Standing up for Nature
My copy of the January Birdwatch came through the letter box yesterday and I turned straight to the Birders’ Choice awards results. You chose well – I’ll come back to this in a few days time. Birdwatch is available in all good newsagents.
It’s simple really (written with a wry smile). Vote in Parliament this week on whether Parliament supports or rejects May’s deal. If vote is in favour – problem sorted. If not (as expected) go to point 2. Set up two referenda, one week apart, in first half of March. First referendum, ask population to vote…
The report on raptor persecution in Scotland published by the RSPB last week deserves a wide readership. I’ve been looking at it again over the weekend. There is a good, and new, piece of interpretation on satellite-tagged Hen Harriers (p12). Of the 18 Hen Harriers that died, or which disappeared under mysterious circumstances (ie their…
There’s a paper in this month’s British Birds which shows that Pallid Harriers are being recorded in bigger numbers in most west European countres in recent years – including in the UK. The changing status of the Pallid Harrier in western Europe by Mike Henry. The data given are convincing and this upsurge is rather…
FORESTRY COMMISSION LAUNCHES NEW PROJECT TO DIVERSIFY NATURE WRITING As part of celebrations to mark its centenary in 2019, the Forestry Commission has launched a new writing competition to diversify nature writing. From Wordsworth to J.K Rowling, England’s forests have inspired characters and chronicles that have shaped the nation’s literary history for…