Press release from ‘Stronger together to stop Calderdale Wind Farm’: PARLIAMENTARY PETITION LAUNCHED TODAY CALLS FOR A BAN ON BUILDING WIND FARMS ON PROTECTED PEATLAND Today sees the launch of a petition that calls on Parliament to amend onshore wind planning regulations by banning wind farms on protected peatland in England. 100,000 signatures will…
Category: THE WILDLIFE NGOs – RSPB, Wildlife Trusts Wild Justice, BSBI etc
Big Garden Birdwatch
I did it – did you? I saw some birds: House Sparrow (5), Long-tailed Tit (4), Blackbird (3), Blue Tit (3), Dunnock (2), Coal Tit (2), Great Tit (2), Collared Dove (1), Robin (1) and Goldfinch (1). Several species I expected were missing: Starling, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon… I have entered the data – have you?
BSBI press release – New Year Plant Hunt 2025 results
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Thousands of citizen scientists find hundreds of wildflowers blooming in midwinter Thousands of citizen scientists took part in the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland’s fourteenth New Year Plant Hunt to find wild or naturalised plants flowering in midwinter. Their observations are providing us with robust evidence of how our wild plants are responding to a…
RSPB press release: Record numbers of one of UK’s rarest moths reported at RSPB nature reserve
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The Dark Bordered Beauty moth is one of the UK’s rarest moth species and can only be found at a few sites in Scotland and a single location in England RSPB Insh Marshes nature reserve has had the best year ever for recording the moths with a population of 176, a significant increase from 81…
RSPB reaction (and mine) to Keir Starmer’s speech
In response to the Prime Minister’s ‘Plan for Change’ speech, the RSPB Chief Executive, Beccy Speight, said: ‘Deeply worrying rhetoric in the PM’s speech today, singling out regulators as naysayers when they can often be an under-resourced and desperately-needed defence, holding the line on protecting our natural world. The UK needs homes, renewable energy and…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 21 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Stephen Moss’s 2024 Round-up of Nature Books
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Stephen Moss is an author and naturalist based in Somerset. Having retired from running the MA Nature and Travel Writing at Bath Spa University he is now a Visiting Research Fellow there. Stephen’s latest books are the 2023 Wainwright-Prize-shortlisted Ten Birds that Changed the World (Guardian Faber) and The Starling: a Biography (Square Peg), the…
RSPB replies to my open letter (3)
This blog follows those of Tuesday and Wednesday in publishing the RSPB Chair’s response to 10 questions I posed. Here are the RSPB’s replies to questions 7-10. My questions are bold, followed by Sir Andrew Cahn’s responses in blue and my comments in green. How many foxes were killed on RSPB nature reserves in each…
RSPB replies to my open letter (2)
This blog follows yesterday’s in publishing the RSPB Chair’s response Yesterday Qs1-4, today Qs5-6) to my impertinent questions. This series will complete (Qs7-10) tomorrow. My questions are bold, followed by Sir Andrew Cahn’s responses in blue and my comments in green. 5. I find that almost every RSPB communication I receive is trying to get…
RSPB replies to my open letter (1)
I recently wrote to the RSPB’s new Chair of Council, Sir Andrew Cahn, with a list of 10 questions about what the RSPB is up to these days – click here. I received a response on Friday and here I post the RSPB’s answers to the first four of my questions with more to follow…