I sometimes wonder how many New Naturalists are read rather than collected as an investment – well this one should be read. Ian Newton has never produced a duff book – his works are characterised by clarity and suffused by a deep knowledge of the biology of the subjects on which he writes. This one…
BLOG POSTS
Bird Fair books – review – ReWild: the art of returning to nature by Nick Baker
Reviewed by Ian Carter This new book is not about the Monbiot version of re-wilding but its personal equivalent – the ‘re-wilding of the soul’ rather than the landscape. Lynx, Wolves and Beavers do get a few mentions but it is much more about what people can do to get closer to nature in everyday…
Bird Fair books – review – The Art of Mindful Birdwatching by Claire Thompson
If, like me, you’ve heard quite a lot about mindfulness but don’t really know what it is, and if, like me, you are interested in birds, then this might well be the book for you. I found it interesting and read it all the way through. This book is a bit like most management courses…
Bird Fair books – review – Bird Photographer of the Year
This review has no spoilers about the winners – you will first find out about them at the Bird Fair on Saturday at 4:15 in the Events Marquee with Chris Packham. I was one of the judges for this competition, despite knowing little about photography. Of course we made perfect, finely-honed decisions about the…
Writing competition – reminder
Writing competition – write a book review of George Monbiot’s Feral Last year this blog held a writing competition which produced some excellent articles (including this winner in the Wildlife and Politics category by Kerri ni Dochartaigh). I have some ideas for further writing competitions and this is the first one. Write a book review…
Rattled of Peak District
An everyday story of shooting folk? Some fell-runners were enjoying a run around part of the Dark Peak one day in the middle of last week. When they returned to the Strines Inn a gamekeeper who identified himself as being from a particular shooting estate approached the runners in the pub car park. The gamekeeper…
Grouse shooters – your time is running out
Patrick Barkham in the Guardian today. ‘Grouse shooting has survived so far because big landowners can ignore sea changes in public opinion. But politicians cannot.‘ ‘As grouse shooting becomes socially toxic, businesses will also shy away. And the lavish subsidies pocketed by grouse moor owners will vanish with Brexit.’ …and more. Please read it…
Response from NE – Bowland Gull Cull 3
Well! I suppose I might accept their answer to the first question – I don’t want adversely to affect the course of justice, do I? But either NE have or haven’t given a consent… As far as the second answer is concerned (in the course of completion) – I don’t really believe…
It’s been a really bad few days for the grouse shooters (9)
Yes, it’s been a really bad few days for the grouse shooters Bad days (1), Bad days (2), Bad days (3), Bad days (4), Bad days (5), Bad days (6), Bad days (7), Bad days (8). And added to all that, there were the recent results of the 2016 Hen Harrier survey which showed a further…
It’s been a really bad few days for the grouse shooters (8)
The poll on whether grouse shooting should be banned (Banned remember! Not better regulated – the whole nine yards of banning) in the Yorkshire Post (the Yorkshire Post – not the Islington Post) is neatly poised at close to 50:50 after more than 10,000 votes. In fact, not banning it was a smidgeon (second use…