In a statement on the parlous GOV.UK website, Natural England commented on the loss of a fifth male Hen Harrier from an English nest this summer. Rob Cooke, Natural England’s Director of Terrestrial Biodiversity said: The sudden loss of so many birds is of great concern and something that England’s fragile breeding hen harrier population…
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The media coverage of the Hen Harrier today
As predicted in my morning blog, the plight of the Hen Harrier has been given plenty of publicity in the coverage of the results of the national bird vote (won by the Robin). These are two examples that were easy to find – there will be others, no doubt. The Guardian quotes David Lindo and…
A great victory for the Hen Harrier
The Hen Harrier came a glorious ninth in the poll for our national bird – left fluttering in the wake of the Robin and a host of other species, but edging ahead of the Puffin (which must be gutted!). It’s enough to set us all off on a sky-dance! It was remarkable that the Hen…
Robin breasts the tape first
Congratulations to the Robin! The winner of the vote for the national bird (whatever that means!). And congratulations to David Lindo for organising such a fun poll – and look out for a review of his new book here on Sunday. What does it mean that the Robin is our national bird? Well, first of…
Coming up soon on Springwatch unsprung
…the results of the vote for a national bird – on BBC2 at 9pm. Will Henry the Hen Harrier win? I would somehow doubt it! Getting into the final ten is quite an achievement for a lovelorn six-foot Hen Harrier. If the Hen Harrier comes higher than tenth it will be an enormous achievement. And…
Henry – Lanarking about
We’re back in Scotland! I’m fairly sure Lanarkshire is in Scotland but I don’t know much about it. And it seems that Henry will be safe and sound – as far as driving is concerned anyway. There’s a bit of grouse moor in the background. Henry may have to go and have a look over…
That hedge again
Last year I wrote a few blogs about a puzzling hedge (see here, here, here). The resolution to the puzzle was that a farmer had driven down the road with his spray still on and had, accidentally, sprayed over a mile of roadside hedge. I had a look at the hedge a couple of days…
Henry at Geltsdale – the only grey in the village?
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Henry called in at Geltsdale a while ago – he said he thought that he was the only grey male in the village. I don’t know quite what he was on about. Here is Henry looking intently at the interpretation boards in the car park. He also met a very cheery postman and some…
Four things that I share with Stephen Tindale
I can think of four things that I share with Stephen Tindale, the former boss of Greenpeace (and former Special Advisor to Michael Meacher). They are: 1. This blog – as Stephen wrote a Guest Blog about the EU here back in February. 2. A belief that nuclear energy should play a part in our…
Did you just try to post a ‘two names’ comment here?
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A little while ago (this evening) someone tried to post a very interesting comment on this blog. He named a couple of grouse moor managers and said a lot of interesting things. The comment might have been libellous – but a light edit might have made it non-libellous. I contacted the author of the comment…