The National Trust has been gifted the building which houses Rules restaurant, London’s oldest restaurant which specialises in game on its menu – click here. As you can see, I’ve visited Rules with a friend, as you can read in Inglorious (pp 239-40) I visited with other friends (and have done since, too), and as…
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News from USA farms
I get various press releases from the USA and many of them are quite dull – in fact the way many of these releases are written is very dull – but I am interested in how different countries do things differently. One of my many ideas for a book that was a good idea, but…
This is evidence (1)
I’m thinking of how to respond to the Defra call for evidence on gamebird shooting (as readers of my monthly newsblast will know). Although BASC has told its members to ignore all that stuff about evidence and just send their thoughts to Defra (what a horrific image that brings up) we can do better than…
Watershed and catchments for the public good
I’ve promoted this petition in my newsletters, on social media and in my Birdwatch column as I think it is a clever move, a timely move and a well-managed campaign so I am delighted that Ash Smith’s petition did so well. The 100,000+ signatures, in fact 200,000+ signatures, generated a debate in Westminster Hall and…
I enjoyed this wildlife programme
I was idly flicking through the TV channels (I think I had given up on Wales getting a draw with Denmark) when I came across this nature programme. My instincts are to move away from nature programmes but I arrived in this one just as a mysterious creature was heading into the French village by…
Sunday book review – Our Wild Pennines by John Birch
The author of this books lives in the north of England and is an ex-police officer and a gifted photographer. The photographs are superb and the production values of this book are very high. There are carefully-designed large pages, gorgeous images and although I lingered over each image I was eager to see the next…
Guest blog – Boft Hole of CEP (240 MW) by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Sunday book review – Insects of Britain and Europe by Thomas C. John, Peter Mullen and Paul D. Brock
This book was published last week and I’ve been giving it a close look. It does what you’d expect from its title and cover – it’s a photographic identification guide to lots and lots of insects (and a very few non-insect arthropods sneak in at pages 22-23 and 639 and following). The 3,000 species are…
RSPB Medal goes to lead ammunition group
Group instrumental in establishing a phased ban on the sale and use of lead ammunition in England, Scotland and Wales is set to be honoured by the charity. The Lead Ammunition Collective will be honoured with the RSPB’s most prestigious award at the charity’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) taking place online today (3rd October), recognising…
Filbert Cobb RIP
Long term readers of this blog, which has been running for 15+ years, may remember Filbert Cobb (not his real name) who often commented on posts here (with wit) and also wrote four guest blogs. I heard from his partner last week that Filbert passed away in early September, and that he is being laid…