This post exposes the worthlessness of Defra’s/NE’s formal agreements with grouse moor managers in the matter of burning of vegetation of blanket bogs. Introduction: Grouse moor managers want to burn our uplands to blazes in order to maximise the habitat quality for Red Grouse – the shooting of which can be sold at high prices…
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Get writing!
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You need to get your entry in to the Terra Incognita Wildlife Blogger competition by the end of the month – click here.
Sunday book review – Climate Change and British Wildlife by Trevor Beebee
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This is an appropriately weighty book on a portentous subject. It is very attractively produced with many photographs of wildlife, habitats and people and a fine looking jacket by Carry Akroyd (although the jacket on my copy is slightly ill-fitting). The index is very good but the reference list is rather shorter than I expected….
Wuthering Moors 76 – more moor burning
Michael Gove has asked moorland owners to be good boys (and girls – although all the landowners in the room at the time were actually men) and to stop damaging blanket bogs through burning them. Burning is carried out so that men (and a few women) can shoot lots of Red Grouse for fun as…
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…
Icelandic wildlife
I wasn’t expecting to see lots of dung flies in Iceland – but I did. On a cool day, and a short walk, I saw more Yellow Dung Flies in Iceland than I have all year in Northants. On the other hand, I was vaguely expecting to see a Puffin or two if I went…
Icelandic Ravens
I met this Raven in Iceland. It seemed to have bought itself a kebab and was eating it on the top of this rock. It was so engrossed that it let me get very close. Well, maybe it was quite a tame Raven – it was right in the centre of Reykjavik with people passing…
Writing competition
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This blog’s 2018 writing competition is to make the case that any particular month of the year is either the best or the worst month for enjoying nature in the UK. How you treat that subject is up to you. There will be a prize, a signed copy of my book Remarkable Birds, for what…
Icelandic whaling review
When I met the Prime Minister of Iceland in her office on Tuesday the most interesting thing that she said was that there would be a review of the sustainability of whaling in Iceland and that there would be no whaling until that review was completed. This review has been talked about for quite a…
Wild hacking of Gyrs and similar (in Scotland)
I got back from Iceland late last night and I’ll be writing more about Iceland and its whaling today and over the next few days. But one species of bird for which I kept an eye open was, of course, the Gyr Falcon – I didn’t see any. However, I have been sent the image…