I’m grateful to the CLA for sending me their statement on CAP reform, a matter of great importance to their membership: A CLA spokesman said: “There has been comment on a rumour that Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is proposing to cut the funds for the Rural Development (second) pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)…
BLOG POSTS
‘well chuffed’
It’s always good to see good guys (and gals) getting gongs. Last night the Zoological Society of London awarded The Independent’s Mike McCarthy their Silver Medal. Mike was awarded the RSPB’s Medal a couple of years ago and has a string of journalistic awards too. The McCarthy household is thinking of getting more shelf space…
This could be really bad for Europe’s wildlife
We still don’t know what will emerge in the EU Budget proposals a week today but it is clear that cuts to Pillar 2 are certainly on the cards so I would ask you to support the RSPB’s campaign and let President Barroso know that you care about this issue. There are plenty of farmers…
EU CAP cuts – it’s your money – what are they saying?
I heard my former colleagues Martin Harper and Gareth Morgan spelling out the threats to Pillar 2 of the CAP early this morning. Doesn’t it sound dull? Pillar 2? CAP? But it’s about the life in our countryside and how our money is spent. The losses of wildlife in the farmed countryside have been huge…
It’s your money
I’m picking up very worrying rumours that there are cuts afoot in the funding for farming, and the impacts of these cuts could dramatically affect how much wildlife you see on your walks in the countryside. The way that farming is funded, by you, the taxpayer, is not completely straight forward and varies across the…
Bird list USA
This is just a list of birds I saw in the USA between 3 May and 15 June. If you are an American birder and think there is anything odd about this list – things I should have seen but haven’t listed or things I claim to have seen but seem very unlikely – then…
And finally?
So after 6 weeks (slightly more), 10,000 miles by car (slightly less), 270 bird species (slightly more) and 100 ‘lifers’ (more), what’s it all been for?? Well, this was a holiday so it was about relaxing and I relaxed, but it was a holiday only possible after I gave up the well-paid post of RSPB…
Mostly birds
My friends, family and work colleagues (especially my long-time former PA, the saintly Claire) will tell you that they are extremely lucky that I do not have moods. But if I did, then this morning’s would not have been one of the best. I woke early (which is good) realising that I was in this grotty…
Beep beep, beep beep, yes! Or no?
I was out in Joshua Tree National Park at 615am this morning – before the desert got hot. My hope was to come across a Road Runner although my hopes weren’t that high as the official National Park Service website suggests there may not be very many of them in Joshua Tree. This seemed to jar with…
No ‘Beep beep’ but better luck with wrens
I neglected to say yesterday, so I’d better get it in quick now, that yesterday’s soundtrack was The Eagles, and Hotel California was playing as I crossed the State line. Today I played another CD for the first time and it was, of course, the Beach Boys. I did some coastal mooching and then headed…