It was a bit of a toss-up whether to go out for a walk this morning or not. I’d been up since 5am and got quite a lot of work done – I’d written 700 words on Stanwick Lakes for a book that is being compiled about the Nene Valley so I felt pretty good. …
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Doves of peace
When the ecological Pope Francis released some white doves as a sign of peace they were attacked by a corvid and a larid see here, here, here. How metaphorical can you get? My reactions were varied: 1. The nerdy birder: it’s not a ‘seagull’ – it looks like Larus michahellis to me with those yellow…
Those dark eyes
I looked into her dark eyes in a way I never had before – they were so beautiful. Why hadn’t I noticed? Her rounded breast swelled and…she burst into song, because she (or maybe he, but I prefer to think she) was a Robin. It was near the end of one of my regular walks…
Why are we counting?
…asks the GWCT website. And it’s a good question which certainly isn’t answered by the following text. GWCT are organising a Big Farmland Bird Count (yes, really) for early February in case we all get bored after we can’t shoot pheasants any longer. What next? The NFU Even Bigger Farmland Bird Count and the CLA…
Peter Kendall again
We’ll miss him when he is gone won’t we? I am grateful to Martin Harper’s blog (always worth reading) for pointing me in the direction of Peter Kendall’s last speech as NFU President at an Oxford Farming Conference. He couldn’t resist having a badly-judged dig at the RSPB, which should bring home the message to…
Wrapping up
In the streets around where I live, before Christmas, there were teams of workmen renovating the ‘council’ houses. Sometimes these groups had eastern European accents, sometimes they were from the foreign land of Wales, and sometimes the Northamptonshire accent was playing across the pot-holed streets of my neighbourhood. There was quite a lot going on…
Leadhills plus
This news item is interesting – a potential community buy-out at Leadhills brought to us by Raptor Persecution Scotland. I’d chip in £50 to the community, as would many other birders I guess. John Armitage’s e-petition has taken a bit of a leap forward in the last few days and is now at 7596 signatures. …
Does Labour have a rural agenda?
It’s frustrating being a member of the Labour Party. I share Labour’s values but they just don’t seem to be applied to rural issues, and, as you have probably noticed, I live in a rural area and care about the countryside and its wildlife. Labour is, for my liking, far too dominated by urban intellectuals …
Hardly started 2014…
Have you seen any birds yet in 2014? Of course you have! That’s one of the best things about birds – they are everywhere and with us all the time. According to the excellent Birdtrack I have seen 62 species so far this year but the true total is somewhere in the low 70s as…
More campaigning zeal
My blogs about Owen Paterson’s remarks on off-setting (here, here and here) and Ralph Underhill’s cartoon on the subject (here) seemed to have struck a chord. All the blogs have received excellent comments (I like David Hodd’s comment on the last blog – wish I’d thought of that!). If you would like to send a…