I’ll be voting Green tomorrow morning in the EU elections. It seems I won’t be alone as the Green Party of England and Wales stands a good chance of coming fourth ahead of the Liberal Democrats (and behind UKIP, Labour and the Conservatives – perhaps in that order). I will vote Labour in the next…
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Plants
At the weekend I became a volunteer for Plantlife and took part in their Wildflowers Count survey I had to walk across an allocated 1km square and record which plants out of a list of 200 I saw. Luckily, the list has such challenging species as Holly, Hawthorn, Common Nettle, Ivy and Daisy so I…
Crex! Crex! Crex! Crex!
The Corncrake was easy, the chips were difficult. I didn’t ‘need’ a bag of chips but I did want a bag of chips. Yesterday was a lovely sunny day and I’d spent quite a lot of it out in the sun enjoying nature. I was listening, unsuccessfully, for Turtle Doves at a local farm before…
Crex! Crex! Crex!
I am going out to listen for Corncrakes. There will not be a blog first thing tomorrow morning. I have heard Cuckoos in two places today. I’m pretty sure there are more of them around this spring/summer than there have been for several, many, years. Quite a few people seem to agree, as evidenced by…
Branching out
You know how keen I am on plants – I wouldn’t want to walk on anything else. And so, it may come as some surprise that I am quite excited about starting to do some plant monitoring. There – I’ve said it. I promised the nice people at Plantlife last autumn that I would give…
It’s May
The May is well and truly out in east Northamptonshire. This line of Hawthorn bushes really caught my eye. Isn’t it lovely? Although, in the Lake District on Tuesday I saw plenty of Primroses, and in Lancashire yesterday, and West Yorkshire today, I saw lots of Bluebells. Do enjoy spring, whatever stage it is…
JNCC nonsense
JNCC easily slip under my radar but they aren’t irrelevant. Here is a paper which claims to advance the thinking on protected areas but shows signs that it might take thinking backwards instead. Here is a most unpleasant quote: “It seems that for protected areas to be more effective in the future, becoming a flexible…
Wales
I’ve been in Wales for a few days on a ‘secret mission’. If this post appears it means I haven’t had time to write a second blog for today. I hope I have seen some Hen Harriers… …and some Pied Flys, Redstarts and Wood Warblers. But mostly Hen Harriers…
A new video on vultures and diclofenac
I’ve touched on the vulture/diclofenac story here before – and asked you to express your opinion that this veterinary drug needs to be banned from use in the EU anywhere it might kill vultures. Here is a new video from the Vulture Conservation Foundation and BirdLife International. Once you get past the very irritating American…
Failed twitch
You won’t catch me chasing after rare birds very often. I got that out of my system years ago. For me to leap in the car to see a bird it has to meet some strict criteria: not too far away, a bird I really want to see, and a bird I will enjoy seeing…