Misc
When you need housing who do you vote for? (Editorial Blog)
It’s a big election day tomorrow in the UK with many people going to the polls to vote for local representatives in local authorities. While housing is a national policy any election time is a good time to look at policies from the major political parties where housing is concerned. For many people under the [...]
Missing link between geology and biology found
Did a meteor bring in the form of phosphorus needed to produce energy for life? While there’s still arguments about the more technical details of evolution – is it punctuated, linear, divergent and convergent etc., the concept of evolution is pretty well established but the actual origins of life is still under active discussion. How [...]
Natural England boosts citizen science wildlife studies
Natural England has joined with the Field Studies Council (FSC) to try and address a rising shortage of volunteer wildlife surveyors. With support from Defra’s Fund for Biodiversity in the Voluntary Sector, FSC and Natural England have created ‘Biodiversity Fellows’, a new programme to train and retain wildlife recorders as volunteer experts. The new scheme has [...]
Voting starts for UN Environment Blogger of the Year 2013
The 10 finalists of the United Nations Environment Programme have launched their new articles in the competition to find who will be covering the World Environment Day in Mongolia later this year. The ten finalists were chosen from over 100 applicants. Now it’s the turn of the public to vote for their favourite. You can [...]
If the government has given up it should call an election not destroy the economy
The UK housing crisis and the economy is in such a bad situation there was little the Chancellor could have done yesterday to make it any worse. But he managed to pull it off quite spectacularly. The last thing the housing market needed was another price bubble before a correction of the last one and [...]
10 points to understanding CITES on the eve of CoP16
While the west african manatee may be threatened there is little international trading and so the species is unlikely to make Appendix I listing. With just a few hours to go before the start of the Conference of Parties 16 in Bangkok here is a quick 10 point outline of what CITES is and what it is [...]
Troublesome times at Kenya Wildlife Service
If tackling poachers and smugglers in Kenya was not hard enough to do the Kenya Wildlife Service is facing taxing times internally and externally with investigations and court cases. New senior management moves announced today has seen 2 senior officer asked to take leave and there is also a court case launched by NGO’s to try [...]
Good news on HS2 but why a backlash?
It is great news that the High Speed 2 rail line will be extended onto Manchester and eventually beyond. Investment in the public transport network in the UK is desperately needed. New high speed lines also need to be introduced down to Cornwall and out to Cardiff and Swansea. But this first extension has to [...]
Jessops goes into administration
It was a big shock to see Jessops going into administration today. Many wildlife lovers would have at some stage ventured to one of their stores to invest in either binoculars or spotting scopes or camera. They had a great range but it appears that they just could not compete with the internet. It’s certainly [...]
A few changes at Wildlife News from tomorrow – expect disruption
I’ve spent most of today trying to integrate some new features for Wildlife News using the current theme. Unfortunately it is just not going to be possible to bring them live using the current theme of the site. From tomorrow I will be changing the theme of wildlife news to be able to introduce the [...]
Hackers claim to have targeted WWF China
A new hack group called the DarkWeb Goons have claimed to have targeted the web site of WWF China and published 58,000 user names and log in details including all 18 admins log in details of the web site www.wwfchina.org. The group Darkweb Goons is a relatively new hackers group and it is not known why [...]
10 ways to spend your £10,000 a year tax cut
2013 is going to be a year of cuts. Ian Duncan-Smith is highlighting the need to cut welfare with his claims of benefits rises outstripping wage growth (true for percentages but not true for absolute cash rises) and of course there is the tax cut for the highest earners. If you’re lucky enough to be [...]
Free listings for wildlife travel businesses
We’re just in the process of installing and modifying a directory script to help wildlife tourist providers promote themselves to readers of Wildlife News. As part of the testing we’re offering free entry into the directory until 10th January when we will start charging for entry. To get listed just click on the Wildlife Holiday [...]
2013 The year ahead for wildlife and the environment
It’s always a bit of fun to try to predict what will happen in the coming year and 2013 will be no different. After a bit of discussion here are our predictions for 10 top news stories for wildlife and the environment in 2013. The predictions are in no particular order of importance or time and [...]
Our 10 notable wildlife moments of 2012
We’re about to wind down for the Christmas and New Year so it’s a good opportunity to look back and try to pick out 10 of our more memorable moments for wildlife and the environment that happened during 2012. In a couple of days we’ll take a look ahead to see what we think will be [...]
And now the ‘brownwashing’ of housing plans begins
There’s been yet another statement on housing by the coalition government about the need to build more houses to meet the needs of this and the next generation. Obviously this is true but unfortunately it’s a statement from the coalition government so there’s one thing for certain and that is it is not going to happen. The 2.5 [...]
Can Labour’s new 1 million affordable homes give aspiration back to the young?
One of the problems with the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition is that they are very good at talking but extremely bad at actually doing anything. This is especially true of trying to tackle the severe housing crisis that affects the UK. Since the coalition came to power housing building has dropped, houses prices [...]
Amazon winter wildlife bestsellers
The weather across Europe is getting colder and wildlife is preparing to bed down for the colder months. It is the time when a lot of gardeners and other people get in their stocks to help the local wildlife through the winter months. With the range of goods on offer it can be a bit [...]
Welcome a lodger into your garden this year
October is when the nights start to close in and the weather starts to turn colder and wetter. It’s also the time when wildlife start to hunt for places to settle down and prepare for their hibernation through the winter months. One of the species that really needs extra help is the hedgehog. Making a [...]
Killer of wildlife officer sentenced to death
On November 11th 2010 Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife conservation officer David Lynn Grove was gunned down by poachers in Adams County as he responded to calls about gunshots. Last night (thursday) the jury decided that one of those poachers should be sentenced to the death penalty. 29 year old Christopher Johnson has stood trial for the killing [...]