Sunday book review – Land Healer by Jake Fiennes

  This is a very fine book which will, deservedly, be in many lists of ‘books of the year’ for 2022, including in my own. For it deals with important issues and it is very well written. Also, it is in many ways based on three legs, appropriately enough for an ex-gamekeeper, of knowing much…

NEWS – Hen Harriers with Bird Flu on the moors

The impact of bird flu on wild birds is seen to be growing, even though the governments across the UK are proving to be pretty useless in having a view on this important conservation issue.  Much of the impact this summer has been seen in seabird colonies such as gannetries and tern colonies (eg see…

Latest BBS report from BTO/JNCC/RSPB

The latest excellent BBS (and WBBS) report arrived through my letterbox last week. It’s a concise and beautiful report which is a model of comprehensible summary of somewhat complex data. If you want to know how a wide variety of commoner and widespread birds are faring in the UK, and often in individual nations or…

Sunday book review – Birds, Beasts and Bedlam by Derek Gow

A very enjoyable read – Derek Gow has good stories galore and not only are they good stories, but he tells them very well.  We learn quite a lot about Derek’s past, including his early jobs – an interesting mixture. But much of this book is about keeping animals in captivity, often for conservation purposes,…