Standing up for Nature
There’s a very nice short review of… …by David Cobham, the author of… …reviewed here. Have a look at what David writes and then you might want to buy both of our books? A Sparrowhawk’s Lament by David Cobham (illustrated by Bruce Pearson) is published by Princeton University Press. Inglorious – conflict in the uplands…
I’m on the Council of the excellent World Land Trust and I’d like to ask you to support them with a donation in the next two weeks. During Big Match Fortnight (1-15 October) any money you and I donate will be matched by kind donors up to a limit of £250,000 – so ‘our’ £250k…
I was pleased to see this in the Scottish Green Party newsletter, referring to shooting estates which are, apparently, ‘ecological slums’. But it was also very good to see Coignafearn, Glen Tanar and Glen Feshie singled out as examples of much better practice. Apparently there will be a motion put to the party conference in…
Sunday was a lovely day. I did some work in the morning and then listened to Desert Island Discs as I set off to go blackberrying. The blackberries were sweet and easy to pick. A Speckled Wood accompanied me along the hedgerow for a while – we both enjoyed the sunshine. A party of Long-tailed…
Chris Bowden is RSPB’s Globally Threatened Species Officer, and Programme Manager of the consortium of ‘SAVE’ partners – Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction. Chris has worked for RSPB on various threatened species, (after his Woodlark and Nightjar research days on Thetford Forest), notably the Northern Bald Ibis based in Morocco (for which he still…
I revisited the aforementioned jitty (snicket, ten-foot, twitchel, ginnel, loanen or loaney (see comments on previous blog)) on another sunny day. The ivy flowers were buzzing with insects but this time, instead of nipping past (to catch the post) with my mouth closed and my eyes narrowed to avoid swallowing any insects, I stopped to…
I had a lovely Sunday – I’ll tell you about it some time – but I was a bit irritated at around 0950 on Radio 4. I don’t think I could be a vegetarian, although I do go meat-free for four days each week, and have done for about seven years now, and I certainly…
Dear Mark Thanks for your email regarding our work on lead. We agree that there is clear and compelling evidence of the impact of lead ammunition on wildlife, as well as on human health, which is why our organisations support a ban. As you know and acknowledged in your blog, both our organisations (along with…
Dear [Natural England] I wish to complain about the information that you sent me in response to this request (RFI 3031). I request an internal review by NE of whether it has discharged its obligations under EIR. Specifically, the paper NEB 49 13 is heavily redacted and contains little information about how the ‘Gate Zero’…
And in case any readers of this blog think that site designations do not matter too much, I hear of a flower-rich meadow which is in the proposed (for a long time) West Pennine Moors Site of Special Scientific Interest that is now destroyed and has a barn built on it. As a local has…