Paul Leyland – Tansy Beetle

The Tansy Beetle Chrysolina graminis is a wonderfully iridescent leaf beetle about 1cm long. It was once widespread in the UK but now has a severely limited range. The main site is along the banks of the River Ouse as it flows through York, with a much smaller, recently discovered, population at Woodwalton Fen. There…

Defra calls this a problem species…I call it wondrous!

  ‘Targeted control of problem species is only one part of a complex mix of factors that can influence populations’ Defra response to Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.   This is what targetted control looks like in twentieth century UK:   Please sign the e-petition to which Defra was replying to show…

The Defra response – a few comments

The biggest problem with the Defra response is that it still ducks the issue of wildlife crime – and how can a government turn its back on crime? I’ll come back to that tomorrow morning. But for now, let us thank Gavin Gamble (and 9,999 others) for flushing out these comments. It’s always enlightening to…

Tim Melling – Northern Harrier

Tim writes: this is a wild Northern Harrier giving me eye-to-eye contact as it flew right over my head at Reifel Bird Sanctuary near Vancouver.  It is a youngster, hatched this year and identifiable by the rufous wash on its underparts.  I can also identify this as a juvenile male because it has greenish eyes. …