Blog

A reflection on a British Ecological Society symposium ‘Making a Difference in Conservation’ from an ‘outsider’. I was delighted to attend the BES/CCI event in Cambridge a couple of years ago, but as things are never straightforward for a single-subject symposium (‘Improving the links between ecological research, policy and practice’), there was nothing ‘single issues’ … Continue reading Wielding evidence

Transylvanian trek Nature Notebook. As published in The Times August 22 2015 – Part 2 of 2 In Romania, on a family holiday travelling with donkeys through the countryside, nature is abundant. Riches abound for those who forage for mushrooms, raspberries and bilberries among the native norway spruce and silver fir. With goshawks and crested tits flitting across the … Continue reading Wild bees and wolves. Nature Notebook. The Times Aug 2015

During my short tenure as a Nature Notebook columnist for The Times, I managed to slip in two pieces on woodland. ‘See the wood’ I’m lucky enough to own a sliver of woodland in the Welsh hills. It’s a pleasure, although it did cause me some angst when I created it two years ago. For … Continue reading My woodland revisited

The calls to work more collaboratively for conservation are becoming louder. For wildlife’s sake it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Many miss the curlew. The State of Nature reports chart declines in much of our wildlife on which we have robust data, which itself covers only 5% of the 70,000 … Continue reading Curlew collaborative

From the comfort of our sofas, we have been drawn to a oceanic feast of spectacles on Blue Planet II. Outside, closer to home, in cold roaring waters, another spectacular is under way. Atlantic salmon are moving at the moment. Migratory instincts demanding the fish drive forward, bashing against rocks, jostling at the foot of … Continue reading Smokin’ salmon

The first national conference on farmer cluster groups with Natural England was a ‘swell’ event. The room was awash with the exchange of ideas, chests swelling with pride as farmers restored stone curlews to farmland, yellowhammers to hedgerows, brown trout to brooks, pollinators to headlands while getting together over beers in their local pubs to … Continue reading Together for wildlife

Prompted by my letter in The Times, I received this from a correspondent who had previously set out his personal framing of farming and nature as a guest blog here (part I). Part II   “Farmers provide multiple outputs – including marketable food and raw materials. Most environmental outputs are not marketable but often result in costs … Continue reading Framing food and nature – a personal view part II

My piece, in verbatim, originally published in Shooting Times magazine June 2017 – now published with reference links and an addendum. ‘Communication around shooting is far from straightforward. Rob Yorke looks at what the industry could do to bolster shooting’s public image’ For this challenging article, I canvassed opinion from the National Trust, Countryside Alliance … Continue reading Shooting must make friends

This was sent to me by an elderly gentleman. No pictures are required. “As a primary school child I lived in a mining village in Staffordshire. At the bottom of our garden – and an extension to our play area – was a field. It led to down to a stream and pond. We took … Continue reading Framing food and nature – a personal view