Happy Easter! next step – and beavers on holiday

I have been away with my family for 10 days.

Hopefully a handful of videos will drop in the next few days, with an attempt to raise our profile so that we can do what we set off to do.

Our first week was spent down in Devon, near one of the beaver lodges. Interestingly, the guide I reached out to stated that they did not operate this early in the year, as the beavers emerge to late in the evening. We decided to go down late in the week, anyway, on the off-chance. In actual fact we spent a couple of hours each evening down on the river with wild beavers in front of us for a significant part of the time.

Beaver watching is great for both adults and children. While the beavers return is incredibly good for the future of British ecosystems, it can also have direct impacts for humans. It is true that for most farms (largely all those not based on a flood plain) they gain more from the presence of the beavers, in terms of reduced flooding, water table management and increased insect health (for pollination).

We are building our beaver watching page up further, do take a look

After the countries biggest ever wolf cull, now Sweden is going to allow hundreds of Lynx to be hunted

Licenses to kill 201 lynx have been given, just weeks after a wolf cull where dozens of wolves were killed. In the case of the wolves, despite 300 being declared the minimum by scientists, the government has set the minimum at 200 – thought to be an effort to appease the hunting lobby.

Lynx living wild in Sweden – if hunts of this size continue, this site may become a thing of the past
Continue reading “After the countries biggest ever wolf cull, now Sweden is going to allow hundreds of Lynx to be hunted”

Reducing gas reliance in the UK power sector from 40% down to 1% in 7 years, and saving money? Really?

A new analysis shows that Britain can cut gas use from the power sector by 2030 (5 years early compared to current targets) and that this would save large amounts of money.

A gas power plant: could these be a thing of the past in the next 7 years? photo credit David Price

How much do you say? it is thought to amount to £93 billion saved, by avoiding fossil gas consumption.

Continue reading “Reducing gas reliance in the UK power sector from 40% down to 1% in 7 years, and saving money? Really?”

Could old growth trees lock away more carbon than we thought?

A study in Oxfordshire last year, looked at how much carbon was locked away in 1000 trees. This study showed that old trees are more important than we thought, with them storing as much as twice as much carbon initially estimated.

For a long time the ecological benefit of ancient woodland has been known, but here we realize that ancient woodland is equally important for carbon sequestion

Why is this important?

Simple!

It shows that the destruction of the rainforest in Africa, Asia, and South America, cannot be offset by planting a similar number of trees in the north. Even worse, if the UK government decides to build a motorway that requires clearing an ancient woodland, replacing the trees one for one is not good enough.

This must rapidly be added to calculations

UK: talking the talk, but not walking the walk on net zero, the ban on onshore wind turbines stays in place

58% of Conservative voters want more solar and onshore wind turbines. Despite this, the current Chancellor in the UK has just decided to leave this ban in place. They have to be called out on this. On shore wind turbines are the cheapest way to make electricity bar none.

This is completely in contradiction to what they are saying. Jeremy Hunt has just released his budget, which includes £20 billion, which will include small nuclear reactor. The energy security minister, Grant Shapps stated

“Already a leader in offshore wind power, we now want to do the same for the UK’s nuclear and carbon capture industries, which in turn will help cut the wholesale electricity prices to among the lowest in Europe”.

This is true, but how much further would we be, if the leading government stopped listening to a small minority of voters, and bought back onshore wind power. This would be good for our emissions, price of power as well as being fantastic for farmers, who can host wind turbines, and be paid for it

Wolves have returned to Belgium after 100 years

Estimates vary, but it is thought that 15-20 wolves are in the country. This is made up of 1 pack in Flanders, and another in Southern Wallonia as well as a newly settled pair (this pair is likely to become a pack if allowed to survive).

Wolves have returned to Belgium. While only numbering about 20, if allowed to, it is likely to grow

Across the border in France and Germany, numbers are far higher. As a result, should these wolves be left alone, the numbers are likely to grow and spread.

Experts can be very good at spotting signs and clues of their presence, these skills are important to track the wolves however, these skills can also become very useful in ecotourism.

Despite the promise to reverse their insane ban on on-shore wind turbines, there are fears that this what is going to happen

On-shore wind-turbines are far and away the cheapest (currently) and easiest form of renewable power to roll out. The UK is targeting net zero emissions by 2050 (as well as a 68% reduction on 1990 levels by 2030), so any rejection of the cheapest and one of the simplest means of power generation goes against all this. More urgent, the aim is to have a power grid that is 100% green by 2035 – just 12 years away.

Why should a very noisy minority be able to stop the countries efforts to cut our carbon footprint.

The simple fact is, that farmers up and down the country can make good extra money by hosting turbines. Whether crops or grazing is the primary use of the land, wind turbines take up a tiny proportion of the land, and have no discernible effect on output.

Continue reading “Despite the promise to reverse their insane ban on on-shore wind turbines, there are fears that this what is going to happen”

Wildcats could potentially reintroduced into England for the first time in hundreds of years

Wildcats have been restricted to parts of Scotland for hundreds of years, despite once being found throughout the UK. Indeed, it is a problem where a significant number of people now refer to it as the Scottish wildcat, something that is only temporary, and should not be the case for ever.

Although looking sweet, British wild cats are impressive hunters, and can on occasion take deer
Continue reading “Wildcats could potentially reintroduced into England for the first time in hundreds of years”

Is the conservative party in the UK (and perhaps similar parties around the world) supporting of climate change doubt and climate change denial

The mountain of evidence which shows that climate change is real is enormous. The temperature has increased, and all of the evidence points towards carbon emissions being the reason.

If your MP is a part of this group then campaign to make sure that they loose their seat in the next election.
Continue reading “Is the conservative party in the UK (and perhaps similar parties around the world) supporting of climate change doubt and climate change denial”

Charities are meant to serve a public good, does it therefore follow that climate sceptic think tanks should loose charitable status?

In the UK, despite the vast majority of the population fully understanding what is happening to the climate as a result of emissions, there are still a number of high profile groups that are arguing against the status quo. The problem is when we give charitable status – which allows them to increase donations by reclaiming tax (among other benefits).

This is why it is so encouraging that a cross party group of MPs have added their voice to the call for the “climate sceptic thinktank” to be stripped of its charitable status. This claim has been put forwards by the “Good Law Project” which has put forwards an argument that this “thinktank” does not meet its aims as a charity and is simply a lobbying organisation.

Continue reading “Charities are meant to serve a public good, does it therefore follow that climate sceptic think tanks should loose charitable status?”
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