I am going through the proofs of A Message from Martha. I’m not very good at checking proofs – not of things I wrote – because I let the words on the page take me back to the ideas and the places and the species about which I was writing. Surely all writers are like…
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In the words of the song…
…I can see clearly now the rain has gone! I can see all obstacles in my way… We wish Owen Paterson clear vision for the months ahead. 1. Climate change is real 2. Fixing bovine tb cannot be done by a cull of badgers alone 3. Culling badgers is quite likely to increase the…
What do these two species have in common – perhaps?
Sunday was a lovely day – it didn’t rain and it didn’t blow a gale and the sun shone. Hooray! I was in Norfolk and saw the odd bird or two and it felt like we were coming towards the end of winter because I also saw… Carpets of snowdrops. I like snowdrops – don’t…
Save me from local solutions
As I wrote some time ago, ‘there is no way to get rid of water, only to slow down its inevitable passage to the sea or speed it up’. And if I want to get rid of the water from my land it has to go somewhere. If I build a flood defence around my…
Oscar Dewhurst – Waxwing
Oscar writes: Last winter there was an invasion of Waxwings all over the UK. I had never seen them before, so when some were reported not far from me I was straight over to see them. When I arrived I was greeted by the sight of up to 80 birds perched on top of…
Sunday book review – Our Once and Future Planet by Paddy Woodworth
I really wanted to like this book but I couldn’t quite do it. It’s about restoring habitats – a subject on which I am very keen – and I have the feeling that I would enjoy a couple of beers with Mr Woodworth, but his book didn’t move me or thrill me. I’ve had it…
Sanctuary – legal challenge
The diggers are in and have started stripping away topsoil at the Sanctuary Local Nature Reserve, whose destruction Derby City Council have approved. But the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has launched a legal challenge against this destruction. The Trust has told the Council that their planning decision is illegal and will be challenged under Judicial Review….
The week in birding – by Jonnie Fisk
Wasn’t that Yellow-rumped Warbler, during Big Garden Birdwatch, in Durham amazing? It takes me back to Rock Creek Park in Washington where I saw lots of these and other US warblers in spring 2011. But it also reminds me that I haven’t seen a Blackcap in my garden all winter. Gamekeepers don’t want to…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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To donate to the elephant appeal click on spaceforgiants.org/elephantappeal To raise a voice for raptor protection then sign this e-petition which yesterday passed 9000 signatures. Might it just get to 10000 signatures – thus triggering a response from Defra – by 10:36 on 27 February? If you haven’t signed, then please do. If you…
An imperfect storm?
It’s been a ghastly day weather-wise but I have been thinking about the storm that is coming together around raptor persecution. I thought hard about it – it put a smile on my face. No, raptor persecution isn’t as important as climate change, or flooding, or even, to my mind, farmland bird declines – but…