environmental commentator
It’s not a tribal blog, it’s a dialogue
Every so often, I aim to produce a pithy (under 800 words) piece always with links to references.
Do apply to do a guest blog – note same word count and references if possible. Be prepared for ‘light touch edit’ to ensure positive, rather than divisive, engagement with the widest range of views.
“The fact of the matter…” peppers responses from the man self-styled as Dr Food in my exclusive interview with Professor David Hughes. So look out for environment/climate-friendly labelling, even more transparency in food production, emotion-driven dietary change, and ‘Big Food’ aligning with regenerative agriculture. Relentlessly travelling the world, “I’m a pollinator [of ideas]” he told … Continue reading An interview with Dr Food
At an African wildlife/conservation/hunting conference, the man from the UN Environment Programme was unequivocal: “if elephants are global ‘public goods’, then developed countries should also pay towards local communities having to ‘manage’ living alongside them”. Pigeon pie Plenty of conservation conflicts, tensions, dynamics make the mainstream media. Two years ago Germany wolves were shot if … Continue reading Up-close wildlife
Improving productivity of farming includes ‘intensification’ of conservation practices. ‘The countryside is my factory floor’ is how one farmer framed it to the audience at a Hay Festival debate I chaired a few years ago. Farming, like retail, recreation, and even conservation, is an industry (albeit a primary one). It’s often at the front line … Continue reading State of ecological intensification
Getting the right people into the room, who may not be the same as those who want to be in the room, is tricky. But this creative disruption is exactly what’s required for wildlife conservation for it to succeed on the ground. Some of you may find this blog annoying. Fence sitter. Not picking a … Continue reading Reconciliation Countryside
‘Wild streams and wild birds (with apologies to the Rolling Stones)’ A piece published for the Wild Trout Trust in their annual journal ‘Salmo Trutta’ in 2014 (light edit update since publication) The sun beat down mercilessly on me as I travelled light, with rucksack and rod, high up in the Brecon Beacons. So light … Continue reading Gimme Shelter
The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project taught the conservation community a number of valuable lessons. [A re-post of an article first published in a magazine] There is a chunk of moorland in Scotland that has been subject to a 25-year project involving upland land uses, habitat, nature conservation designations, biodiversity, fieldsports, and rural economics. It all … Continue reading Moorland muddles
Conservation is all about human choices. A lightly edited version (with links) of my talk at a Rewilding Symposium held at the David Attenborough building in Cambridge. “Humans seek patterns and I remember coming across a rock in the Black Mountains with deep grooves in it which I imagined had been scored by rocks in … Continue reading Conservation choices challenge
Triggered by the woodcock I’ve seen fly over my wood, here’s an extract from my Nature Notebook published in The Times 13 Dec 2014. Hope lies ahead for those who differ in opinions, but wish to open up dialogue on common ground. The grass has turned brown, folding in tussocks around bare-leafed saplings in my … Continue reading A woodland detective story in the dying year
My woodland is coming up to 10 years. In the life of a tree that’s nothing. A few rings of growth, leaf litter deposits, wind snapped branches. But for something so long-term, where has brave ‘enterprise’ on trees gone? I must declare an interest in knotty matters. My father worked for the Forestry Commission (100 … Continue reading Forest life
I hosted a wide-ranging conversation with the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president, Minette Batters, at the Hay Literary Festival earlier this year. Gove re-occurring , ‘cheap’ food arguments, farming bogs, issues with subsidies, admirable poultry, over-hyped soil and culture changes – so much, so little space, so little time…Minette was delayed but had enough breathe … Continue reading NFU blues
#WoodofStones – a year’s worth of tweets of a tiny National Nature Reserved in Wales
