Standing up for Nature
Reviewed by Ian Carter Donald Watson is someone with whom I’ve built a connection of sorts, though we never met. I have ended up living in Galloway not many miles from the village where he spent much of his life painting the birds and the landscapes that he loved, and making his ground-breaking studies of…
There was a time, a few decades ago, when the most difficult thing about Marsh and Willow Tits was to know which of these two very similar species one was seeing (the calls are much easier) but now the main difficulty is seeing either of them at all. The identification features are now better known…
Those who enjoy Ian Carter’s writing, and very many of us do, will enjoy this latest work about his new home in Galloway. Ian encounters new species, new names and introduces us to his new surroundings. The author’s move from Devon was motivated partly by a yearning for wildness and from his fairly remote new…
This book is by friends, colleagues and family of Donald Watson, the artist and writer who passed away in 2005. I can’t review it as I wrote a glowing Foreword for the book itself and was delighted and felt honoured to be asked. This book of nine chapters, by seven authors, brought a person I…
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…
Projects working with farmers to bring endangered bird back from the brink celebrate over double the number of Stone-curlew thanks to 40 years of effort Two projects working to benefit Stone-curlew, a threatened and unique looking bird, are celebrating their 40th anniversaries, with the population now having more than doubled in size since a nationwide population…
The RSPB is extending its ownership of land at Geltsdale in Cumbria and appealing for donations to secure the deal – click here. This is very good news. The emphasis of the RSPB text is on habitat restoration and the graphic produced is excellent – although the day I ever see all those species at…
There are many reasons for signing the petition to ban driven grouse shooting – click here – and this study provides two more reasons at different levels. The study looks at Red Grouse carcasses bought on the open market which were intended for human consumption and found that all 78 carcasses contained lead shot and…
The recent Guardian story about WWF facilitating the trade in Polar Bear skins – click here – is in many ways, not news. It’s not news because I can’t see anything new in it. The fact that WWF has supported trophy hunting of several species whilst arguing for their conservation, and using images of them…
I am recently retired but have spent the last 20 years working as an ecologist, primarily in the conservation of our native reptile and amphibian species. During this time I had to deal with many housing developers and the message I and other ecologists were always trying to get across was that our biodiversity was…