A new GB Red List for vascular plants has just been published – click here, providing a comprehensive revision of the previous (2005) list. Red Lists use internationally recognised criteria to assess threat status, and are crucial in providing the evidence which underpins nature conservation and helps prioritise future action. Of the 1,720 species evaluated…
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Press release – Large landowners in Scotland may need to plan for biodiversity gain by Scottish Rewilding Alliance
New law says large landowners in Scotland need to set out biodiversity plans, in ‘big step towards a Rewilding Nation’ Yesterday MSPs in the Scottish Parliament voted to create a law obliging the owners of large landholdings to publish plans on how they will increase biodiversity, as part of the new Land Reform Bill –…
Beavers released in Glen Affric 400 years after extinction in Scotland
Beavers released in Glen Affric 400 years after extinction in Scotland A family of five beavers and a beaver pair have been released at two sites on Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin in the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve in the northwest Highlands. The beavers were relocated under licence from agricultural land in Tayside to an…
RSPB press release – Cow retirement communities helping to save vultures from extinction
The RSPB, working with Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and Renewable World, has launched a new programme in Nepal to help some of the world’s most endangered vultures while also improving local livelihoods by using such comprehensive approaches as ‘cow retirement communities’ and boosting local dairy industries. With funding from the Darwin Initiative, the programme –…
RSPB press release – Slithering success for UK’s most secretive snake
Slithering success for UK’s most secretive snake The Smooth Snake is the UK’s rarest native reptile, found only on dry heathlands in southern England and restricted to sites in Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey. Reintroductions to restore the historic range of Smooth Snakes includes a site in Devon where the RSPB, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC)…
The badly valued uplands
It wouldn’t be true to say that the following was the talk I delivered at a conference in Sheffield on 1 October, but this is a close approximation to what I wanted to get across. Some of it is also in my book Reflections, some was in the Manifesto for Wildlife of 2018 and some…
RSPB responds to government’s Planning Bill amendments
Dr James Robinson, RSPB Chief Operating Officer, said: “Dropping 67 amendments to the Planning Bill at the eleventh hour isn’t just poor process, it’s legislative chaos. There’s no time for proper scrutiny, no clarity on the cumulative impact, and no confidence this is about good planning rather than political optics. It looks like a cynical…
Patrick Galbraith now a Telegraph environment correspondent
The most interesting thing about this story in the Telegraph is its byline: that of Patrick Galbraith, former editor of Shooting Times and author of this blog’s Book of the Year (2022), In Search of One Last Song, and his most recent book, Uncommon Ground which in my view is a cracking read (see review)…
Operation Turtle Dove criticises Turtle Dove reintroduction scheme
Operation Turtle Dove is a collaboration between RSPB, Pensthorpe Conservation Trust, Fair to Nature and Natural England (click here) which aims to improve the dire status of Turtle Dove’s in the UK. On its website the four bodies say: Operation Turtle Dove is aware of reports of individuals and groups releasing captive-bred Turtle Doves. Whilst…
BSBI press release – Rare fern rediscovered in iconic Cwm Idwal – more than 150 years after last sighting
The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is thrilled to announce the rediscovery of Holly Fern (Polystichum lonchitis) in Cwm Idwal, a glacial cirque in the mountains of Eryri (Snowdonia). The fern was found by naturalist, author and mountain leader Jim Langley, more than 150 years after it was last seen in the area. Holly Fern…