ECOS 43 (2): Passive Rewilding: A case for more trees on peat and fewer species reintroductions

A smorgas board of sophisticated rewilding initiatives are springing up across the UK, capturing the imagination of groups with “nature first”1 values, but also drawing in others and sparking controversy. Meanwhile, it is worth reminding ourselves that in its purest form rewilding is simply ‘letting go’. Unlike most current rewilding [...]

ECOS Interviews: CLIVE HAMBLER

Thoughts from influential nature conservationists… CLIVE HAMBLER Career highlights My early research led to the eradication of goats threatening Aldabra and helped demonstrate that protected sea turtle and giant tortoise populations can recover quickly. In contrast, I was amazed by the neglect of science in conservation management in Britain, the [...]

Book review: Silent Earth

Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse Dave Goulson Harper Collins, New York, 2021, 336 Pages Paperback: £9.99 | ISBN: 9780063088207 Review by Peter Shirley Dave Goulson’s latest book takes its inspiration from Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. It tries to be several things: a commentary on the importance, decline, and current [...]

ECOS 43 (1): Education and skills for a nature-positive future

“For biodiversity to be protected, it has to be valued. This starts with education.” From Biodiversity in the UK: Bloom or Bust? Report summary UK Parliament 30.6.20211 Before embarking on this short field studies trip, I want to share a few health and safety concerns. First, I have no particular [...]

Nature at the Crossroads

Introduction Well, maybe more at Spaghetti Junction than at a crossroads. Even though nature is always in a state of turmoil, and has become very resilient as a result, the bad news continues to pile up. Report after report catalogues ‘unprecedented’ losses, especially of insects. (As I write this the [...]

Ukraine – war-torn people and nature

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a humanitarian disaster but also a potential catastrophe for the country’s natural environment. It could have a much wider impact on nature conservation across Europe and in the UK. Security threats to nuclear power stations, including Chernobyl, have rightly been widely reported in the media [...]

ECOS Interviews: DAVID BLAKE

Thoughts from influential nature conservationists… DAVID BLAKE Background I am employed by Landmarc Support Services, the private sector partner to Defence Infrastructure Organisation that manages the Defence Training Estate, as Rural Estate Delivery Adviser for South West England. I started my career as a gamekeeper, but went on to manage [...]

ECOS Interviews: PETER SHIRLEY

Thoughts from influential nature conservationists… PETER SHIRLEY Background In 1987 I moved from commerce to the charity sector, and in turn I was then Director of the Urban Wildlife Group, a national director of the Wildlife Trusts, and Regional Director for the West Midlands Wildlife Trusts. In 1995 I was [...]

Book Review: Thinking while Walking

Thinking while Walking: Reflections on the Pacific Crest Trail Martin Bunzl Penny Street Press, New York, 180 Pages Paperback £4.37 | ISBN: 978-0-578-88222-2  Review by Simon Leadbeater Purpose I started my last ECOS book review – Joe Gray’s Thirteen Paces by Four – by asking what is the point of this [...]

ECOS 42 (4): The Right to Roam; the impending colonisation of nature?

The first difficulty is to see that the problem is difficult… where we thought everything was simple. Bertrand Russell Increased public access to the countryside granted under the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act remains, for some campaigners at least, unfinished business. In November 2020, on the act’s [...]

Double Whammy For Nature

Dealing with major threats is one of the Government’s fundamental jobs. Whether it is social unrest, economic disaster or environmental emergency we expect appropriate and timely action to deal with the problems. How appalling therefore that the current wildlife crisis is being made worse by both current policy and new [...]

ECOS 42 (3): Time to put the wild back into rewilding

With rewilding in danger of becoming all things to all people we argue the need for a unified definition and a set of guiding principles to keep it distinctive and close to its ecological roots. Urgent action is needed to get rewilding back on track as the UK Government gears [...]