I bet you immediately knew where the A’Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland is didn’t you? It’s where we might build a UK space port. It is described as a remote boggy stretch of land by the BBC, The site may initially host rocket and satellite launches but commercial passenger travel could then follow according to the…
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Thunderous Mr Wilde
The thunderous Findlay Wilde has a thunderclap going. It will go out on 12 August, the Inglorious 12th, a while before he gets his GCSE results! It seems as though Findlay has been around for ages, he’s an established figure – an established figure and he hasn’t got to the sixth form yet. Well…
Paul Leyland – Ruby-tailed Wasp
This beautifully coloured wasp usually appears at this time of year exploring the bee hotel in my garden. Ruby-tailed Wasps, also called Jewell Wasps, parasitize the nests of solitary bees and wasps. The female enters the host’s nest and lays an egg in each cell, the lava will then eat the egg or young larva…
Wild food (40) – Raspberry
Having completed almost a full year of local gleaning and browsing I thought I’d round off this series with one of the best of all wild foods – one that can be found widely, if rather sparsely, across most of the country. If they are not quite a match for the taste of wild strawberries…
Sunday book review – The Knowledge by GWCT
It was very sporting of GWCT to send me a copy of this book to review (I had to ask, but they sent it very quickly). Readers of this blog may well have their own copies of this book already but I thought it worth a brief review for those whose bookshelves lack it at…
Tim Melling – Hawk Owl
This is a Hawk Owl landing in a tree top in Sweden that I took in May this year. They occur at low density in the boreal forest zone right across Europe, Siberia and North America. I think that they are the only owl that is most active during the daytime. Other daytime owls are…
National Parks in British Wildlife
Comments Off on National Parks in British Wildlife
My column, Naturally Opinionated, in the August British Wildlife is about National Parks. It should drop through your letterboxes around 18 August – subscribe here. More on this subject when the magazine is out.
Hen Harrier Day at Grassington
Full details of the North of England Raptor Forum Hen Harrier Day event – a catchily-titled Raptor Persecution Awareness Open-Day – are now published. There is no need to get a ticket and no need to book – so just come along between 10am and 2pm on Saturday 11 August. That’s probably where I’ll…
Quatorze et quinze juillet?
Ralph Underhill is on holiday. It’s a good job that none of us is the least bit interested in football isn’t it? When France win tomorrow maybe that nice M. Macron will announce that the quinze juillet will forever more be fused with the quatorze juillet to form a deux-jours holiday. At least we (some…
Now, don’t lose your rag over this, please.
That there is a link between lead exposure and violent crime has been known for quite a l0ng time, and is the subject of some quite extraordinary correlations between removal of lead from petrol and reduction in violent crime rates across the globe, backed up by plenty of studies that illuminate the potential causal links….