Golden Eagle – Scotland’s National Bird? Aye!

Golden Eagles occur all over the place – the USA, Spain and much of southern Europe and Scandinavia. Now the RSPB has launched a petition asking the Scottish Government to make the Golden Eagle Scotland’s National Bird. Who could disagree with that?  Surely not those who manage grouse moors in eastern and southern Scotland? Vote…

Bird Atlas – Farmland birds

Pictures can get messages across better than words sometimes. As one flicks through the pages of this Atlas one keeps seeing farmland species with shrinking distributions. But the key to truly appreciating the scale of what is happening to these familiar birds is to look at the maps of change of relative abundance.  Time after…

New Networks for Nature

I attended the fifth New Networks for Nature meeting in Stamford on Friday and Saturday.  It’s a different type of meeting – refreshingly different.  Where else would you get organic food for lunch, haikus, a panel debate with leading thinkers on environmental matters, the President of the SWLA, three talks about non-native/introduced/alien species, some young…

Nature Check

Today, 41 organisations, under the banner of Wildlife and Countryside Link, publish their assessment of Government’s progress over the last 12 months, on its own stated commitments (a report called Nature Check).  In four areas Government gets the green light indicating good progress, in nine areas a red light for failure, and in 12 areas…