Yesterday Defra did a U-turn on their proposals to investigate buzzard control for the benefit of pheasants. It’s not easy for governments to do U-turns, although this one is getting the hang of it, and we should thank Defra Minister, Richard Benyon for his re-think. Thank you! The RSPB did a good job, after being…
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Catfield – jewel in the crown, for how much longer?
Nature conservation needs systems and processes and, yes, bureaucracy, and forms and meetings and all the paraphernalia of decision making and due diligence. But, as we all know, sometimes the means can take over from the ends, and sometimes people can lose sight of what the processes are there to deliver. I recently visited Catfield…
Buzzards
Please sign this petitionto persuade Defra to think again if you are already convinced that 375k of your taxes could be better spent than a poorly thought-through study of buzzards and pheasants. How might £375k be better spent?: employ a teaching assistant for 25 years study the impacts of non-native pheasants on native flora and…
A name
There is lots of cow parsley in flower by the roadsides at the moment. As a hopeless botanist – or plant-identifier – I like cow parsley because I usually recognise it and know what it is. Cow Parsley has a variety of other names – like most of our plants, it seems. The nicest, which…
The final curtsey and a dead eagle
If Glenmazeran is indeed Richard Benyon’s place in the Highlands then I’ve just come across an interesting story from there in last year’s book, The Final Curtsey, written by Margaret Rhodes, the Queen’s cousin. Margaret, used to pop up to Glenmazeran for a spot of fishing and shooting as any gel would. On the way…