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Category Archives: scrub
Jacob Rees-Mogg and his fantasy Scrublands
You would have to be a hermit to be unaware of the housing crisis which grips towns and cities across England. Homeless people line our high streets and occupy shop-fronts. But the housing crisis is far wider than that … Continue reading
Posted in Green Belt, housing, Lodge Hill, Lush Times, scrub
Tagged Greenbelt, housing, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lush Times, scrub
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The New Common Agricultural Policy Rules: Can you claim farm benefits for your golf course?
And so it begins again. The Rule Book for the new Common Agricultural Policy has been published – it’s here. There are some welcome omissions – the much derided 50 Trees rule has been consigned to history. The requirement … 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
Set our Landscapes Free
Species need landscape features to shift at differing speeds. Shifting Patterns in Time and Space Some species depend on constantly and fairly rapidly changing circumstances such as the creation and loss of bare ground, changes in the inundation status of … Continue reading
Another skirmish on the Lodge Hill Battle Front
It was an exciting day yesterday. I was part of a small 5 person RSPB team giving evidence in support of the Lodge Hill SSSI notification at an Extraordinary Natural England Board meeting. The opposition were there in numbers – … Continue reading
Biodiversity Offsetting – some further thoughts
Today’s blog appears on the Woodland Trust Blog site. http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/biodiversity-offsetting-some-related-issues/.
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, Charities campaigning, ecosystem services, environmental policy, forest elephant, George Monbiot, housing, management, meadows, neoliberalism, Owen Paterson, rewilding, scrub, spiritual value, straight tusked elephant, uplands
Tagged biodiversity, Church, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, George Monbiot, offsetting, Owen Paterson, re-wilding
3 Comments
Babies and Bathwater
Non-intervention management ((C) Miles King) I boldly suggested the other day that conservation iconoclast Mark Fisher now agreed with me that stopping human intervention on high value nature sites (such as SSSIs) was not the best way of achieving his … Continue reading
Posted in anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, biodiversity, environmental policy, forest elephant, George Monbiot, Mark Fisher, rewilding, Saum, scrub, self-willed land, SSSis, straight tusked elephant, uplands
Tagged Conservation, England, George Monbiot, Mark Fisher, Mike Alexander, re-wilding, Restoration ecology, Site of Special Scientific Interest, SSSI, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Tony Whitbread
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Saum, Clarkson, re-wilding and whither British Conservation?
the challenge of maintaining Saum I just read an excellent review of Feral on the blog of Green Alliance Director Matthew Spencer. It arrived, in timely fashion on the same day as George published his challenge to British Conservation in … Continue reading
Posted in biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, Downland, forest elephant, George Monbiot, management, Mesolithic, rewilding, Saum, scrub, straight tusked elephant, uplands
Tagged Conservation, Environment, Feral, George Monbiot, Green Alliance, Habitat, Jeremy Clarkson, Matthew Spencer, rewilding, scrub
5 Comments
Return to “Any Room for Scrub?”
While I may be painted by some as a reactionary fighting against the forces of progress (in the form of the re-wilding movement), I have been thinking about this stuff for quite a long time. Reading George Monbiot’s rant about … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, ecosystem services, farming, George Monbiot, grazing, management, rewilding, scrub, self-willed land, uplands
Tagged Cumbria, England, English Nature, European Union, Fell, Foot and Mouth Disease, George Monbiot, Habitat, Heath, juniper, Lake District, overgrazing, Park, rewilding, scrub, Wordsworth
6 Comments
a new nature blog 