Here are the first results from the survey of readers (carried out between Saturday and Thursday). I closed the survey at 854 responses as that was twice the number of respondents when the same questions were asked in December 2012 (and was arrived at in a shorter period of time). Last month (January 2014) this…
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Who will be leading the NFU? and Dredging the depths
Two weeks tomorrow will see the election of a new NFU hierarchy of President, Vice President and Deputy President. The candidates for the NFU posts are as follows and you can see what they say about themselves by following the links (and their Twitter accounts). Not much about the environment is there – from the…
Oscar Dewhurst – Mandarin Duck
Oscar writes: One early morning in March a couple of years ago I was at Hyde Park with the hope of photographing Great-crested Grebes performing their elaborate courtship. I arrived about half an hour before dawn and was waiting by the side of the water. As the sun came up on the other side…
Sunday book review – Bird Populations by Ian Newton
Prof Ian Newton FRS has been described as the UK’s greatest living ornithologist and there is nothing in this book to dent that assessment. In his clear and precise way, Ian Newton explains the factors that affect, determine and regulate bird population levels. There are plenty of examples which illustrate the general principles. As Ian…
The week in birding by Jonnie Fisk
Red-flanked Bluetail – a good bird for your local patch (although I’d quite like to see the 500 Corn Buntings). Golden Eagle poisoning from Raptor Persecution Scotland. Was it a Squacco? It’s a birdie – a dead one.