Following on from two earlier blogs (here and here). Thezse two indicators from the marine environment look like they are going convincingly in the right directions – but this is defibnitely not my area of expertise so if you think differently then shout, please!
UK Biodiversity Indicators (2)
Following on from an earlier blog. Maybe we’ve decided that once-common birds that live on farmland don’t matter to us any more (but if we have, when did that happen and I’m not signed up to that view) but we must care about the best places for wildlife and priority species – surely? So let’s…
BTO press release – new Patron
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has today announced that His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge has become Patron of the BTO, assuming the patronage from His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh who has held the role for over 30 years. The patronage reflects the close alignment between two of The Duke of…