Standing up for Nature
Yesterday was a lovely day to pass through the Cotswolds on the way to and from Cheltenham racecourse – four short-eared owls, raven and red kite. No winners, but Big Buck’s ran up his 15th successive win. I did the Big Garden Birdwatch – I’ll blog about it next week – have you, yet? I…
Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary last week which made me wonder whether the habitues of Lou and Perry’s diner were all voting for him – maybe they are all Democrats anyway. Newts are tricky things though aren’t they? There are three species of newts in the UK; smooth, palmate and great crested, and…
Damian Carrington’s Guardian blog reveals that Oliver Letwin wants a hard edit done on environmental legislation and guidance so that it can all be reduced to 50 pages to mimic the ‘success’ of the NPPF edit. Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt (James Naughtie please note spelling), is even now whittling down Hamlet’s 32,241 verbose words to…
My American friend who visited recently would have quite liked to have been shown a little owl, and I would have quite liked to have shown him one, but they are dropping out of my life. And if you can’t see a little owl in Northamptonshire then where can you see them, I ask? The…
Last week I met up with an American birder whom I’d last seen in Rock Creek Park back in May, and took him for a walk in the drizzle around Stanwick Lakes. He had a list of species that he would quite like to see, and many of them were possible on a visit at…
Just before Christmas I was sat in the Head Office of the Deer Initiative when I was made aware of a deer vehicle collision involving James “Arg” Argent, star of The Only Way is Essex, just outside of Dundee. In doing so Arg and his companions joined a group of between 42000 and 74000 vehicles…
Last week this blog passed its 2000th comment – which seems pretty good going. I am pleased to see that regular commenter Dennis Ames provided that 2000th comment alongside 137 others over the months. I do enjoy seeing all your comments- whether I agree with them or not – do keep them coming please. I…
This is an excellent opinion piece from the RSPB’s Conservation Director, Martin Harper. And, this is the time when all conservation organisations will be tested – we need a very strong and concerted approach from the wildlife NGOs otherwise their individual efforts may not be strong enough to achieve what is necessary.
The news that the government is to consult on the possibility of a major hub airport in the Thames Estuary comes as no surprise following the Chancellor’s autumn statement but does open up a new environmental battle. I’m still waiting to hear from The Treasury, via my MP Louise Mensch, on why they think that…
Tuesday was the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott‘s expedition reaching the South Pole – five weeks after the Norwegians had got there first. But Amundsen did get there first, and he has a claim for having got to the North Pole first too, before dying in a plane crash in the Arctic in 1928 when…