Wood for the trees?

Yesterday Plantlife published a report on the future of British woodland.  Rather than focus primarily on who owns ‘our’ woods Plantlife put a spotlight on woodland management. ‘More trees do not equal more wildlife‘ says Andy Byfield, Plantlife’s Landscape Conservation Manager. ‘From the point of view of our woodland wildlife, it is what we do…

The NFU and the animals (and plants)

Appropriately enough it was The Animals whose refrain, ‘I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood‘ has been taken up by NFU President Peter Kendall. Last week he said ‘Government should switch its focus from bio-diversity and concentrate on farm productivity‘ and ‘The point is we haven’t…

Not quite the same

I have an article in the current issue of The Field and one in the current issue of Birdwatch magazine and both are on hen harriers. Not surprisingly, given their readerships, the two articles are written from slightly different perspectives. I have both magazines in my hands right now and they are interestingly different.  I…

A tonic for gin bush

As a kid in the mid 1960s, Sunday mornings would consist of going to church and then coming home to a roast lunch whose delicious smells filled the house while Desert Island Discs, with its originator Roy Plumley, played on the wireless before we sat down to eat.  My father would have on his suit,…