Last night’s Countryfile programme was great on butterflies and better than usual on crimes against birds of prey. You can watch the whole entertaining programme here and the raptor slot started at about 10:20 into the show (the butterflies before were really great!). Tom Heap was the presenter of this item and he’s pretty good,…
BLOG POSTS
Black birders week #blackbirdersweek
This week is black birders week – a mainly North American thing. And, by chance, it comes at the time when there are riots across the USA after the death of George Floyd at the hands, or knee, of a white policeman. Last week I read about this event in Central Park where a black…
I’d love to see this…
Every 13 or 17 years there is an emergence of Periodical Cicadas in parts of the eastern USA. This is a year for the 17-year emergence. I wish I were able to be in North Carolina, west Virginia or West Virginia to check in with this phenomenon. What were you doing in 2003? What do…
A new nature writer blog – and an interview with me
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Amanda Tuke has jacked in her former day job and is attempting to make a small living out of freelance nature and travel writing – good luck Amanda! I’ve subscribed to her blog because I think this could be an interesting story unfolding over the months. And Amanda asked whether she could interview me on…
After…things I would like to be different (6)
Why don’t we just scrap HS2? And some aircraft carriers? If you were wondering back in February why the government was ploughing onward with such an unpopular and costly project as HS2 then you should be wondering that even more now. The future will involve more working from home, less rushing in to and out…
Guest blog – Young Wild Writer Competition for Hen Harrier Day 2020 – Gill Lewis
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Gill Lewis writes: I’m really excited to have been given the chance to organise and announce the Young Wild Writer Competition for Hen Harrier Day 2020. My books have covered various issues, such as the impacts of bear bile farming in Southeast Asia and coltan mining the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but…
Paul Leyland – Wall Butterfly
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Social Distancing Week 11. Wall Brown. Paul writes: every year I see Wall Brown butterflies along the field path next to my house. They first appear in the later half of May and remain through to August. I photographed this one a few days ago, it was my first sighting here this year. The Wall…
Sunday book review – His Imperial Majesty by Matthew Oates
This is a good summery book about arguably our most spectacular of butterflies, the Purple Emperor. The author is an expert on this species and an unrestrained and unrestrainable enthusiast for this butterfly. And that makes this a very good book, packed with stories, anecdotes, history but also with good solid facts. And all wrapped…
Tim Melling – Mountain Hare
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Tim writes: the Mountain Hares in the Peak District were introduced from Scotland during the Nineteenth Century by the shooting fraternity after some diversity of things to kill. Ironically the gamekeepers are trying to get rid of them as unnecessary vectors of ticks that can pass the disease louping ill on to grouse. In Scotland…
Channel 4 News, yesterday evening
If you missed Channel 4 News’s feature on wildlife crime associated with grouse shooting then you can see it, but only until about 8pm this evening, by following the link above. It’s worth a look (starts at 44 minutes and lasts 10 minutes). But here are some highlights: Inspector Matt Hagen of North Yorkshire Police…