BLOG POSTS
Bullying doesn’t work
Yesterday the RSPB issued a toughly worded statement: The RSPB is (today) urging Defra to publish the workable elements of the Hen Harrier Action Plan, which we believe could bring about the recovery of one of England’s most beleaguered birds of prey. However, we’re also highlighting our rejection of one point of the six-point plan,…
We’re all farmers now
It must be terribly difficult being the Prince of Wales – but perhaps a little less difficult than being many of his potential future subjects. HRH writes in Country Life magazine this week about why we must put a value on the countryside. It is in these wide-ranging thought pieces that HRH seems least thoughtful…
Not tied up in Notts
I spoke at a BTO regional meeting in Nottinghamshire on Sunday, but so did many other people and I enjoy learning new things and being reminded of old things. Chas Holt gave an excellent talk about WeBS (that’s WeBS not Webs, WEBS, WEbs or any other combination!). Have you looked at the excellent WeBS online…
Where is Labour on Nightingales?
There is a local issue of national importance in next week’s Rochester and Strood by election: nature protection. Will masses of Nightingales disappear under masses of concrete? Lodge Hill, Chattenden Woods is the only SSSI in the country specifically notified for its Nightingales – it’s an important site. A very important site. Mark Reckless used…
Poppies
Yesterday I made a quick visit to the poppies filling the moat of the Tower of London. Apparently yesterday the last of the 888,246 was added, to commemorate the lives of British and Colonial forces lost in the First World War. It seemed appropriate to be there on 11 November. About 200 years ago, a…
Guest Blog – Tactics of the raptor haters by Peter Cosgrove
Peter Cosgrove carried out the first national pearl mussel survey and wrote about pearl mussels as a Guest Blog here in October 2012. I have been watching the raptor haters’ tactics since Hen Harrier Day and I think they might have secret list of 10 do’s and 10 don’ts,…
Botham fizzles out?
I’m glad that the Mail on Sunday’s latest rant at the RSPB for being a nature conservation organisation didn’t spoil Martin Harper’s weekend. It shouldn’t have done, because Botham appears to be bonkers. But there will be some, and Martin may be one of them, who work for the RSPB and feel a bit dispirited…
Jeremy Deller – Turner Prize winner and Hen Harrier enthusiast
Last week I arranged to meet Jeremy Deller to talk about Hen Harriers. We met in London and had a coffee together. I’ve never met a Turner Prize (2004) winner before, nor someone who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I wanted to talk to Jeremy…
The backlash begins…
Governments from across the world, including the UK, decided over the weekend that lead ammunition should be phased out urgently – for the sake of wildlife and people. Not being able to see a mouth without sticking their feet in it, BASC and the Countryside Alliance oppose this move on grounds that they don’t explain….