Standing up for Nature
Tim writes: It is a myth that the name Red Admiral is a corruption of Red Admirable. The earliest recorded use of Red Admiral was posthumously by Thomas Moffet in 1634 (Moffat died in 1604 so the name must have been in use by the early seventeenth century). The name Admirable was first used…
The Velvet Shank is unusual amongst fungi in that it is a true winter species, thriving in the coldest and darkest months of the year. It is named after the velvety texture of the stems, ‘shank’ here referring to these rather than the more usual meaning of ‘leg’ – as in Redshank for example. The…
Happy New Year! This blog had a quieter year in 2017 compared with 2016 – 880k pageviews compared with 1.2m pageviews – but that was to be expected. It does represent over 2000 pageviews/day every day of the year and I know that the readership includes politicians, journalists, conservation professionals and some normal people too….
Oscar writes: This is another image from Richmond Park, taken towards the end of September. It had been a cold night, so frost covered the ground, and I saw these three deer standing where I could get the flats in the background. Luckily they all kept the same pose for a while, giving me time…
I welcome guest blogs here – they provide a change of pace, a change of perspective and the possibility that different issues will emerge. Thank you to all who have taken up the offer and written a guest blog. In 2017 there have been 53 of them. Guest blogs here by Birding for All, WWT…
I sometimes think that this blog only writes about banning driven grouse shooting – important though that is to me, it is not the only thing in the world. But looking back over the year and the blogs I have written myself, there is a fair amount of variety. Here are some blogs, one from…
Thanks to Ian Carter, this blog has reviewed more books than ever in 2017 – I think there were 37 in all. For a change I have simply chosen my favourite three books of the year here. A favourite book is a very personal choice. These then are my personal choices but I have expanded…
Tim writes: Although Little Owls look totally at home in Britain they are a nineteenth century introduction that had never been recorded here historically (not even as bones or fossils). The first attempt at establishing Little Owls in Britain was actually in Yorkshire at Walton Park near Wakefield in 1834 when Charles Waterton released five…
Thank you to Paul Thomas for providing a regular weekly cartoon on the Unreliable History of Birdwatching here this year. Here are just a few of my favourites. This is Paul’s website.
The Daily Telegraph today. Findlay Wilde’s blog of 4 December. Well done Findlay! You have made it to ‘activist’ in the national press – only a couple of steps to go to get to ‘eco-zealot’. An unnamed MP – what odds would you give that it was Simon Hart (ex chief exec and well-paid…