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Author Archives: Miles King
Mark Reckless MP for Lodge Hill rails against Natural England, Quangos, spiders, bugs and – vegetated shingle
Following yesterday’s blog on the latest machinations at Lodge Hill, I was informed that the local MP for the Lodge Hill area Mark Reckless, had not made any statement either for or against the development at Lodge Hill or the … Continue reading
Offsetting at Lodge Hill rears its ugly head again.
CIEEM held a conference on biodiversity offsetting last week, and I was lucky enough to be the first speaker. I had put in an abstract for a talk which was highly sceptical of offsetting and whether it would provide any … Continue reading
No targets and prescriptions – Conservation: The Knepp Way
wild daffodils on Knepp Estate (c) miles king On Wednesday I was privileged to spend a day at the Knepp Estate in Sussex, with Natural England Agriculture Policy experts – not that NE do policy of course. Other experts (and … Continue reading
Defra publish correct Bovine TB herd breakdown data – previous figures were inflated by one third
The Badger Cull has been found to be ineffective and inhumane according to Defra’s own expert panel looking at the Pilot areas in Somerset and Gloucestershire. The BBC report Prof Rosie Woodroffe, a scientist at the Zoological Society of London, … Continue reading
The Supergrass that betrays real Environmental Goods
I was intrigued by this headline in Farmers Weekly (where else?) – “£2.5M boost for grass that helps prevent floods“. What can it be? A panacea for all our flooding problems – is it superabsorbent? Is it a climate change … Continue reading
Solar Farms and Grasslands: A cautionary Tale.
Rampisham Down Masts Anyone who has lived in West Dorset for more than five years will immediately recognise the extraordinary landmark that was the Rampisham Down Transmitting Station. A large array of very tall Masts on one of the most … Continue reading
Keeping a Level Head
A Somerset Levels Wet Meadow (c) Miles King I feel almost reluctant to put pen to paper (metaphorically) on the issue of the floods and the Somerset Levels, because so much has been written or spoken in recent days fromn … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, Common Agricultural Policy, Environment Agency, European environment policy, Floodplains, grasslands, meadows, Owen Paterson
Tagged Agriculture, common agricultural policy, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, flooding, Owen Paterson, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Site of Special Scientific Interest
15 Comments
Lost in the drainage Maize
I wrote this blog twice yesterday but both times wordpress refused to publish it. I’m trying again – third time lucky. I now know the reason it crashed. I was trying to copy a map from a pdf and upload … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, deregulation, Dredging, Environment Agency, farming, flooding, Owen Paterson
Tagged Agriculture, flooding, IDBs, Maize, Owen Paterson, Somerset Levels
32 Comments
World Wetlands Day Blog: On the Level
In honour of World Wetlands Day (when will we next see an international environmental convention signed in Iran?) I write today about the Somerset Levels. Has anyone noticed that the Somerset Levels are under water? There’s been a bit in … Continue reading
Planting Trees in the Uplands? There’s an idea….
I was so excited at the thought of OPatz going to live in the woods, foraging for mushrooms and curing badger hams , that I forgot to check what was actually said earlier this week, in relation to flooding and … Continue reading
Posted in flooding, Forestry, Forestry Commission, Owen Paterson, rewilding, uplands
Tagged Afforestation, flooding, Flow Country, George Monbiot, Lord Rooker, Owen Paterson, re-wilding
8 Comments
a new nature blog 