Every five years (isn’t quinquennial a lovely word?) the UK statutory agencies review various lists of ‘protected’ species. A regular review is a good idea for any biological list, including lists of conservation priority. However, in this case, the recommendations have led to uproar as the statutory agencies have ganged up on a range of…
Tag: hen harrier
Letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove I hope you are well, This email is to keep you informed about some matters which mean a lot to me – as your website suggests I should. On Monday there are two environmental subjects being discussed in Parliament that are of concern for me: driven grouse shooting and the Environment Bill,…
BBS completed
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Last week I revisited ‘my’ two Breeding Bird Survey squares to carry out the second surveys at each to complete the data collection for 2021. BBS1, as I shall call it, is arable farmland and I have now completed 17 years of surveying it for the national scheme, and BBS2 is mostly farmland by the…
An old issue in The New Issue
The New Issue is a quarterly magazine produced by Big Issue North. The summer edition has an article, beautifully illustrated with photographs and well written by Roger Ratcliffe, tackling the Hen Harrier issue. Nestled between articles about Joan from Hull and her tattoos and a graphic article entitled Wives and Punishment, and near articles on…
Sunday book review – Wild Winter by John D. Burns
This is the second of John D. Burns’s books I have reviewed here, but whereas Sky Dance was fictional (although it read pretty true to life to me) this is a story of walks by the author, sometimes with friends, in the mountains of Scotland, in winter. I’m going to read his other two books…
Skydancer Day – tomorrow 10:15
Hen Harrier Action have set up a Skydancer event – a spring event ahead of Hen Harrier Day in early August. Of course, it’s online. It starts tomorrow morning at 10:15 and will end around midday – for details, click here.
Sunday book review – Beak, Tooth and Claw by Mary Colwell
I have found this book a difficult one to review because I like and admire the author but I dislike and don’t admire the book. What follows is a review of the book, not of the author. It’s a book about predators in the UK – so raptors, Red Foxes, Badgers, seals get lots of…
RSPB press release – 2020 on RSPB nature reserves
2020: an amazing year for wildlife on RSPB reserves New report shows that despite Covid restrictions affecting vital conservation work many threatened species had a bumper year on RSPB reserves in 2020. Highlights included breeding spoonbills, egrets and rare plants, butterflies and spiders. More than 18,500 species have now been found living on RSPB reserves. Despite Covid-19 restrictions affecting access and conservation work in the…
This blog (8) – news, views and action
For a decade this blog has brought you news, views and action daily. Tomorrow there will no new post, but I will post at weekends in a much reduced, shall we say streamlined, manner. On 21 October I’ll tell you what happens next… News: news can be defined as ‘interesting stuff that happened recently’ –…
Jones Hill Wood (and brood meddling)
Yesterday, Justice Lang stopped the felling of Jones Hill Wood in the ‘licensed area’ (as defined in License WML-OR58, issued by Natural England on 30 March 2021) and granted the Claimant, Mark Keir, permission for an expedited rolled up judicial review of Natural England’s licensing of the felling. This hearing will take place in the…