I haven’t written much about my local patch of Stanwick Lakes for a quite a while. You might think I’ve stopped going out birdwatching but, to the extent that anything does, my regular walks around my regular patch are some of the things that keep me sane and reasonably relaxed. I was up at 5am…
BLOG POSTS
Sunday
Sunday was a good day. Its centrepiece was having a delicious lunch to celebrate a close friend’s passing of a landmark. There was good food, good company and good conversation among a group of folk who to all apppearances were good people. To say that we were a group of middle class, middle-aged people from…
5000 blog posts
Since I started this blog in April 2011, 5002 posts have appeared here, attracting over 53,000 comments. That’s quite a lot. Thanks very much to all readers, commenters, photographers, artists and cartoonists. Later this year there will be a two-month break as I will be coming and going over that period, but I’ll let you…
Small steps
1. Early Day Motion 915 praising brood-meddling has not gathered any further support! In fact it is worse than that for its proposers, a Labour MP added his name and then removed it! So we see an EDM on the actions of NE and Defra whose only supporters are four DUP MPs and one SNP…
Politicians aren’t speechless – but aren’t saying much
David Davis made a speech the other day which was supposed to reassure somebody or other that we aren’t heading to a Mad Max future without laws and rules. Here’s the speech – very light, and very unreassuring, on environmental protection. Mr Davis passed the buck on the environment to Michael Gove with his ‘……
Wuthering moors (62) – this deep!
Here are some images of the proposed path of the track across Walshaw Moor: all taken at the weekend by the wonderful Bob Berzins. Bob tells me ‘It is all deep peat up there and has a great wilderness feel. There is very little sign of vehicles being used so far. It would be…
Wuthering moors (61) – Natural England – how deep have you sunk?
Dear Natural England, You know that ‘Catchment Restoration Plan’ that you signed with Walshaw Moor Estate? You know? This one. Yeh? The one with the new track? This new track? Yeh? The new track with the measurements of peat depth along its length? Before you signed off this joint plan – you…
We are 18,900 signatures ahead
The supporters of a ban on driven grouse shooting, are now 18,900 signatures ahead of the forces of conservatism who wish this unsustainable hobby of shooting birds for fun and profit to continue. But it’s not quite as simple as that, as there are three e-petitions including Ed Hutchings’s e-petition, supported by the RSPB, which…
Guest blog – An end to Peak pessimism by Alex Lees
Alex Lees is a lecturer in biodiversity at Manchester Metropolitan University and lives in the Peak District. Twitter: @Alexander_Lees Towards a wilder future – an end to Peak pessimism? Story 1. Nearly three decades ago I visited mid Wales on a family holiday. It was a successful quest for…
George Monbiot backing the ban on driven grouse shooting
George Monbiot’s Twitter account, @GeorgeMonbiot, is echoing the feelings of many readers of this blog when he comes out strongly in support of a ban on driven grouse shooting. And as a result of widespread support after Fred the eagle took to the seas, some Twitter activity by Chris Packham and George Monbiot’s intervention,…