Woohoo – A barn owl has nested in our box! (Feb22)
I can’t believe it. We put up the barn owl box in an old ash tree about a year ago. I have to admit that I was extremely doubtful that it would get any inhabitants. In part, my doubt was because it isn’t in the ideal location. The box is supposed to be facing into […]
Rewild schools before it’s too late (Jul21)
Rewild the world before it’s too late! I’m supporting Operation Future Hope in their mission to change the devastating impact of current land management practices in schools. School grounds have become wildlife deserts. They’re chopped, mown, poisoned and slashed. The brief is for well ‘managed landscapes’ – neat and tidy. What this means in practice […]
Peat in compost is environmental vandalism (Mar21)
That’s what Monty Don says and I agree. But it’s incredibly common. UK gardeners are responsible for destroying our ‘rainforests’. It has to stop and we can make it happen. OK, so why is this such a big deal? First and perhaps most importantly, peatlands are essential in our fight against climate change. Whilst they […]
BEING FRIENDLY TO BARN OWLS (Dec20)
I’m learning about owls. My interest has been propelled by the regular nightly call of a male tawny owl. He seems to be much more vocal than the female because I’m not sure I’ve heard her calling back…. However, what I’m now listening out for is the screeching call of a barn owl. I’m very […]
Wilding week 2 (Jul20)
The diggers are in their element The water meadow is now looking pretty earthy with very little water at all. The old mill pond has been drained to reveal a shallow muddy bottom – it turns out that it was pretty full of silt. If we’d left it for a few more years, it would […]
Wilding has started… (Jul20)
Yesterday, the diggers and dumpers arrived, along with the wonderful Andrew George and his fellow wilder, Lesley Malpas (Operation Future Hope). When I’ve mentioned wilding people imagine it means animals like badgers and beavers. Actually, the focus will be on bees, butterflies and birds, along with the wild flowers, hedgerows and trees that will attract […]
ANIMALS TURN HUMAN…(May20)
A role reversal. Imagine humans behaved like animals and vice versa. What would we think about our homes being destroyed, our oceans poisoned and our forests being hacked? This video does the imagining for us. It shows human’s petrified on a shrinking ice block, whilst polar bears sit in offices and wheel trolleys through over-stocked […]
Going wild in Dorset (Sep19)
I’m tremendously excited about our new landscaping project… The central idea is wilding and I’m learning about what this means in practice. One concept I found rather appealing was to look at nettles and docks, which love fertile, agriculture land, as the bully boys. And we’re going to replace them with a myriad of other […]
CHASE Africa empowers women through family planning (Nov18)
“I’m not a great supporter of aid in Africa. I’m much keener on getting things done on the ground through small and effective organisations. CHASE Africa is one of those. They have small overheads and a great mission. Tackling family planning, particularly in conservation areas, has a multitude of benefits for individuals, communities and the […]
Is Rick Stein’s fish sustainably sourced? (Sep09)
Last weekend I went to Padstow. This fishing port is best known for its association with Rick Stein, who appears to own half of the businesses in the town from his eponymous restaurant, fish & chip shop and deli to a local pub, bistro and patisserie. Predictably there was no space for a last minute […]
Food Innovation (Sep09)
The Food Ethics Council Business Forum meeting focussed on radical innovation. I was chairing the session with a presentation from Sander Mager, Programme Manager at the groundbreaking Dutch technology incubator TransForum – a quango supporting projects ranging from closed-loop farming to producer-managed supermarkets.
An inconvenient truth about fish – The End of the Line (Jun09)
A fish collapse. 90% of the big fish are gone. The global fishing capacity is big enough to catch four times more fish than actually exist in the sea. We’ve just squandered one of the greatest resources on the planet – wild fish. The End of the Line leaves one in no doubt about the […]