Back in January I wrote to my (excellent) MP, Andy Sawford, and asked him to write to Defra on my behalf on the subject of Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges. I’ve recently received a reply from Defra via Andy Sawford. My first question to Defra was: ‘What research has been done that addresses the range of…
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Oscar Dewhurst – White Stork
Oscar writes: in France, I saw a group of White Storks by the side of the road. They were too far away for frame fillers, so instead I tried to show them in their environment. Nikon D300s, Nikon 600mm AFS-II, Nikon 1.4x TC Mark writes: in some parts of Europe the return of the…
Busy day
Yesterday was a busy day in a busy week. A consequence of giving a talk to the Hampshire Ornithological Society on 29 March is that, if you are me, over 300 people sing Happy Birthday! to you – which was highly embarrassing and very sweet of them. I had stayed with friends and I took…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Winged Wonders
Intro – Animals are a very important part of our ecosystem, and many of them are undevalues due to lack of education and understanding. This can certainly be said for our vast populations of bats, and the folks at Thomson Ecology have come up with a new and intriguing infographic all about these fascinating creatures. It…
Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, Gazprom and Champions League football
The annexation of the Crimea by Russia, or its secession, raises a whole bunch of questions in my mind: the West may have been too friendly to Russia over the last few years – I expect Russia was saying ‘we’re all on the same side really‘ when it might not be true. It’s important to…
Three rare birds on my local patch
On Saturday I saw three rare birds on my local patch of Stanwick Lakes. Well, to be fair, they were all much rarer once. And, to be even fairer, one of them is only rare at Stanwick Lakes – you can see loads of them less than a mile away in Stanwick itself. But then…
Bits and pieces with quite a raptorish, and a quite Scottish, flavour
Bad news: six dead raptors found in Ross-shire (BBC, RaptorPersecutionScotland). big moorland fire near Todmorden – probably hordes of Merlin not putting their fags out properly (see last item) Good news: Ospreys back at Loch Garten – veteran female EJ (such a lovely name) arrived back on Monday for the 12th year. Scottish Minister takes…
What is the UK’s most unfairly ignored bird?
There are some birds that are almost universally liked (Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush?) and quite a few that have more of a Marmite effect on people, some love them and others hate them (Hen Harrier, Cormorant?). There are some species that have their detractors – I think there is something evil about Linnets, of course….
Defra response to John Armitage’s e-petition
John Armitage’s well-supported e-petition has received the following response from Defra: ‘As this e-petition has received more than 10 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response: The Government is aware of incidences of illegal killing of birds of prey and Ministers take the issue very seriously. To address this, senior Government…