A new start...

Ollie & Toby still battling on

The end of December 2017 and beginning of 2018 has been a little fraught {sad news regards Toby, a nasty fall and the demise of my relationship with the NT}. This has impacted my volunteer activities and I am just trying to adjust to the changing circumstances. However today I was pleased to assist Maurice and Mike in the February bat count. In cold and wet conditions the lesser horseshoe count was 174 bat cave, 0 kennels, 1 bothy and 4 cellars giving a total 179 {156 last years count} .  As always it was interesting to hear from Maurice on his increased activities in the Cotswolds on bat populations and historic & future bat developments.

I  will never be able to understand why anyone would want to kill wildlife for fun {indirectly or otherwise} and for this reason cannot accept the NT decision to allow this to happen in the Peak district. I have lived with the NT soft stance on a number of conservation issues but sadly I am now unwilling to continue with my NT volunteering& membership. So I am hoping to develop a different conservation volunteering role {outside NT} in 2018 alongside continuing my WT volunteering work.

Further to this the hunting and shooting community {Moorland association, Countryside Alliance etc} continue to provide a rich source of material which illustrates their disregard for scientific facts, support for illegal activities, their continued lies and their arrogant belief they know what's best for our countryside {ably supported by DEFRA and NE}.  On the slightly more positive side, some challenges to the  new image of  DEFRA Gove is trying to develop {NE shooting their boss in the foot!}, a further reminder on the cost to the environment of driven grouse shooting {DEFRA still not responding}. I am reminded of a recent Theresa May interview where she admits to supporting our traditional fun sports e.g. fox hunting et al. In order to rescue her tenuous position she backs down from a new vote on fox hunting but imagine how her government {outside the EU}, with a big majority, would manage our countryside. It doesn't bear thinking about.

The great Marcel Hirscher, 2018 Olympics

Always happier to end on a good note, was really pleased to see Marcel Hirscher win his first gold. BBC to note this skier is one of the best there has ever been, ref their coverage 2017 of a near miss  to a skier from a drone {no mention that it was Marcel!}.