Last week I was lucky with a pine marten, and some whales, and lots of other wildlife, but this year I haven’t had much luck with butterflies. And butterflies haven’t had much luck either with the cold wet weather. From memory, the only butterflies I have seen this year have been a very few peacocks,…
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Where next with England’s forests?
The report of the Independent Panel on Forestry is a good one. I recommend that anyone interested in access, wildlife, trees, public policy, land use and politics should read it. The question for us all, particularly the coalition government, is ‘what next?’. Let’s go back to those distant-seeming days of early 2011 when David Cameron…
Forest Panel’s report published
The final report of the Independent Panel on Forestry has been published. The initial Defra response to the report was fairly warm, and fairly non-committal. Everyone else seems to like it: RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust, National Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Save Our Woods, CLA, Royal Forestry Society. Media coverage includes: BBC, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph. Read…
Chris Packham’s secrets
Have you seen Chris Packham’s Secrets of Our Living Planet series? I have to confess to having seen only most of one episode of the three that have been broadcast. My eye didn’t travel further than the football that was on TV and that’s why I have missed them. I caught most of last Sunday’s…
Wildlife Trusts rehabilitated
The Wildlife Trusts, in my opinion, did not distinguish themselves over the issue of public forests and SSSIs in 2010/11. They gave the impression to many of us of having one eye on the main chance and having lost focus on the needs of nature. Let’s put it down to a momentary aberration which we…