I caught up with some waxwings near my home on Thursday. Huntingdon races were abandoned because of the freezing ground and my central heating had chosen to pack up a couple of days earlier. In addition the car’s battery couldn’t cope with the cold and the AA had had to come out and get me…
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Ralph Underhill cartoon
The bluffer’s guide to fracking: Hydraulic fracturing -Wikipedia Daily Telegraph Guardian BBC
Bitterly disappointed, hugely disappointed, shameful, pitiful, appalling, lamentable…
Bitterly disappointed, hugely disappointed, shameful, pitiful, appalling, lamentable… That’s how the Wildlife Trusts, Marine Conservation Society and RSPB described Defra’s announcement that it was consulting on designating just 31 of 127 marine sites selected by a lengthy, inclusive and costly process involving hundreds of people. Further progress might be made next year. Defra described this…
Who you are, or at least, who you say you are.
The Readers’ Poll was filled in by just over 400 of you – thank you. You seem to be like me: 82% living in England, 75% male, middle-aged, Guardian reading, wildlife-magazine reading, potential Labour voting, RSPB members. Well – there’s a surprise! This blog now gets c8000 unique visitors each month. I would guess, and…
Lancashire’s ‘Bowland Betty’ bites the Yorkshire dust
A female hen harrier raised in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, last year, and fitted with a satellite tag, was found dead on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales in June this year. I hadn’t realised the trans-Pennine rivalry was so strong that the War of the Roses included shooting each other’s hen harriers….
Guest Blog – Is the future in safe hands? by Findlay Wilde
Hi, my name is Findlay Wilde, I am ten years old. I live in a small village in Cheshire with my mum, my dad, my brother and dog. I am fascinated by wildlife, in particular birds. The reason I got involved in nature is because of the vast wonder it has to offer. I only…
Bankrupt policies from Defra
Last week George (Gideon) Osborne had to do something different because it was clear that his economic policies weren’t working (he did the wrong thing, but he did have to do something) whereas there is no sign that Defra is going to do anything different even though their policies aren’t working either. The differences between…
Swanwick
I spent yesterday at the BTO Conference at Swanwick and left feeling slightly foolish. Foolish, because although I have attended many BTO Conferences in my time, that is the first for a good many years, and I enjoyed it so much that I felt foolish for having missed out over recent years. The conference theme…
Ralph Underhill cartoon
Hedgehogs – you couldn’t dream them up really could you? If you hadn’t seen one (you have seen one haven’t you?) then would they seem any more likely than the unicorn? Hedgehogs seem to be getting rarer for a variety of reasons here, here and here) – one of which might well be that…
Come on chaps!
I’ve been thinking, off and on, about the marine wildlife riches around Pitcairn Island since the meeting at the Royal Society last week. It was wonderful to get some comments on this blog from Pitcairn Islanders too. I hope it’s not too presumptuous to think that the case for strong protection of the marine wildlife,…