Let Nature Sing – the new campaign from RSPB

Over the next two years the RSPB hopes that its Let Nature Sing campaign will bring the music of the wild back into our lives, to remind people of the sounds we love from nature and how we would miss them if they were gone. I’m already missing them quite a lot. RSPB has joined…

BGBW results – RSPB press release

Song Thrush. Photo: Chris Gomersall/RSPB images RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results show mixed picture for UK’s garden birds House sparrow remains at the top of the Big Garden Birdwatch rankings with almost 1.2 million sightings throughout the weekend but for many species fewer birds were recorded than in 2018. Almost half a million people across…

Wind turbines – what do you think?

I do notice them, but they have become familiar now, whereas ten years ago they seemed strange and new. I can see this bunch from my house, although it requires a bit of neck-stretching and straining to do so. This morning they were whizzing round in the wind (apart from one of them – there’s…

Wild Justice meets top cops

Yesterday, the Wild Justice directors (Ruth Tingay, Chris Packham (‘fresh’ back from Baja California) and I) met Chief Inspector Louise Hubble and Deputy Chief Constable Craig Naylor for a chat about wildlife crime. We covered a wide range of topics which included hare coursing, raptor persecution, poaching and how the law operates. Very useful for…

Thinking of subscribing…

The current Shooting Times magazine is so full of interesting and puzzling articles I am seriously considering taking out a subscription. And it’s nearly time for the next weekly offering. Lindsay Waddell, retired gamekeeper from the Raby estate, writes about the new rules governing heather without actually telling us what they are. I assume he…

White-tailed Eagles to come back to lowland England

White-tailed Eagle. Photo: Mike Crutch Natural England has issued a licence to allow the release of White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight. For details see here. This is excellent news and the first releases are scheduled for summer this year. Woohoo! More information from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation – click here and the…

What will Glover review make of our environmental glories?

Our uplands are one of our environmental glories Michael Gove, Hansard 28 March In contrast, RSPB Chair, Kevin Cox, said National parks are not delivering for wildlife and are often in worse condition than areas outside the park . They aren’t being monitored, lack funding and have no clear purpose. Farming – plus grouse shooting…

Garden birds in March 2019

This year I am keeping a list of birds seen in or from my garden. The Snowdrops are gone but the Forsythia is now in full bloom. Well, I’m on a respectable but not very impressive 34 species so far in 2019, with March bumping up the number by 4 species: Robin House Sparrow Jackdaw…

Wild Justice legal challenge in Shooting Times

Wild Justice’s fully-funded legal challenge of the General Licences features on pages 6 and 7 of this week’s Shooting Times. The piece isn’t too bad (although it does contain errors) but notably, as in a piece in Farmers Weekly, neither team of journalists (!) has managed to get a quote from Natural England or Defra…