If today is the first day of spring, then yesterday must have been the last day of winter. I spent the evening of the last day of winter giving a talk to my local mid-Nene RSPB group – as a stand-in for a much better speaker, Ian Newton, who had lost his voice. There were…
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Labour – hopeless on the natural environment
I received an email from Angela Eagle over 10 days ago, as a Labour Party member, excitedly telling me that the party had published eight policy papers ‘that will provide the foundation of our One Nation manifesto’. I have until 13 June to respond and ‘make sure Labour’s election manifesto reflects your views, beliefs and…
More bits and pieces
I wrote in June about a day I spent being shown butterflies in San Francisco by Liam O’Brien. Liam showed me the last site of the now-extinct Xerces Blue butterfly and now sends me this image of a memorial which has suddenly appeared. The Moorland Association, having met Lord de Mauley to bend his ear,…
Vultures and diclofenac
The story about diclofenac and vulture declines is an amazing one. And it is developing a nasty new twist. Asian vultures crashed in numbers very rapidly. In the 1980s the Indian White-rumped Vulture was probably the commonest bird of prey in the world but its numbers (and those of other species) fell by around 99.9%…
I was budgetting for Sand Martins
It’s been a slightly odd day. I woke very early (even for me) and so had a little snooze mid-morning, listened to the Budget on the radio and then went for a walk at Stanwick Lakes. As I walked around in the afternoon sunshine I was thinking that, in some ways, I was quite impressed…
Good cause
BirdLife International has a number of fundraising ‘asks’ on the Just Giving site. All are worth supporting. There are several teams who are fundraising by competing in the Champions of the Flyway bird race at the Eilat Birds Festival in Israel. This raises the inevitable question of ‘why fly to Israel to raise money…
Bits and pieces
How wolves change rivers – a four minute video (although that is the wrong Badger species!). Vote here for the project you would like to see get £25,000 – I voted for the World Land Trust project on leopards but it wasn’t an easy decision. I keep forgetting to tell you that the sale…
They can’t be that far away…
Sand Martins – I can feel them in the air. Any day now… I’m ready for them. And they’ll be followed by Swallows and Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Sedge Warblers, and Yellow Wagtails and Common Terns. Then Cuckoos, a whole bunch of warblers and House Martins. Swifts. Bring it on. An English spring. I’m ready…
Saint Patrick
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Saint Patrick has some dodgy environmental credentials although his walking stick grew into a living ash tree and he used the shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity. But driving the snakes from Ireland – what was that all about? Could he please come back and rid Britain of Muntjac Deer, Canada…
Cheltenham preview for Day 4
This is the last day – and the worst day of racing (in my opinion). Yes it has the most prestigious race, the Gold Cup, but the supporting cast of races is a bit uninspiring. This year I’ll be watching the Gold Cup on TV rather than travelling back across the Cotswolds. But, don’t get…