Standing up for Nature
Twice as wild: woodland on Mull peninsula doubles in 30 years One of Scotland’s pioneering rewilding sites has seen a near doubling of its native woodlands over the past 30 years. At Tireragan, on the southwestern tip of Mull, woodland cover has grown from 56 hectares in 1994, to 93 hectares in 2024, thanks to…
Illegal bird of prey killing must end, urges RSPB Birdcrime report The Birdcrime report, which reviews the past 15 years, reveals 1,344 birds of prey were illegally killed between 2009-2023, with crimes continuing to emerge. These criminal acts target threatened species including Golden Eagles, Goshawks and Hen Harriers. The majority of incidents are associated with…
The lists below tell you something of the progression of bird flu in wild birds in the UK since the winter of 2016/17. The data come from Defra – click here. You are able, and very welcome, to re-do this little analysis and see for yourself. I expect my version has a few errors in…
A live public consultation by the Health and Safety Executive on the future of lead ammunition is in play until 23:59 on Sunday 10 December. This should see the end of the use, sale and availability of lead shot and lead bullets for shooting at live quarry – also known as live animals. Such regulation…
This is a lovely well-written book, but it is only tangentially a wildlife and nature book so I’ll use a few words to tell you about it and leave it at that. The author walks through some of the most attractive parts of Scotland, although mostly in rather dreary autumn weather, and tracks down places…
Born and bred in Inverness, with a zoology degree from Aberdeen, I managed the reintroduction of Sea Eagles from Norway to Rum 1975 to 1985, for NCC, and remain on the UK Project Team as an independent. Moved to South Uist as Area Officer for SNH/NatureScot covering Uist, Barra and St Kilda 1992-2006. Retired to…
Now I’ve been a wildlife freak almost all of my 72 years and for much of my working life, it was part, even if sometimes tangentially of what I did. My main interest is/was raptors but not to the exclusion of anything else, if it flies, crawls, walks, swims, slithers or just flowers I’m interested…
World’s first rewilding centre opens near Loch Ness Centre offers gateway to UK’s largest rewilding landscape, boosting jobs and supporting re-peopling The world’s first rewilding centre has been opened near Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands by charity Trees for Life – showcasing how large-scale nature recovery can give people inspiring experiences, create jobs and…
This book is beautifully written and for that reason I recommend that you read it. Now, to describe what it is about is a bit difficult. It’s certainly about places scattered across the world, including Wales, and it certainly has a lot of wildlife scattered through its pages but this book is about much…
Cases of bird/poultry flu in wild birds in the UK continue to mount and are at a higher level than last year. It hasn’t gone away. Numbers of birds tested as positive: in a previous blog (click here) I compared the number of records of wild birds testing positive for bird flu up to and…