Going through the first batch of sounds collected last week by the Biophones ... both were located on mires on N Dartmoor, and this is a lovely example of what these places sound like at first light at the moment - the spectrogram shows a grasshopper warbler "reeling" and a "drumming" snipe.

‘Wild Flowers of Spring and Early Summer’ Artist: Maurice de Sausmarez (for Odhams)

Gave a talk about Dartmoor Nature Alliance to a very positive and upbeat West Devon Green Party today. Could it be that Greens are in with a chance at the next election in this super rural constituency with a Tory majority of just 61?

I am doing some remote acoustic monitoring on North Dartmoor to help pick up Curlew from the Duchy-led Headstarting Project. These great little bits of kit are supplied by the Wild Connect - read more here www.wild-connect.com/the-biophone/

Welcome to Dartmoor National Park Authority's new chief exec, Tom Surrey. www.themoorlander.co.uk/news/local-n...

Good to read the Duchy of Cornwall's new "Nature Rich Plan" mentioning both improving SSSIs on Dartmoor from "unfavourable no-change" and increasing the resilience of the moor's fragmentary rainforests. Is this place on the cusp of real change for nature? duchyofcornwall.org/article/a-na...

Great to be part of this weekend's Dartmoor Tors Festival. Well done to the organisers, and thanks to Gillian from www.dartmoorwalkingtours.co.uk for helping me lead a wonderful dawn chorus walk on Saturday morning.

My feature from last year on “swaling” on Dartmoor - in summary it does at lot more harm than good! (And please don’t go on about “fuel load” without reading the article or at least having a basic understanding of the ecology of moorland vegetation) www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/swaling

“Bit by bit, every little helps. If we keep this up, year on year, we will be over the next valley, then over the next valley." Lovely piece in the Guardian this weekend about the heroic work to restore Dartmoor's peatlands. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"By 2030, our landscapes will include a mix of different land uses, but some less productive landscapes will be making more space for nature and capturing carbon." Land Use Framework published today Browns in this map, also in the report, are less productive landscapes. #justsaying 😊

Great news. Dartmoor is an ecological disaster zone masquerading as a National Park, as its ecosystems have been grazed out by sheep. Now this must change.

Brilliant result from our legal challenge about overgrazing on Dartmoor ⚖️ Now the Dartmoor Commoners' Council must fulfil its statutory duty & urgently make appropriate assessments of stocking densities & reduce the number of sheep where overgrazing is apparent. wildjustice.org.uk/dartmoor/wil...

BREAKING: Great news - and a huge WELL DONE to @wildjustice.bsky.social 🙏 ❤️ wildjustice.org.uk/dartmoor/wil...

Sign this :). I mean, what’s not to like here www.change.org/p/replace-wi...

"The land set aside for sheep is twice the size of all built-up areas combined, and yet constant grazing strips areas of natural foliage." Interesting to see the pro building lobby now going after sheeps - not sure how that's going to play out ... 😊 www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

ICYMI ... just a few reasons why fully investing in the restoration of nature in places like Dartmoor is a really good idea. Yes, a lot of cash is needed, but it's absolutely NOT a cost - it's a huge SAVING - for you, me and everything else. www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

Well done, Duchy of Cornwall, Natural England, Moor Trees, Woodland Trust. Dartmoor needs more rainforest! duchyofcornwall.org/article/volu...

A wonderful “Dartmoor-y” day.

As a geographer by training I do a love a map - just looking at the 1960s Land Utilistion Survey maps for the Dartmoor Commons, probably the earliest mapped vegetation survey on the moor (C is Calluna, M Molinia, E Trichophorum, F Festuca/Agrostis).

From small acorns ... good news from the ever-wonderful Moor Trees - putting back native woodland on Dartmoor. moortrees.org/major-milest...

Gov's Magic map now shows the total cost of the Forest of Dartmoor HLS agreement, including all the "roll-overs" following the end of the initial ten-year agreement in 2022. This scheme was launched in May 2012 at a cost to the taxpayer of £13M. That cost has now risen to £17.5M.

An argument has long been made that “forced” reductions in grazing by Natural England in the 2000s led to “undrgrazing” and the rise in dominance of Molinia on Dartmoor Commons. Pic here from a report I’ve found from 1985 showing Molinia dominance around Tavy Head at the height of overstocking.

This is a good read ... cieem.net/resource/hab...

The People's Emergency Briefing - Crowdfunder nearly there to enable this briefing to be shared across the UK - please help... www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-people...

Since saving 50 acres of #Dartmoor, where the Rivers Strane & Swincombe meet, the DPA has devoted itself to nurturing the health of the #mires and open #moorland. For 2026 and beyond we're pleased to announce refreshed land management plans for the site. dartmoorpreservation.co.uk/preserving-s...

Want to know how your favourite Dartmoor Common is being managed? Following an EIR request in Autumn last year, here are all the Dartmoor Commons Habitats Regulations Assessments for the HLS agreements, along with the management plans for each common. www.dartmoornature.org.uk/file-share/4...

Why winter sheep grazing on Dartmoor’s commons must end. Bold decisions are needed to ensure new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier and Landscape Recovery Schemes deliver for nature and protected sites on Dartmoor's precious commons. www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/why-win...

After a few months break, I’ll be sharing news and views again on Dartmoor nature restoration here on Bsky - hopefully a few interesting things on the horizon. In the meantime here’s a view from just above Warren House earlier this afternoon.

This is SO good, and inspiring, well done @reclaimourmoors.bsky.social

🥾 Just shy of 200 people joined us up at Moscar Moor today to mark the start of the shooting season and united around our call for this huge grouse shooting estate in the Peak District to be taken into community ownership.

Great chance to share your hopes for nature restoration on Dartmoor …

A good read. I don't agree with some of the points, but it's thoughtful and well-written. sustainablefoodtrust.org/news-views/s...

I got hold of the latest *official* stats for how many pheasants are being bred, reared and released in England It's a big number - 25.9 million - but it's far less than the reality It points to widespread rule-breaking by shooting estates failing to register: whoownsengland.org/2025/07/31/l...

Good work by access campaigners here in Devon ... www.theguardian.com/environment/...

"Sheep farming is not subsidised" That's quite the claim from Phil Stocker at the National Sheep Association. Here's why ... nationalsheep.org.uk/our-work/new...

The Death of a Dartmoor Common. Pleased to have contributed to this @theguardian.com feature by @phoebeweston.bsky.social I've written a more in-depth article to give full background to the common @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I visited with the reporter. www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/the-dea...

More coverage of todays Wild Justice vs Dartmoor Commoners' Council case ... www.itv.com/news/westcou...

"Our uplands need a healthy future, and that future starts with change – radical, urgent and unapologetic." Great opinion piece from @chrisgpackham.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Here's the press release from @wildjustice.bsky.social about today's case, inc quotes from @chrisgpackham.bsky.social and @ruthtingay.bsky.social wildjustice.org.uk/sssis/legal-...

Wishing @wildjustice.bsky.social all the very best for their legal challenge to Dartmoor Commoners' Council today at the High Court. Read the background to the case here: wildjustice.org.uk/sssis/wild-j...

This is very good news, though a long campaign!

Hen Tor & Willings Walls Common. Yep, nothing here but species-poor grassland, Molinia, and a bit of bracken. And a lot of sheep scattered about. The opportunity cost of maintaining the current grazing regime on this land is huge. It's as much a failure of the imagination as anything else.

The folk horror is real, where there’s a shoot. It brings the predators in. A gruesome & strange danse macabre for my @theguardian.com Country Diary today. ‘A jewel-bright partridge’s head, tops the beads of its neck vertebrae like an umbrella handle’ & someone is playing curious games..

The level of this debate is appalling. Almost lost me when one MP claimed that "where grouse moor management had ceased, such as on Dartmoor, populations of ground nesting birds have reduced". Dartmoor hasn't seen any grouse shot since the 1920s, there is no shooting here!

#PeatlandAlliance amendments to the #PlanningAndInfrastructureBill in the #HouseOfLords aim to ban #windfarms on protected #peatland in England and make sure it is restored without any big infrastructure developments. How about it, peers? saverestorewalshawmoor.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/d...

Coverage of the new Duchy Dartmoor vision - "The duchy and the Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery (CDLR) project will also enforce rest periods for the land to give it time to recover and allow biodiversity to blossom." Wow. Yes please. www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/...

Duchy of Cornwall's Dartmoor Vision published today ... (More comments on this at some point) www.duchyofcornwall.org/article/laun...

Follow these people ...

Good piece from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social ... I've written more here on Molinia and specifically Dartmoor 🧵 www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/molinia

Very interesting - especially in relation to issues on Dartmoor www.theguardian.com/environment/...