Standing up for Nature
These delightful fungi are also known as Ceps or Porcini but I prefer Penny Buns because, well, because they look just like them, even if the price has gone up since they were first named. This is arguably the most esteemed of all the wild fungi and they fetch a high price at local markets…
This is one of my favourite wild foods and between early August and October (in a good year), I don’t go for many local walks without risking my teeth and cracking open at least one or two. The Hazel would have been one of the first trees to recolonise Britain following the last ice age…
The summer and autumn months bring Mackerel shoals close inshore around much of our coastline. They are like miniature tuna and roam the seas in hungry packs looking for baitfish, snapping voraciously at anything that moves – even a brief pause for reflection would result in the loss of a meal to the other fish…
I read today’s Guardian piece by Adam Vaughan about the cost of offshore wind energy dipping below that of nuclear energy. That sounds like good news, and news that I don’t think we all expected say 10-15 years ago when these issues were very live. Those who argued for renewable energy were right to say…
We read a lot these days about the benefits of connecting with nature and I’ve yet to find a better way of connecting with it than by finding, collecting and eating it. This very simple act really does change our relationship with wildlife in a way that’s hard to explain to those who haven’t yet…
I’m grateful to the NT in the Peak District who have forwarded my contact details to their shooting tenants in the Peak District just in case any of them would like to have their grouse shooting filmed over the next few weeks. I’ll let you know if I hear from any of them. The NT…
The long story of protecting the West Pennine Moors as an SSSI has come to its administrative climax with the publication of the legal documents following an NE Board meeting in July. Because new SSSIs aren’t that common, and new upland ones certainly aren’t, I actually glanced through the document with some interest, when my…
I’m told the National Trust has had to pull out of receiving the Peak District petition today – that’s quite last minute! But these things happen and I guess it’s for a good, although I’m told unspecified, reason. The reason that I guess it’s a good reason is that backing out of anything at the…
Les Wallace’s petition asking for a review of the economics of grouse shooting in Scotland closed last night with a rush of late signatures (total 1256). The Scottish government is moving in this direction already and so this petition was pushing against an open door but it will have reinforced the need for independent information…
Staff at the National Trust for Scotland’s St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve are celebrating a first this summer, as the first Gannet chick ever to be recorded there was seen on 7 July. Last year, for the first time on record, Gannets attempted to nest at St Abb’s Head. In late May, a number…