I’ll be talking to what I am told is a sell-out crowd of around 100 people in Glossop on Tuesday evening. My message will be that we should ban driven grouse shooting. In the last couple of weeks I have spoken to a crowd of Cambridge undergraduates (c50 folk), my local RSPB group (c100 people),…
BLOG POSTS
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Dear Mr Pursglove
Happy New Year! This is quite a long communication, so I have structured it into three sections: things I’d like you to know as my MP (and my contribution to your Listening to Corby and east Northants campaign), things I’d like to ask you (not the government – you) as my MP, and things I…
Losses
There is what now seems a rather poignant review of Martin Garner’s Birding Frontiers Challenge Series: Winter in the February British Birds. Martin passed away, after a long illness, last week. Here are some last thoughts from Martin. And a link to the Birding Frontiers website. The same BB has an obituary of Norman Moore…
‘More birds of prey illegally killed in the Peak District National Park’
The headline says it all: ‘Reward offered as more birds of prey are illegally killed in the Peak District National Park’. Amongst many press releases issued yesterday by Derbyshire Police, between a couple dealing with illegal off-roading in the Dales and romance fraud, Derbyshire Police and RSPB offered £1000 for information on yet more birds…
HHs in BB – time for the Royals to speak out.
There is an excellent paper in British Birds – there often is. But the February BB has ‘The past, current and potential status of breeding Hen Harriers in North-east Scotland’ by Graham Rebecca, Brian Cosnette, Jim Craib, Alistair Duncan, Brian Etheridge, Ian Frnacis, Jon Hardey, Alastair Pout and Logan Steele. It’s a very good local…
Natural England looks for a scientist
The Natural England Board is looking for a scientist. This type of role might once have looked quite attractive when Natural England was seen as an organisation that worked hard for the conservation of nature, but is now far less attractive when it is difficult to see Natural England as anything other than a rather…
Back to normal?
After the run-in to the end of the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting (which keeps edging upwards, but stands at 33,647 signatures), and a week of blogs about lead, it’s time to get back to normal (for a while). January was, however, a record month for this blog, with a record number of unique…
Lead Week, 22 #Pbweekmia
This is Lead Week on this blog. Here’s a summary of points made by this blog, this week, on the subject of lead in food. I spent a considerable chunk of my life as a scientist so I am reasonably happy reading the scientific evidence on this subject although some of it is certainly unfamiliar…
Quite surprising really
That was fun – and surprisingly rich in birds. Final tally: Reed Bunting 2 Blackbird 3 Chaffinch 3 Great Tit 1 House Sparrow 7 Greenfinch 10 Starling 10 Woodpigeon 1 Dunnock 2 Goldfinch 3 Blue Tit 2 Robin 1 Collared Dove 2 I’ve just checked last year’s results – amazingly similar! Last year the species…