Chris Corrigan is CEO of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and has worked in nature conservation for almost 40 years. He spent most of his career with the RSPB, most recently as Director England, but has also worked for BirdWatch Ireland and Butterfly Conservation and is a trustee of the South Georgia Heritage Trust. He is…
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Twelfth Night wildlife round up
Opinions differ as to how and when one ‘should’ take down Christmas decorations, just as they do about how and when one should take down Venezuelan presidents. But on the former I stick to the Twelfth Night rule which gives me an opportunity to have a look at all the Christmas cards that have arrived….
Sunday book review – Pan-species Listing by Graeme Lyons
If your New Year resolution is anything to do with seeing more wildlife, becoming a little better at identifying what you see or getting to the top of the list of individuals who have seen the most species of wildlife in the UK then this book is for you. The author is widely recognised as…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 16 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Guest blog – The Blackcap and the Mistletoe by Nick Brown
The Blackcap and the Mistletoe – a garden experiment pays off. Nick Brown worked for the Wildlife Trust for many years but since retiring has continued his voluntary work helping to run projects on Swifts and urban Peregrines. Nick was also involved in the initial stages of setting up Hen Harrier Days, the first being in…
Lead in Leeds children
This study (which can’t really be that pioneering) is greatly to be welcomed, and indeed is overdue. Some would say, long overdue. See here for details. Blood lead levels in children will be examined in Leeds – apparently a lead hotspot. It’s a shame that the study isn’t a bit more rural in scope and…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 19 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Keir Starmer said what…?
I was listening to BBC R4 PM just now and this is what I heard Keir Starmer say: “Children should be able to go as far as their talent will take them. They shouldn’t have barriers. Poverty is a barrier to children realising their talents and being able to play their full part in the…
This blog’s Book of 2025
I have reviewed 50 books on this blog this year – a wide-ranging varied selection including many high quality works. If you are looking for a Christmas present for a nature-loving naturalist then this list might give you some ideas and I’ve whittled it down to a shortlist of eight books that most impressed me…
Sunday book review – Ghosts of the Farm by Nicola Chester
Nicola Chester writes superbly well and has a close relationship with the natural world. This book takes the area around the author’s home, and where she grew up, and travels back to the 1940s, war time, to describe the rural community then. Much of the detail comes from the diaries of a woman farmer and…