Category: Uncategorized

Warm Saharan breeze brings swallows and martins home weeks early   Travelling ahead of the ‘Saharan plume’ many birds usually seen in spring are starting to arrive back in the UK after spending a warm winter in Africa.  The RSPB is already receiving reports of swallows and house martins being spotted in Cornwall, Devon and…

The Scottish Wildlife Trust is calling for the urgent introduction of legal protection for Scotland’s beavers following the discovery of a dead beaver on a wildlife reserve in Tayside.  Examination of the female beaver shows that it is likely to have died from an infection after being shot in the chest.  Jonny Hughes, Chief Executive,…

I keep a kindly eye on those MPs who spoke in the ‘debate’ over banning driven grouse shooting in October 2016. One, the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire described me thus; ‘Only the other week I had the privilege of attending the evidence session on grouse shooting. Several right hon. and hon. Members have already…

The news that whaling may occur in Icelandic waters from 2019-24 is very disappointing. I’m not suggesting that a 15-minute chat with the Icelandic Prime Minister is likely to have made that much difference but it did feel, when I was in Iceland in September, that the movement was in the right direction. We’ll have…

Puffin. Photo: ©National Trust Images/Paul Kingston Farnes puffin numbers rally after initial concern in five-yearly survey results Results from a five-yearly survey reveal puffin numbers are stable on the remote Northumberland Farne Islands, cared for by the National Trust. Last May concerned rangers speculated that the initial low numbers from the outlying islands of this…