Guest Blog – Adders and Buzzards by Nicholas Milton

  Nicholas Milton has worked for the BBC Natural History Unit, the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, Greenpeace and the Ramblers. He is a freelance journalist and writes about the environment, politics and the Second World War. He is also a marketing and communications consultant and is currently working with the international development charity Practical Action….

Why isn’t this even bigger news?

The poisoning of 12 Red Kites and four buzzards in Ross-shire is shocking. See here, here, here, here and here. How long do we have to put up with this type of carnage? Red Kites by Don Macauley via wikimedia commons Buzzard by Andreas Trepte via wikimedia commons

Gardening leave

I don’t get out much these days – I spend much of the day sitting at a computer and writing.  I’m not complaining – it’s what I want to do, but I am a bit deskbound. The other day I heard a bird call come through the window that was closed to keep the heat…

Guest Blog – Action wins! by Jonny Rankin

Based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, I have a number of interests but I am always content to be out birding, which is usually every day walking my dog Fender.  I do a lot of birding in Suffolk Breck but of course go further afield too. Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens, but in the end, it’s…

Birding bits and pieces

I’ve done a lot of driving around the country recently – I’ve been collecting motorways.  Recently I have ‘got’ M1, M4, M5, M11 and far too much of the M25 as well as glimpses of the M2, M3 and M40 – is there a prize? When you spend a lot of time in a car…

Why raptor persecution is different

There has been a little burst of correspondence in The Independent over gamekeepers (and raptor persecution)(here, here, here).  I note that one of the correspondents, Reece Fowler, crops up in quite a lot of places (including this blog) saying how nice gamekeepers are and how misunderstood (see here, here, here). I thought that Mr Fowler’s…

Raptor round up

It would be perfectly possible to write about birds of prey, how wonderful they are and their troubled and shortened lives, every day on this blog.  I try not to do that because there are other sites that do it so well (raptor politics and raptor persecution Scotland) and because there are other big issues…

Ralph Underhill cartoon

I’m pleased to announce that each Saturday the Standing up for Nature blog will now feature the work of talented cartoonist Ralph Underhill.  Feel free to comment and to suggest future subjects for Ralph’s pen.  

Saturday 2

You do know what day it is don’t you? Yesterday, in rural Bedfordshire, I was passing a field of unharvested beans, where the beans looked brown and crispy.  I saw a raptor flying low over the crop and I wondered whether it might just be a marsh harrier so I pulled over and had a…

Pheasants

Remember there was a bit of fuss about pheasants and buzzards back in May?  Around that time I was writing an article for BBC Wildlife magazine about pheasants!  Now the article is out in the September (!) BBC Wildlife. Pheasants are amazing birds.  They are tasty, beautiful and interesting.  They are also amazingly abundant in…