I have a great affection for Birdwatch magazine. First, they pay me to sound off about whatever is on my mind at the time and that is just completely lovely of them! Second, they put a Hen Harrier on the cover of the August issue with the headline ‘Stop killing our harriers’ and have been…
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A little Stanwick bird quiz – and there’s a prize.
I’ve seen 154 species at my local patch of Stanwick Lakes since I started using Birdtrack in 2004. Here are 149 of them. Which are the missing five? Mute Swan Whooper Swan Pink-footed Goose White-fronted Goose Greylag Goose Canada Goose Shelduck Wigeon Gadwall Teal Mallard Pintail Garganey Shoveler Red-crested Pochard Pochard Tufted Duck…
We’re all on the same side really?
Amanda Anderson has handled her own PR company and the public relations of the Moorland Association for several years – now she is the Director of the Moorland Association. But she seems to have rather lost her temper in drafting this letter to the Durham Times. Maybe her boss, Moorland Association Chair Robert Benson lost…
Wet, wet, wet
If you are keeping water on a wetland for the benefit of wetland wildlife then it occupies some of the volume that could otherwise have been used for flood storage. This can give rise to the claim that the schemes that benefit wetland wildlife that have exacerbated flood impacts. To some extent this is bound…
Tug! Tug!
My blog of yesterday, about what Labour could do to win back some green voters, seems to have struck a chord. Or actually, I think it is just yet another example of social media showing me (and others) that there are plenty of others out there in the big, wide world who are thinking similarly…
So much to say
Mountain Hares – make your wills! Greater love hath no Mountain Hare than he lay down his life for someone else’s grouse shooting. Please help to put an end to driven grouse shooting.
Why Labour is doing badly – and how it could do better
It’s a matter of head and heart isn’t it? I am not terribly tribal in my politics. I have been too pragmatic in my life to believe that one side has all the good guys, all the wisdom and all the solutions. That can’t possibly be the case, can it? There are plenty of politicians…
Nearly six months
On Thursday morning our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting will be only six months old and yet it has gathered over 19,500 signatures. Thank you to all who have signed. I think it is perfectly possible that we will pass the 20,000 barrier by Christmas Day, maybe much earlier, and every added signature sends…
North West Birdwatching Fair
It was better than fair – it was good. I spoke to lots of nice people, and the very nicest ones bought copies of A Message from Martha too! That included the very nice Mike Dilger. He was speaking at Martin Mere before my talk on Saturday and you couldn’t ask for a better warm-up…
First day of winter
I’m regarding today as the first day of winter because there was a decent frost. You couldn’t call it a hard frost, more a soft frost, but a proper frost all the same. When I parked at Stanwick Lakes a little after 0730 it was cold and frosty. It felt cold as I took off…