BLOG POSTS
Really Jim?
Local knowledge is sincerely to be prized, and who could know a National Park better than its Chief Executive? Jim Dixon, the outgoing Chief Executive of the Peak District National Park (famed for its raptors, like all our National Parks) took me to task, just a little, on what I wrote about the recently departed…
Interesting from Yorkshire Water
Yorkshire Water supported the study released on Wednesday which looked at the impacts of heather burning on the wider environment. I contacted Yorkshire Water and was impressed by their speed of reply. My first contact was with a young lady called Brook with whom I was allowed to chat online – this was an excellent…
Sea otters and a rule
Last week was apparently Sea Otter Awareness Week – I wish I had noticed at the time. I spent an unforgettable time watching a Sea Otter in June 2013 – he or she was sooooo cute! I will never, ever forget those moments. Almost all of those who comment on this blog are cute too…
Thin, very thin
The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust blog is reeling. Yesterday they were in a complete spin over the Leeds University study showing impacts of heather burning on soils, waters, emissions and biota – a pretty clean sweep of physics, chemistry, biology and backed up by quite a lot of maths. They got themselves into a…
A nation of raptor-haters? Not all of us.
Yesterday a gamekeeper in Norfolk was found guilty of poisoning 10 Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk. It’s hardly news except that this is England’s worst single case of bird of prey poisoning. But ‘Well done!’ to Norfolk Police and to the RSPB. And District Judge Peter Veits said some interesting things too. If this had been…
Disease implicated as a cause of Turtle Dove decline – a bit.
The Turtle Dove is a lovely bird but is declining dramatically in the UK but also in many other parts of Europe. Although one of the more dramatic problems it faces is being shot by hunters on migration, particularly unsportingly (and illegally) on spring migration, this has never seemed to me to be likely to…
A Question of Ivy
Yesterday was the last day of September and, as with most of September, it was a lovely sunny day. I made a point of sitting out in the garden to feel the warmth of the sun on my face. A Pied Wagtail sat on a nearby chimney and called. A Peacock butterfly whizzed past but…
And it’s not even worth a bean to the economy
The grouse shooting industry is having a torrid time of it – and I can assure them that there is more to come. Grouse shooting is a ‘sport’ or an ‘industry’. Over the years it has tried to justify itself on the grounds that it either doesn’t do any harm or it does do some…
An ecosystem disservice
The nature conservation case for driven grouse shooting is pretty much bankrupt and today’s significant report on the ecosystem disservices of rotational burning bangs home a wider point. If you live in a city or the country, shoot or don’t shoot, vote UKIP or Green, are vegan or live on raw meat, whoever you are…