The latest UK survey of Capercaillie, carried out last winter, estimates there to be only 1114 individuals – six years ago the estimate was higher at 1285 individuals. We can regard this as a more-or-less stable population, given the inherent difficulties of counting this species. The press release from RSPB, SNH and Cairngorms National…
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Some news and some blogs
Things that have caught my eye in a busy week: at least two pairs of Bee-eaters have hatched young at East Leake – and Mark Thomas from RSPB was on Today this morning talking about it (he’s very good with the media) official announcement of the West Pennine Moors SSSI (a few fields were snipped…
Banking on wildlife
I went to the bank the other day, which entails a car journey, and I was hoping to see a Bittern at a local nature reserve a few miles further on. I was only a hundred yards or so from home when I stopped at a T-junction and looked right; there was no traffic but…
Does your CEO tweet (2)?
Back in April 2015 I listed some CEOs of wildlife organisations who were on Twitter and their number of tweets and number of followers. It was really just out of interest. And in the same vein here is an update. David Nussbaum has moved on from WWF and is now CEO of ‘The Elders’. Martin…
Look at the birds of the air…
Colin Bibby recruited me to the RSPB – for which I will always be grateful (and the story of that is in Fighting for Birds p 30). Colin passed away 13 years ago, and is still missed by those of us who worked with him, his other friends, and of course relations. As his gravestone…
Some good news on Bialowieza
‘The EU executive has urged Poland to halt logging immediately in one of Europe’s last remaining areas of primeval forest, and has asked the European Court of Justice to act on it.’ reports the BBC. See also Guardian, Birdlife International. This is good news. Of course, it’s not the sort of thing that will be…
Late to the Lakes controversy
It’s not that I didn’t notice that The Lake District had been given World Heritage Status, it’s just that I haven’t had time to comment on it. And haven’t had time to keep up with the torrent of comment sparked by George Monbiot’s articles (The Lake District’s world heritage site status is a betrayal of…
Big Butterfly Count
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The Big Butterfly Count starts on Friday (Bastille Day) and lasts until 6 August (the Sunday of Hen Harrier Day weekend). If you spend 15 minutes looking for butterflies and day-flying moths, record what you see, and then enter the data you will be contributing to the world’s biggest survey of butterflies. Last year…
Ospreys to breed on South Coast in 2021?
Eight Osprey chicks from Scotland have safely arrived in Poole Harbour as part of a five-year translocation project, aimed at re-establishing this species on its former breeding grounds on the south coast of England. The project which is being run by Birds of Poole Harbour, The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and local wildlife technology…
A few things
A few things that caught my eye this week: Bee-eaters in the Guardian my Tree Bumblebees have now ended their stay in my bird box The Times carried an obituary of Stephen Tindale today on Wednesday, when the plague of ants caused anguish at Wimbledon, the Black-headed Gulls were feasting on them in the air…