What do they know?

There was a bit of a fuss last week that the new Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson (species champion for the Barn Owl by the way) doesn’t know much about military matters. Well, I have some sympathy with that view but if we did have person specifications for cabinet posts which required detailed knowledge of the…

Not at all cool at Coul

  You read about this proposed development here back in August 2016 but things are moving on.   Media release from Buglife, Plantlife, Marine Conservation Society, Butterfly Conservation, RSPB and Scottish Wildlife Trust.   Sutherland golf course proposals more environmentally damaging than Trump’s Aberdeenshire course warn conservationists Unique Coul Links would be destroyed An alliance…

Blue Planet 2 – programme 2

Blue Planet 2 hasn’t yet really gripped me. I’m not sure why not. The filming is amazing. The creatures are amazing. It must be me. Yesterday’s programme was fascinating as it revealed lots of species that have never been filmed before and which therefore were new to almost everyone.  There were quite a lot of…

Our friends in the north

Yesterday I was part of a large group of birders gathered at Parkgate on the Dee Estuary and waiting for high tide. These high tides can sometimes cause spectacular flooding of the entire saltmarsh causing small mammals and all birds to flee from the rising water. Yesterday wasn’t a very spectacular show but we had…

Paul Leyland – Heineken Hoverfly

Not many hoverflies have English names and even this one has a fairly recent history. Due to its long proboscis, up to 13mm, it can apparently reach the parts other hoverflies can’t, this coupled with a popular beer advert, made the name inevitable. However I think most hoverfly enthusiasts will still use its Latin name,…