Guest blog – Bowland: crimes against nature by Eleanor Upstill-Goddard

Eleanor is a wildlife conservationist and raptor enthusiast from Northumberland with an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management from Newcastle University. She indulges her passion for wildlife through photography and writing. Twitter: @DaisyEleanorug       We have all heard of the expression ‘to turn a blind eye’, meaning to pretend that a particular act…

Guest blog – New Natural Areas by Steve Jones

  Steve Jones has worked in conservation in the UK and overseas for two decades, promoting wildlife-friendly farming and designated site conservation in the UK, and large mammal conservation in the tropics. He writes on wildlife-friendly farming, land sparing and rewilding and wrote a guest blog, England’s Serengeti, for this blog, back in January.  …

Guest blog – Thunder in the Uplands by Findlay Wilde

  There is a dark day looming. The Inglorious Twelfth is just a few sleeps away, and yet it is troubling the sleep of many people; people who care about the wildlife balance in the uplands, people who are angry about the on going illegal persecution of raptors, people who feel like their natural inheritance…

Guest blog – Love Vultures, Ban Diclofenac by Ian Parsons

Ian Parsons spent twenty years working as a Ranger with the Forestry Commission, where he not only worked with birds of prey and dormice, but where he developed his passion for trees.  Now a freelance writer, Ian runs his own specialist bird tour company leading tours to Extremadura.  For more details see www.griffonholidays.com This is…

Guest blog – Spread your Passion Far and Wide by Joe Harkness

  Joe Harkness writes about the therapeutic benefits of birdwatching on his Bird Therapy blog and Twitter page @BirdTherapy             Inspiring the future generation of birders, nature enthusiasts and/or general nature lovers is vital in sustaining our wonderful wildlife and habitats. In my opinion, the most powerful asset at our…

Guest blog – by Ryszard Kulik

Ryszard Kulik – doctor of psychology, naturalist, columnist of the monthly “Wild Life” magazine, author of books devoted to man-nature relations, including “Man Towards Nature”, “Discovering Nature” or “Treading Strongly on the Ground”. Mark writes:  I’m very grateful for this guest blog from Poland about the conflict over Bialowieza. The English is almost perfect and…

Guest blog – The Somerset Lakes and Meres by ‘Messi’

Messi is a pseudonym. He has worked on flood risk and water level management and nature conservation in the UK and overseas, advised farmers on agri-environment schemes and, most recently, has worked on community-led, nature-based tourism development in SE Europe and SE Asia. The heat of the day was freshened somewhat by a cooling breeze…

Guest blog – OSME Summer Days by Richard Porter

Richard Porter worked for the RSPB for many years (1968-1999) and then for BirdLife International, particularly in the Middle East. He first went to Turkey in 1966, surveying wetlands, and that autumn (with others) counted the raptors migrating through the Bosphorus – the first comprehensive count of raptor migration at a site in the Old…