It’s a start…

If you did have a bet on Oscar Whisky yesterday then it would have been a profitable one but the odds turned out to be too short for me so I watched this horse look classy at Cheltenham.  Maybe I should have had a bet as I ended up making a small loss on the…

Happy New Year!

Who knows what the year ahead will bring – except that Oscar Whisky should, like last year,  win the Cheltenham and Three Counties Club Hurdle at Cheltenham this afternoon.  However maybe he won’t as the past is not a perfect guide to the future – so I would be amazed if I see waxwings at…

A year in blogs

Here is my review of the year in blogs – the first four of which were written whilst I was still working at the RSPB and the last eight whilst ‘just me’. January Our forests- the small sell-off and big lease-off. One of the dangers of writing a daily blog is that you might shoot…

Reindeer

Did St Nicholas visit your house on Christmas Eve and deliver presents? And was his sleigh powered by eight reindeer; Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder and Blitzen (and then there’s Rudolph too)? Real-life reindeer, or caribou, are having a tough time of it, and not through sleigh-pulling exhaustion (see also here and here).  

Hot or cold?

Did you have turkey at Christmas?  Is it still hanging around – if so, have a look at this. If it’s driving you to drink have a look at this. This north American woodland species was once nearly extinct because of overhunting but now is a common sight in many US states. How many feathers…