I don’t have a great deal of admiration for the NFU’s grip on science and so when I was sent a link to them advertising a job (but please read to the end of this post) for a scientific adviser and spokesperson I was quite sceptical – you might even say, cynical. When I read…
BLOG POSTS
The price of food
We come back to the price of food every now and again in this blog. It’s not a subject I know that much about but I’m happy to go along with the general consensus that we have cheap food and that food has become cheaper over the last 40 years or so. I read in…
Raptors
1. The Bowland Betty story from the BBC – well worth a look. Nice to see Tim Melling, Jude Lane, Stephen Murphy, Paul Irving, Des Thompson and others being so sensible. Martin Gillibrand, on the other hand, speaking for the Moorland Association, just looks foolish – have a look. It is difficult to see why…
Where were you?
On Monday I met a mermaid who was no mere maid, saw that bloke off the telly and spotted the most unlikely revolutionary journalist – and it was jolly cold. It was probably jolly cold everywhere, but it was cold walking across Westminster Bridge with hundreds of others calling on the government (that means you…
Michael McCarthy
In a month’s time, on 26 March, Michael McCarthy leaves The Independent newspaper as their Environment Editor. With his departure I will no longer hesitate over which newspaper to buy – I can just pick up the Guardian every time knowing that I won’t be missing a McCarthy article in The Indie. Many nature conservationists’…
A better deal for our seas
I’m heading for the London Eye to meet up with hundreds of other folk to express our disappointment with the English government’s feeble (lack of) progress on Marine Conservation Zones and marine protection in general. Will I see you there at 11am? I hope so – say hello if you see me. I’ll blog about…
Happy Birthday Norman Moore – and some snippets
Norman Moore is 90 today – Happy Birthday! Norman Moore has played a major role in nature conservation thinking and practice and his influence still endures. His work on heathlands, hedges, dragonflies, and much more, is still widely quoted. Norman is credited with coining the term ‘a birdwatcher’s insect’ for dragonflies. Norman is the last…
Cartoon by Ralph Underhill
I am much more likely to see a fox when I spend the night in London than I am around my own rural home. I remember seeing two London foxes in a car park one evening and I watched them for a good few minutes because they were so close, so tame and so…
Leave the krill for the whales
Did you see Hugh’s Fish Fight last night? I don’t always watch it but I did yesterday as I saw it was about South Georgia and that’s been a subject which I have covered in this blog (here and here). South Georgia is a long way away from here but is a UK Overseas Territory…
Quiz answers
Here are the answers to today’s quiz. 1. Which bird species has the largest UK breeding population? Wren 8,600,000 pairs. 2. How many UK breeding bird species have populations of over 1 million pairs? I think there are 21; pheasant, wood pigeon, jackdaw, carrion crow, blue tit, great tit, skylark, chiffchaff, willow warbler, blackcap,…