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This how DEFRA explains its position on legislation to end burning on deep peat – it should be on all peat, just as the Committee on Climate Change recommended. 54% of pre-existing consents to burn remain – that means that only about a half of landowners have agreed voluntarily to any change. You may remember…

I’ve praised Guy Shrubsole’s adroitness with the information request before – here are some more products of the information requester’s art. As a start, there is more to come, I’ll post here three letters between the Moorland Association and DEFRA from last late summer. They all relate to burning of heather as part of the…

This statement from a bunch of land owning, land managing and shooting organisations is to be welcomed but not praised. After years of hindering progress these ultra-conservative bodies have bowed to the inevitable and said they want (not that they will ensure) an end to lead ammunition use on live quarry within five years. It’s…

Can you recognise the bird above – it’s already on my list although the examples I have seen were all in fresher plumage because this is a 46,000 year old bird found preserved in Siberian permafrost. It’s actually a Horned Lark (or a Shore Lark, or maybe something a bit different and earlier than either…

I caught Tweet of the Day this morning just before making the tea and listening, briefly, for bird song (a lovely Song Thrush). Today’s presenter was Michael Morpurgo and his bird was the Magpie – listen here on BBC iPlayer. It was a refreshingly different take on things, unless it was meant seriously. While looking…