Blogs

I suspect you wonder what I am talking about! These are common, colloquial names for the bittern and woodcock and in some respects are very evocative. Apparently a bluiter is a person or thing that makes a dull, heavy sound – a descriptive of the bittern’s boom I deduce – and bogsucker probably reflects that the woodcock feeds in soft ground using its long bill.

Bracken has become a contentious subject for land managers as, whilst it has some benefits, where it is invasive and becomes dominant it can have a range of negative impacts which have required its perpetual control through both chemical and mechanical means.

So, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill has passed through Scottish Parliament, marking nearly seven years of scrutiny, originating with the implementation of the Werritty Grouse Management Review in 2017.

If we hoped for some respite from the weight of policy consultations, bills and legislation that confronted us in 2023, the barrage has continued unabated so far this year.

I have been asked to present on the need to balance conservation with access at a conference on Public Rights of Way. This has instigated me to consider what the network of paths across our landscape means – why do they exist?

Our Director of Policy and the Allerton Project, Dr Alastair Leake, shares his thoughts on the latest domestic hedgerow regulations.

I have been delighted by the responses to my first monthly musings on hedges. Thank you. In my defence the initial blog was never intended to be all encompassing so I’m “hedging my bets” (pun intended!) and doing a follow up to acknowledge the excellent comments made.

In readiness for all anticoagulant rodenticide purchases being restricted July onwards to their use inside and around buildings only, the latest UK Rodenticide Stewardship annual report includes for the first time an explanation specific to rodent pest control of what constitutes a ‘building’.

Although farmer clusters have been going in England since 2012 and have been immensely successful (with over 100 connected to GWCT now established) unfortunately in Scotland we have not seen this same level realised. So why is this, and what can we do to kick-start their uptake in Scotland?

Many parts of the English rolling landscape are criss-crossed by hedgerows, which if one stops and looks provide an interesting perspective on the history of the landscape being observed.