Solar farms managed for nature can benefit bird abundance and diversity A new study by the RSPB and the University of Cambridge has shown that solar farms managed for nature could benefit birds and other wildlife. Managed correctly this much-needed renewable energy infrastructure could provide biodiversity benefits in arable-dominated landscapes. With recent debate about the…
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Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 14 by Nick MacKinnon
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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 – The Birdman of Auschwitz by Nicholas Milton
Nicholas Milton is a productive author and this is the fifth of his books I’ve reviewed here. The Role of Birds in World War One, The Role of Birds in World War Two and The Secret Life of the Adder were published in 2022 and followed Neville Chamberlain’s Legacy in 2019. I’ve rated all of his books highly…
Sunday book review – The Farming for Nature Handbook
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This book is published in Ireland but it looks to me that there is much of value and interest in it to many farmers in the UK. This impression is reinforced by favourable comments from some Brits including the suggestion from Martin Lines, CEO of Nature Friendly Farming UK, that all farmers should have this…
Guest blog – North Island by David Higgins
David Higgins works in conservation. He has lived and worked in the Falkland Islands, St Helena Island, India, The Skerries, the Yorkshire Dales, the North Pennines and now the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. He loves islands especially seabird colonies, where he enjoys his main passion of wildlife photography. Filmed at 120 frames per second I…
Press release – Twice as Wild by SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
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Twice as wild: woodland on Mull peninsula doubles in 30 years One of Scotland’s pioneering rewilding sites has seen a near doubling of its native woodlands over the past 30 years. At Tireragan, on the southwestern tip of Mull, woodland cover has grown from 56 hectares in 1994, to 93 hectares in 2024, thanks to…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 36 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…
RSPB press release – “Beardies” breeding boom: success celebrated on World Wetlands Day
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“Beardies” breeding boom: success celebrated on World Wetlands Day On World Wetlands Day – 2nd February 2025 – the RSPB is celebrating a remarkable year of breeding success for the Bearded Tit on RSPB nature reserves, with more than 500 chicks raised in 2024 at RSPB Blacktoft Sands – more than double the success rate…
New petition about windfarms on peat soils
Press release from ‘Stronger together to stop Calderdale Wind Farm’: PARLIAMENTARY PETITION LAUNCHED TODAY CALLS FOR A BAN ON BUILDING WIND FARMS ON PROTECTED PEATLAND Today sees the launch of a petition that calls on Parliament to amend onshore wind planning regulations by banning wind farms on protected peatland in England. 100,000 signatures will…
Bird flu in wild birds in The Netherlands
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This is from SOVON in The Netherlands https://www.sovon.nl/actueel/nieuwsberichten/opnieuw-veel-wilde-vogels-getroffen-door-vogelgriep: ‘The current outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, which has been causing increased bird mortality in the Netherlands since November, is spreading rapidly. Barnacle geese in the north of the Netherlands are particularly hard hit, but the virus has also been detected in other species and…