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Miles King on Forestry Commission plan tree… Sue Redshaw on Forestry Commission plan tree… Roger Cartwright on Forestry Commission plan tree… Sue Redshaw on Forestry Commission plan tree… Miles King on Forestry Commission plan tree…
Author Archives: Miles King
Forestry Commission plan tree planting on heathland after barbecue fire
The ground was bone dry and everything was flowering early. I was up at Poundbury (near Dorchester), checking on an area of wildflower meadow that I’d arranged to have sown. After the incessant downpours of the Autumn and Winter, the … Continue reading
Building Back Greener – Defra’s Eustice announces Govt plans to weaken nature protections
I’m not much a zoom enthusiast but the invitation to listen to Defra secretary of state George Eustice give a “major” speech on the environment, via Green Alliance, seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. So, having finally … Continue reading
A Tale of Two Speeches – Gramsci, Newts and the Instrumentarians
As we finally reach the point where the first wave of covid19 has effectively passed (excess deaths in the week to the 19th June were the same as the 5 year average – 65000 dead so far), it’s clear that … Continue reading
Pheasant’s or Pheasant’s-eye? Nature Connection and Conservation
What’s important about nature? I’m not talking about however many tonnes of Carbon a Sitka spruce tree locks up during its short life, or whether a Beaver stops a town flooding. I mean what is important to you, as a … Continue reading
New Board members for Natural England: the banker, the mandarin, the natural capitalist and the media exec.
An image speaks a thousand words, doesn’t it. Imagine being the person at Defra who decides which image to use for each story. “Natural England board members appointed.” Natural. England. Something natural perhaps. Hmm – perhaps a … Continue reading
Posted in Natural Capital, Natural England, regulation
Tagged Natural Capital, Natural England
4 Comments
Coronavirus diary: the Freeloader Problem
It’s Magic Monday, or Happy Monday or whatever new slogan has been dreamt up by Dom Cummings and his Vote Leave team in Downing Street to distract us. How quickly things change. Just last December Cummings and his libertarian band … Continue reading
Posted in coronavirus, Dominic Cummings, free-loaders, libertarians
Tagged coronavirus, Dominic Cummings, free-loaders, libertarians, lockdown
3 Comments
A few thoughts on how Coronavirus might reshape the UK
I’ve been putting off writing this blog, but after the weekend’s Cummings and Goings, there was a certain inevitability that it had to be written. The question I keep asking myself, as I am sure many of you are also … Continue reading
Guest Blog – Stop Graveney Marsh Solar Farm
As regular readers will know I take an interest in solar farms and their impact on wildlife. With this in mind, I’m happy to host a guest blog today from Matthew Hatchwell of the Faversham Society. Matthew was Director of … Continue reading
Posted in guest blogs, Solar Farms
Tagged Faversham Society, Graveney Marshes, Solar Farms, Wildlife
2 Comments
Seven Years of a New Nature Blog
I’m celebrating the seventh anniversary of this blog today. Whoop! I actually started writing a blog nearly ten years ago, back in October 2010 when I was at The Grasslands Trust (you can still find them here ). After I … Continue reading
Reflections on VE Day 75
Lightnings and Vulcans Growing up under the only occasionally used flightpath to Buckingham Palace, every Queen’s Birthday, we would go up to The Green, just in time to see the flypast. I remember going with my dad, who had done … Continue reading
Posted in coronavirus, far right, Fascism, VE day
Tagged coronavirus, exceptionalism, the Blitz, VE day
25 Comments
