For the last 10 years I’ve been the planning ecologist for a local authority. The role of planning ecologist is little-understood by the wider public but that’s not the subject of this article. Instead, my point is about Biodiversity Net Gain and whether we have confidence the private market will deliver this public good. I…
Category: BLOGS by guest authors
Guest blog – Do you remember the Barn Owl? by Barbara Lorna Hudson
Barbara Lorna Hudson grew up on a farm in Cornwall, where there was a ruined farmhouse with barn owls in residence. After studying at Newnham College, Cambridge and the Universities of Chicago and Newcastle, she worked as a social worker for several years before becoming a social work lecturer at the London School of Economics…
Guest blog – Natural England and Hen Harriers by ‘One who knows’
A lot is written about Hen Harriers and upland issues. It is nice to talk about the positives, but the article that Patrick Barkham wrote for the Guardian on the 4 December 2021 was a strange piece indeed. I would have been less surprised had the article been written by the cheerleaders for grouse shooting,…
Guest blog – Gull rescue as a non-lethal solution to conflicts, an update by Kevin Newell
I am Kevin Newell owner and founder of Humane Wildlife Solutions we are Europe’s only non-lethal, ethical, environmentally-friendly alternative to pest control. We help businesses and individuals all over Europe find solutions to wildlife conflicts without causing harm to the wildlife or the environment in the process. In November 2020 I told you of a…
Stephen Moss’s 2021 Round-up of Nature books.
Stephen Moss is a naturalist, author and course leader of the MA Travel & Nature Writing at Bath Spa University. This year he published Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring (Saraband) and The Swan: A Biography, (Square Peg). Here is his annual round-up of books about wildlife, nature and the environment. @stephenmoss_tv [Mark writes: where…
Guest blog – How nature dies – part 2 by Alistair Gammell
Alistair Gammell worked for RSPB for 40 years and was closely involved in the drafting of the Birds and Habitats Directives and for growing RSPB’s international work. He was RSPB’s first International Director and retired from RSPB in 2009. He then worked successfully to establish large-scale fully-protected marine reserves in the seas around the British…
Guest blog – Halloween: A Time to Celebrate Spiders by Debbie Rolls
Debbie is a freelance writer and lecturer in Teacher Education. She has contributed creative fiction and non-fiction to anthologies, has written for BBC Countryfile and is a regular contributor to Leeds Living website (https://leedsliving.co.uk/author/debbie-rolls/). She is in process of writing a children’s book presenting world history through the eyes of a spider. She can be…
Guest blog – How to quadruple your donation to World Land Trust by Andy Langley
Andy Langley is a wildlife enthusiast and supporter of World Land Trust (WLT), who will be doing a sponsored birdwatch this October to raise money for WLT’s Guardians of Nimla Ha’ appeal, saving rainforest all around a network of near-pristine lagoons, wetlands and mangroves in Caribbean Guatemala. For a fourth year my employer Ecclesiastical Insurance…
Guest blog – Blocking motorways by Ian Carter
Ian Carter worked as an ornithologist for 25 years before retiring early to spend more time writing about wildlife. He wrote The Red Kite’s Year with artist Dan Powell and a sister volume The Hen Harrier’s Year will be out next spring. His recent book Human, Nature is about our relationship with the natural world…
Guest blog – Holding back the Beaver by Derek Gow
Derek Gow is a farmer. His first guest blog here, about rewilding his farm (and much else besides), Winds of Change 4 February 2019, was one of the most popular posts on this blog in all time. He has written other blogs here (click here) and I reviewed his book Bringing Back the Beavers –…