Yesterday I took the train into London to meet the publishers of ‘A Message from Martha‘ for a chat. I added Great Spotted Woodpecker to my Wellingborough Station list but looked in vain for Red Kites. It was a dull day but they are usually mooching around the valley in which Wellingborough Station and the…
BLOG POSTS
Return to Swanwick
I’ve been attending BTO Conferences at Swanwick in Derbyshire, off and on, for about 35 years. Over the years some things have changed and others haven’t. Hardly changed at all: there are always some inspiring talks – Ellie Owen’s was a highlight for me this year there is always a feeling of comradeship amongst…
Sad
The State of the UK’s Birds 2013 was published yesterday. It’s packed with beautiful photographs, clear graphs and maps and lots of information. It’s not all bad news – but there is quite a lot of bad news there. This is how the story was covered by the Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mirror, Express….
Caroline Lucas – Wildlife MP of 2013
Through gaining over 600 of the 1546 votes cast, Caroline Lucas was far and away the choice of readers of this blog as the MP who had done most for wildlife in 2013. Here are a few lessons that might come out of this poll. First place: Caroline Lucas, Green Party, 39% of the votes…
The Standing up for Nature Blog’s Wildlife MP of 2013 is…
…the only Green Party MP at Westminster, Caroline Lucas. Caroline secured a little under 40% of the 1546 votes cast. The full results were: Caroline Lucas MP 602 (39%) Owen Paterson MP 363 (23.5%) Barry Gardiner MP 209 (13.5%) Zac Goldsmith MP 183 (11.8%) ‘None of the above’ 80 (5.2%) Joan Walley MP 70…
The Passenger Pigeon centenary – talk available
The last Passenger Pigeon on Earth died on 1 September 1914 in Cincinnati Zoo. 100 years earlier this was the commonest bird on Earth – with a population of billions. Why did this abundant species die out? Should we care? What are the lessons for today? Book Mark Avery to speak to your Bird…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Thank you Andy Sawford MP
I wrote to my MP last week and received a very prompt reply from him on Monday this week! That’s impressive and I am very grateful for the speed and content of his reply. Mr Sawford has written to Owen Paterson on my behalf asking the Secretary of State ‘the extent to which Defra use…
Guest blogs
I’m always on the look out for Guest Blogs on subjects that are relevant to nature conservation. Advice to people submitting a blog to this website: get in touch before submitting your blog so that we can discuss it any blog should be of interest to readers of this blog and of an environmental bent…
Guest Blog by Andy Atkins – Seeing without looking: the joy of abundant nature
Andy Atkins, executive director, Friends of the Earth Andy has been a key player in campaigning and research for human rights and development NGOs including the Chile Committee for Human Rights, CAFOD and CIIR (now Progressio). While at CIIR Andy established a ground breaking programme of work on the developmental implications of the illegal drugs…