Blue Planet 2 – programme 4

  I thought this episode – about the open ocean – was the best so far. Great footage of boiling seas, sleeping Sperm Whales and a whole lot more.   And for once, the message of environmental degradation was very adroitly put over – I thought.  The scene was set about the immensity of the…

Everyone’s talking about wildlife crime except Defra

This is the sixth Defra response to an e-petition attempting to press them into action on wildlife crime and unsustainable upland management associated with grouse shooting. And this is the sixth response in Defra which has failed to admit the scale of the problem of wildlife crime and failed to bring forward any sensible response….

The first seven weeks

Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting now stands at over 13,000 signatures and it has now had a poor government response (see here and here). Here are the leading constituencies so far – many of them are old friends (all with 50+ signatures): Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey, Drew Hendry MP, 87 signatures Thirsk…

Guest blog – Ireland’s Harrier crisis Ryan Wilson-Parr

Ryan has studied Hen Harrier for over 20 years as a researcher, an accredited ecological consultant and as a contracted Raptor Expert to the National Parks & Wildlife Service. Ryan is Chairman of the Irish Raptor Study Group, Director at the Golden Eagle Trust and Project Scientist for the Hen Harrier Project, a new results-based…

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…