2015 – the Hen Harrier year in pictures

The conflict between driven grouse shooting and Hen Harriers like Henry (or rather, not very like Henry) is a real one.  Hen Harriers eat enough grouse seriously to reduce grouse bags when they are shot for fun.  Grouse shooting interests illegally kill enough Hen Harriers in the UK to reduce their population to c6-800 pairs…

I will lift up my eyes unto the hills…

‘I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my floods’ As the Moorland Association brags, 70% of the UK’s drinking water comes from the uplands – so do 70% of the UK’s floods, for water has the habit of flowing downhill.  The River Ouse flowing through York, or over York, is…

2015 – a bad year for driven grouse shooting

Few Red Grouse were shot in the UK this year, mainly because of disease and bad weather. But regardless of grouse bags, this was a very bad year for driven grouse shooting and hastened the end of this worthless hobby. The case against driven grouse shooting is that it depends on intensive management that involves…

Another honourable mention for Inglorious

Thank you to my friend Michael McCarthy for this mention of Inglorious in his nature books of the year. Michael’s own The Moth Snowstorm was in my own similar list, as were two of his choices. Inglorious was also listed in similar lists in Country Life, The Times, Mail on Sunday and The Guardian.

Thank you again Chris Packham

I had missed this mention of Inglorious in the Mail on Sunday the weekend before last.  Chris Packham, amongst a host of celebrities, mention a book that they recommend: ‘Most of the UK’s wildlife habitats and many of our species are in critical decline. We’ve lost 50 million birds from our countryside since 1970 so…