The recently knighted Sir John Randall MP is a birder. Having stepped down from being Deputy Chief Whip he is now enjoying the freedom of the backbenches and the freedom to speak up for nature (note this speech he made in the Christmas adjournment debate from 1:40pm onwards where he touches on various subjects including…
Tag: Natural England
Sanctuary
There has been a great upwelling of concern and anger over the proposal to destroy the Sanctuary LNR in Derby (see Guest Blog and this blog). Objections out number comments received in favour of the proposal (309 to 300 when last I looked, so it is close). You have until the end of tomorrow (16th)…
A letter from Rupert
I am grateful to my MP, Andy Sawford, for writing to Defra on my behalf to ask them about the continuing declines in farmland birds. And I am grateful to Lord de Mauley (or Rupert) the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Natural Environment and Science at Defra for his reply. Rupert mentions that this…
Guest Blog – The Sanctuary LNR, Derby by Richard Winspear on behalf of Derbyshire Ornithological Society
SAVE LOCAL NATURE RESERVE FROM A CASE THAT SETS AN IMPORTANT PRECEDENT – We Need You To ACT NOW! You have until January 12th to help us save The Sanctuary Local Nature Reserve (LNR) – which is also the first and only bird reserve in Derby. A Planning Application went live over the Christmas period…
Old squaw in east Northants
It’s not every day that you see a globally threatened bird species in Northants. And it’s not every day that you see a sea-duck in Northants. So you can appreciate that it isn’t even every other day that you see both rolled into one – a Long-tailed Duck in east Northants. However, there have been…
Wildlife defence in England – a hollow force?
During his/her annual speech last night the Chief of the Environmental Defence Staff was horribly misquoted as saying; I can understand, completely, that in times of slightly lower national richness we must clobber the environment for all it is worth. I have, of course, no argument with our ‘greenest ever Prime Minister’ on that score. …
That CAPs the year off nicely – not!
The decision of the coalition government to reject the Secretary of State for the Environment’s recommendation of a full 15% rate of modulation for the CAP (and go for 12% instead) caps off an awful year for wildlife in England; – glacially slow and inadequate progress on MCZs – UK opposition to a neonic ban…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Wildlife MP of 2013 – you choose
Wildlife doesn’t have a vote. If the interests of wildlife are to be served, then those interests need to be voiced by us and by our representatives in the various parliaments around the UK. Here is a list (alphabetical order) of six Westminster MPs who have made an impact on wildlife during 2013. Who would…
Books of the year?
These are the 20 books that I have reviewed on this blog in the last 12 months. They will all be the perfect present for someone this Christmas – it’s just a case of matching the book to the person. The publication of The Atlas and Birds and People were both ‘events’ as well as…