The BBC has confirmed its intention to close the BBC Wildlife Fund. Chief axe-man, George Entwistle, appears unbending to the arguments of those who point out that this move will not save the BBC appreciable money – it will simply cost nature conservation appreciable money. In its first week, 7000 people signed the petition appealing…
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3.6 million reds under the bed!
I’m sure we all share the sentiments of Bob Neill, the CLG Minister, who attacked the National Trust for being a den of lefties. It has long been a worry to me that the National Trust has been such an anarchic and, frankly, revolutionary body, always championing underdogs, speaking out loudly on environmental issues and…
TMS caught out by Batesian mimic?
England won the second test match yesterday on a very warm day. After listening to see whether Bresnan would get a hat-trick (he didn’t) I nipped out to post some copies of my book to very astute purchasers. This is becoming a regular afternoon outing and that’s fine by me. My route takes me through…
Do let it grow under your feet
I am quite busy in my post-RSPB life but I do find I have more time to read things that I would have meant to read in the past, but around to which I would not have got. This report, Nature’s Tapestry, is a good example of something which I am glad that I can…
Save the BBC Wildlife Fund – and help it save wildlife
Have a look at this and see what you think. There were just over 300 signatures a few moments ago – let’s see how many we can sign up by the end of today as a start. As a former Environment Secretary Lord Patten should be sufficiently naturally cultured to know that this is a…
Mark Avery is working hard…
Comments Off on Mark Avery is working hard…
Mark Avery is working hard for someone else right now – today’s blog will appear later in the day. Blogging for Nature is my book of blogs from my RSPB days. It contains 143 blogs out of over 700 which I wrote during my last two years as the RSPB’s Conservation Director. The last blog…
Red tape or sense?
Those at the Game Fair who were baying for the removal of government-imposed red tape may just pause for thought now that Eric Pickles’s Department aims to remove much of the red tape that protects the beauty of the countryside to allow development to proceed more easily and to put economic growth ahead of protecting…
Readers’ offer
I am at the Game Fair (Fri and Sat). I’m pretty sure this will provide bloggable material for a while! But while I am away – why not buy this excellent book which is a fully updated and enlarged edition of an earlier work? Oliver Prys-Jones and Sarah Corbet are old friends and colleagues from…
Tosh
I do wonder about vets sometimes. In the Sunday Telegraph a ‘report’ (which has not yet been published) is featured under the sensational headline ‘The extinct species back from the brink and causing mayhem’. Crikey! Which species are these? Well, the article doesn’t give any actual examples of mayhem being caused unless you count the red kite which…
Butterflies, Sir David, Ingrams, Waitrose and windfalls
I’ve done my bit for Butterfly Conservation this weekend and carried out a Big Butterfly Count in the back garden. This very serious survey was postponed as when the rain fell this morning I nipped in to Waitrose in Rushden to stock up on cheap white wine and found that my local Waitrose store was…