CALL OF THE WILD: MICHAELA STRACHAN RALLIES PUBLIC TO DISCOVER FOREST WILDLIFE The Forestry Commission is inviting people to join the largest ever survey of England’s forest wildlife. The Big Forest Find is taking place in the nation’s forests, as volunteers and visitors embark on a journey of discovery through England’s wooded landscapes. The project…
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EDM 1963 – progress, but very slow progress
A total of 27 MPs have put their names to EDM 1963 on lead ammunition. That’s respectable, but unimpressive. My MP will never sign it – might yours? Please ask them. The score sheet is: Green Party, 1; Conservative Party, 1; Independent, 1; the Independent Group, 1; SNP, 4; Liberal Democrat, 4; Labour, 15
Stanwick Lakes is 10 years old
Stanwick Lakes is 10 years old today. That is, the car park and visitor centre opened 10 years ago, apparently. There was a Roman Villa here rather longer ago than 10 years ago. And my Birdtrack complete lists go back to 2005 – 485 of them which record 162 species. I feel lucky to have…
The Hen Harriers
Some amazing people are going to do some running in the north of England to raise money for Wild Justice to spend on Hen Harrier conservation. I’ve met one of this crazy gang recently and am touched by how eager they are to do something for Hen Harriers. Here is their website which also has…
Lead – well done Anglian Water
Anglian Water think that it is worth putting cards like this through their customers’ letterboxes (even though the pipes are the customers’ responsibility not the water company). Good for them! Whereas almost no supermarkets label the lead-laden game meat that they sell specifically for human consumption, and those that do get the wording badly wrong…
Catfield Fen ripples spread in water wars
You would have to be an addict of this blog with a spectacularly good memory to recall the tiny part that this blog played in a victory to save parts of the Norfolk Broads which have high levels of protection under EU wildlife laws from being damaged by water abstraction. The last blog here on…
Naturally cultured?
I’m a Radio 4 devotee – maybe even an addict. I need my fix of BBC Radio 4 every day and I almost always get it. I’m usually awake long before Farming Today but tend to be having my most productive part of the day while the annoying farming programme is broadcast so I try…
Paul Leyland – Early Thorn Moth
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Paul writes: the Early Thorn (Selania dentaria) is one of the commonest moths flying at the moment. I usually see them from mid March to the end of April, they have two broods so will appear again in the middle of July. I found this one a couple of weeks ago in my North Yorkshire…
Sunday book review – Rocky Shores by John Archer-Thomson and Julian Cremona
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This is a lovely book and makes me wish that my adopted county of Northamptonshire had some coastline, and rocky shores at that, to which I could rush to explore some rockpools with my newly gained knowledge. The Bloomsbury Wildlife series might possibly be seen as a competing series of books to the Collins New…
Tim Melling – Plain Laughingthrush
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Tim writes: superficially this looks like a Blackbird, but when you look closely you see the beak and tail are too long. This is a Plain Laughingthrush (Garrulax davidi), which is only found in the mountains of China (1600-3500m) and is not particularly common in the limited range where it does occur. Moreover, like other…