As I am currently near Chatsworth, I listened with interest to the news of the passing of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire yesterday. Although I never met her, I did have a letter from her on my office wall for several years. The RSPB had done a huge recruitment mailing, and my name was at…
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Vote for Bob
The RSPB would like us to ‘Vote for Bob‘ who appears to be a Red Squirrel. Is Bob promising: an owl for everyone? a Red Squirrel for everyone? nuts for everyone? pointy ears for everyone? no grey days at all? I’m not really sure – Bob is like real politicians in being just a little…
Great twitch
The Isles of Scilly is a place that strange people visit at this time of year in search of rare birds. Stuck 28 miles west of Lands End the islands reach out to the North American continent and provide a landfall for birds swept across the Atlantic on strong winds. However, there are, of course…
Boris aims to lead the shooting party…
…was a headline in the Evening Standard yesterday (Londoner’s Diary). The Tory supporters of Uxbridge are in for a real change when the birdwatching Sir John Randall is replaced by bird-blasting Boris Johnson next May (other candidates are available but may not get a look-in). Boris has been off grouse shooting it seems. A Twitter…
Guest blog – The Sunken Garden by ‘filbert cobb’
Filbert cobb is a regular contributor of comments to this blog. Sometimes he seems a bit nutty. He is often witty but gets very serious about climate change. I encouraged him to write a Guest Blog for us and I was not disappointed, in fact I was delighted, by what he sent. Boyhood, nature and…
Spoon-billed Sandpiper – great news!
This spoon-billed sandpiper chick is amazingly cute and has an amazing mother and an amazing grandfather. Its own cuteness needs no elaboration from me. Its mother was hand-reared by conservationists in Russia from eggs taken from nests on the breeding grounds. The reared birds were then released to set off on their 5000 mile journey…
Two of our Hen Harriers are missing
Sky and Hope, female Hen Harriers fledged from United Utilities land in the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire, have gone missing. Scientists tracking the movements of the young Hen Harriers became concerned when their tags stopped transmitting. Sky’s satellite signal stopped suddenly on the evening of Wednesday 10 September with the data suggesting she was…
A day less busy
Yesterday I spent a lovely few hours at the RSPB nature reserve at Rainham Marshes. I like Rainham, with its quirky-looking visitor centre and its medieval grazing marshes surrounded by the hustle and bustle of modern life. Planes fly over, boats pass on the Thames, cars and lorries pass along the roads, and trains, including…
Talking
Comments Off on Talking
I enjoyed talking at Wootton last week. They were a lovely audience and look at that fantastic backdrop! The Wootton Village hall talks have attracted a large number of famous speakers over the years – I wish there was a series of talks where I live of the same calibre. Tomorrow I am off to…
People’s Climate March – London 21 September 2014
Emma Thompson leads off the People’s Climate March in London on Sunday afternoon. Vivienne Westwood and Peter Gabriel also attended. There are reports of 40,000 people joining the march but it felt like a smaller event than The Wave five years ago to me. There wasn’t a very obvious NGO presence – the occasional Panda…