I was interested to read this story that trees in the Amazon rainforest were being fitted with mobile phones . If the tree is illegally felled, and reaches somewhere with mobile phone reception it starts making calls to the authorities; ‘Come and get me! I’m on the truck of an illegal logger!’. It’s an interesting…
Tag: hen harrier
Cartoon and bits and pieces
Apologies for the non-appearance of yesterday’s blog – I wrote it and then pushed the wrong button (and then spent a lot of time driving on snowy roads). Is it snowy enough for you? Imagine its impact on wildlife. A week tomorrow it is Big Garden Birdwatch – time to get those bird feeders filled…
Early Day Motion 603 – please help protect the National Wildlife Crime Unit
Red kites are ‘eating up lots of larks’ according to ‘real countryman’ Clive Aslet and our species has to intervene. But at least the Countryside Alliance admits, when faced with the evidence of an almost complete lack of breeding hen harriers in England, and Bowland Betty’s shooting in northern England, that the odd case of…
To do
This morning’s blog has attracted lots of comments – as raptor-related blogs almost always do. If you feel strongly about this issue then why not write to your MP about it. There is an excellent letter in the comments to this morning’s blog (by MK) to his (her? I suspect his) MP Alistair Burt (who…
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…
A Happy Christmas to all our readers
Defra’s year: failure to designate marine protected areas badger cull on and off like dodgy lights on a Christmas tree buzzardgate minimal and inadequate adjustments to agri-environment schemes Walshaw Moor affair leads to RSPB complaint to EU hen harriers almost extinct on their watch new Ministerial team no progress on forestry
Some bits and pieces
Give as you live. This is a good idea: if you sign up to this scheme, and do a bit of easy ‘mouse clicking’ when you spend money on the internet then your chosen charity (mine is…. wait for it…..the RSPB) gets some money from the people to whom you are giving your money. So…
Lancashire’s ‘Bowland Betty’ bites the Yorkshire dust
A female hen harrier raised in the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, last year, and fitted with a satellite tag, was found dead on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales in June this year. I hadn’t realised the trans-Pennine rivalry was so strong that the War of the Roses included shooting each other’s hen harriers….
GWCT science again
The GWCT describes itself thus: ‘The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is the leading UK charity conducting scientific research to enhance the British countryside for public benefit’. Not, you note as ‘very good’ or ‘one of the leading’ or ‘has a distinguished record’ but ‘the leading’. That’s blowing one’s own trumpet quite loudly. I only…
Wild Travel
The latest edition of the 6-times-a-year Wild Travel is out now, with my column explaining how you and other animals can get through the winter. But after reminding myself of what I wrote I always enjoy thumbing through the fantastic images and interesting words of the rest of the magazine. There is a feature on…