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I was at Cheltenham racecourse on Saturday –  a delightful afternoon with friends but not a profitable visit. A large part of my enjoyment of racing is the journey to and from the racecourse.  The trip to Cheltenham through the Cotswolds was lit up with autumn colours, and the beechwoods before Adlestrop, still copper-gold in…

I couldn’t help smile at Jeremy Paxman’s opinion of Therese Coffey in this article from last year.  But it was Paxman’s remark that Defra was… … a place of political purgatory, where ambitious politicians suffer torments in hope of preferment somewhere else https://www.ft.com/content/17bedfec-da71-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482 …that really caught my eye. We’ve had some shocking ministers in Defra…

I was at the New Networks for Nature meeting on Friday last week – from what I experienced it was a highly successful event. This was the 10th such event which brings together a new network – that of artists and scientists, conservationists and politicians, old codgers and young students.  I have to admit that…

I usually hear a grasshopper before I see it. Then it’s a matter of looking down on the ground hoping to see it flitting from one stem of grass to another. If I want a photograph, it’s down on my knees and hope the insect stays still or that it won’t be completely obscured by…

Tim writes: on 24th July 1812 Dr Peter McDougall was with two friends on the Isle of Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde.  They went out to two small islets in Millport Bay where terns were nesting. One of the party shot a tern and McDougall noticed it differed from other terns in having more…