I was out on 1 January last year doing a winter farmland bird survey where I was rewarded by first hearing and then seeing a Wood Lark in east Northants. That was a good way to start the year. A post on 2 January predicted that it was going to be a bad year for…
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There’s money in Jay feathers
Smart bird! Quite a looker. Those blue feathers are very attractive aren’t they? And you can buy Jay feathers – not from a Jay of course but from various sources on the internet. Some of these vendors make great play of the fact that the feathers are ‘ethically sourced’ from licensed gamekeepers ‘in accordance with…
Dreaming of a white Christmas
This blog will return with new content on Friday 27 December. I wish all readers of this blog, whatever their views, a safe and enjoyable Christmas.
More reading over the Christmas break
Spiny Lobsters, Breckland moths, Little Terns and articles about future land use and changing naturalists as well as some regular favourites, of which by greatest favourite is the ancient and wise Twitcher in the Swamp.
From the Guardian…
Sir Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley council, said … there needed to be a review of whether agricultural practices upstream, such as the burning of heather moorland and removal of peat, were causing rainwater to rush downstream and rivers to burst their banks in residential areas. PM urged to overhaul flood defence funding…
A few things…
I got an email response from SNH today with some clarification of the information on wild hacking. I’ve altered Wednesday’s blog post accordingly. The effect of this is that it appears that the absences of birds at hack were much shorter in time than I had thought – that’s quite important. 2. Labour doesn’t appear…
Busy days
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There is always a rush before Christmas. I’ve been to a few Christmas parties and the world seems to be wanting to get things wrapped up before Christmas, and rather a lot of the world wants my input to that! I’ve been on the telephone much of today – which is fine – but I…
Several cups of tea later…(2)
And what of Labour? It is not necessary to hate Jeremy Corbyn to think that he needs to step down as leader of the Labour Party. He has given the job his best shot but it’s time for a new leader now. He has said as much and I can’t blame him for saying that…
After a cup of tea and a think…
No Redpolls so far. This election result is momentous in many ways, and probably in ways we do not yet realise. But the results in places where the Conservatives have not romped home are perhaps as significant for our futures as where they have. In Northern Ireland there is now, for the first time, a…
Good morning!
Well, not so good for some of us, and not so good for the environment, but a very clear result. I managed to stay up until after 01:30 this morning and saw Sue Hayman, a good Shadow Environment Secretary, lose her seat at Workington. And then I woke again just a little while before 06:00…