Five weeks and 106,000+ signatures.

Another week, and another 6-7000 signatures – solid but not enough, in my view. Weekends are always slow, and this week has seen a three-day weekend, and the sun shone for some of it too – always bad for petitions. The future 1 April 2030 newspaper was a good attention raiser – every Westminster MP…

Tim Melling – Spotted Redshank

Tim writes: so how does Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) differ from Common Redshank (T. totanus)?  Spotted Redshank is slightly bigger and more elegant with longer legs and a longer, thinner bill that has a tiny downward kink at the tip.  Spotted Redshank also has a more well-marked face pattern with an obvious eyestripe and pale…

More from the Mirror on burning of our uplands

Emmerdale actor, Nick Miles, who is a Yorkshire Dales resident opposes heather burning and points out that birds of prey are killed illegally on grouse moors. Good for him! The Moorland Association, whose members are responsible for most of the torching of the uplands, say that burning stuff can have a positive impact on carbon…

Saturday cartoons from Ralph Underhill

There are three Saturdays before this blog goes into a much reduced state of activity (see here). Today and next Saturday Ralph and I have chosen some of our favourites of his cartoons that have appeared here over the years. There are a lot to choose from: Ralph’s first cartoon to appear here was in…

This is worth a welcome

In response to this (click here) the usual suspects, except the National Gamekeepers Organisation, have said this: A strong game market and acceptance of game meat will mean a strong future for shooting. The continued use of lead shot has become a growing blocker for the game market. This was a key driver in the…