Firing blanks

When I worked at the RSPB I got a media summary every day.  I would look forward to Thursday as the Shooting Times would always deliver a few laughs.  You could tell that when there wasn’t anything of great interest to write about in the shooting world they would fill their pages with lurid stories…

Marmite poll

You have 10 days to vote in this poll of which wildlife NGO you like the most – and which (out of those listed of course) you like the least. The interim results are fascinating with the RSPB leading the ‘likes’ but also third in the ‘loathes’.  BASC is leading in the ‘loathed’ stakes. There…

Love ’em or hate ’em

Yesterday I launched a new poll – or actually two of them – on this website through my (free) monthly newsblast. These two polls give you the opportunity to vote for your favourite and least favourite UK nature conservation organisation. Are wildlife NGOs like Marmite – you either love ’em or hate ’em? We’ll see….

Guest blog – A service-based environment? by Jonathan Baker

Jonathan Baker is a graduate of Bath Spa University and Imperial College London and currently a consultant at Collingwood Environmental Planning where understanding what ecosystem services are and what they mean for environmental and planning policy is a fascination. Thoughts on our evolving consideration of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services and what this…

Letter from Defra

I am grateful to Defra Minister Richard Benyon for this reply to a letter which my MP, Louise Mensch, sent to him on 15 December concerning implementation of the EU Birds Directive. The letter asked about farmland birds, hen harriers and marine protected areas. The Minister’s civil servants have written him quite a detailed reply…