Landowner ordered to pay highest ever illegal felling fine - GOV.UK www.gov.uk/government/n...

Stejneger’s Scoter @ East Wemyss, 2 White-billed Diver @ Inverkeithing, Black Redstart @ Glenrothes Pitcairn 02/04/26

My letter in the Guardian countering an article by a pro-growth lobbyist from Britain Remade attacking environmental legislation “Ecologists & conservationists would be surprised by his claim that the UK doesn’t & never will build enough to drive nature loss” 1/2 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Goodbye and good riddance to Pam Bondi but whoever comes next as AG will be… worse. Sigh.

Eek! Nestbox monitors assemble!

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1513... In search of Stonchat around the Clatto Reservoir area. #naturewriting #BirdingScotland

Quck - help Swifts swiftly www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Good to see the latest meeting minutes of the National Estate for Nature group (Jan 2026), whose members own ~11% of England - in which they reaffirm their commitment to publishing estate management plans by April. Hope to see them out imminently! 1/ assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c295...

Marsh Harrier close pass

“Every year, we unleash this scourge on the countryside. It’s messing with the ecology.” Delighted to see David Attenborough’s new series will tackle pheasants, and how landowners release millions of them each year! (The words are from Attenborough’s producer) www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1514... Some early(ish) vis-mig and a few displaying raptors, from the top of Dundee Law. #naturewriting #BirdingScotland

when the garden is home to 2 Semicollared and 3 Collared Flycatchers, Wood Warbler and Great Reed Warbler, Cyprus and Isabelline Wheatear, it's hard to tear yourself away... but glad we did, to enjoy the Little Crakes and Great Spotted Cuckoos around Agia Varvara today #CyprusBirds

a fun day amongst the ruins around Paphos, with the long-staying Isabelline Shrike, a late Finsch's Wheatear, male Rock Thrush and 2 Caspian Stonechats on the headland, along with Rüppell's Warblers aplenty worth getting a little bit wet for. #CyprusBirds #WildlifeTravelling in Cyprus

c300 Sand Martin at Branston GP over Ashy Pit this morning in heavy rain (but nothing mixed in with them). Red Kite over Yoxall. @staffsbirdnews.bsky.social

First spring session at @LaneMarsh and it didn’t disappoint 🌿🐦 18 birds ringed across 11 species, including a returning male Cetti’s (first ringed in 2024) alongside a female. Also caught 2 Treecreepers, a Blackcap, and a colour-ringed Blackbird 👀✨

Regardless of the issue, it's always the same story: commercial interests allowed to ride roughshod over everything and everyone else. Faced with the urgent need for action, successive governments twiddle their thumbs. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

English stained glass artist Ann Sotheran, 'Isa's hare' (2011) #WomensArt

Sequence of a Female Leucistic Hen Harrier successfully hunting on The Isle of Man, 2026 🇮🇲

Three Glossy Ibis giving great scope views at Stiffkey, Norfolk. Weekend ended on 90 species, just 5 year ticks: Cattle Egret & Sarnie Tern too, Iceland Gull & Swallow. Tired & deflated after not making it back to Notts in time for a lifer, Leach's Petrel. Glad bird flew off strong, tho #UKBirding

The clocks go forward and still the male Wren builds. #Wrens #UKBirds #TheMarchintoSpring

Incredible news from the Staffordshire area🦅✨ Two Peregrine pairs are each incubating 4 eggs, and one proud mum has come full circle, returning to nest where she was ringed as a chick in 2022. Nature’s stories never get old 💛 💚 #Peregrines #WildlifeWins

Many Scottish Greenshank will have left English estuaries now, soon to be replaced by a pulse of passage birds heading further north. See @birdtrack.bsky.social graph below and this blog about Greenshank migration: wadertales.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/m... 🎂6️⃣ #BirdingScotland

What a cracking evening at @StaffsWildlife Cuckoo Bank! 🐦 Still plenty of Jack Snipe around, which meant we were able to catch more and fit them with CTT tags to track their movements. Huge thanks to @SurveysThermal for sponsoring one of last night’s tags 🙌 Exciting times ahead🦤

I wonder whether the wind helped this speedy WMRG Jack Snipe 👇? Tags and tracking are revealing more about Jack Snipe migration. Hope to be able to update blog about Jack Snipe and Snipe, when papers have been published. wadertales.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/s... #ornithology

2/4 Estuarine counts only capture what is happening to just over half of our #Curlew. In estuaries and along coasts, Curlew numbers declined between 1997/98 and 2015/16. Coasts - 42%⬇️ Estuaries - 26% ⬇️ #ornithology

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1512... Yet more habitat destruction around the eastern half of Dundee made for a soul-destrying day's birding, with the only real highlight being a new addition to my 2026Dundee150 list. #BirdingScotland #naturewriting

Adult Female Peregrine Falcon today, Isle of Man 🇮🇲

Just read about a new paper showing deer avoided/spent less time browsing in a woodland in SE Germany where lynx scats and urine were spread compared to wolves. University of Freiburg. Journal of Applied Ecology van Beek Calkoen et al

Yes: lynx can take even sika stags, for example, but would likely concentrate on the young and females. Exactly what's needed to help control deer populations and behaviour.

Rabid mentality of farmers hanging up dead corvids in fields, and in breeding season - when will it ever stop? #Peasenhall @eastangliabylines.co.uk @rspbengland.bsky.social @rspcaoffficial.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk @adrianramsay.bsky.social

MMU #ecology PhD student James Richardson is looking for people to complete a survey comparing different aspects of city green spaces - if you live in the UK (or a familiar with city landscapes) please help by clicking on some photos! 🌍🧪 citynaturechoices.org

Started a few days in Norfolk with an Iceland Gull. Excellent to watch it in flight, on the beach & bossing other gulls for food. Would've been nice to see the Glaucous, but myself & another birder couldn't find it, despite it just being reported. First Swallow of the year too. #LowCarbonBirding 🪶

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1510... A trip up to (the Dundee) Clatto Reservoir in search of raptors in the sunshine... #naturewriting #BirdingScotland

Today's main birding highlight was this Kingfisher down by the Dighty Burn in Dundee. #BirdingScotland #Birds

Beavering well www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hurrah! Step by painful step these wildlife criiminals pushed further onto the back foot. The noose tightens.

Eurasian Curlew has declined sharply across the UK and Ireland, driven primarily by sustained breeding failure rather than adult mortality. Ultimately, the future of the Curlew reflects wider choices about land use and biodiversity. Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 📸 Beth Clyne

Belatedly reading this excellent piece from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social. A near perfect distillation of the climate theory of everything. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A report @vickyallan.bsky.social on the Scottish Parliament's rural affairs committee criticising ministers for not doing enough to make salmon farming sustainable. www.heraldscotland.com/news/2596965...

Okay, this is an Iberian, rather than Eurasian, lynx: the species that belongs in Ireland. But still, imagine having an animal as beautiful as this back in places like Wicklow and Kerry! share.google/f0bOpO3PzKgA...

In the last ten years @theferret.scot has published more than 80 stories on the salmon farming industry. www.theferret.scot/tag/salmon/

MSPs have today lambasted the Scottish Government for failing to make enough progress towards making #salmon farming sustainable. www.parliament.scot/-/media/file...

A thread about 'pests' which will annoy both sides of our tiring UK melodrama. I have grave doubts about Weasel and Stoat population control by gamekeepers, and claims it is a conservation plus due to protection of other ground nesting birds other than gamebirds. www.gwct.org.uk/blogs/news/2....

Man who shot an Iberian Lynx given a 100,800 Euro fine & banned from any hunting related activities for 3 years www.hoy.es/sociedad/con... To deter #wildlife crime you need a deterrent, something that we in Britain need to learn. @raptorpersuk.bsky.social @iand777.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1509... #naturewriting #BirdingScotland Another long walk round the Eastern half of Dundee.

Game-shooting industry's response to the recent conviction of Perthshire gamekeeper Russell Mason raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/03/23/g...

stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2026/03/1508... Two relatively short birding 'halves' with a meeting about birds/wildlife in the middle made for an interesting sort of day on 4th of March. #naturewriting #BirdingScotland