– The Independent has come back to the subject of NE’s treatment by the coalition government and the need for an independent voice for nature – and this blog even gets a mention – do remember to go out and buy Birdwatch – if only to read everything else in it other than my first…
BLOG POSTS
Buy Birdwatch today
Buy Birdwatch today, or tomorrow, or soon, if you’d like to see my first monthly column as the ‘Political Birder‘. I’ll be writing about those issues that affect the birds you see around you – and asking you to do something about them. I see Birdwatch‘s website describes me as a ‘regular’ – I still…
NPPF – what do we want? And has Simon Jenkins shot the National Trust’s campaign in the foot?
This blog, prompted helpfully by reader Richard Wilson, attempted to spell out why the government’s proposed planning reforms are bad news for wildlife (click here but do read the comments as well as the blog). I don’t know how good a job I made of it but I haven’t found anything much better on the…
A natural solution
How do you feel about these two technological breaks-through which might change your life (if you live long enough)? Laser fusion is a way of forcing atoms together to make new atoms with the release of energy. Make a load of heavy hydrogen atoms come together to make helium and neutrons are released which produce…
The tangled bank
This is quite a long blog – for you it’s a ‘cup of tea and two chocolate digestives’ blog, for me it was a ‘two glasses of Rioja’ blog. And I write of the subject covered by Peter Marren in his thought-provoking opinion piece in the Independent last week (and the news piece written by…
My autumn – how about yours?
This is the ivy in my garden – it was buzzing with hoverflies, flies, wasps, ladybirds, a red admiral and spiders yesterday. I like looking at ivy at this time of year – in the sunshine – as it attracts lots of insects. And it’s worth a careful look – the more you look the…
The mouse that roared
I bet my former colleague Simon Marsh had a bit of a busy day yesterday – and probably the day before too. The Daily Telegraph published an opinion piece by Simon telling of his disappointment in the way that the government’s planning reforms have turned out. Not much news there you might say as that…
Just a quickie!
I’ve been looking at the proofs of my first article for a well-known and excellent birding magazine. My first column as the Political Birder will appear soon. But where and when? Watch this space…. And I think that a reader called CaperKylie wins the prize (there is no prize) for the most amusing merger suggestion…
What’s happening in the NGO family?
Everybody seems to be talking about NGOs this week – last week government was shouting at them! Greenpeace is 40 this week . WWF is 50 this week. The late, great, Sir Peter Scott who founded the Wildfowl Trust, now Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, and had a lot to do with setting up the WWF…
Sparing the Dogger Bank
This blog brings together information and ideas from several previous blogs. A long time ago, in another life, I wrote this blog about data loggers and kittiwakes heading from Bempton cliffs to the Dogger Bank. It’s a long way to go if you are a little kittiwake – 150km of sea to cross to get…