You do know what day it is don’t you? Yesterday, in rural Bedfordshire, I was passing a field of unharvested beans, where the beans looked brown and crispy. I saw a raptor flying low over the crop and I wondered whether it might just be a marsh harrier so I pulled over and had a…
BLOG POSTS
Saturday 1
It is widely expected that there will be a government reshuffle on Monday. It may take a while for the full details and impacts on junior Ministers to be revealed. Let us hope that this road sign which I saw in London last week is not a sign for the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at Defra.
Holiday journey – can you work it out?
From the end of July to the middle of August I was travelling. You might say holidaying (but some of it might be tax-deductable). Can you work out where I went from the clues below? Funnily enough I went to lots of nature reserves and a few historic monuments. It’s just for fun – maybe…
Give oceans real protection – everyone gains
More than two thirds of the Earth’s surface is ocean and yet we give it barely a thought, at least according to a recent poll by KnowSeas which shows that only a third of UK citizens are worried by ocean health whereas around 60% of Portuguese and Spaniards have the oceans on their minds. Might…
Turtle doves under fire
I haven’t seen a turtle dove in Northamptonshire this year and it seems I am not the only one. This was a bird that I didn’t see in the north Somerset countryside where I grew up. It was only when we came on holiday to East Anglia that I saw my first turtle dove –…
Guest Blog – response to Mark Avery by Magnus Linklater
Magnus Linklater is a former editor of The Scotsman and Scottish Editor of The Times. He is trustee of an estate in Perthshire, and a regular commentator on rural affairs. I knew that taking on the RSPB would be nothing but trouble. But I was not quite prepared for the volume and ferocity of…
Man on the Earth
The death of Neil Armstrong has made us all think of those days when Mankind took that giant leap. Armstrong seems to have been a lovely, talented and modest man; and therefore a good choice to be the first of our species to step on the Moon. Few of us have had the privilege of…
Five things to do this weekend – particularly if it’s raining
Have a look at the ‘a focus on nature’ website. Launched at the Bird Fair this looks like a good initiative to me. How do ‘young people’ get the advice and mentoring that they need to get into nature conservation? I’ve offered to give a helping hand and maybe you can too? Or maybe you…
Who am I, at the Bird Fair?
Or rather, what am I? As you may have picked up, I live in rural Northamptonshire, but close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders (bandit country?). I, therefore, am often crossing into neighbouring counties and passing the roadside signs which announce them. I was very fond of the old signs which announced that Northamptonshire was…
Send WWT £10 now! I have.
I’ve mentioned the spoon-billed sandpiper a few times in this blog (eg here and here). There is a very brave, uncertain and exciting rescue attempt being made to save this bird from extinction by a bunch of organisations: WWT, RSPB, BirdLife International and Birds Russia (with help from loads of other people). WWT have produced…