Magnus Linklater is a former editor of The Scotsman and Scottish Editor of The Times. He is trustee of an estate in Perthshire, and a regular commentator on rural affairs. I knew that taking on the RSPB would be nothing but trouble. But I was not quite prepared for the volume and ferocity of…
Category: BLOGS by guest authors
Guest Blogs
I’m always interested in offers of Guest Blogs for this site. If you have a burning issue that you would like to get off your chest, and you can write in an interesting way, then get in touch, please. And thank you to all those who have already contributed – you have stimulated some very…
Guest blog – Are neonicotinoid pesticides responsible for the demise of bees and other wildlife? – by Rosemary Mason and Derek Thomas
Dr Rosemary Mason and Dr Derek Thomas are long-standing environmentalists One of us has just returned from Orkney, where for the first time, we found the rare great yellow bumble bee (Bombus distinguendus), now restricted to Northern Scotland and the offshore islands. She was leisurely foraging on red clover and garden knapweed on a track…
Guest blog – Save our verges by Sarah Pettegree
Sarah Pettegree has lived most of her life in Norfolk and owns the award winning Bray’s Cottage Pork Pies, which was named one of the top 100 social brands in 2011. That means she tweets quite a lot. http://www.perfectpie.co.uk/ I live in a perfectly beautiful part of North Norfolk. Most of my journeys are…
Guest Blog Don’t shoot! – by Giles Bradshaw.
Giles Bradshaw owns a small farm near Exmoor. He campaigns for the law to be changed to allow for non-lethal dispersal of wildlife using dogs and for a wide-ranging ban on cruelty to wildlife. A gamekeeper was recently prosecuted for breaking the Hunting Act near Spalding. The court heard that he was found using…
Guest Blog – Big Bird Race by Jonny Rankin
About me Based in Bury St Edmunds Suffolk, I have a number of interests but I am always content to be out birding, which is usually every day walking my dog Fender. I do a lot of birding in Suffolk Breck but of course go further afield too. Firstly many thanks for the…
Guest blog – It isn’t easy being a wildlife-friendly farmer by David Fursdon
David Fursdon is a farmer and landowner in Devon. He chairs the newly formed SW Rural and Farming Network and the established SW Chamber of Rural Enterprise. He is a Commissioner of both English Heritage and the Crown Estate and a former President of the CLA. Experiencing wildlife is one of the privileges of living…
Guest blog – Blogging for victory by Alison Fure
Alison Fure is a field ecologist specialising in studying the effect of light pollution on wildlife: particularly bats and river corridors. She moderates the Yahoo Group Lights and Wildlife and gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (R.I.P). She is the south London contact for the London Bat Group and a local bat…
Guest Blog – National Trust Natural Childhood report – by Stephen Moss
Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers, broadcasters and wildlife television producers. He was the founding producer of Springwatch, and his books include A Bumper Book of Nature, a guide that encourages children to explore the great outdoors. A lifelong naturalist, he is passionate about communicating the wonders of the natural world to…
Guest blog – A service-based environment? by Jonathan Baker
Jonathan Baker is a graduate of Bath Spa University and Imperial College London and currently a consultant at Collingwood Environmental Planning where understanding what ecosystem services are and what they mean for environmental and planning policy is a fascination. Thoughts on our evolving consideration of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services and what this…