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.
What do stoats and a letter to the Editor of The Times have in common? Both are tricky to ‘catch’ as they are both suspicious of the anything too obvious – whether a trap or correspondence. The trick on the latter is to be pithy. Though this brevity to secure publication tends to bleed out … Continue reading Conservation context
‘The environment in which managers do their job is being transformed: this new landscape rewards some skills more and some less than in the past‘. A line from an article in a magazine last year which resonates with many of today’s rural and environmental issues. ‘If we want things to stay as they are, things … Continue reading an uncertain superhero
My innate curiosity to understand what people think and do (rather than talk about), resulted in my arrival at the foot of a hillside, home to Cumbria’s Helm wind. This is what I learnt from fourteen face-to-face meetings over four days across northern England and southern Scotland. Edible windbreaks When the wind blows, think of … Continue reading Northern fields
Written evidence submitted by Rob Yorke FRICS (rural chartered surveyor and Founder of Track II Enviro Dialogue) to EFRA – (ref MH0016) 11th Jan 2021 (links and pictures added to published version) 1.1 I have worked in the rural sector since 1992 when I qualified as a chartered surveyor (Rob Yorke (Associates) Ltd) working with farmers, … Continue reading green blind-spot
I could hardly believe what I was seeing. From a public highway, three young hen harriers were riding the breeze over the ridge of bracken bordering onto heather. The story behind them is perhaps even harder to believe. I’ll get to why but first, let’s wind back in time for some context. A Naturalist’s Sketch … Continue reading Raptors’ return
“The pastime he is enjoying may include simply resting in the open-air in the peace of the countryside” – so said the Master of the Rolls, in the Court of Appeal on the 31st July 2023 re wild camping on Dartmoor. I welcome this decision – though as ever, devil’s in the detail or the … Continue reading Open air recreation
What do an umbrella, forage harvester and wild flower meadow have in common? The answer is delivering more nature through improved soil biology, land for ‘wild nature’ and habitat for pollinators – all via ‘agri-tech’ innovation. So, further to my 90sec vlog, I’ll unpack my thinking below. Feel free to comment below! Climate shade We … Continue reading Agri-tech 4 nature
(first published in The Times, 16th August 2014 as a Nature Notebook) Always look slowly over the edge of a bridge. I’ve done it all my life — perhaps all anglers do. As I peer at the water a big fat brown trout is still under the bridge. Neither sunlight nor I are his friends … Continue reading When nature feeds you must know when to look
I met with Professor Tim Benton in a tiny cafe at Victoria station, London. I was on my way to Kent from Wales to talk with farmers, whereas Tim was between high-level meetings. Neither of us knew quite what was about to unfold, nor how pertinent today, three years on, the overarching contents of this … Continue reading the Benton interview
Forty years ago, on a winter’s dawn, I went down to the foreshore with my father. Whispering wings of unseen ducks, two in the bag as light broke and a barn owl hovered for a minute feet above my upturned 16 year old mud-smeared face. Thirty six years earlier, the celebrated conservationist, Sir Peter Scott, … Continue reading Mobilising conservation
#WoodofStones – a year’s worth of tweets of a tiny National Nature Reserved in Wales