Standing up for Nature
With 119,378 pageviews and 28,301 readers this was a record June for this blog. In fact, in terms of the number of readers this is the most successful month for this blog since its high point in August 2016 when there was great interest in my epetition to ban driven grouse shooting as it approached…
“The end of an era” as Professor Nick Sotherton retires from the GWCT After 44 years with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), Director of Research, Advisory and Education, Professor Nick Sotherton is retiring this week (30 June 2020). Professor Sotherton has been with the Hampshire-based conservation charity since joining to study for his…
Prof Jerry Wilson FRSE will take up the post of Director of Science for the RSPB in August when David Gibbons retires from the role. I know Jerry and he is an excellent choice. He’s very bright, very wise and very nice. Here is the RSPB announcement – click here. And here is an interview…
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…
Wild Justice is taking on the Badger cull – or at least the licensing of free shooting of Badgers by Natural England. A crowdfunder launched at 2pm has raised £9,000 by 6pm, which is pretty amazing and probably indicates the level of anger about this cull of one of our most charismatic native species. To…
This is just a very quick passing reference to capitalisation of species names. I’ve written about it before – see here for discussion of shy albatrosses and Shy Albatrosses. When people write guest blogs here I do not instruct them to capitalise species names (because I’m very tolerant – renowned for it) but I do…
Mike Priaulx is a sustainable buildings consultant who founded the Islington Swifts Group in 2016. Working with the Council, residents and local organisations, there are now more than 200 new nesting spaces for swifts in the borough. His twitter handle: @islingt_swifts Why do we need Swift Awareness Week? There are many other similarly endangered species…
3D app brings UK bumblebees to life on your phone A wildlife app launched today by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust gives users a new view of bumblebees through an augmented reality 3D function. The free ‘What’s That Bumblebee’ app lets people engage with nature in a different and fun way by bringing a three-dimensional bumblebee…
This article by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust on lead ammunition is well worth a read. James Robinson, Director of Conservation, is quoted as saying: Health, surely, is at the forefront of all our minds right now, yet countries blocking this proposal are passing up a golden opportunity to protect the health of their citizens,…
You may think that I have a ‘thing’ about this, maybe an unhealthy obsession, but it’s just something that interests me. I noticed that the reporting rates of many birds on the excellent Birdtrack system had changed during lockdown, and in predictable ways. Birdtrack was telling us about our behaviour as birders as much as…