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| Chris Coghlan - seeking assurances on whether correct procedures were followed |
A SURREY MP is investigating an incident in which a colony of nesting Swifts was allegedly wiped out during demolition of an office block near Dorking Railway Station.
The email inbox of Chris Coghlan, Lib-Dem MP for Dorking & Horley has been flooded with furious protests about the timing earlier this summer of demolition of Regent House and adjacent buildings.
Since then, Surrey police, Mole Valley District Council, Surrey Wildlife Trust, a development company, demolition contractors and an ecological consultancy have been exploring how things went so wrong.
Now, without attributing blame, the MP is seeking both an explanation and full transparency.
Says he: "Thank you to everyone who has contacted me about the demolition of Regent House and the potential loss of Swift nesting sites.
"I am copying this update to a number of you due to the volume of correspondence I have received.
"I recognise how strongly people feel about this, particularly given the importance of Swifts and the timing during the nesting season.
"Many of you have also raised concerns about transparency and whether the correct processes were followed. I share the view that this situation warrants close scrutiny.
"I remain in contact with Surrey police regarding the status of their investigation and whether any offences may have been committed."
Mr Coghlan continues: "Separately, I have asked the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management to review the ecological work submitted as part of the planning process.
"This is to assess whether the surveys and evidence provided by the developer met expected professional standards.
"For clarity, the legal framework places responsibilities on several parties: developers must comply with wildlife legislation and submit appropriate ecological assessments; local planning authorities must consider these and apply suitable conditions or mitigations; and any potential offences are a matter for the police.
"While MPs do not have a formal role in planning decisions, I am actively seeking assurances that the correct processes were followed in this case.
"If it becomes clear that the current system has failed to protect known Swift nesting sites, I will press for changes - whether in guidance, enforcement, or seasonal protection - so that this cannot happen again.
"I will continue to follow this closely and will provide further updates as more information becomes available."
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| By the light of a silvery moon - a Swift swoops by |
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| The office block prior to demolition |
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| Weeting Heath is managed by Norfolk Wildlife Trust |
Date: July 21, 2026
Time: 3pm - 4pm
Weather: Overcast, warm
Target species (which went unseen): Woodlark
Star species seen: Stone-curlew
Other species seen included:
* Hobby
* Woodpigeon
* Robin
* Rabbit
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| Stone-curlew preening |
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| All eyes on the heath - birders in one of the hides |
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| Distant view of perched hobby |
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| This time a fish - next time a lamb? Photo of White-tailed Eagle: NatureScot |
A TOTAL of 35 satellite tags are to be attached to juvenile White-tailed Eagles as part of a forthcoming project to establish the extent to which the birds prey on young farm livestock.
The initiative has been sparked by angry (but possibly exaggerated) claims from farmers and crofters in Scotland that their lambs, and even foals, are falling victim to beak and claw.
Says NatureScot; "We are providing funding for the satellite tags for this collaborative research project, which will bring together a broad team of experts to assess predation.
"The transmitter tags will improve understanding of the movements and behaviour of adult and juvenile White-tailed and how they interact with their habitat and other creatures within it."
Over the next two years, the eagle chicks will be tagged when they are about eight weeks old.
By then, they are full-sized and getting ready to fledge from 10 weeks of age on.
Target ranges for tagging will be within Argyllshire, The Highlands and the Western Isles.
In Scotland, there are reckoned to be about 200 pairs of White-tailed Eagles.
Farm managers who are comfortable hosting trapping work on their land may be encouraged collaborate with this work.
The research project is a partnership between NatureScot, RSPB, Scotland’s Rural College SRUC, Natural Research Ltd, and a collective of independent ornithologists.
The costs are being shared, and there will be policy input from NFU Scotland and the Scottish Crofting Federation.
It is hoped the project will also help to indicate how White-tailed Eagles interact with windfarms.
The research group will report periodically to the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Group, while NatureScot has pledged to provide updates on its website.
Ornithologist Edmund Selous was fascinated by the feeding behaviour of the Arctic Skua. In his book, Bird Watching (1901), he describes it thus:
Suddenly a dusky form, slender and Swallow-like, though as large as a Pigeon, shoots over the rounded bastion of the heather.
Sweeping upwards as it nears the cliffs, it darts upon one of a group of gulls.
A second pirate follows.
With wild cries and long, gliding sweeps, they press and harass the larger bird, who, doubling, twisting, avoiding, dodging, but never resisting, utters again and again a cry of distress.
Its companions sweep and eddy about them, shooting athwart and between.
They protest, they cry to heaven, their wild voices mingle in harsh, discordant unison with the rock-dash of the waves, and the everlasting notes of the wind.
Suddenly something drops from the oppressed gull.
There is a sinking towards it of one of the dark shadows - swift beyond telling, but so soft that the speed is not realised.
The falling object is lost from view but then, almost with a jerk, the eye - or rather the brain - realises that it has been caught in the descent.
Empty, and now unregarded, the robbed bird sweeps on, and the pirates sweep back to the heather.
Who troubles over a robbed gull? What moral nemesis concerns itself with the wrongs of some cheated, done-to-death savage or tribe of savages?
Over both, there is some shrieking, some eloquence at the time, but both are soon lost in oblivion, the waves close over and the world jogs on.
Retribution, retributive justice - such fine things may exist, perhaps, but, if so, they are reserved for showier matters.
Had the Skuas robbed an Albatross, something, perhaps, would have happened.
Their sin might have found them out
Thus closes one of nature's wild dramas. The gulls are circling again now, and all is as before.
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| No smoke without fire - scene in the Cairngorms |
THERE are fears for the fate of rare Capercaillies and other birds as wildfire continue to sweep through an area where they are known to nest in the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands.
The RSPB has temporarily closed the nature centre at its Loch Garden nature reserve, near Aviemore, as the fire burns for the third day in succession.
The society's rangers are supporting the Scottish Fire & Rescue Services as they continue to respond to the emergency.
The RSPB has also been allowing use of one of its drone to monitor the spread of the flames.
Birders, walkers and others are being urged to stay away from the area until the situation is fully under control.
* Photos: Scottish Fire & Rescue Service.
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| Water being pumped from Loch Morlich |
