Month: May 2025
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British Wildlife magazine April 2025, Swift Bricks & the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Volume 36, Number 5 Galloway National Park? The myth that our national parks are currently of any benefit in terms of wildlife and conservation have long been busted wide open. Ian Carter writes about the proposal for a new park in Galloway, Scotland. It’s a crucible. Will it be like the ones we already have,…
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part VIII
Horton to Devizes & Caen Locks I have wanted to see Caen Locks ever since I have lived in this part of the world. They did not disappoint. First though, from the Bridge Inn at Horton where I left off last time, the usual narrow towpath and more picturesque bridges, this being Laywood Bridge. Then…
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The Nightingale; Hen Harriers; Breeding Bird Survey; The Canal & River Trust; Birdwatch magazine and Island Gigantism
The Nightingale by Sam Lee, Penguin Books, 2023, a book review. Sam Lee is a folk musician and an expert on the subject and a conservationist. He is passionate about the Nightingale and his song. It is no surprise that his writing is often lyrical and the book wins high praise from other writers about…
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Beastly
A review of Keggie Carew’s Beastly; a new history of animals and us, Canongate, 2023. There is something very haunting about the dust-wrapper image. The end-papers are an optimistic very bright green. The author is well-known for her other books, Dadland and Quicksand Tales. This book is moving, funny, sometimes disarming, and profound. With 40,000…
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Amo, Amas, Amat…
Amo, Amas, Amat … and all that. How to become a Latin lover, by Harry Mount, Short Books, 2006. The title is a nice nod to the brilliant 1066 and all that by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, the subtitle of which alone is worth the price of entry: A Memorable History of England, Comprising…
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Being a gosling chauffeur; Tumuli and White Horses; Birdwatch magazine and Lucky Dube vs Keir Starmer
I have wanted to visit Swan Lifeline for a long time. On Saturday the perfect opportunity presented itself: a Canadian Gosling needed to be taken there from HART Wildlife Rescue, otherwise there would be just one lonely recuperating gosling at each rescue. The one pictured above was a HART rescue from a couple of years…
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The w word: ‘weeds’
One man’s weed … Perhaps this is a word we should stop using, as Chris Packham has done with the p and v words, pest and vermin. All of the photos here are from the garden. I love thistles, this, above and below, being Sow Thistle (pigs like to eat it), Sonchus oleraceus, which I…
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part VII
Honeystreet to Horton This was the longest ride yet, six and a quarter miles*. Not very far but the first mile or so was pretty tough in terms of the usual hazards of the towpath. Knowing, with my new strategy for the ambition of riding the entire canal, that I would be making the return…
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Wildlife Miscellany: Octopuses, Elephants, Beagles, Swifts, a Badger and more
Octopus and Elephant Documentaries I had eagerly awaited Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s two-part documentary about octopuses. It is the second worst wildlife documentary I have ever seen. I lasted about fifteen minutes, so it’s not impossible I am being unfair. It opened with a sequence of an octopus selecting football match winners and continued with a lot…
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Another Gallimaufry: Tony Blair & Net Zero, Maths is Fun, Dad’s Army, Musical and Filmic Irritations and Michelle Obama
Tony Blair & Net Zero Disgraced former prime minister and war criminal Tony Bliar (sic) has called for a rethink – policies based on reducing fossil fuel production and consumption are, he says, “doomed to fail”. When will he ever shut up and go away? Instead, up he keeps popping, but no one has asked…
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part VI
Pewsey Wharf to Honeystreet Which sounds as though it might be the title of a novel or a poem. On my way to Pewsey I came to a rapid halt. Two tractors and a couple of other farm vehicles were working a field. This attracted no fewer than twenty-two Red Kites. Quite a spectacle. My…
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Brilliant Maps
Ian Wright, Brilliant Maps, an atlas for curious minds, Gramta Books, 2021. Book review. I have had this book for over a year but have only just turned to it properly. I am not altogether sure about it. It’s a collation of maps from the author’s website, restyled with panache by infographic.ly. The contents range…
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Greenham Common, Bowdown Woods
Greenham Common I first wrote about Greenham Common here: Sett survey September 2024 – Animal Wild My daughter has now submitted her dissertation and although it is perhaps not for me to say, it is brilliant and very moving. I learnt a very great deal from Greenham Women Everywhere: Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp Ideas,…
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May bug, PETA, Wild Justice, Protect the Wild, Icefish and more
May bug My son and his girlfriend thought that they had found, to their horror, a Cockroach in the bath and so did I at first, but it turns out to be a May bug or Cockchafer, the largest chafer beetle in the UK. I don’t recommend googling “cockchafer” without a filter. It seemed to…
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RSPB Magazine, Spring/Summer 2025 and a time-lapse Water Lily
Chief Executive Beccy Speight opens with a no-nonsense attack on the grouse and gamebird (what an awful word) shooting industries and the destruction they cause, especially of birds oḟ prey. Heather Mathieson, Investigations Liaison Officer, writes on the same subject in more detail in an article “Stop the Killing”. ‘Birdcrime’ is specifically used to refer…
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Heron
I have already posted these but feel they deserve a separate post of their own. From: The Kennet & Avon Canal part V – Animal Wild). Burbage Wharf to Pewsey Wharf – including a fabulous surprise.
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The Kennet & Avon Canal part V
Burbage Wharf to Pewsey Wharf – including a fabulous surprise Eleven miles there and back, which doesn’t sound a lot especially on an electric bike, almost effortless, but you really do have to concentrate to avoid the worst of the roots, stones and overheard branches and other hazards, such as where the towpath narrows worryingly…