We (and I am talking England here) don’t have a vermin list. I’m glad about that. Whenever I hear someone talking about vermin it makes my metaphorical hackles rise. Why should we regard any species that has evolved on this planet as being a problem? Yes, individuals of species can cause us problems but it…
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Cheltenham preview for Day 3
Most people regard this as the least interesting day of the Festival – they are wrong. The Ryanair Chase is one of the best races of the four days and the World Hurdle is another. The Ryanair is run over that ‘funny’ distance of 2.5 miles – a bit far for some of the quick…
The week in birding by Jonnie Fisk
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Cheltenham preview for Day 2
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Day 2 is usually my favourite day but I’m not sure that will be the case this year. The ‘big’ race, the Champion Chase, doesn’t quicken the pulse in its usual manner this year. It’s not because Sprinter Sacre, the reigning champion is missing through injury (if that’s the right thing to call a heart…
Past and future defence
The whole purpose of the Monday of Cheltenham week is to free one’s mind from real life and to concentrate on the total irrelevance of horses running around in circles (in the case of Cheltenham, anti-clockwise circles). So with this in mind I went for a walk early on Monday morning to relax and let…
Cheltenham preview for Day 1
I’m off to Cheltenham tomorrow for the first of four days racing at the Cheltenham Festival. Despite the deluges of much of the winter the ground has been drying out, as it always does these days at Cheltenham, and the going will probably be just on the soft side of good. But we’ll see how…
What would you have liked to have asked? Wuthering Moors 44
This interview with the Chief Executive of Natural England is interesting in a way. It illustrates the tensions of pleasing one’s current political masters and living up to the mission that NE has had handed down by Parliament. Which direction to face? What would you have liked to hear him say? Here are some questions…
Oscar Dewhurst – Little Egret
Oscar writes: While in France last summer I spent a day at a nature reserve on the Somme Estuary. From one of the hides this Little Egret was fishing. It took a few attempts to get the right timing with the end, but eventually I got there. Nikon D300s, Nikon 600mm f4 AFS-II Mark…
Sunday Book Review – The Birds of Berkshire by Bucknell et al.
Yet another county avifauna piggybacking on the back of the BTO/BWI/SOC Atlas? Of course, and how lucky we are to be deluged with such a large number of these excellent works. Some chap writes at the front of this book ‘Everyone, who has contributed to this splendid work, deserves the highest praise.’ and he is…
Saturday Cartoon by Ralph Underhill
And this is a passage from Chapter 7 of ‘A Message from Martha‘: ‘If we continue laying waste to the diversity of life and the natural beauty of the planet then we are like vandals going through an art gallery with spray paint and Stanley knives. When we come out the other side, or…