The Dutch proportional voting system isn’t perfect, but it works. It ensures representation across the political spectrum, keeps the far right in check, and gives voters real influence. Isn’t it time Britain caught up? Stephen McNair reports eastangliabylines.co.uk/democracy/ho...

A few years ago we planted some Hebe and Mahonia especially for winter active bees in our garden. In the mild weather this week there were plenty of Common Carder Bees Bombus pascuorum plus a few Honeybees Apis mellifera and Buff-tailed Bumblebees Bombus terrestris visiting the flowers.

There are 1,500 scientifically described species of bats in the world, they account for more than a quarter of mammal species in the UK and around 20% of all mammal species worldwide. Bats play an important role in many habitats around the world. www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/w... #biodiversity #bats 🦇

Irony alert..🙄

So depressing to read this. I literally don't understand why anyone would vote against such a mandate. What a betrayal... #birds

It's getting to that time of the year again, in just a couple of weeks you might be thinking of sending out those Christmas cards. If you're staying one step ahead then check out our cards and send a festive view of this part of the Jurassic Coast! charmouth.org/chcc/shop/gi...

As the PM heads to the Amazon for COP30, remember that Britain is also a rainforest nation. UK Ministers must support Brazil's plans to save the world's tropical rainforests. They must also set a goal to restore Britain's own lost temperate rainforests: lostrainforestsofbritain.org/2025/11/05/a...

1/2 Hounds in the garden just now, on the trail of some poor fox. This is still the reality of "trail hunting" in North Dorset in 2025. I put so much effort into making this place a sanctuary for wildlife. @angelaeagle1.bsky.social @parliamentarygoose.bsky.social

Look at the beautiful colours on this common carder bumblebee (B.pascuorum) seen a few days ago in Totnes. #bumblebees

How just a single seed can kill 80,000 bees. A common farming practice is spreading toxic pesticides into the environment: harming pollinators, wildlife and ecosystems - and we've known of the damage for years... ☠️ environmentamerica.org/articles/how...

That this exquisite chalk stream should be polluted with e-coli, pesticides, cleaning products, industrial chemicals, medicines + toiletries is a tragedy beyond words that could be prevented by improving sewage systems so wastewater is treated 3 times - enough to remove most chemicals + pathogens

Mahonia attracting queen buff-tailed bumblebee yesterday in Totnes, south Devon. @bumblebees

Much of Newton Abbot, downstream from Wolborough Fen is in a flood risk zone. Building here could increase runoff into the river, damaging wetlands will reduce their ability to absorb + slow the flow of that extra water, placing homes downriver at greater flood risk. share.google/4x4VaUWzRdmg...

Something extraordinary is happening. +6000 new members in ONE SINGLE day. @greenparty.org.uk just hit 130,000 members and rising!!! Join.greenparty.org.uk

My latest post: philipstrange.wordpress.com/2025/10/18/a...

Plans to weaken protections for England's national parks will have ‘disastrous consequences’ say green groups - Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law @campaign4parks.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Autumn by the river Dart in Devon with michaelmas daisies and common carder bees. #bumblebees #wildflowers

An atmospheric @theguardian.com country diary today from the inimitable Phil Gates. #countrydiary #naturewriting

Tory party’s long journey away from science, reason, responsibility, common sense and truth is complete

Israel has just arrested Greta Thunberg and many others. Statement from the Global Sumud Flotilla: “People of conscience have been abducted. The flotilla broke no laws. What is illegal is Israel’s genocide, Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, and Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon.” 1/3

Reflections on a famous landmark which, once again, welcomes everyone, in @derekniemann.bsky.social's @theguardian.com country diary. #countrydiary #naturewriting

Water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution, livestock deaths. But other than that, what's not to love about fracking? www.texastribune.org/2023/10/31/t...

When you consider the *ecocide* alongside the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza, you begin to grasp the totality of the Israeli state’s attempt to eliminate both the Palestinians and their homeland. My column today. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This Buzzard was poisoned by a large dose of second generation rodenticide. I discovered it in a Dorset Bluebell wood this April. Please find some time today to complete the consultation. These poisons are such a clear and present danger to our wildlife.

4/ Using evidence gathered from old postcards, maps and the accounts of shepherds and botanists, I want to rebuild a picture of the chalk downland that existed until the 1940s - and in doing so, help efforts to restore it. Please get involved here: ghostsofchalkcountry.org/2025/09/14/h...

They never consider money for themselves a waste

Thousands of Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) at Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire, yesterday. Amazing to watch them, especially the mating balls.

A very disturbing thing I missed in researching this week's column. Three of the four junktank ultras hired by Labour to groom civil servants are named in this investigation of a Westminster network involving the disgraced eugenicist Andrew Sabisky. investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/andrew-sabis...

‘A last resort’: is culling foxes the only way to save Britain’s vanishing curlews?

This is infuriating. What is the point of a Marine Protected Area if trawlers are allowed to keep ploughing it? Yet again, the government has succumbed to commercial lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Reform UK disgusts me on every level

This beauty is a female scorpionfly, so named because the males sport scorpion-like tails which they use in courtship displays Mating can be dangerous for the male as the female may kill & eat him afterwards. To avoid being eaten himself, he offers her a ‘nuptial gift’ of saliva or a dead insect…

The Dorset Coast Forum are celebrating 30 years of work with a host of activities and an exhibition on 18 Coast Champions including one of our very own wardens, Ali! Check out their site for more details www.dorsetcoast.com/30-year-cele...

I'm old enough to remember when polio put my friends into iron lungs. We dutifully lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives. What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.

Wakefield, Malhotra, Kennedy Fruitcakes inciting people to put themselves in the way of harm unnecessarily

It’s almost as if Aseem Malhotra were a totally incredible figure. How on earth could The Farage Party endorse such a total fraud? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Nothing makes me angrier than a doctor abusing their bond of trust with patient & public. Shame on you, Aseem Malhotra. Shame on you. 4/4

Week after week, in a small market town, a group gathers in silence to acknowledge Gaza’s devastation. They don’t chant or march, writes Jacob Ecclestone. They simply stand, refusing to look away.

I remember early November 2023. I think I was the first person on US mainstream media, while at MSNBC/Peacock, to say the G-word on TV. On my show. It was seen as hugely controversial then. It's controversial no longer. It's undeniable, irrefutable, the consensus view.

Country diary: Barn owlets that feel like miracles | Nicola Chester

This.

‘We found that the tipping point where the shutdown becomes inevitable is probably in the next 10 to 20 years or so.’ www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This looks good and feisty! And it is important for the site and for other MCZs. Glad to see a Wildlife Trust acting in this way. @wildjustice.bsky.social @leigh-day.bsky.social #marine #legal #judicialreview @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Why, you might ask, do the BBC and Sky News, casting their editorial guidelines to the wind, keep giving massive airtime to the far right, while shutting out leftwing voices? Don't their bosses understand the likely consequences? Only one explanation now remains. They do. And it is what they want.

This week's column. The details will make you gasp and rage. This massive desecration of nature is almost unbelievable, but it is happening in the UK right now. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The snake oil salesman got his way once - the result was a disaster. Don’t let him do it again

Wasp heaven - amazing creatures! This is a good way to distract them from your picnic :)

Prof Becky Malby, from the Ilkley Clean River Group, said: “.. When it’s warm and the river is in such low flow, the water heats up. This means that the fish in the river will overheat, suffocate and die. It’s a disaster for the environment.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

My new post: philipstrange.wordpress.com/2025/08/26/j...

All is not well down on the allotment Pressure to build housing may threaten our treasured allotments @sussexbylines.co.uk