Lee Schofield is senior site manager at RSPB Haweswater, where partnership work with landowner United Utilities is aiming to find a balance between large-scale ecological restoration and hill farming in the Lake District National Park. He is also a nature writer, working on his first book which will be published by Penguin/Transworld in 2022. Lee…
Tag: Natural England
Omnishambles
Have you ever had a colleague at work who promises everything but consistently delivers work which is of poor quality and usually arrives late too? They’re the worst aren’t they? They may be well-meaning, they may be the life and soul of the party and great fun socially but they are a total waste of…
Guest blog – Boris and the Badgers by Dominic Dyer
Dominic Dyer is Policy Advisor for the Born Free Foundation, author of Badgered to Death ‘The People and Politics of the Badger Cull’ and was CEO of the Badger Trust from 2013 to 2020. Twitter: domdyer70 Boris, the badgers and the politics of culling Sir David King undermines the Randomised Badger Culling Trial Over the…
RSPB press release – Art of Saving Species exhibition
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Springwatch’s Gillian Burke has guest-curated a collection of pieces for the Art of Saving Species exhibition which launches online today. There are few people who would claim Monday mornings are their favourite time of the week but with little to look forward to on weekends the gloomy winter dark mornings are even harder to bear….
No Peregrines taken for ‘falconry’ this year – NE say
Last year you may remember that there was a furore over Natural England issuing licences for falconers to take a small number of Wild Peregrine chicks into captivity for captive breeding; See: 16 April: Natural England issues licences to take Peregrines from the wild where this blog broke the news that Natural England had issued…
Here we go again…
An immature White-tailed Eagle from the Isle of Wight reintroduction project has spent a few daysin Northants recently, at Pitsford Reservoir, before continuing its wanderings southwards into Oxfordshire and maybe back to its release site on the IoW. Here in Northants we don’t really consider ourselves to be within striking distance of ther IoW but…
Press release – RSPB/Crane Working Group
UK crane population hits record high The latest common crane survey reveals a record-breaking 64 pairs of cranes in 2020, bringing the total population to over 200 birds. Cranes became extinct in the UK around four hundred years ago but following the natural recolonisation of a few birds and extensive conservation work, including a reintroduction…
Burning
This post is about the announcement, long-awaited announcement, overdue announcement, that DEFRA made on Friday about burning on blanket bogs. I’ll tell you what I think in the hope that it influences what you think. I’ve read the announcement, and thought about it, and that probably helps. 1. The announcement is good news The announcement…
DEFRA statement on heather burning
England’s ‘national rainforests’ to be protected through new legislation to prevent heather burning on blanket bog The government has today announced plans to bring forward legislation to prevent the burning of heather and other vegetation on protected blanket bog habitats. The new regulations will prevent the burning of any specified vegetation on areas of deep peat (over 40cm depth) on…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (6)
Another good day in court. The three judges were engaged with the subject and asked quite a lot of questions (they seemed sensible questions to me). Now we wait until judgment is handed down which I guess will be at least a month away – maybe more. It wouldn’t be wise to comment on how…