Latest Blog Posts

The NFU has retracted a number of misleading claims it has made about the impacts of the neonicotinoid ban on oilseed rape yields, but continues to promulgate information that gives...

11/07/2014

Yesterday’s announcement that Syngenta was withdrawing its application to the Government to allow the sale of enough neonicotinoid treated seed to plant 186,000 Ha of England with toxic crops was...

04/07/2014

This week, Barack Obama stepped up and showed powerful leadership on the issue of pollinator declines. While the draft National Pollinator Strategy is shaping up to be a useful focus...

27/06/2014

I was lucky enough to catch up with a Spiky yellow woodlouse (Pseudolaureola atlantica) whilst on St Helena. This crazy isopod looks more like a toy than a real species,...

25/06/2014

Political developments in the last week make it more likely that the UK will start growing GM crops within a few years.  UK researchers are currently trialling a GM wheat...

20/06/2014

Oxford University-led scientific review of neonicotinoid science opens with a bold advertisement for the effective ability of neonics to prevent crop yield loss.  However, the evidence presented to support the...

13/06/2014

For my first few days on St Helena, visiting the Bugs on the Brink project, the weather has been a bit wet and rainy, which is a bit damper than expected...

09/06/2014

Most of our countryside is closely managed and controlled to deliver a range of objectives, this is hard work and sometimes intensive.  Potentially conflicting objectives of producing food, maintaining income...

06/06/2014

A hardworking and, in my opinion, very cute animal spotted whilst I was on Ascension Island is the Land crab (Johngarthia lagostoma), which spends much of its time inland in...

05/06/2014