I was all ready to set off to the north Norfolk coast yesterday – not to see birds but to see northern lights – but it was cloudy. The previous night there had been a great show of northern lights. They are on my British list – but not for years – dipped again! Can…
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Wild beavers have been filmed in Devon – the first sightings in the wild in England for around 500 years. I wonder where they came from…
Badgers and bTB
Here’s a head-ache for the new NFU President and his team, and also for Owen Paterson; one man in the first few days of his job and the other, if rumours are to be believed, in the last few weeks of his. An Independent Expert Panel was appointed by Defra to help evaluate the effectiveness,…
The new Clint Eastwood film
The NFU elections provided us with a the possibility of a new Clint Eastwood film but whether it is a remake of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or the Good, the Good and the Good, or simply the Bad, the Bad and the Bad remains to be seen. I will try, very hard,…
Virtually good RSPB science
On Wednesday evening I attended the launch, at the Royal Society, of the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science. In answer to the question ‘Where is this centre?’ the answer is ‘nowhere and everywhere’ – it’s a virtual centre (click here). Have a walk around the virtual centre – I did and it’s a nice place,…
Climate change is real – get used to it!
If you were getting poorer and poorer, but last year you got poorer a bit more slowly than in previous years – would you be happy? The climate is warming – the 2000s were warmer than the 1990s (but not as much warmer as the 1990s were than the 1980s). This is the link to…
John Armitage’s successful e-petition
There have been 1011 e-petitions directed to helping Defra find its way to the sunlit uplands of truth and sustainability, launched, supported and closed on the Number 10 website. John Armitage’s will, today, be the 1012th. You have until 10:36 to add your name to his e-petition. Only 10 of those e-petitions passed the 10,000…
Driving around in black and white
There was nothing wrong with the Darlington Premier Inn, although I won’t be rushing back there for the ambience and atmosphere. However, driving through the Pennine snow before dawn was more of an adventure. Sitting drinking coffee from a vacuum flask while watching three blackcock displaying was a delight. The males strutted with their…
Rewilding revisited – Guest Blog by Simon Phelps
Simon is a keen conservationist, wildlife photographer and naturalist. He currently works for the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and is also an active member of A Focus On Nature (AFON). He spends much of his free time out on nature reserves around the country watching and photographing any wildlife that he can find. All the views…
Peter Kendall – bye bye!
I’ll let you into a couple of secrets – although neither may come as a surprise to you. First, I’ll miss Peter Kendall (a bit). Everyone deserves to have a pantomime villain to boo and Peter has thrown himself into that role with gusto for eight years. We’ll have to see whether the new NFU…