Last week the biodiversity (and many other things) Minister, Richard Benyon, was quoted on the matter of the recovering bittern population. The Minister said “To see a species that was once extinct in the UK rise to a population of over one hundred is a real achievement. This is largely down to the work of the…
Tag: Defra
Boomtime for bitterns
I’m delighted that the RSPB and Natural England have been able to announce that booming bitterns have passed the 100 mark – and reached 104 booming males in fact. Given that in 1997 (incidentally, the year before I became the RSPB’s Conservation Director) there were only 11 booming males this is a remarkable and very welcome recovery. And let’s…
Gone and forgotten?
‘Farmland birds in Europe fall to lowest levels‘ is a terribly sad headline. And we should be raging that things have got so bad. The grey (or ‘English’) partridge is in free-fall right across Europe with a decline of two thirds in numbers since 1990, and of 82% since 1980 according to the European Bird…
Four men in a boat
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We set off from West Bay with high hopes – Skipper Ian, Diver Dave, Biologist Tom and Ballast Mark. Huntress II passed the beach on which Reginald Perrin stripped and headed into the waves but we were going out into Lyme Bay in search of marine life – which was appropriate since I was getting…
A slightly dull report
Yesterday’s blog considered an interesting report by gamekeepers about the state of the countryside and today’s blog is about a slightly dull report by the BTO, RSPB and the JNCC about the state of breeding bird populations in the countryside. Yesterday’s report was based on a questionnaire survey whereas this one is based on tens…
Do let it grow under your feet
I am quite busy in my post-RSPB life but I do find I have more time to read things that I would have meant to read in the past, but around to which I would not have got. This report, Nature’s Tapestry, is a good example of something which I am glad that I can…
Shooting in the dark
This is probably the last word on this blog on badgers for a while – but who knows? Today the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman made the long-awaited announcement on badger culling in a House of Commons more interested in what was about to happen across the road in Portcullis House where phone-hacking would be the…
Big Society and Small Government
Yesterday morning I was up early and doing my first Breeding Bird Survey visit of the year. I started at 6am and it was all a bit dull weather-wise, but by 730am the sun was out although the easterly wind was quite strong. I’ve written before about how this volunteer/NGO/government agency/government partnership is a good…
Don’t let them get away with this
The question is – has the government gone mad or is it just wicked? The Red Tape Challenge potentially opens up any regulation anywhere to challenge but the government has included biodiversity, wildlife and natural environment regulation in this mix. Following the disproportionate clobbering that Defra received in the Comprehensive Spending Review compared with other…