Your least favourite bird?

All birds are brilliant! It goes without saying, but I’ve said it.  But it could just be that some birds are more brilliant than others. A while back, in a blog about cormorants, I said that cormorants were quite pretty really, which might be stretching things a bit, but they wouldn’t come bottom of my…

Joining up the verges

I’ve been paying more attention to the road verges since Sarah Pettegree wrote her excellent Guest Blog here and since Plantlife launched its verges campaign. And so I was more susceptible to making the link between this press release from CPRE about lowering the speed limit in rural areas and the state of our verges. …

The rather diminished Big Butterfly Count?

It’s time for the Big Butterfly Count– good luck! Have you ever thought how beautiful are butterflies?  Me too! Then imagine this butterfly without its wings – not so pretty then is it?     And I just wonder – will the Bird Fair survive the weather given that the Game Fair has not?  And…

Wuthering Moors 23

Natural England spent over £1m of your money pursuing legal action against the Walshaw Moor Estate for alleged breaches (but a mere 43 of them) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the Habitats Directive.  The alleged offences related to the building of tracks, paths, car parks, grips, ponds, butts and other associated infrastructure for…

40 days of…?

Today is St Swithin’s (or Swithun’s day) and by tradition the weather today will stick with us for the next 40 days.  At the moment the sun is shining here in east Northants – I wonder! Whatever the weather, in 40 days the swifts will be largely departed and wader passage will be well underway. …