Bird Fair donations

I’m a fan of the Bird Fair but as I wrote in my Birdwatch September column I think Bird Fair has declined in standing in recent years. I skipped 2022 but have attended the last two, post-covid, Bird Fairs. It seems to me that people are voting with their feet and that what was once…

RSPB calls for licensing of gamebird shooting across the UK

Illegal bird of prey killing must end, urges RSPB Birdcrime report The Birdcrime report, which reviews the past 15 years, reveals 1,344 birds of prey were illegally killed between 2009-2023, with crimes continuing to emerge. These criminal acts target threatened species including Golden Eagles, Goshawks and Hen Harriers. The majority of incidents are associated with…

RSPB press release – Tiny wasp helps protect island bird species threatened with extinction 

Tiny wasp helps protect island bird species threatened with extinction  One of the world’s rarest birds, Wilkins’ Bunting, has been handed a much-needed lifeline by a small species of parasitoid wasp.  Only found on the remote Nightingale Island in the South Atlantic, the bunting’s food source was threatened by an invasive alien scale insect.  Conservationists…

Dear Mr Reed, 5 – who you should hear

Dear Mr Reed,  I’m sure you have heard lots of views and advice since you were appointed shadow secretary of state about a year ago. They can’t all be right!  How do you decide who is talking nonsense? I remember a meeting with Ed Miliband when I was one of a group of NGO people…