I wouldn’t normally use this blog to wish a happy birthday to a friend but Andy Clements’ 60th birthday deserves celebrating. Andy is a great birder, a great bloke, a great conservationist and a great bloke (no harm in saying that twice). He has done (is doing!) a great job leading the BTO and is…
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Retired hurt?
I was looking forward to seeing a titanic battle between (Sir) Ian Botham and the RSPB on Newsnight tonight. Given that Beefy is an all-rounder, would the RSPB field its Director, Scotland, Stuart Housden, to block the balls in Boycott-fashion or would Martin Harper be sent out to fire down a few bouncers at a…
Derek Moore, 1943-2014
It is with sadness that I pass on the news that Derek Moore died today. Readers of this blog may remember the review of Derek’s book that appeared here a couple of years ago – I’ll be dipping into that book again over the next few days. He also was a regular commenter on this…
Well, well
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Yesterday I received an acknowledgement from Defra of my FOI/EIR request of 30 September. Defra will try to send me the information within 20 working days of receipt of the request ie by 28 October. I’ll keep you posted. This burst of activity may have been due to me asking my MP to write to…
Shared Planet – some more thoughts
I’ve listened to Shared Planet a couple more times and it irritates me each time I hear it – but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad programme or that I wish it hadn’t been aired. I think it’s a jolly good idea to read or listen to opinions with which we disagree every day. And…
What would you do?
The result of the by-election at Rochester and Strood will influence the way that next May’s general election plays out. How much momentum will UKIP have? The UKIP candidate, the sitting MP Mark Reckless, is unequivocably against the Lodge Hill development that will destroy a very important Nightingale population. Here is something from Reckless’s website….
Awful gov
Have you tried the www.gov.uk website? Isn’t it absolutely awful? Can you find anything? Can you find the things you used to be able to find? Where, for example, can you find a list of Defra ministers’ speeches? Do they not speak these days? I would have mixed feelings about that. This is what I…
Some things
A few things that have caught my eye: the USA is a long way ahead of us in getting rid of lead from game meat – for wildlife and people. Colorado is the next state looking to switch to non-toxic ammunition and there is interesting information on the impacts of lead in game on children’s…
More on vultures
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I’m grateful to the Vulture Conservation Foundation for an update on situation with diclofenac (a medical drug that is a bit like aspirin for you but more like cyanide for vultures feeding on animal carcasses which contain it). A review of the evidence for the impact of diclofenac on European vultures has been produced by…
Vote for Bob (again)
Some people are being a bit sniffy about Bob the squirrel – being so open-minded I can see why, and I can see why they are wrong (in my humble opinion – as people say when they are anything but humble). The RSPB is using Bob to stand for nature and will simply use the…