England’s new 30x30 plan was published yesterday on how we get to 30% of land being protected for nature by 2030. But almost immediately, one of the country’s biggest institutional landowners, the Church of England, rejects a measurable 30% restoration target for its own estate. 🧵

12/ Pay farmers to restore habitat where it delivers the biggest ecological gains

On my way, Clacton.

Wearying under the continued weight of nonsense from the pony lobby ... but just to say ... Despite repeated claims, Purple Moor Grass, Molinia, is NOT an invasive plant on Dartmoor. It's a perfectly natural component of Dartmoor's blanket bogs and wet heaths.

Devonians were horrified to learn last week of plans for a massive AI data centre near Great Torrington, north Devon. The proposals from company XLinks Ltd would cover 850 acres of farmland. But who owns the land? I decided to investigate. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Great update from Natural England on the current Dartmoor pony issues ... I hope this will be widely read. naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2026/06/30/w...

Look after yourselves this week, in our record-breaking heat. And don't let this or any government backtrack on its climate commitments: both to prevent the worst and to help us adapt to the escalating impacts to which - unfortunately and infuriatingly - we are now committed. #35YearsOfFailure

Goodness me, the pony misinformation continues, this time from Luke Pollard MP. In an op-ed for the Moorlander today he says that Gov accepted the Fursdon Review recommendation that Ponies & cattle should not be linked for the calculation of AES agreement stocking rates This is simply not true 🧵

The tragedy of the Dartmoor Pony Cull Conspiracy is that misinformation can lead to scientific advice being ignored, & environmental watchdogs like Natural England having their powers curtailed - exactly what the Tories & rightwing press have always wanted. I spoke to @mrjamesob.bsky.social:

Rumours circulating that knives are out for Natural England after the Dartmoor Pony Cull Conspiracy If true, Ministers need to give their heads a wobble This is what the Tories & rightwing press tried to do two years ago; they want to gut nature protections: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Fake news is putting Dartmoor’s ponies at risk. New deep dive by me into the current furore around Dartmoor's ponies. www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/ponies-...

This is a conspiracy theory being spread by those on Dartmoor who want things to carry on exactly as they have for years - with massive subsidies being paid to commoners, that they spend buying up property off the moor, while Dartmoor's wildlife continues to disappear. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Great Dartmoor Pony Cull Conspiracy of 2026 is such horseshit. Nobody is proposing a cull, FFS! Currently being whipped up on Musk's hellsite by the Leader of the Opposition, who clearly has nothing better to do. Reality: www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/ponies-...

On hottest May day recorded, reanimated corpse funded by fossil fuel interests recommends abandoning efforts to tackle climate crisis www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Oh I think I know this one. #ClimateChaos, brought on by a couple of centuries of burning fossil fuels that release Carbon Dioxide that had been locked up underground hundreds of millions of years ago - plus 60 years of Methane and Nitrous Oxide emitted by intensive agriculture, has arrived.

Campaign win! Duchy of Cornwall announces plan to “double the extent of duchy-managed Atlantic rainforest on Dartmoor by the early 2040s” This means Black-a-Tor Copse, as well as Wistman’s Wood! A first step towards doubling rainforests across Dartmoor’s commons www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Proud to be part of this campaign - get involved!

"For those that don’t have a large voice or who feel lost or helpless, giants can show our collective desires and strength... putting on a mask lets us behave differently and say the unsayable in the folk world – a processional creature has the same effect." Great piece on the Goliath revival.

While all eyes are on Farage, we're overlooking something even worse: the building of the very tight and truly vile operation that is Restore Britain. This excellent essay/report by Simon Pearson should wake us up to the threat - and to what exactly it is. simonpearson1.substack.com/p/tory-30

If you are running an environmental campaign in the South West, and you could do with some GIANT help, then let us know soon! thelostgiants.co.uk/2026/04/08/c... www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Tree folklore, storytelling and environmental lore with the amazing @lisaschneidau.bsky.social - online on Saturday May 16th, fundraising for the Folklore Library and Archive Book now to join us via bit.ly/flaevents

Your frequent reminder that Farage wants to frack the UK - in multiple ways - and that doing so won’t make a blind bit of difference to energy bills It would, however, make us more dependent on volatile fossil fuels, make the climate crisis worse & industrialise the countryside Don’t vote Reform

Mona, in Anglesey hit 25°C today. What this BBC story doesn't tell you is that today is the warmest 7th April since records began, in 1853.

Dartmoor has been deliberately set ablaze tonight. An apocalyptic photo of swaling (moorland burning) that I’ve been sent, of the moor alight at Corndon Down, Spitchwick Common. All burning is meant to end on Dartmoor today, 31st March - and many birds will already be nesting this early spring. 😢

Nature on Dartmoor is in decline. Is it too late to save it? @lisaschneidau.bsky.social from Dartmoor Nature Alliance, Tracy May from Dartmoor Commoners and Richard Drysdale from DNP, will discuss this with @sophiepavs.bsky.social in the chair - at the Dartmoor Tors Festival info at link in bio .

these fields are regularly dowsed in agrochemicals all of which are harmful to the environment, & many of which have impacts on human health. In comparison Solar farms have pretty much no agrochemicals applies to them, making them much better for people and wildlife. And they can still produce food.

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

Please join this important campaign!

loved working on these episodes. huge thanks to @lisaschneidau.bsky.social, @olliedouglas.bsky.social, Ruth, and Crockern!

Absolute Units returns tomorrow! We're back with Ruth Webb and @lisaschneidau.bsky.social, picking up where we left off last time and continuing the story of Old Crockern and the fight for wild camping on Dartmoor. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

A day in the life of a working storyteller: …an early morning drive over the moor to Plymouth to record Devon folk tales for @bbcdevon … www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... …an hour of storytelling for @theconscioussisters. ….a project meeting at Plymouth Marine Lab Then to work on the new book. 😉🌱🌳

Latest episode, expertly edited by my awesome co-host @joevaughan.net. Great chats with the fascinating @lisaschneidau.bsky.social and Ruth Webb!

Absolute Units is back tomorrow! We delve into the world of Old Crockern, the mythical spirit of Dartmoor, with activists @lisaschneidau.bsky.social and Ruth Webb. Learn about Old Crockern's tale, and why he returns today. Listen to past episodes: merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

Photo credit: an extraordinary telling of Crockern's story on @lisaschneidau.bsky.social's website. Whet your appetite! www.lisaschneidau.co.uk/uncategorize...

Today a chap from NFU spouted guff on R4 about complex rivers being dire for wildlife. Yet here a willow is creating a natural, oxygenated riffle. 1) Scouring rivers only benefits those who farm flood plains. 2) How do they think wildlife coped before we dredged rivers? Answer: marvellously.

This is important. @naturalengland.bsky.social please take note.

“Heavy rains that often fall in February have flooded the low-lying meadows in the broad valley.” ‘What to Look for in Winter’, 1959 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer: EL Grant Watson

For local friends ( #Devon, #Dartmoor, #WestCountry UK), Chagford's annual Wassail takes place on Saturday. It's a free, folkloric, family-friendly event and all are welcome. The beautiful art on the poster is by @matpringle.bsky.social.

Here's an important new call to action from Dartmoor Nature Alliance. Please read and share!

Next month, Quay Words teams up with Artemis Storytelling at @exetercustomhouse.bsky.social, with exciting workshops for young people on 29th September. These will be led by the fantastic storytellers @katycawkwell.bsky.social @lisaschneidau.bsky.social and @sara-hurley@bskysocial.

If the BBC was doing its job, it would note in its coverage of Reform that 92% of the party's donations come from the fossil fuel industry.

There are still some tickets available for the last 'Widdershins III' event at Green Hill Arts on Dartmoor: an evening of dark, adult fairy tales performed by folklorist & storyteller @lisaschneidau.bsky.social. Highly recommended! Go here for more info: www.greenhillarts.co.uk/calendar/202...

‘England’s farmers to get new payments for cleaning up waterways’ This could be a useful reform to the Sustainable Farm Incentive (SFI), but needs to be paired with much better enforcement of regulations like Farming Rules for Water www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ed Miliband’s “State of the Climate” speech wasn’t just a warning-it was a challenge to politics-as-usual. By anchoring action in science, history and national interest, the energy secretary laid the ground for a new climate norm: accountability to the future. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Reminding voters of how close Farage & Reform are to Trump reduces support for them by 8-10% - and highlighting their corporate donations dents them further New research by @steveakehurst.bsky.social Paging @petergeoghegan.bsky.social @writesbright.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/strongme...

Reform's Richard Tice has written to energy firms to inform them of the 'political risk' of Reform to renewables Labour official: “Reform are now actively trying to discourage businesses from investing in clean energy in the UK... "They are disgracefully... undermining the UK's national interest."

This is a nice article outlining some of the work that @lisaschneidau.bsky.social has been doing lately: www.themoorlander.co.uk/news/home/18... #folklore #storytelling #dartmoor #folkloring #chasingcrockern

Deserts are spreading across Britain, yet scarcely anyone in public life even seems to have noticed. This week's column seeks to open our eyes to something that has been too big to see. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Without so much as a whisper NE this week updated the condition assessments of all the Dartmoor Commons SSSIs - it really is not a pretty picture ... headline? Of those newly assessed SSSI units, only 26ha of 22,494ha are in favourable condition. www.dartmoornature.org.uk/post/sssicon...

The banner’s up… the #DartmoorTorsFestival starts today! Lots to enjoy inc talks with writers, archaeologists, artists incl @lisaschneidau.bsky.social @guyshrubsole.bsky.social , @lewis-winks.bsky.social and walks shorturl.at/Oomce