Gökotta: A new type of bathing this spring Lockdown has been a long and difficult process for many people, with thousands finding solace and calm in nature. Whilst some absorb the richness of their local environment through visual means, there’s an experience we should all learn to embrace which allows for productivity and creativity to…
BLOG POSTS
Conflict over the uplands in social media?
If you all turn to p273 of your copies of Inglorious then you will find an exhortation from me to use social media in our campaign to ban driven grouse shooting. Written in January 2015 it lists the Twitter followers of the following organisations and individuals. Here are what they were then, in June 2016…
Guest blog – A Chance Encounter with a Weevil by Jane V. Adams
Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane’s…
Bird song (50, the end)
I’ve enjoyed putting together these 50 blog posts on bird song and I’ve had a great deal of very positive feedback on them (which is obviously very nice). They seem to have hit the mark with many of you. I’ll finish with two short lists of bird songs: one of species that I have actually…
Survey on views on genetic engineering as a tool for supporting conservation efforts
I got the following by email recently from ‘A Bigger Conversation’. For me it definitely fell into the ‘Sounds important, a bit complex and dull, and not very urgent’ so I didn’t do anything with it until now (isn’t that how we end up being unprepared for things like global pandemics). I responded in a…
RSPB seeks top boffin
The RSPB is looking for a new Director of Science to replace Dr David Gibbons who has held the role since 1998. David is stepping down at the end of August after a distinguished scientific career as a PhD student at Cambridge (Moorhen helping behaviour), the BTO (see Gibbons et al. 1993, the Atlas before…
Natural England to get small funding boost
Natural England is to receive an extra £15m this year – that’s quite good news. There is a very witty photo of Natural England chair, Tony Juniper, looking at chicken feed in the article – priceless! And the money is going to be spent on Natural England’s core duties such as SSSI condition, the planning…
Bird song (49) – Grasshopper Warbler
If I saw this bird perched out in the open like this, my first thought would be ‘Hmm, what’s that?’ and I’d be flicking through the possibilities in my head before quite quickly getting to the right answer. I’ve rarely seen this species as well as Tim Melling photographed this one, although I’ve heard it…
Over 7 million page views
Over the past nine years (approximately) this blog has had 7 million page views. The plot above is a monthly charting of that. Good, bad or irrelevant?
All change or no change?
BASC are having elections to their Council – it’s an interesting field of candidates. Clearly I don’t get a vote and I’d be struggling to find my favourite candidates having read the statements of them all. There’s an awful lot of ‘we’ve got to fight the external enemy’ in the statements and precious little ‘we’ve…