My article on UKHillWalking.com

    Here’s an article by me on the UKHillWalking website – seems to be going down well. Have a look at the comments too – some interesting ones there. GWCT is bleating that they want a say – but they haven’t left a comment on the article so far. It would be good to…

Blue Planet 2 – programme 4

  I thought this episode – about the open ocean – was the best so far. Great footage of boiling seas, sleeping Sperm Whales and a whole lot more.   And for once, the message of environmental degradation was very adroitly put over – I thought.  The scene was set about the immensity of the…

Everyone’s talking about wildlife crime except Defra

This is the sixth Defra response to an e-petition attempting to press them into action on wildlife crime and unsustainable upland management associated with grouse shooting. And this is the sixth response in Defra which has failed to admit the scale of the problem of wildlife crime and failed to bring forward any sensible response….

An evening in Ipswich

On Wednesday I had the privilege of giving the first Derek Moore Memorial Lecture to a crowd of c130 people in Ipswich. Derek was a mate of mine and a character, and achiever, in the nature conservation world. We miss him, and in particular the Bird Fair is a diminished place each year without catching …

North York Moors

There are indications that many intensive grouse-shooting estates are undertaking more heather (and in some cases Sphagnum) burning this year because they feel that the Walshaw Moor net is closing in on them. Here are some examples of what heather burning actually looks like from the North York Moors.  Does this burning follow the heather…

Blue Planet 2 – programme 3

Coral reefs – you can’t go wrong with coral reefs and I enjoyed this programme more than the two preceding ones.  Why was that? I’m really not sure. Manta rays, spawning  groupers, another grouper working with an octopus to catch their prey and saddleback clown fish. All terrific.  And all potentially to be lost from…

Bitterns up, Corncrakes down

Two species which have been conservation success stories, and ones for which the RSPB has led the species recoveries, have had very different recent fates.  Bitterns continue to go up in numbers (yes, they’re booming!) and Corncrakes are declining. In 1997 there were just 11 male Bitterns making their booming calls from reedbeds in the…