There is a lot of nonsense talked about the Hen Harrier -and about everything else in the world I guess. Let’s hope I am not going to add to it. Here’s my take on the biology of the bird. What they eat: Hen Harriers eat lots of things. The Langholm study showed that the density…
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An open letter to the RSPB Chairman Professor Steve Ormerod
Dear Steve Hi! Happy 60th anniversary of the Protection of Birds Act! It must be around now that you are heading off to Conservation Committee to discuss the RSPB’s conservation work. And then, in July, there will be a Council meeting, I guess, unless things have changed a lot in the last three years (which…
Tomorrow is the 60th anniversary of the Protection of Birds Act
The 4th June marks the 60th anniversary of a landmark piece of environmental protection – The Protection of Birds Act 1954. It gave full legal protection to almost all British birds, their nests and eggs. It was a progressive piece of environmental legislation. Back in 1954, Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of the UK, Chiang…
Wrong!
Heaven only knows where grouse shooting gets its public relations advice but I hope it isn’t paying much for it because it certainly isn’t working with the outside world. Grouse shooting is bound to be an emotive issue. Grouse shooting is about killing wild animals for fun, and it is a ‘sport’ that is mostly…
Hen Harrier Day – sign up to join me in the Peak District on 10 August
Hen Harriers are killed illegally by game shooting interests to protect Red Grouse until the grouse can be shot for ‘sport’. There should be over 300 pairs of Hen Harriers in the English uplands but last year there were just two pairs. The Peak District should have several pairs of this beautiful bird but most…
An e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.
If you aren’t interested in Hen Harriers then you’d be best to skip this blog for a few days and come back on Saturday – I wonder whether Ralph could do a Hen Harrier cartoon? We’ll see. Last week I launched an e-petition calling on Defra to ban driven grouse shooting in England. It wasn’t…
Oscar Dewhurst – Foxes
Oscar writes: One evening as I was walking out to go home I spotted these two foxes together. I walked to about 40m from them and then lay down, crawling towards them until I was near enough for some photos. Nikon D300s, Nikon 200-400mm f4 VR Mark writes: Awww! Don’t you just want to…
Sunday Book review – Birds of a Feather by Colin Rees and Derek Thomas
This is a lovely book – written by two ornithologists about the changing seasons on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a simple idea but it works very well. I don’t know Colin Rees at all, and I really only know Derek a little – he posed me an identification challenge in Ohio once….
Cartoon by Ralph Underhill
The right Spot
I did almost the same thing two years ago – almost to the day. It was sunnier in 2012, though. I headed off to Achurch churchyard to look for Spotted Flycatchers. Isn’t it awful that I have to have a special trip to see them in my part of the world? Churchyards seem to be…