This book is one of a series of Little Books which are little books but they pack a big punch. They will remind many readers of Observer books because they are a similar size, but don’t let the small dimensions make you think that these books are lightweights. Not at all. This volume (I will…
BLOG POSTS
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 54 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Guest blog – Badger killing: is there a better way? Alick Simmons
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. He lives in Somerset. He has written seven previous guest blogs here – click here. His Twitter handle: @alicksimmons One element of the government’s 2013-2038 strategy – click here – to eliminate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) from the cattle herd (in England) is widespread, officially-sanctioned, privately-funded badger killing….
Sunday book review – Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie
This is a very good book and a much needed antidote to the confident prognostications of doom and gloom. Sometimes I think it is slightly over optimistic, because the future does strike me as pretty worrying, but without hope for a better, or at least less apocalyptic, future, then there is little incentive to take…
Sunday book review – Another England by Caroline Lucas
It’s difficult being English, and Caroline Lucas has written a helpful book for the English to find their way and for the Irish, Welsh and Scots to cut us all a bit of slack. Being English is not necessarily being a racist skinhead with a cross of St George tattoo. What is the left…
Sunday book review – The Little Book of Butterflies by Andrei and Alexandra Sourakov
This book is one of a series of Little Books which are little books but they pack a big punch. They will remind many readers of Observer books because they are a similar size, but don’t let the small dimensions make you think that these books are lightweights. Not at all. This volume (I will…
Being a conservation investor, 3 – the National Trust brushes me off
My book, Reflections, suggests that we should all see ourselves as investors in wildlife conservation when we spend our money on donations, merchandise or memberships with wildlife non-governmental organisations – and see this recent blog post. I wrote to The National Trust on 16 March asking them for information that I would consider when making…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 58 by Nick Mackinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
What to think about Hen Harrier numbers
To make sense of the figures for 2023 UK Hen Harrier numbers, released today by RSPB, they need to be seen in context. There are five important contextual considerations. There are pretty good estimates of how many pairs of Hen Harriers could exist in different parts of the UK in the absence of illegal persecution…
RSPB press release – UK Hen Harrier survey results
Hen Harrier survey results 2023: Numbers improve, but much more to be done Numbers of one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey, the Hen Harrier, are increasing across the UK, but their future still hangs in the balance according to a new survey. Results of the 2023 Hen Harrier survey have been released, which…