Vulcan – another missing Hen Harrier, presumed dead. A young male hen harrier has disappeared in suspicious circumstances in Wiltshire and is believed most likely to be dead. The harrier, named Vulcan, was one of five chicks to fledge from a nest in Northumberland last summer. He was fitted with a satellite tag as part…
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Preston
I spoke to an audience of 160 folk in a church in Preston on Monday evening. I enjoyed it. There were some familiar faces in the audience (some raptor workers, some RSPB staff, some birders, some regular readers of and commenters on this blog and some BASC staff). It made the evening more interesting to…
Restoration burning is a myth
An open access paper in Biodiversity and Conservation looks at the burning of blanket bogs. Its Abstract ends with these words, More frequent burning will result in a greater proportion of land in the early post-burning stages, potentially resulting in a thinner moss layer, more bare peat and less healthy Sphagnum, with potential consequences for…
What a laugh!
It must be difficult going in front of a Parliamentary Committee to justify why you should get a job, but that is what the Chair-designate of Natural England has to do. And that’s what birder, fisherman, environmentalist and wildlife enthusiast Tony Juniper did very well yesterday. It’s difficult because you are talking to a small…
Burning continues
Strines Moor on Monday. Walshaw Moor on Monday From Upper Midhope looking across to Shaw Brook and Fenny Common, Peak District on Monday. Walshaw Moor on Tuesday
Guest blog – Toad Rage by Paul Sterry
Dr Paul Sterry has an academic background in freshwater biology and is a passionate conservationist. He has been writing about natural history and photographing wildlife for the last 40 years, with an emphasis on the British scene. Toad Patrol on a busy Hampshire lane. In early spring every year, thousands of toads, frogs and newts…
A spring-like winter bird survey
I was back to my farmland site to do the February visit for the English Winter Farmland Bird Survey on Sunday. It was a sunny day – and actually warmer than some May early mornings when I have surveyed this square for the BBS. There was a lot of bird song and so it felt,…
Countryfile makes a comeback
It is worth watching the piece on moorland burning that went out on Countryfile last night. (Click here from 14mins – 25mins in) There are claims that the system designed to protect [blanket bog] is not fit for purpose https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0002tww/countryfile-gloucestershire Well done to Guy Shrubsole and Friends of the Earth! That dossier of burning on…
Paul Leyland – Swollen-thighed Beetle
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Paul writes: This bright metallic coloured beetle is hard to miss when it’s out in the open. The Swollen-thighed Beetle is one of the many English names it goes by, its Latin name is Oedemera nobilis. Only the males have the swollen thighs but the female shares all the other characteristics, metallic green colour, wing…
Countryfile this evening
Burning of moorland, particularly the newly-invented ‘restoration burning’ of blanket bogs will feature on Countryfile this evening. The observations of burning of blanket bogs featured on this blog formed part of the dossier that was used by Guy Shrubsole and others and which will, I’m guessing, feature in the programme. The blurb for the programme…