I know that quite a few people are hoping that they receive A Message from Martha as a Christmas present. Please don’t let them be disappointed… It was nice (for me anyway) to see that A Message from Martha was listed by Stephen Moss in the Guardian as one of the best examples of nature…
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Just someone’s anecdote
You remember that the NFU President was quoted by Farmers Weekly as saying that there are ‘10 times more ground-nesting birds in the Gloucestershire area since the cull started‘? Well, I ‘phoned up the NFU Press Office and what sounded like a nice young man told me that this was based on anecdotal evidence. No,…
Quiz results
I set you a quiz and none of you won! But thank you for playing – I hope it was a bit of fun. These were your commonest (very sensible) but incorrect selections, with some comments from me: Coal Tit – I had to check that I hadn’t missed it off by accident! But no…
Pheasant worship
I was sent this photo by a reader of this blog. It comes from ‘An Illustrated Manual of British Birds’ by Howard Saunders (1889) :- ‘As regards the British Islands, the epithet “common” is annually becoming less and less applicable to this species; but there are wild and wooded districts in England – especially…
BASC and Moorland Association are uncharitable
It is difficult to believe, and I don’t believe, that BASC and the Moorland Association aren’t putting out misleading information about grouse moors to MPs (see my analysis of their ‘misinfographic’ here). I contacted both BASC and the Moorland Association to ask them whether they stood by every word of their information the other day….
Be there online
Next Tuesday’s Rally for Nature is just about full – physically full. If you want to attend the speeches etc then you will have to get a move on and register very soon to avoid disappointment. However, you can still email your MP and tell them and their political party to do more for wildlife….
Last chance
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Today’s the last chance to have a go at this simple little quiz. Any entries to be posted as comments on this blog by 10pm. Which five species of bird have I seen over the years at Stanwick Lakes and omitted from the list? A signed copy of A Message from Martha or…
Vaccination of badgers
The good thing about this strange statement from the NFU is that they are wanting more vaccination of badgers. One of the strange things is that they seem to think that it is the job of wildlife charities to provide it rather than their own industry or government. This represents, it appears, quite a lurch…
Guest Blog – Of nests and nets by Dave Leech (BTO)
Dr Dave Leech is a Senior Research Ecologist at BTO, where I oversee the Nest Record Scheme (NRS) and the two standardised ringing projects, the Constant Effort Site (CES) scheme and the Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) scheme. My job involves developing survey methodology, analysing data and communicating the results to volunteers and the general…