Tim writes: The Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a medium-sized lagomorph (c140g) that occurs mainly on the high desert plateaux of China, but also in Tibet, Pakistan, India and Nepal. They look a bit like Gerbils but are in the same family as rabbits and hares, but have oddly human ears. It gets really cold…
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Happy Solstice!
The shortest day of the year (more or less) – so what could be better than seeing lots of Hen Harriers? Well, ‘lots’ might be difficult, given where I live, but actually, at my local patch of Stanwick Lakes. There has been an adult (probably 2nd winter) male Hen Harrier seen off and on for…
Wildlife NGOs call for protected status for Scottish Beavers.
Adult European Beaver at Knapdale. Photo: Steve Gardner A number of leading Scottish wildlife charities and individuals with an interest in conservation have signed an open letter to the First Minister, published in The Guardian today (Friday 21 December) calling for a firm date to be set on granting European Protected Species status to beavers…
Icelandic whaling update
An update on Icelandic whaling: Náttúruverndarsamtök Íslands (a bit like our Wildlife Trusts) has made a formal complaint regarding cruel methods of hunting and has asked for a criminal investigation into whether animal welfare laws have been broken. They’re basing their arguments on photos taken by Sea Shepherd showing multiple harpoon wounds.
Be kind to One Kind
I was saddened to see this – not a great way to head in to Christmas! To be kind to One Kind click here and please drop them a few quid. My £10 plus Gift Aid is already committed – please join me, thank you.
Lead-free venison from Scotland
I have written before about how those in charge of our state forests are leading on taking out the lead (Pb) from ammunition. FC England were definitely in the lead (see here) but FC Scotand were not far behind (see here). Here is the Forest Enterprise Scotland position on use of lead ammunition – Waitrose…
Killing birds – the NRW case
There has been quite a lot of recent media interest in the data that have come to light through Freedom of Information Act requests to statutory nature consevation agencies in England, Scotland and Wales and published on the blog of Jason Endfield. He and others have done a good job in throwing some light on…
RSPB response to draft environment bill
Today Defra has published its draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill. The RSPB is not impressed. The RSPB’s Director of Conservation, Martin Harper said, ‘We welcome the steps taken by Government to give the proposed green watchdog more teeth; but it still falls short of the body we will need if we are to fill…
Waitrose – are you BTO members?
Waitrose is still selling game meat to the public weeks after being told that the health warning it is displaying is inaccurate. For a leading supermarket which claims high environmental credentials for itself, it is behaving badly. What Waitrose claims on its website … … and it’s a bit difficult to see how selling game…