MP letters

I told you that I went to see my MP Louise Mensch a little while ago and she said that she would write to the Treasury asking for the evidence that the Habitats Regulations are a brake on the UK economy and to Defra asking about implementation of the Birds Directive (given the decline in…

Talking naturally

You might like to listen to this podcast of a chat between Charlie Moores, Tristan Reid, Nick Moran and myself.  It’s about 50 minutes long and it was great fun to record last Tuesday. How the CLA saved the bittern (Ha Ha!), what you should remember when out birdwatching, where you should put your casual…

Four marks out of 320 for grouse moor managers

The RSPB report today that 2011 saw only four successful pairs of hen harriers in England. There should be around 320 pairs of hen harriers in the English uplands. This is a clear failure of the UK (predominantly English) government to implement the EU Birds Directive.  Article 1.1 of the Directive makes clear that it…

Use them!

On one of the last day’s of my trip to the USA I watched a killdeer calling in alarm as a man, unwittingly I think, disturbed the bird from its chicks.  The bird’s cries cut through the mist of the June Gloom on the California coast – I won’t forget the sound of them as…