Category: General

  • The way forward for biodiversity conservation in England?

    Last week I attended a stakeholder consultation group for the development of the new England Biodiversity Strategy http://www.ukbap.org.uk/EBG/england_biodiversity_strategy.asp. The new EBS is due to be published in April and this was a chance for a small group of stakeholders-people form conservation NGOS, farming and countryside groups and professional ecologists-to offer their views on parts of…

  • The Hedgerows and Curries project…and dormice in their somewhere too!

    Sunday night and I’m sat in a plush B&B in Tetbury, Gloucestershire with the rain lashing at the windows.  It hasn’t stopped to day- it was even a tough choice to decide on whether to drive up the M4 or sail! Tomorrow I’m leading another Hedgerows for Dormice Hedge Management Workshop this time at Duchy…

  • Hedgerows,moonlight and deer on the hoof

    On a perfectly sunny winters day earlier this week, I started my first hedge-laying task of the season. Michael (Fi’s Dad) and I began with work on the hedge that borders his property. Michael had already done a stirling job with son-in-law Andy taking the bulk of the heavy stuff from a line of overgrown…

  • How much would you pay NOT to visit a Nature Reserve?

    My  assumption is that visitors attending nature reserves cause damage and disturbance, no matter how lightly they tread. So, how much would you pay not to visit one? Would it be enough just to know it was there doing what it does, but better for your absence. Many of us already pay for the conservation of…

  • Its snowing and I’m thinking of Thomas Hardy (amongst other things)

    December 9 2010 I’m trapped in a snowglobe awaiting the shake that will turn the morning on its head and bring the next blizzard blasting through the valley. Or that’s what It feels like from my vanatge point perched on the upper step of the wooden style between woodland and field on my morning walk…