At the moment it seems at least as likely that the Conservative Party will include a promise to introduce a law of vicarious liability for wildlife crimes in their election manifesto as will the Labour Party. Given that this would merely be catching up with Scotland it’s hardly the most radical of ideas but, it…
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Impressive!
The e-petition to give Mountain Hares legal protection in Scotland is galloping across the landscape. It is heading quickly towards 5000 signatures. I’m very pleased (and slightly jealous – it took nearly a month for our own e-petition to get to 5000 signatures). Please have a look at the Mountain Hare e-petition on the 38…
And yet more…
In today’s Guardian there is a long piece, ‘a long read’ piece, by the admirable Patrick Barkham on the subject of grouse shooting and Hen Harrier shooting too. In it, I am described as ‘intense and fiercely intelligent’ which I just point out to show how wide of the mark journalists sometimes can be. It’s…
Oxford Dictionaries asked to re-word
Internationally-acclaimed author Margaret Atwood, former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo are among 28 major literary and media figures who have today written to the Oxford University Press. They are calling for the reinstatement of a host of words connected with nature and the countryside that have been removed from…
Is there anybody out there…?
Is there anybody out there who would be prepared to write a Guest Blog for this site which made the case that pulling out of the EU would be good for wildlife, the countryside and the environment (or any one of them)? Anyone? I’d like to hear from you. But perhaps you simply don’t exist…
Defra – what are you for? 2
Defra, do you have a solution to the problems in the uplands documented by the Leeds University EMBER report? Remember? The report that established that the management of the uplands for driven grouse shooting leads to polluted water courses, probably increased flood risk downstream, loss of aquatic biodiversity and increased greenhouse gas emissions? This was…
Game Conservancy research to save the Chaffinch – a nation rejoices!
Scraping the bottom of the barrel for something to say, the GWCT reach for an anecdote from their work rather than the major study. I am grateful for the GWCT’s own blog for highlighting how much in a spin the organisation is by drawing attention to their letter in the Daily Torygraph before Christmas. Apparently…
My free lance
I’m pretty much committed for the first half of this year but after that I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. This is normal for freelancers like myself. If you can see some work that I could do for you in the second half of 2015 then feel free to get in touch and we…
Kepler 438b
Kepler 438b is one of the most Earth-like planets yet discovered. It circulates its sun every 35 days, the sky is red, and its likely to be rocky and hot – but there might be life there. And it’s only 470 light-years away! We keep wondering whether there is life on other planets but pay…
QI
Thank you to everyone who has told me that my name was mentioned on QI at the weekend – and so it was! I quite like QI, and find myself watching it on Dave when there really doesn’t seem to be anything else on TV. Here is the link to the programme and I recommend…