#PeoplesManifestoforWildlife – what they say

the Countryside Alliance don’t like it – although there is no indication of what they think is wrong with the document except that Chris Packham had a lot to do with it! Both Tim Bonner and Liam Stokes took to Twitter to be snide about Chris (and I guess the rest of the contributors, but…

Listen #ThePeoplesManifestoforWildlife

You can listen to several of the authors of chapters in The People’s Manifesto for Wildlife on the LUSH Soapbox in a podcast by Charlie Moores. The voices are : Chris Packham Maya-Rose Craig Carol Day Amy-Jane Beer Bella Lack Dominic Dyer Miles King Dave Goulson Ruth Peacey myself

Unpublished, but talked about, grouse studies

Last year I wrote about the grouse shooting industry’s habit of speaking in public about what are allegedly the results of studies that suit their case but where the findings are not in the public domain. In 2016 we had Ian Botham and Matt Ridley referring to a report which has still not been published…

A Bluffer’s Guide to Agriculture Policy (1)

I wonder what the new Agriculture Bill will deliver for us (and I’ll come back to who ‘us’ is later). When (if) we leave the EU then we will also leave the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) which has been a much-criticised part of our lives for more than four decades.  If we are to say…

Some news items

sad news from Malta – the great Joe Sultana passed away on Tuesday, aged 78.  Joe was a passionate campaigner and advocate for birds on Malta and in the Mediterranean in general.  He led BirdLife Malta for many years and his son, Mark, is now BirdLife Malta’s CEO. Campaigning against bird killing (much of it…

Defra doesn’t have a clue

Defra doesn’t have a clue about who the Secretary of State has met recently. That’s the most charitable interpretation of their behaviour. In March this year (Defra have the date wrong in their response) I asked Defra the following questions: What meetings has Michael Gove had with Ian Coghill (GWCT) and/or The Ninth Marquess of…

Iceland and the whales

Photo: The Whaling Station, Hvalfjörður It’s a beautiful setting for some less than beautiful deeds. Hvalfjörður means Whale Fjord and the group of white buildings at the foot of the pier into the fjord are where Iceland’s catch of Fin Whales are flensed and butchered under the eyes of a Japanese inspector – for all…

Free food but no drink

On Saturday a few minutes in my favourite blackberrying patch provided an easy couple of ice cream containers of free food. Thee are plenty left and I must get out again before the weekend to harvest some more. The plan was to have a celebratory pub lunch afterwards, but the local pub, I found, is…