Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Muddle of brood meddling – round 2
Last year, Natural England licensed the daft idea of brood meddling of Hen Harriers. I mounted a legal challenge, and so did RSPB, but we lost in court. The judge decided that because this was a trial it was science and because of that it’s OK (that’s my layman’s take on it). Both the RSPB…
Guest blog – The Ethics of Animal Exploitation part 1 by Alick Simmons
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. After a period in private practice, he followed a 35-year career as a Government veterinarian, latterly as the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. Alick’s lifelong passion is wildlife; he volunteers for the RSPB and NE in Somerset, is chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare,…
More good news – no M4 ‘relief’ road
The Welsh government will not spend £1.6bn on a ‘relief’ road – that’s a relief because the plans would have wrecked some irreplaceable Welsh landscape and wildlife-rich habitat on the Gwent Levels. The expense of the project must have been a major reason for its abandonment but Welsh First Minister, Mark Drakeford, also said he…
Lead ammunition – what do shooters really think?
This is an interesting paper which looks at the attitudes of a small sample (30) of male shooters to lead ammunition. It’s something called a Q-study – something unfamiliar to me. As I understand it, the study chose the group of respondents not to be representative of the shooting community, but in fact to represent…
Good news – no Fin Whaling in Iceland this summer
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It seems that Fin Whales off the coast of Iceland will have at least a year’s reprieve according to this story in The Reykjavik Grapevine. This is excellent news. I would take with a pinch of salt the explanation given by the sole Iceland commercial whaler about the licence arriving too late, although I have…
A journey back in time
It wasn’t only the wildlife of the forests which impressed in Poland, so did the wildlife of the meadows and farmland. From the balcony of our accommodation … … there were views over the surrounding gardens … … and a few minutes walk away were the meadows around the river. The English countryside would have…
Bialowieza Forest
My recent visit to Poland was largely a family holiday, with family reasons for being in Poland, but that doesn’t mean that all birdwatching was out of the question. In fact I spent some time in the totally wonderful Bialowieza Forest. There is plenty of forest in the area but the strict reserve is only…
Guest blog – Ramridge Raiders part 2 by Paul Sterry and Rob Read
Authors and photographers, Paul and Rob spearhead the international competition Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) whose lead judge is Chris Packham. Woodlands have been on my mind recently, what with my growing interest in Rob’s local patch Ramridge Copse. Perhaps because of that when I glanced at my bookshelves the other day I spotted…
RSPB press release
Protecting the best places for nature will fight the climate crisis New maps reveal that the best places for nature also hold over two-gigatons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of all of the greenhouse gases the UK generates in four years The Governments of the UK must take urgent action to protect and restore these…