Moorland Ass

It’s difficult to tell whether the Moorland Association is still alive, it had shown few signs of life during the last years of Amanda Anderson’s reign and the patient still seems to be in intensive care under Andrew Gilruth’s tenure. It appears that the brains of the Moorland Association have decided that a ‘let’s kill…

My lowish-carbon birding – flights

In the previous blog post I looked at my Birdtrack records – clearly birding records – to explore in more detail my carbon footprint from birding. But that was all about my UK birding. Here I’m looking at another aspect of my carbon emissions – my air travel.  And I can examine my air travel…

My lowish-carbon birding – the UK

Reading and reviewing (click here) the new book, Low -carbon birding, and particularly the contribution from Nick Moran, made me review my Birdtrack records to reflect on my travel as a birder in the UK. Birdtrack (click here) is a way of keeping your bird sightings in one place where they can be reviewed and…

Always think of the land!

It’s somewhat ironic that a few weeks after the Labour Party said it was dropping its policy to renationalise water utilities the idea is gaining more currency in public debate. On Today this morning, at around 08:23,  Baroness Young, a Labour peer, was asked about the idea and sounded somewhat sceptical and on PM this…

Press release – Wild Moors

Peatland restoration value hits £470m, outpacing grouse shooting as an income source for landowners A new analysis has shown that trading carbon by restoring upland peatlands could be worth more than four times the economic value of grouse shooting. Amidst reports that grouse moors may face another uncertain season, new market analysis released by Terra…

Do we have the energy?

I haven’t had time to read this carefully, but there is a bit more in it on energy efficiency than I expected from media reports – however, this is definitely an area of high priority. This government’s, and this Prime Minister’s, infatuation with big projects (which often don’t happen) means that I would be very…

Sunday book review – What Climate Justice Means by Elizabeth Cripps

I like books that have clear titles, ones which tell you what they are about, provided the title actually does tell you what the book is about. And this one does. If you can’t work out what this book is about from the title then I can’t help you. But I can tell you that…

Guest blog – Nature conservation and climate change: are we doing enough? by Olly Watts

Olly Watts has been with the RSPB for more than 25 years, involved with how climate change affects nature, and what the nature conservation should do about that, for much of that time.  He’s also been involved with peatland conservation for many years and is eagerly awaiting the end to using peat in our gardens….