This post exposes the worthlessness of Defra’s/NE’s formal agreements with grouse moor managers in the matter of burning of vegetation of blanket bogs. Introduction: Grouse moor managers want to burn our uplands to blazes in order to maximise the habitat quality for Red Grouse – the shooting of which can be sold at high prices…
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Paul Leyland – Figwort Sawfly
Lots of insects love to imitate wasps, for the protection it gives them. This one is no exception, it wasn’t until I noticed the lack of a “wasp waist” that I could tell it was a sawfly. Sawflies belong to the same Order as wasps and bees, Hymenoptera, but one of the main differences, apart…
Sunday book review – The Seabird’s Cry by Adam Nicholson
Reviewed by Ian Carter Adam Nicolson’s father bought the Shiant Isles in the Hebrides when he was twenty: £1,300 for 500 acres including a rat-infested bothy and, at the right time of year, no small number of breeding seabirds. We are told he loved the place more than anywhere else in the world, a love…
Tim Melling – Linnet
Tim writes: there has been a widespread Linnet decline across Europe since 1980 but the decline in Britain started in the late 1960s. It has always been a bird dependent on arable land but changes to farming practice have taken their toll. Increasing specialisation from mixed farming resulted in many “agriculturally-unnecessary” hedgerows being removed, depriving…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
A response from NE
Here is the link to the NE Enquiry Service. On the face of it, it looks like I may have been misinformed, or, in other words, I was wrong. But, it pays to check the wording carefully. Answer 2 seems to say that there is a more accurate or up to date dataset being finalised. …
Red Kites in November
I’m keeping a note of whether I see Red Kites on each day through the year – the November tally was 18 days out of 30. January: 22 days out of 31. February: 24 days out of 28. March: 26 days out of 31. April: 20 days out of 30. May: 7 days out of…
#peoplesmanifestoforwildlife – MP responses
Thank you if you have already written to your MP about the Manifesto for Wildlife. If you haven’t got around to it yet then do please give it a go – here is some information and advice. Responses are still coming in from MPs – and I expect them to do so for many weeks…
In a week’s time – how will I feel?
In a week’s time our judicial review hearing will be over and we will be guessing what the judge made of it. At the moment we are guessing who the judge will be and we may not hear until the day before the hearing. We are also guessing as to exactly the format of the…
Extinction Rebellion – what do you think?
Extinction Rebellion is a new people’s protest movement. Here is their website. Here is what people are saying about them: Extinction Rebellion: from the UK to Ghana Ecologis Can protest groups like Extinction Rebellion really police themselves? New Statesman The climate crisis demands more than blocking roads, Extinction Rebellion Guardian Extinction Rebellion protest: Police make…