I’ve been reading the 15 February copy of Country Life. It’s a publication I look at a few times a year just to keep in touch with what’s really going on in the countryside. It took me a while to decide whether I preferred the £19m (guide offer) c7-acre pad in Jersey or the 26.59…
Tag: Natural England
Dear Natural England
Sent to ProtectedSites@naturalengland.org.uk Dear Natural England I live in Northamptonshire and am interested in the status of several local SSSIs, all of which I have visited. I have looked them up on your rather excellent website https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteSearch.aspx and note that you invite users of the website to contact you for more information. So, that’s what…
Guest blog – Calling it for what it is by Ian Parsons
Ian Parsons spent twenty years as a ranger before running his own wildlife tour business. He now writes books and articles on wildlife. He has contributed many articles to this blog (see here). His book A Vulture Landscape (reviewed here) was published by Whittles Publishing in 2020, this was followed by Seasonality in 2022 (reviewed…
Guest blog – New paper, same old…
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well-respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations…
Bird flu strategy for England and Wales
In response to this document published yesterday I said this (in a series of tweets, reproduced here below with typos corrected) and the RSPB said this (lower still): UK context: this is by and for England and Wales. It rather ignores the fact that birds fly around between England and Wales and Scotland. For example,…
RSPB press release – offshore wind energy projects might be a catalyst for marine restoration
New report shows how the expansion of offshore wind could be a catalyst for marine restoration New report from experts from conservation and energy shows how we can deliver offshore wind safely and help threatened seabird populations to recover and thrive again The UK’s coast and seas are home to amazing wildlife above and below…
Good news on Hen Harriers
This news from Natural England is very welcome – for two main reasons. First, it is good news, and second, it is fairly informative and doesn’t look as though it was written by the shooting industry. 119 Hen Harrier chicks fledged from 49 nests (actually from the 34 successful nests, and some nests were re-nests…
RSPB press release
RSPB warns of nature disaster as Tory leadership rhetoric targets laws that protect wildlife RSPB warns that loss of vital laws that protect wildlife, and the bodies that enforce them, will result in a disaster for nature and development free for all. RSPB calls on Tory leadership candidates to urgently commit to high standards and…
The eve of the Inglorious 12th
Tomorrow is the Inglorious 12th – the start of the Red Grouse shooting season. Since the first Hen Harrier Day events on 10 August 2014 in Derbyshire, Northumberland, Dorset and Northern Ireland we have come a long way, together. Driven grouse shooting is on its knees and cannot survive long. That’s partly because of the…
Defra fails nature – in the big things and the little things
If Defra were a school it would be judged inadequate, would be served a notice to improve and be put in special measures. But it isn’t, so it jogs on as the government department near the bottom of the political pecking order and with few friends in government or in the real world. Defra sprung…