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Global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The fertility for Food production has always depended on the carbon cycle. Artificial fertilizers have by-passed this dependence, their production is energy intensive. The fossil carbon footprint of meat is system dependent. This is...

With roughly 2/3rds of their reserves dependent on grazing animals I don’t think the RSPB would entirely be in agreement: ‘However – this doesn't mean stopping eating meat altogether! Cattle grazing is extremely important for maintaining many areas of wildlife rich habitat but it's often very...

Until the early 90s we had tb under control: http://www.vet-wildlifemanagement.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=28 Despite Prof Boyd’s observation that ‘cattle movement controls to prevent the spread of bTB are working, as otherwise we would probably a lot more...

When one considers that reactor cattle are culled, not because they have tb, but because they have been exposed to it, in hot spot areas they are tested at six monthly intervals, and herds under tb restrictions cannot sell animals to other farmers. All farmers must test cattle that are to be...

You might find this paper of interest , it describes the pathology of tb in both badgers and cattle, http://www.bovinetb.info/docs/johngallt_b_review9-04.pdf It explains why badgers with tb are so effective at spreading tb, and in contrast how difficult it is for cattle to spread it. The...

Saw first brook lamprey of the year yesterday, (east Devon, river axe)

Here is the latest estimate of badger population in England and Wales: http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-00378-3 Combining our estimates of badger social group sizes with the estimated number of social groups from the recent sett survey of England and Wales9 yielded an estimate of the...

http://www.cof.orst.edu/leopold/papers/mesopredators.pdf ‘Apex predators have experienced catastrophic declines throughout the world as a result of human persecution and habitat loss. These collapses in top predator populations are commonly associated with dramatic increases in the abundance of...

Your observation regarding hedgehogs may be extremely relevant to the decline of toads. ‘Badger’ by Timothy Roper (New Naturalist 2010): 'Badgers are significant predators of both adult and young western hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). When Patrick Doncaster, then a graduate student at Oxford...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=278616

The BTO believe that a ban of driven grouse would not necessarily improve the lot of Hen Harriers: http://www.bto.org/national-offices/scotland/our-work/selected-highlights/hen-harrier Stopping management for grouse has been suggested as a means of improving the fortunes of Hen Harriers...

I have never seen a kestrel do this, but it is common behaviour in sparrow hawks (but not the constant landing on the road!).

Thank you for your prompt id. I have to say it had not occurred to me that it is a hoverfly, because of it's size. I have never seen one of these before, despite being a compulsive buddleia watcher! What a fantastic insect!

When I first saw this I thought it might be a hornet moth, after a little research, I am sure it is not, it is about an inch long, and too fat for a hornet. it is a nectar feeder.

That's overdoing it a bit don't you think?

This might interest you. http://freshfromthefield.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/protected-habitat-gets-in-right-old.html

Are martens not also predators of ground nesting birds, most of which are struggling in the British countryside?

I see that the results of the RSPB’s superficial data gathering (confined to inexperienced capercaillie?) was accepted six years ago (November 10, 2008), I don’t think you need worry about knee-jerk reactions.

You have highlighted the reason for the trial, not the results: 'Based upon unadjusted daily predation rates, predators destroyed 65% of nests (57% known to be by pine martens) or, after adjusting for the potential effect of the video system, 39% of nests (33% known to be by pine martens). Or...

Not easy information to find, But the RSPB found it necessary to kill 273 foxes and 153 carrion crows, in 2012/13 http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/ourwork/b/martinharper/archive/2014/04/16/managing-predation.aspx