Since 1979, people have been watching the birds in their garden or local park for an hour as part of the Big Garden Birdwatch, and telling the organisers (RSPB) what they have  seen.  The Big Garden Birdwatch has been running for some 37 years and has provided a mass of data on the bird populations of the U.K.   The data gathered give an insight into how our wildlife is faring.  The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend (28 - 30 January, 2017).  If you would like to take part, visit the RSPB's website e.g.  www.rspb.org.uk (links to a pdf file). What is involved ? Read more...

In these days when just about anything is available, delivered to your door with just a few taps on an app, I have introduced my own delivery service for some of our woodland owners – delivering to their woods rather than their homes.   The product or maybe that should be by-product, is sawdust, all neatly bagged up and deposited where it is most needed namely close by their composting loos. Not the sort of thing that is going to qualify me for a slot on Dragons Den, but satisfying in that (a) a “waste” product is put to good use and (b) the woodland owners are very appreciative. How did it start? Read more...

It wasn’t until I started spending more time in our woodland that the thought of foraging entered my mind. Over the seasons the landscape revealed both edible delights and seasonal beauty: I hadn’t realised how prized the bilberries were to the wildlife and how little chance I had to add them to my breakfast bowl or to pancakes made on an open fire. We are lucky enough to have a semi ancient woodland but its overplanting warranted some thinning of the spindly oaks. It pained me to take down my first tree but I saw it as a symbiotic relationship where the intervention was aiding the long-term wellbeing of the woodland. Thinking about this threw up the idea of growing edible mushrooms. Read more...

A while ago I came across an article on the Woodlands.co.uk website about buying a woodland in a SIPP and I thought it too good an opportunity to miss. Having recently successfully completed the process I thought it might be useful to share my experience with others who may be thinking about it. It’s worth knowing up front that although it is a relatively simple process, it is a bit more long-winded than purchasing with cash and there are a few more considerations to take into account. Here are the steps I went through: Read more...

Climate change is a fact, though not one always accepted by certain politicians.   Greenhouse gas emissions have been growing since the C18th, and particularly in the period 1970 - 2004.   The warming of the world climate system is certain; air and ocean temperatures have increased.   Though we cannot say how climate will change in any specific area with certainty, we can be sure that extreme weather events will become more common - droughts, heat waves, heavy rainfall, high winds and cyclones. Read more...

DNA profiling has many uses, notably in criminal investigations.  It often allows the identification of a victim, or can 'tie' a suspect to the scene of a crime.  However, it does have other uses.  When applied to animal populations, it can give information as to the origins of the population, the extent of inbreeding / outbreeding etc.  Recently, Dr Lisa Signorile (Imperial College, London) has applied DNA technology to the grey squirrel populations of the U.K. and Italy. Read more...