The other day a neighbour knocked on my door and asked if I knew I had ragwort growing in my garden and what I was going to do about it. My replies were ‘yes’ and ‘nothing’ in that order, to which he responded in a slightly tongue-in-cheek tone that it was a ‘notifiable’ weed and…
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The results of the summer readers’ poll (2)
Last week I promoted a poll on this blog and through social media on people’s views on a variety of issues. One of those issues was ‘On a scale from 0-9, how in favour or against grouse shooting are you, where 0 is ‘very much against’ and 9 is ‘very much for’?’. What I’ve done…
A few snippets – people and whales
RSPB: the new RSPB CEO, Becky Speight, starts work on 19 August (I was rather hoping it would be the Inglorious 12th for a true taste of what the RSPB is up against). WCL: Elaine King, the CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, has moved on to the post of CEO of the Chilterns Conservation…
The results of the summer readers’ poll (1)
Thank you to over 2300 people who responded to my recent readers’ survey. Here are some summary results. First a few words about how the data were collected. People were asked to participate in four ways: through this blog, through my newsblast, through tweets on Twitter and through Facebook. In all those cases, anyone coming…
Paul Leyland – Volucella bombylans
Paul writes: there are several hoverflies which mimic bumblebees, Volucella bombylans is the most common and widespread. It is also probably the cleverest, as it comes in several colour forms to enable it to mimic a number of different species. This one, with its yellow and white markings, goes with the white-tailed bumblebees, whilst another…
Henry is tired but triumphant
Here is Henry Morris, with a very painful Achilles tendon, leading the pack of runners up the finish after 200km of running across the grouse moor killing fields of the north of England at 2pm today. Henry covered all the 200km and was accompanied by a range of friends, family and supporters for parts of…
Tim Melling – Black-browed Albatross
Tim writes: It was more than thirty years ago when I first saw a Black-browed Albatross; a lost individual that resided in a Gannet breeding colony at Hermaness on Unst on the Shetland Isles. This one was photographed off the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic where they breed in good numbers. Many albatrosses have…
Henry Morris – a Hen Harrier hero
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The three dots on the second horizon are Henry Morris and chums a few minutes into their amazing four-day run across the grouse moors of northern England – the killing fields for protected wildlife. Henry started his run in the Forest of Bowland AONB and ends it today in Nidderdale AONB – both wildlife crime…
In appreciation of Dr Trevor Dines of Plantlife
I was driving along a motorway yesterday morning (as I was on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday too, and as I will be later today) and listening to Today on BBC Radio 4. My journey was greatly enhanced by listening to Trevor Dines from Plantlife, talking to Martha Kearney about meadows. You can hear what he said…