I’ve been driving around a lot over the last week and you see things as you travel. I’ve seen moor-burning on or near Walshaw Moor, I’ve seen a rutting Red Deer stag with a harem of hinds near Otley, I’ve seen Red Kites in several places where they wouldn’t have been in the fairly recent…
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Thank you Tim Bonner, Andy Richardson and Chris Packham
When the Countryside Alliance called for the BBC to sack Chris Packham a guy called Andy Richardson started an e-petition asking for the same here. You can still sign it if you really want to add your name to the 2768 names already there. But then a ‘Don’t sack Chris Packham’ e-petition sprang up –…
Last chance for Big Match Fortnight for World Land Trust
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During Big Match Fortnight, which ends tomorrow 15 October, any money you and I donate to the excellent World Land Trust will be matched by kind donors up to a limit of £250,000 – so ‘our’ £250k turns into £500k – simples! Why not stump up some cash now – please? I have.
22,399 signatures
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A strange-looking milestone perhaps… But last year this was the number of signatures gathered by my (our) previous e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. That one was launched in late May 2014 and lasted until the beginning of the general election campaign in late March 2015. This year we have reached the same milestone, not…
Guest blog – Puppet Sex and Stanley Johnson by Lyn Ebbs
By education and training I am a microbiologist and worked in the NHS and biotech sector. I finished my working career in clinical research and patient safety in the pharmaceutical industry, so am a firm believer in evidence-based science. I’ve been a member of the RSPB for many years and started volunteering for them when…
Feeling batty?
Speak out for Mauritius fruit bats which are facing an unscientific cull. There is little evidence of economic harm; there is little certainty of the bat population size (it’s probably smaller than thought); there are much better alternatives which will increase fruit yields. See what the Mauritian Wildlife Fund say about the proposed cull…
Looking forward to speaking…
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I’m heading back ‘oop north’ tomorrow. Having spoken at the Ilkley Literature Festival on Saturday (hope to write a few words about that soon – but it was fun!) I’ll be quite nearby at the Geography Department in Leeds University tomorrow lunchtime (Garstang level 8 seminar room) and then at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club…
Intensification of grouse moor management in Scotland
Today the League Against Cruel Sports publish a report by Andy Wightman (land ownership expert) and Ruth Tingay (raptor expert) on Scottish grouse moors. It seems, to me, to be a bit of a departure for LACS as its full of rather dry facts – dry, that is, until you put them all together in…
The Woodland Trust discovers cuddly mammals
Look what came through the post the other day. Shall we now see the Woodland Trust campaigning to protect the Dormice of Fineshade Wood?
Inaction speaks louder than words
The most remarkable aspect of the preliminary results of the 2014 national Peregrine survey (organised by the BTO but I read about it here) is that the UK population of this species has hardly changed in 12 years – a 3% increase since 2002. The last Peregrine I saw was a couple of weeks ago…