I was delivering leaflets for Beth Miller, the Labour Party Candidate for Corby over the weekend. And, by the way, I was right that Jeremy Corbyn isn’t on the leaflet, and nor is there an environmental content to it. But I was wrong that I wasn’t going to be inspired by it – having seen…
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House Martins – it looks like a poor year
One of the problems of not having been in the UK for about a month this spring is that I have not seen spring build as I normally do. And I am still catching up. The few pairs of House Martins in my street aren’t there this year. And there aren’t any just around the…
The manifestos
I’ve reviewed the environmental content of the Greens, Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems on this blog. The Conservative manifesto is easily, by far, the weakest on environmental issues despite the fact that President May called this election and the party has been in government for the past seven years. I gave the Greens, Labour and…
SNP still the tartan Tories?
The SNP is in government in Scotland and claims to be the real opposition to the Conservative Party in Westminster. Why has the SNP dragged its feet over addressing raptor persecution in Scotland and why did it not take a more useful part in the debate over driven grouse shooting down south? Only the SNP…
Election comment 4 – Fineshade wood
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Local politicians have generally been very supportive of the local and national opposition to the plans to wreck Fineshade Wood by building holiday chalets on this wildlife-rich site (for previous blogs see: Dear Mr Pursglove, 6 May 2016; Fineshade Wood should be an SSSI, 15 April 2016; Fineshade Wood should be an SSSI, 28 March…
Election comment 3 – compare and contrast
Here is an exam question for a politics course – and some notes to help you answer it. Q: compare and contrast the winter fuel payments to pensioners with CAP payments to farmers. Some notes to help your revision: similar annual sums of money are involved – around £2bn per annum all pensioners are eligible…
Liberal Democrat party manifesto
The Liberal Democrat Party manifesto has been consistently good on the environment for many years – how does this one shape up? Here are my thoughts on likes and gripes (restricted to the environmental issues): Good things: ‘when the terms of our future relationship with the EU have been negotiated (over the next two…
Sunday book review – The Butterflies of Sussex by Michael Blencowe and Neil Hulme
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This is a superb book and of interest to a much wider audience than those who are lucky enough to live in the butterfly-rich county of Sussex. The photographs are wonderful, the text is interesting, the graphics are intelligible and the data are voluminous. Everyone involved with this book deserves to feel proud; and to…
Tim Melling – Lanner
Lanner Falcons are scarce breeding birds in Europe but they are more numerous in sub-Saharan Africa. So it was a species I was hoping to see and photograph in Ethiopia but I got better than I could have hoped for. This male was flying round at eye-level in the morning sunshine with steep nesting cliffs…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (8) by Paul Thomas
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