In praise of Birdtrack

I am a great fan of Birdtrack.  I can see lots of value in the data that are accumulating there in terms of looking at future changes in bird distributions and numbers. But also it allows me to check changes at my local patch at Stanwick Lakes where I go scores of times each year….

Well done Zac!

Did you see Zac Goldsmith on Newsnight on Tuesday evening?  If not, have a look (about 16 minutes in) because he was very good. As Jeremy Paxman sat in front of an image of green countryside Allegra Stratton spilled the beans on what the Treasury is thinking on the planning the system (read it here)….

Cats and sparrowhawks among the pigeons

Gary Burgess posted a comment on this blog on 18 February on a rather old blog and I thought that few would notice what he had written and so I offered him the chance of a Guest Blog to air his views more prominently.  I’m really glad that Gary took up the offer but I…

NIAs again

Nature is everywhere, it’s all around us and it is in trouble in many places around us.  When government was looking for areas to qualify as Nature Improvement Areas it had plenty of places from which to choose – 76 proposals came forward for the £7.5m funding that was available for just 12 sites. Those…

Nature Improvement Areas

Nature Improvement Areas are a new idea that came out of the report by Prof Sir John Lawton‘s group in 2010. From its strapped resources Defra has found £7.5m to invest in a slightly different type of nature conservation initiative – an area based, Big Society approach. No that isn’t a typo – a paltry…