Bird Fair Day 2 – time to buy for Christmas

Phew! What a scorcher! I mean, of course, the weather although these four ladies from Froglife, who’d like to collect your wildlife memories, might get a similar response.  In a sea of blokes (yes, like me), in jeans (yes, like me), it’s nice to see some people have made the effort!        …

Bird Fair day 1 and bits and pieces

Bird Fair:  I met some really nice people yesterday and some of them were buying my book Fighting for Birds.  Lots of Twittery and Bloggy people introduced themselves and it is really nice to put a face to a Twitter name. For example, it was nice to meet @ValGall and even nicer to read on…

The raptor haters? – Magnus Linklater

Magnus Linklater is a clever man as befits some Old Etonians and some former editors of The Scotsman newspaper.  I’ve only met him once and we got on quite well as we looked at the heather moors of the Langholm Estate one sunny day. He wouldn’t deserve a place in this occasional series of articles,…

But seriously

On Monday I suggested that twitching should be one of the competitive sports which gets its two hours a week in English primary schools, but today I’ll try to be a bit more serious about the subject. I tend to steer clear of education as a topic as there is a tendency for all of…

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Ban The Burn campaigners launched a national campaign on Sunday evening, August 12th, in Hebden Bridge. The Ban the Burn! campaign aims are: a ban on burning and draining blanket bog an end to loopholes in the Heather & Grass Burning Code and other regulations Environmental scientist Dr Aidan Foley had an upbeat message for the…

Guest Blogs

I’m always interested in offers of Guest Blogs for this site.  If you have a burning issue that you would like to get off your chest, and you can write in an interesting way, then get in touch, please. And thank you to all those who have already contributed – you have stimulated some very…

Wuthering Moors 25

An amazing local reaction – I wish I could be there   PRESS RELEASE On Sunday August 12th, flood-hit residents of Hebden Bridge and campaigners from across the country will set out from the town centre on a BAN THE BURN protest walk to the Walshaw Moor grouse-shooting estate. Following the walk, the BAN THE BURN national campaign…

See you at the Bird Fair?

A week today it’s Day One of the Bird Fair.  In a ‘summer’ in which many outdoor events have been cancelled because of wet weather it was reassuring to see this post of Facebook by Tim Appleton earlier in the week: Been a few stressful few weeks, what with highest reservoir levels ever, saturated fields,…