The sedge warbler has a stuttering song – it starts – it stops – it starts again – it speeds up – it slows down – it trills – it chatters – it clicks and it churrs. It sounds like a mechanical toy which has been wound up and explodes into song until it runs…
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Shifting butterfly baselines
It’s the Easter weekend and it’s cold and a bit wet – not ideal weather for butterflies. So far, in east Northants this year, I’ve seen commas, peacocks, speckled woods, brimstones and orange tips. It’s a start. Through the year I will hope to see white admirals, black hairstreaks, purple emperors, white admirals, purple hairstreaks…
Spring?
It’s a funny spring – but then, they often are. As you know, if you are a regular reader, I’ve seen bee flies and primroses and a swallow three weeks ago at Cheltenham, and I’ve heard plenty of chiffchaffs but it feels like a stuttering spring to me. I heard a willow warbler last weekend…
Tesco favours wildlife
Tesco has had a tough time of it since teaming up with the RSPB earlier this year. But at least they have discovered wildlife including the mice that have ‘infested‘ their Covent Garden store causing it to close. It is expected to reopen as an RSPB nature reserve very soon. London tube stations are just…
Nature of Harming ‘award’ – who’s the April fool?
The result of the Nature of Harming ‘award’ is as follows: 1st The coalition government 626 votes 2nd The NFU 225 votes 3rd Gamekeepers who break the law 193 votes Thank you to everyone who voted and even more thanks to all who commented on the poll. The victor wasn’t really in doubt from Day…
Ramblings
It was my birthday on Thursday and I was in my car for much of the day so it reminded me of the USA trip to which I was looking forward (rightly) this time last year. Driving through southern England is a bit different from driving on the open roads of much of the USA…
NPPF
I’ve only had a very quick look at the government’s planning policy that was unveiled yesterday. It’s not my area of expertise and I would have to be led by others as to its overall impact. But I find it interesting to note that everyone seems to be claiming that they ‘won’ – which is…
Proud of…?
A week ago a poll emerged which showed that the countryside is top of the list for what makes us proud to be British. Tomorrow the government will unveil its conclusions on the future of the planning system in England and it seems that the presumption in favour of ‘sustainable’ development will remain. This pleases…
2% of people are officially stupid
2% of the public are officially stupid. That’s the only explanation for the result of a recent YouGov poll where 2% of people rate David Cameron’s government as the ‘greenest government ever’. Or perhaps, by chance, there were 35 Tory MPs in the random sample across the GB population. Given that David Cameron’s coalition government…
The home straight
You only have two weeks to join over 700 others in voting in the Nature of Harming ‘award’ – the results will be announced on April Fools’ Day. Although there is a clear leader, one candidate made a strong bid for your vote this week and it seems that another is planning to get your…