Guest blog – Sorry Tony, you cannot spin this into a good news story for Natural England by Dominic Woodfield

Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…

Guest blog – NE, Badgers and Judgement by Dominic Woodfield

Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats…

It is a Big Issue

I often stop for Big Issue sellers, but I rarely take away the magazine – after they have given me change and the magazine I usually give them both back. But that’s why I missed these excellent words from Ali Schofield in mid-September (in a larger (very good) article mostly about badgers). ‘It’s not the…

Peak District snares – what they say

Yesterday’s news about the widespread use of snares in the Peak District National Park attracted considerable media attention, including: the original Daily Mirror story yesterday evening’s BBC TV East Midlands Today coverage, click here (about 5min 15secs in). The Guardian Daily Mail The Times Derbyshire Times A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Rutland (who…

Snaring in the Peak District National Park

A group called the Hunt Investigation Team (whose previous investigations include the South Herefordshire Hunt) have been investigating land identified by them as the Moscar Estate, in the Peak District National Park, owned, it is claimed by the Duke of Rutland. They have published footage of animals caught in snares including Badgers, Foxes and Mountain…

Bl**dy Badgers!

  I was on an authors’ panel at a National Badger Week event in Wytham Wood on Tuesday evening. It was great fun – apart from the Badgers. We were chaired and facilitated by Charlie Moores (leftmost), and we were Dom Dyer, Hugh Warwick, Caspar Henderson and myself. We chatted about writing, about nature and…

Looking forward to this event in Wytham Wood

  I’m looking forward to this National Badger Week event in Wytham Woods.   Should be a good discussion and I’d like to see some Badgers too.  

Badgers and grouse shooting

Just for interest, here are the MPs who spoke in Monday’s badger debate, annotated with the number of their constituents who signed the anti-badger-cull petition and those who signed the ban-grouse shooting petition:   Paul Flynn, Newport West  119 badgers, 113 grouse shooting Stephen Doughty, Cardiff South & Penarth  141 badgers, 185 grouse Richard Drax,…

Badger debate

I listened to all of Monday’s badger cull debate.  It was a far better discussion than the previous one on badgers and infinitely better than the one on banning driven grouse shooting. Better though it was, it is interesting to see and listen to politicians debating science as those involved in the debate could not…