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…
BLOG POSTS
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…
Leaden lack of progress?
The Lead Ammunition Group was set up in April 2010 and has made pitifully slow progress. The latest minutes of the group include this short statement: ‘The group received a presentation by Dr Ruth Cromie on the WWT Wildlife Health Unit compliance monitoring investigation and perceived barriers to behaviour change. The study results suggest that…
Rams rampant now
Derby County FC had a variable March. The month started (1st March) with a disappointing but perhaps not wholly unexpected away loss to Burnley but the home defeat (8th March) by lowly Millwall was definitely a grave disappointment. The home draw with Bolton on the 11th wasn’t such a great result but an away draw…
This day in 1900
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In his book, Hope is the Thing with Feathers, Chris Cokinos describes the death of what may have been the last wild Passenger Pigeon at the hands of the young Press Clay Southworth in rural Ohio. That was on 24 March 1900 – after that, the only Passenger Pigeons known to man (and woman) were…
Oscar Dewhurst – Manx Shearwater
Oscar writes: When I was on Skomer, off the cost of Pembrokeshire, I was very surprised to see this Manx Shearwater perched on a stone wall during the middle of the day. They are nocturnal birds that breed on the island, but I was very glad to have the opportunity to see one in…
Sunday Book Review – The Global Pigeon by Colin Jerolmark
‘I never paid much attention to pigeons until one defecated on me’ is not a bad opening line for a book. This book is about the interaction between pigeons and people – which of the two gets more defecated upon? Domesticated pigeons, and urban feral pigeons, are derived from the Rock Dove but are normally…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Last day of…
If today is the first day of spring, then yesterday must have been the last day of winter. I spent the evening of the last day of winter giving a talk to my local mid-Nene RSPB group – as a stand-in for a much better speaker, Ian Newton, who had lost his voice. There were…