Standing up for Nature
Paul writes: This bright metallic coloured beetle is hard to miss when it’s out in the open. The Swollen-thighed Beetle is one of the many English names it goes by, its Latin name is Oedemera nobilis. Only the males have the swollen thighs but the female shares all the other characteristics, metallic green colour, wing…
The Countryside Alliance is giving Chris Packham a little rest and is turning its nastiness towards Tony Juniper, Michael Gove’s proposed new Chair of the hapless Natural England (who will appear before the Efra committee on Tuesday). According to the Sunday Telegraph, campaigners representing ‘farming, countryside communities and businesses‘, (though only the Countryside Alliance is…
This week’s quote is from Mahatma Gandhi (died 1948). The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/340-the-greatness-of-a-nation-and-its-moral-progress-can Some of this week’s stories: licensing of culls of birds, Iceland may allow another five years of whaling, Beavers killed, stink pit with dead Foxes on…
I paid a visit to Wicken Fen on Friday evening – it was such a lovely day I wanted to get out and away from a computer for a while. And with my NTS membership card it’s free to get in. Let’s cut to the punchline – we saw a male Hen Harrier twice. Twice,…
Tim writes: the Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is a very large falcon of plains and steppes across Eurasia, that feeds largely on small mammals. This is subspecies milvipes (which means kite-footed) which breeds across the steppes of Asia but winters further south, including China. I photographed this one above 3500m on the Tibetan Plateau where…