Ian Parsons spent twenty years working as a Ranger with the Forestry Commission, where he not only worked with birds of prey and dormice, but where he developed his passion for trees (see his previous guest blog). Now a freelance writer, Ian runs his own specialist bird tour company leading tours to Extremadura. For more…
BLOG POSTS
It’s not a gas!
Nearly three weeks ago I wrote a blog about Ecotricity‘s plans to produce gas from grass – I wasn’t very impressed by them. A few day’s ago a comment appeared on that post from Almuth Ernsting: ‘I’ve just written a short report about Ecotricity’s ‘green gas from grass’ plans for Biofuelwatch (before coming across this…
Fare well planet Earth
Planet Earth 2 ended last night with a programme on urban wildlife – it was brilliant, as we have come to expect. Leopards catching pigs in the city at night – wow! Pigeons getting eaten by Catfish and Peregrines – wow! And it allowed some messages about how our species lives with other species on…
A troubling subject
The 1970s were when I turned from a child into a man, passing through an all-boys grammar school and then on to university and earning a living. From what we know now, this was a dangerous period with sexually predatory men in politics, entertainment, sport and the Catholic church but this all passed me by…
Reviews of Remarkable Birds
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John Lewis-Stempel makes Remarkable Birds a The Times book of the year for 2016, ‘Avery’s pen portraits are exquisite, as are the hundreds of accompanying antique paintings and drawings by the likes of Audubon and Thornton. The book is like holding gold or jewels. I cannot put it down‘ – full review Robert Tanitch, Mature…
Tim Melling – Northern Brown Argus
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Tim writes: The Northern Brown Argus occurs across northern Europe and the mountains further south but the form that occurs in Scotland occurs nowhere else. This beautiful (and little-photographed) form has a white spot on the forewing and the under side spots are white without black centres. These features are controlled by a single recessive…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Guest blog – On natural beauty, a cautionary tale by Andrew Painting.
Andrew Painting, 27, is an ecologist working in the Scottish highlands. He studies human/environment relations at Aberdeen University, and occasionally writes about environmental issues. Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life Oscar Wilde, ‘The Decay of Lying‘ A few days ago I was out on the moor and I saw an exquisite little…
Bird flu panic
If you are a poultry farmer with thousands of turkeys, or if you have a couple of hens in your garden, they need to be housed for the next month according to Defra (and the Welsh and Scottish governments too, but not Northern Ireland) to avoid encountering ‘wild birds’ carrying a new strain of bird…
Guest blog – Bag Charge by Janice Hume
Janice writes: I am a bookseller by trade, currently manager of a branch of Waterstones. My passion for books is more than matched by my passion for wildlife and wild places. Bag charge It’s a year since the Government imposed a small charge on single use plastic bags and in my experience on the…