This is a particularly good issue of the almost always particularly good British Wildlife. From Peter Marren, arguing for Swanscombe Peninsula to be protected, to Twitcher in the Swamp demonstrating that he (is Twitcher a he? I believe so) has supernatural powers to write about nature conservation in a sardonic but meaningful way, it is…
Tag: Stanwick Lakes
Garden thoughts
A flip side of being able to nip down to Stanwick Lakes regularly this year (see yesterday’s blog), unlike last year, is that I spend less time tuning in to Spring in the garden. But, it has recently been so cold , it’s the wind you know, that sitting in the garden is currently less…
Spring uncoiling at Stanwick Lakes
This Spring is different from last in so many ways. Every Spring is different, but each has Hope written through it. It’s a time when things get better – the days get longer, they get warmer, and the natural world springs into a greater abundance of sound and colours each day. As far as Nature…
My binoculars’ 45th
I took my binoculars for a walk this morning – we went to Stanwick Lakes on their 45th birthday. They seemed to cope well enough. They weren’t needed to identify the singing Chiffchaffs but they came into their own for some distant Sand Martins – my first of 2021. Later, in the sunny garden as…
Signs of Spring?
Have you noticed it’s Spring? I have, and it lifts my spirits. the first Brimstone in my garden was in January, and the second in February, but now they are frequent visitors along with Peacocks. You don’t get butterflies in winter so it must be Spring! less than a mile from my house there is…
Countryfile
I normally give Countryfile a swerve, until someone tells me there was something horrific on it, or the horrific thing is me, but last Sunday I had to watch it as it featured my adopted neck of the woods – the Nene Valley in Northants. It was quite good (as was the bit on fisheries,…
Future of this blog
In about two months’ time this blog will downsize considerably, for at least several months but quite possibly for ever. I’ve said this several times but, perfectly reasonably, not everyone reads every post here every day! I’ve been told I won’t do this, that I shouldn’t do this and that I mustn’t do this, but…
The sweet taste of success?
The Pink-footed Goose is a somewhat unheralded success story in the UK, with a ten-fold increase in numbers over the past 70 years. And that is of some global significance since around 85% of the world population winters in the UK. Our Pinkfeet are from the Iceland and Greenland breeding populations whereas there are Pinkfeet…
Gamebirds victory – keep your eyes open
Following the victory of Wild Justice last week, a legal victory not a campaigning one, I have written a series of blogs about different aspects of the subject from the can of worms of non-compliance with existing legal requirements on registering captive gamebirds to the implications for other jurisdictions, and from the details of what…
A new lockdown
Depending on where you live, today may mark the start of a new lockdown, but depending on your behaviour, it may not make very much difference to what you actually do. Because of caring duties for two mothers in their 90s our household hasn’t got out much since March and we have got accustomed to…