Here are the first results from the survey of readers (carried out between Saturday and Thursday). I closed the survey at 854 responses as that was twice the number of respondents when the same questions were asked in December 2012 (and was arrived at in a shorter period of time). Last month (January 2014) this…
BLOG POSTS
Who will be leading the NFU? and Dredging the depths
Two weeks tomorrow will see the election of a new NFU hierarchy of President, Vice President and Deputy President. The candidates for the NFU posts are as follows and you can see what they say about themselves by following the links (and their Twitter accounts). Not much about the environment is there – from the…
Oscar Dewhurst – Mandarin Duck
Oscar writes: One early morning in March a couple of years ago I was at Hyde Park with the hope of photographing Great-crested Grebes performing their elaborate courtship. I arrived about half an hour before dawn and was waiting by the side of the water. As the sun came up on the other side…
Sunday book review – Bird Populations by Ian Newton
Prof Ian Newton FRS has been described as the UK’s greatest living ornithologist and there is nothing in this book to dent that assessment. In his clear and precise way, Ian Newton explains the factors that affect, determine and regulate bird population levels. There are plenty of examples which illustrate the general principles. As Ian…
The week in birding by Jonnie Fisk
Red-flanked Bluetail – a good bird for your local patch (although I’d quite like to see the 500 Corn Buntings). Golden Eagle poisoning from Raptor Persecution Scotland. Was it a Squacco? It’s a birdie – a dead one.
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
January 2014 – very dry in NW Scotland – v wet everywhere else – Met Office. Dredging – would it have helped?
What is this nest?
I’m rubbish on nests. I have been asked what species of bird made this nest and I haven’t really got a clue! Please help me out so I can look clever… It’s about 8cm in diameter (just over 3″ in old money).
A ‘vile act of wanton vandalism’ by Labour councillors in Derby
The Derby City Council planning committee voted yesterday evening by a very narrow margin to approve its own application to destroy the Sanctuary Local Nature Reserve – a proposal that Chris Packham, rightly, described as a ‘vile act of wanton vandalism’. The voting was: Absent – 1 Labour councillor In favour – 5 Labour and…
2030 vision for the Somerset Levels
A ‘Vision’ of what the Somerset Levels and Moors might look like in 2030, intended to guide water and land management policies over the years ahead, has been agreed by a Task Force set up last year to address the area’s problems. The Task Force includes representatives of farming, conservation, local authorities and Government agencies. …
Breaking News: No Sanctuary for urban wildlife
This evening, the Planning Committee of Derby City Council voted 6:5 in favour of the planning application that is a ‘vile act of wanton vandalism’ despite 1009 responses of opposition and 642 in favour. See previous blogs here, here, here and here. I’d be interested to know the political allegiances of those voting each way….