Dog welfare charity will be at Global Birdfair 2026 - but BTO again expected to snub Rutland event

A DOG welfare charity is this year set to take stand space at this year's Global Birdfair, the foremost social event in the UK birding calendar.

The Dogs Trust is a national organisation which, among its activities, helps to find new homes for unwanted dogs.

For it to be represented at Birdfair is a surprise development - though perhaps not as surprising as it would be if the Cats' Protection League were to book a stand.

By contrast, the BTO is again expected to snub the event because its staff are said to disapprove of the presence of overseas holiday tours companies whose activities, they insist, do more harm than good, particularly to the environment.

Given their own similar ideologies, it is not known yet if either the RSPB or the Wildlife Trusts might follow the BTO's lead.

In the run-up to Global Birdfair at Lyndon Top, Oakham, Rutland between July 10-12 ,  the organisers have released a list of the  individuals and organisations that have so far booked to take stand space:

They include some old favourites such as the African Bird Club and Naturetrek, plus some new names such as the Crossbill Guides Foundation and House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland

The list is below:

* 2by2 Holidays

* Albatross Birding and Wildlife Photography in Chile

* Abelmosaics - Raising Awareness for Critically Endangered Species

* African Bird Club

* All4birding

* Alpine Birding

* Aqua-Firma Worldwide

* Ark Expeditions

* Ashanti African Tours Limited

* Asian Adventures

* Association Biom (Birdlife Croatia)

* Atropos

* Barefoot Eco Surveys

* Bellavista Cloud Forest Lodge

* Bellbird Tours

* Bespoke India Travel

* Biebrza Wildlife Trust

* Biotropica Expeditions

* Bird Observatories Council

* Birder Travel trading as Sicklebill Safaris

* Birdfinders

* Birdfy by Netvue

* Birding Haapsalu

* BirdLife Cyprus

* BirdLife International

* Birding Direct

* Birding Ethiopia Tour

* Birds Chile

* Bird's Wildlife & Nature Tours

* Birds & Nature Tours Portugal

* Birdtour Asia Limited

* Birdwatching Magazine

* Bluetail Birding

* Brazil Birding Experts

* Briggate Travel

* British Decoy & Wildfowl Carvers Association

* British Dragonfly Society

* Buseu Wild Pyrenees Nature Photography

* Butterfly Conservation East Midlands

* Button and Squirt

* Cactus Tours Madagascar

* Cairngorms National Park Authority

* Canopy Family, Panama

* Castilla y León Tourism Board

* China Bird Tour

* Clinton Banbury Illustration

* Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS)

* Cornell Lab - eBird and Merlin Bird ID

* Costa Rica Birding Board

* Crossbill Guides Foundation

* Crowartist

* Curlew Action

* D Smith Glasscraft

* Darren Woodhead

* David Tipling Wildlife Photographer 

* Discover Rutland

* Dogs Trust

* El Septimo Paraiso (Lodge & Cloud Forest Reserve)

* Embratur Brasil

* Enchanted India

* Falklands Conservation

* Falkland Island Holidays

* Falkland Islands Tourist Board

*Fauna and Flora

* Ferne Creative

* French Parcs

* Fujifilm UK

* Ganders Travel

* Gareth Watling British Bird Paintings

* Garrick Books

* Geckoman

* Global Birdfair 2026 Mural

* Global Wildlife Fair (Asian Adventures)

* Grant Arms Hotel / BWWC

* Greenpeace

* HADCO Experiences

* Hayley Jones Wire Sculptures

* Heatherlea Birdwatching Ltd

* Hebridean Adventures

* Heights Hotel

* Helen Whittle, Artist

* House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland

* Humane Wildlife Solutions

* Irene Brierton SWA - Wildlife Artist

* Jaguarundi Travel Colombia

* Jetwing Eco Holidays Pvt Ltd

* John Cox Wildlife Artist

* Jonathan Pomroy Wildlife and Landscape Artist

* Kate Cree Artist

* KS Nature Photography

* Langur Eco Travels - Bhutan

* Lawson's Birding, Wildlife & Custom Safaris

* Leicestershire and Rutland Mammal Group

* Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS)

*Letaka Safaris

* Limosa Holidays

* Livingstone African Safaris Ltd

* Lynx Nature Books (Alada Books, S.L.)

* Manakin Nature Tours

* Mark Andrews Artist

* Mongolia Quest LLC

* Nature Experience

* Naturetrek

* Nepal Nature Treks and Tours PVT

* Neophron Tours

* NHBS

* Nicky Heard Artist

* Nicola Jane Art

* Nungunungu Expeditions

* Operation Seabird

* Opticron

* Oriental Bird Club

*Oriole Birding Limited

* Ornithological Society of the Middle East, The Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME)

* Panama's Bird Team - Promtur Panama

* Park Cameras

* Partnership for International Birding

* Peak Boxes

* Planet Birdsong Foundation

* Plantlife

* Princeton Nature

* Reef and Rainforest Tours Ltd

* Richard Lewington, Wildlife Illustrator

* Rockjumper Birding Tours

* Ruth's Portraits

* Sara Budzik Studio

* SEO/BirdLife

* Secret Atlas

* Serra dos Tucanos Eco-turismo Ltda

* SpeediGimbal

* Stephen Message Art

* Swarovski Optik

* SWLA Printmaking Area

* Tasmanian Odyssey, South Australia Tourism Commission & Australian Wildlife Journeys

* The Birdway

* The Feather Lady

* The Royal Society for Wildlife Trusts

* The Society of Wildlife Artists - SWLA

* The Species Recovery Trust

* The Woodland Trust

* Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge

* Tropical Birding

* Uganda High Commission

* Uttar Pradesh Tourism

* Viking Optical Limited

* Warbler Tours

* Warwickshire Clothing

* Wild Discovery

* Wild Herz Ltd

* Wild Nature Quest

* Wild Poland

* WildArt Bird Photography Awards

* Wildbird Tours Costa Rica

* Wildlife Poland

* Wildlife Worldwide & The Travelling Naturalist

* WildSpaceGroup

* Wildwings Travel

* Woolley Wildlife

* World Pheasant Association

* WWF

* Yorkshire Coast Nature

The list will be updated as more prospective exhibitors confirm their bookings.

                                 

Ongoing Middle East conflict certain to take its toll on nature - including birds of many species

                                                

Birdlife in jeopardy - the zone of conflict (image: Wikimedia Commons)

THE spring conflict in the Middle East has brought needless of life for many entirely innocent humans.

And once the hostilities are over, ornithologists will doubtless seek to assess the impact on nature and birdlife.

At this time of year, thousands of northerly-heading migrants are settling - to feed and roost - in the area around Strait of Hormuz which links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman.

Kharg  Island - which President Trump has in his sights - is a particular hotspot because it provides not just vegetation habitat but also fresh water.

It is feared that hundreds of  birds will already have lost their lives to ballistic missile explosions or as a result of plumage contamination from tankers leaking oil into waterways having been damaged by explosives.

The most conspicuous bird on Kharg Island is the House Crow, but other birds to be seen in and around this part of the region include Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit and Black-tailed Godwit which may be familiar in many parts of Britain but were already regarded as "near threatened" in this part of Arabia even before the current troubles.

Another wader, the Curlew-sandpiper, is deemed vulnerable.

Meanwhile, hereabouts the  Wilson's Petrel, Persian Shearwater and Lesser Frigatebird are classified as rare/accidental.

Normally more conspicuous, at least on migration, are likely to be the following: 

Gray Francolin

Collared-Dove

Laughing Dove

Crowned Sandgrouse

Alpine Swift

Common Swift

Pallid Swift

Little Swift

Eurasian Thick-knee

Black-winged Stilt

Black-bellied Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Red-wattled Lapwing

Tibetan Sand-Plover

Greater Sand-Plover

Kentish Plover

Terek Sandpiper

Whimbrel

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Greenshank

Sanderling

Slender-billed Gull

Pallas's Gull

Bridled Tern

Little Tern

Saunders's Tern

Whiskered Tern

Lesser Crested Tern

Greater Flamingo

Glossy Ibis

Little Heron

Squacco Heron

Dalmatian Pelican

Osprey

Egyptian Vulture

Pallid Harrier

Spotted Owlet

Common Hoopoe

Asian Green Bee-eater

European Bee-eater

White-throated Kingfisher

Red-tailed Shrike

Isabelline Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

 Brown-necked Raven

Desert Lark

Crested Lark

White-eared Bulbul

Asian Desert Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin

Bluethroat

Black Redstart

Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush

Isabelline Wheatear

Hooded Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Purple Sunbird

Citrine Wagtail

Tawny Pipit

Common Chaffinch

Mongolian Finch

Striolated Bunting

To a lesser or greater extent, all birdlife in around the Gulf regionwill inevitably be affected if the conflict continues.

Whimbrel - one of the wader species to be seen in the Gulf

Likely to be lively interest when Whitaker's "sumptuous" two-volume The Birds of Tunisia goes under the hammer

                                                 

Black-eared Wheatear - an illustration from one of the volumes

ONLY 250 copies of J.L.S. Whitaker's pioneering The Birds of Tunisia were printed when it was published in two volumes in 1905.

There should, therefore, be lively interest when a set goes up for auction at the Cirencester  (Gloucestershire) saleroom of Dominic Winter next Wednesday April 8. 

This is how the work was reviewed in The Ibis journal at the time:

"This sumptuous work in two royal octavo volumes, with numerous coloured plates, is a beautiful example of bookmaking, and the contents are worthy of the setting. 

"The number of species treated is about 365 of which 150 are permanently resident, 90 are summer migrants, 90 are winter migrants and 35 are of occasional or accidental occurrence.

"Most of the information is first-hand, and the result of personal observation during the various journeys Whitaker made made in the regency, but in some cases he has had to rely on the information  supplied me by others, foremost among whom were Mr. O. V. Aplin of Bloxham, Oxfordshire , between the months of January and June, 1895, and M. Blanc of Tunis.

"The author’s expeditions in Tunisia extended over a period of about ten years, and he speaks of the country as unrivalled in climate during a large part of the year, and as delightful to visit for sport and natural history investigations.

"The scenery and climatic conditions are varied, richly wooded mountains and valleys, with fertile plains relieved by lakes and rivers, characterising the northern districts, while the central

region consists of undulating park-like country, broken by lower hills, giving place further south to vast semi-desert prairie-like plains. 

"The author has evidently pre pared this work because he felt that he had something useful to say and for this reason it will meet with a hearty welcome."

The pre-sale estimate is that the hammer will fall at somewhere between £200 and £300.  

Handsomely produced - the two-volume set

Desert Eagle-owl

                                             

Audouin's Gull

One of the maps in the first volume

Running out of puff! Is much-loved seabird doomed to breeding extinction on mainland Britain's south coast?

                                                

Puffins - once 'thick as grass' on Dorset coast but now in rapid decline

DOUBTS are growing over whether Puffins will remain as a breeding species on the south coast of mainland Britain.

In recent years, no more than three  pairs have been present at Purbeck in Dorset  - none of which has raised any chicks.

It is a far cry from the 1930s when the species was  described as "thick as grass" on the Dorset coast. In 1958, 85 birds were recorded in Purbeck.

The Puffins are monitored by the National Trust whose coast project officer, Ben Cooke, says:

"We fear that even if just one of the Purbeck birds were to have been  lost to the storms of winter, it would be another step closer to the loss of the whole group. 

"We are waiting with some trepidation to see if all six birds reappear this spring."

In 2024 and 2025, birds were seen nest‑building, but no fish deliveries to sites where there might have been chicks.

It was thought they may have  succumbed to predators such as rats or Carrion Crows, but a study of no fewer than 70,000 photographs taken by cameras installed on the breeding ledge revealed no predators.

It is now thought that any eggs laid may not have hatched for reasons that are unclear.

Human disturbance is not thought to be factor because this is minimal between 5am and 8am when the birds are most active.

Bird tours company "not too heavily impacted" by ongoing conflict in Middle East

                                             

They like to get out and about - one of the company's brochures from a previous year

AS the conflict rages on in the Middle East, global bird tours  operator Naturetrek has issued an update.

It states: "Fortunately, our business operations have not been impacted too heavily overall by the ongoing travel disruption in the Middle East. 

"Naturetrek customers who were on holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Oman at the outbreak of the conflict in Iran are now safely home.

"Those about to travel to India and Sri Lanka have been placed on alternative routes and airlines." 

It tells customers: "If you are booked on a Naturetrek tour and are due to travel with Emirates Airlines through Dubai or with Qatar Airways through Doha in the coming months, please be assured that we are monitoring the situation closely. 

"As your tour operator, it is our responsibility to ensure that any cancelled flights are rebooked, and we always operate our tours in line with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office advice for your destination (which includes any country that you might transit through en route). 

"If the FCDO advises against travel to your destination, or if we cannot offer a suitable alternative flight to get you to your destination, then in line with our terms and conditions we will offer you the option to rebook your tour or receive a full refund.

"Currently, Emirates and Qatar are allowing flights up to mid-April to be rebooked. 

"For future departures, we are waiting to see how the situation progresses and will get in touch with you with an update as we approach the balance due date for your tour."

Panel of wise birders deems that 'ship-assisted' corvid should not be added to the 636-strong British List

                                                     

Taking flight - but not landing a place on the British List

THE records committee of the British Ornithologists' Union has decided not to add the Pied Crow to the British List.

Members reached their verdict unanimously after considering a bird that spent the period between  June 13, 2018, and May 21, 2019, in various parts of England and Wales.

The committee's report states: "The Pied Crow is an abundant  species of sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar, Aldabra and Comoros.

"It is largely sedentary though, in some areas, seasonal movements may be dictated by rainfall. 

"Instances of vagrancy to temperate Europe by birds of Afrotropical origin are exceptional but ship-assisted passage is a potential means of arrival.

"However, there are only a small number of documented records of Pied Crow actually aboard ships: at sea off Western Sahara and around the Canary Islands, and there is also possibility that these records concerned individuals known to have escaped on the Canary Islands." 

In chronological order, the British sightings over a period of 12 months included:

* Easington, Kilnsea and Spurn, Yorkshire

* Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire

* Great Yarmouth, Winterton-on-Sea, Caister-on-Sea, Cromer,  East Runton, Norfolk

* Clevedon, Avon

* Pencarnan, Pembrokeshire

* Thornwick Camp and Flamborough, Yorkshire 

* Spurn, Yorkshire

* Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire

* Holland Haven, Essex

* Winchelsea, Seaford, and Litlington, Sussex, 

* Cot Valley, Land’s End, St Just and Nanjizal, Cornwall

* Clovelly, Lundy, Morte Point, and Woolacombe, Devon

* Dover, North Foreland, St Margaret’s at Cliffe, Foreness Point, Swalecliffe, Broadstairs and North Foreland, Kent 

Crucially, the committee noted that "on June, 8, 2018, a Pied Crow  briefly visited a ship travelling from Russia to Britain in the south-eastern North Sea".

In all likelihood, this was the bird that went on to spend time flying hither and thither on the mainland. 

The report continues: "The committee's policy towards ship-assisted vagrants is not to admit port-to-port or coast-to-coast transportees on to the British List.

"Suspected ship-assisted birds should only by admitted to the List if the species is considered capable of making an unassisted crossing under favourable circumstances.

"The committee did not consider the 2018-2019 Pied Crow to be a vagrant and voted unanimously to not add the species to the British List which thus remains at 636."

The committee consists of:

Chair: Alexander Lees (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Secretary: Chris Batty (Lancashire)

Members:

Ross Ahmed (Tyne and Wear)

Pierre-André Crochet (Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, France)

Mark Golley (Norfolk)

Andrew Holden (ex officio, BBRC)

Mark Thomas (RSPB)

Jane Turner (Cheshire)

Leila Walker (BOU Chief Operations Officer)

BOURC Category F Sub-committee:

Prof Umberto Albarella

Jo Cooper (British Museum)

Dr Dale Serjeantson

Dr John Stewart

BOURC consultants:

Steve Dudley (Category C consultant; former BOU Chief Operations Officer)

Martin Stervander (National Museums of Scotland, museums consultant)

Keith Naylor (historical records consultant)

The Wryneck says: Few will object to the record committee's verdict, but it needs to clarify its policy on ship assisted birds. What, for instance, is its definition  of a port? Solely the point at which the vessel is anchored  - or the wider environ which may extend to 100 metres or more?  As for the line about whether a bird is "considered capable of making an unassisted crossing under favourable circumstances". That is a whole debate in itself.

It has long been extinct, but it is certain that this remarkable marine bird will never be forgotten

Just like that! Prof Tim Birkhead produces the egg

IF his career had taken a different path, perhaps renowned birder, author and Sheffield University academic Tim Birkhead might have been been a stage magician.

Early in his talk to Lincolnshire Bird Club's annual meeting, the good professor startled his audience by nonchalantly conjuring from his trouser pocket the egg of a long-extinct bird. . . a Great Auk.

It was a replica of course, but for the rest of his informative and amusing hour-long presentation, he went on to fascinate his listeners with results from more than two decades’ worth of research into this huge and extraordinary marine bird. 

Almost two years after the demise of the last birds off Iceland, this is a species that - perhaps even more than the Dodo - continues to capture the imagination of birders in the UK , Northern Europe, Canada, the United States and beyond.

One of the species' greatest devotees, according to Tim, was  retired aviator Ivan Hewitt - nephew of a Grimsby brewing magnate - who obsessively devoted much of his inherited wealth  to the acquisition of almost every Great Auk skin and egg that came up for auction.

It was last year that saw the publication of Tim’s book, The Great Auk  - Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife.

His own journey of discovery took him from a contact in Barnsley (!)  to Funk Island, off Newfoundland, once a breeding stronghold where today patches of grass grow from the carcases of dead Great Auks, butchered by mariners over many centuries for their meat and feathers. 

What partly fired  the author's motivation and determination to complete his  book was  he vehemence and sometimes downright rudeness with which he was obstructed by some from whom he sought assistance in his research. 

When he requested permission to examine brood patches in the skin of an example of a Great Auk held in a collection in a museum in France, the curator refused him point blank.

On another occasion, when he inquired of a fellow biologist advice on the whereabouts of 13 missing Great Auk eggs, back came the abrasive reply: "Keep your nose out!"

Declared Tim: "Everything is secret and furtive about the Great Auk.

"And if you look for information about the bird on AI, much of it is nonsense. That's because there is so much incorrect information on the website."

At least in theory, scientific advances mean that it is possible to "de-extinct" species such as the Great Auk.

In the United States, at least two companies - Colossal Biosciences and Revive & Restore - are aiming to do that.

But Tim reckons that such enterprises are driven by commercial, as opposed to conservation, considerations.

He saw little sense in such initiatives given that the current state of the environment offers little prospect that re-created species would thrive.

"Far better for the money to spend the money on conserving what we still have," he maintained.

During his presentation, the speaker was generous in his praise for Fergus the Silent, Michael McCarthy's excellent, but little-known novel, about the Great Auk. "It would make a great film," he insisted.

Tim himself contributed some of his seabird knowledge as background to McCarthy's book but discreetly declined to say whether one of the characters might actually have been based on him.

Following his presentation, then  a question-and-answer session, Tim was thanked by LBC chairman Phil Espin, who, coincidentally, is planning a forthcoming trip to St Kildare -one of just eight known  locations where the Great Auk is believed  to have bred.

The Great Auk  - Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife Is published by Bloomsbury.

Tim (fourth left) with LBC committee members - from left, Mike Harrison, Pete Locking, Prof Ian Newton (club president), Phil Espin, Phil Hyde, Chris Grimshaw, Sally Prescott and Jon Cooper

Illustrated two-volume Victorian study of Hummingbirds expected to fetch £400-plus at Gloucestershire auction

This study of a Ruby-crested Hummingbird is one of the coloured plates in William Jardine's two-volume The Natural History of Hummingbirds (1840) which is due to go under the hammer at a sale to be conducted by Dominic Winter at their premises in Cirencester,  Gloucestershire, on April 8. The Lot is expected to fetch between £400 and £600.

High hopes that grounds of Beckhams' family home in Oxfordshire could become magnet for songbirds

                                                         

All that's missing is the binoculars - the Beckhams have a taste for country life (photo: Instagram) 

PLAUDITS to Sir David Beckham and wife Victoria for their efforts to create plenty of songbird habitat on what was once arable land in the grounds of their home near Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.

Their ongoing planting project features many hundreds of native trees, shrubs and hedging plus an adjacent wildflower meadow with more than 20 varieties of wildflower and grass.

Importantly, a small lake has been created with an island in the centre.

The celebrity couple plant to install a bridge to this island plus festoon lighting though this proposal has sparked an objection from a neighbouring landowner and is subject to planning consent being granted by the local council.

It is not known what bird species are accommodated on site, but if either Sir David or Lady Beckham - or any family members - decide to take up birding, we could find out.

                                             

The grounds' landscape design by Portus and Whitton shows  the pond which  is likely to be attractive to birds - not just waterfowl but possibly also Kingfishers, Green Sandpipers and Grey Wagtails

      

  

RSPB has "exciting" post in Scotland for someone to keep tabs on breeding sites of uncommon species of duck

                                              

                                                     

Common Scoter - declining breeding population in Britain

A BIRDING job with a difference is being offered by the RSPB.

The charity has a 12-month vacancy in Scotland for a . . . Common Scoter Manager.

Since the 1970s, the UK breeding population of Common Scoter has plummeted in both numbers and range.

It is classified as Critically Endangered  and listed on the Scottish Biodiversity List as one of the country's  rarest breeding species an d at risk of extinction.

Says the job description: "This exciting role within our North Highland and Hebrides area team will lead on operational management and day-to-day coordination of external contractors and staff to undertake a suite of investigative studies and prepare a delivery project aimed at halting the decline and restoring breeding populations.  

"The successful applicant will be working across six Common Scoter breeding locations in Scotland in the Highlands, Perth & Kinross and Argyll & Bute areas."

It continues: "We are looking for a highly competent individual to oversee the development phase of our ambitious Saving Scotland's Scoters work programme. 

"The project includes but is not limited to: 

* Designing and testing management measures such as feeding area buffers

* Pike removal trials

* Aquatic invertebrate and thermal drone surveys

* Predator and competitor assessments

* Investigating, planning, costing and seeking approvals for site specific management solutions for individual lochs.

The salary is in the range £33,027 - £35,259 per annum, and the deadline for applications is midnight next Thursday April 2.

For more information, contact:  Alison.MacLennan@rspb.org.uk

'What we have lost in our well-plumbed world is a reverence for water,' says birder-author Stephen Rutt

                                                 

Enchantment - and anger! Stephen Rutt's new book 

AWARD-winning author and birder Stephen Rutt certainly has a vivid imagination and a poet's evocative way with words.

Of  a murky  morning on a RSPB reserve at Forsinain Hill in Scotland's Flow Country, he writes: "The mist makes birds invisible but sharpens their calls. 

"I can hear the shrill eruptions of a singing Dunlin, the Hammer Horror hauntings of Curlew, the vocal cords of Golden Plover like an aeolian harp, whispering the wind through taut strings.

"Unerringly, there is a sense that they know I am here."

This vividness of description characterises much of the narrative in Stephen's latest book, The Waterlands, which reads beautifully- for the most part meandering along gracefully like a slow-moving river or chalk stream.  

But in many of the places he visits, he finds the serenity of watery places has long been  despoiled by what humankind has  done to them, be they ponds, lakes, bogs, estuaries or oceans.

When he reflects on scenes of pollution, for instance on the River Clyde not far from his home in Scotland, the author's mostly sunny mood  turns to dismay, even of anger.

"What we have lost in our  well-plumbed world is a reverence for water," he writes. "Our rivers die through a thousand cuts.

"It is a thing deserving of rights and a voice to be heard, but, too often, a river pays the bill for our actions with its life."

The author chronicles some of the industrial and other practices which do the damage, but, for the most part, he does so in a way that is matter-of-fact rather than particularly strident or judgemental.

But he makes an exception when it comes to the privatisation of the water industry which he describes as "a disaster in slow motion".

He adds: "The money in the system is skimmed off as profit and goestowards paying corporate debt instead of fixing leaks."

Subtitled Follow a raindrop from source to sea, The Waterlands is published today (March 26) at £16.99 in hardback by Elliott & Thompson.

                                

Stephen Rutt  - a poet's way with words

Nature minister: "It is our job to protect declining waterbirds for future generations to cherish"

 

Drake Pintail - sometimes a target for wildfowlers

BETTER protection could beckon for Pintail in England if a Government proposal passes into law.

In future, wildfowlers may face a ban on shooting this species -  along with Pochard, Goldeneye and White-fronted Goose.

This is because of the apparent decline of these birds in recent years.

For the same reason, there could also be restrictions - by means of an extended close season - on the  hunting of Woodcock and Snipe.

Says Nature Minister Mary Creagh: "The Woodcock, Pochard, Goldeneye and Pintail are all iconic national birds.

"Their decline is  concerning, and it is our job to ensure they are properly protected for future generations to cherish.

"This government is committed to protecting wildlife."

Different arrangements prevail for Scotland, Wales and Northern Island where decisions  have been devolved to their own respective parliaments.

However, the Golden Plover has been deemed sufficiently common for it not to require additional safeguards within the UK.

The proposals are currently out for consultation with conservation bodies, shooting organisations and anyone who wishes to express a view.

                                                       

Golden Plover - no additional safeguards proposed

Snipe - the close season for hunting may be extended