Guest blog – National Parks, Beauty & Riches by Lee Schofield

Lee Schofield is senior site manager at RSPB Haweswater, where partnership work with landowner United Utilities is aiming to find a balance between large-scale ecological restoration and hill farming in the Lake District National Park. He is also a nature writer, working on his first book which will be published by Penguin/Transworld in 2022. Lee…

Guest blog – Boris and the Badgers by Dominic Dyer

Dominic Dyer is Policy Advisor for the Born Free Foundation, author of Badgered to Death ‘The People and Politics of the Badger Cull’ and was CEO of the Badger Trust from 2013 to 2020. Twitter: domdyer70 Boris, the badgers and the politics of culling Sir David King undermines the Randomised Badger Culling Trial Over the…

Jane V. Adams – Cause for celebration

Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane…

Guest blog by Celtic Reptile and Amphibian

Celtic Reptile & Amphibian is an organisation which focusses on ex-situ conservation of UK and European native herps, through captive breeding. Twitter @CelticReptile See more here. Harvey Tweats is one Co-director of Celtic Reptile & Amphibian and focusses on ecology and species restoration. He is a longstanding rewilder and widescale nature restoration advocate, inspired by…

Guest blog – Is it really too late to save the Scottish wildcat? by Dominic Woodfield

Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is not a wildcat specialist, but has significant experience of working with rare and protected species and is currently instructed by Wildcat Haven to advise on regulatory and ecological matters, including on the methodology for their…

Guest blog – Swift Bricks by Dick Newell

Lifetime bird watcher and over 60 years an RSPB member, Dick Newell, retired from the software industry, now devotes time to devising ways to help Swifts, which led recently to the BTO giving a Marsh Award for Innovative Ornithology to Action for Swifts. actionforswifts.com documents a large number of case studies, designs and ideas. Swift Bricks…

Guest blog – Exposing limitations in planning submissions by Tim Reed

Although an ornithologist by training, Tim Reed has a background in monitoring and data quality- starting with standardising management planning and data recording for the statutory sector, moving on to developing the widely-used Common Standards site condition model. After a long period introducing peer-reviewable data and biodiversity and ecosystem reporting models in big corporates around…

Jane V. Adams – Jackdaws

Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane…