This afternoon I was fortunate to spend some time with prolific author Stephen Moss and fellow AFON committee member Matt Williams, exploring an area of Somerset I had not previously thought of visiting: immediately south of Burnham on Sea. ”What’s different?” Stephen asked Matt and I as we set out along the grassy wall. HisContinue reading “Sunday in Somerset”
Category Archives: landscape
Conservation 21: the ‘new’ conservation strategy for the 21st century
Last month, Natural England published their new strategy (available here). In essence, many of the things included within it have been said before, either by them or by the environmental NGOs. However, it comes as a breath of fresh air to see everything in a single NE document, and one that gives us a clueContinue reading “Conservation 21: the ‘new’ conservation strategy for the 21st century”
Conserving the Quantocks after Brexit
The mist enveloped the trees as I set out on a walk through Great Wood in the Quantocks. The autumnal environment of multi-coloured trees set the scene but this was augmented by conifers, established as part of this Forestry Commission mixed woodland. The trees stood tall and proud, pushing their way up through the mistyContinue reading “Conserving the Quantocks after Brexit”
Subsidies…dare we predict the future?
If you type in the phrase ‘farm subsidies’ into any search engine news feed you will find multiple references to the super rich receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds in subsidy for simply owning land. Under our current format of payments, driven by the Common Agricultural Policy, landowners receive payments for being just that, landowners. TheContinue reading “Subsidies…dare we predict the future?”
The Spirit of Holnicote
This summer I have been fortunate enough to spend a lot of time down in Exmoor where I have been coordinating a project which brings Bristol University and the National Trust together through an innovative and groundbreaking partnership. We have been investigating the ‘spirit of place’ of the Holnicote estate, a place of immense ecologicalContinue reading “The Spirit of Holnicote”
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