Talking up the humble apple
Photo: Robert Taylor After moving house recently I gained a tree full of Bramley apples, a variety used for cooking. This autumn I stored some, ate quite a lot and gave away more. Now as January wears on I still have loads that won't keep much longer. Our apple consumption has increased. My colleagues' and…
Off the bee-ten track
When I was at university and my professor’s papers were published in a journal, he would crack open a bottle of champagne, but I imagined that something a little softer was shared amongst the recently-published researchers of ‘Blackawton Bees’ in Biology Letters, because they are 8 to 10 years old!
Sudden Oak Death – the ‘foot and mouth’ of trees
Hundreds of thousands of trees are being felled in the UK to try and prevent spread of Sudden Oak Death. The disease, caused by the fungus Phytophthora ramorum, came to the UK in 2003 via imported plants from America where it mainly infects oaks. European species of oak have a high resistance to the disease…
Recipe to mitigate Climate Change in 182 steps
Protect Our Water and Environment Resources (POWER), a North Halton Hill’s environmental organization, has released a 32-page online publication listing 182 steps that we can take in the home and on the move (transportation) to mitigate global warming and climate change. The publication explains, in a clear and accessible language, the reasons for adopting each…
How will climate change affect plant health?
As weather patterns shift around the world due to changing climates, so this brings new challenges to crop protection. Pests and diseases can become a problem in new areas, or appear earlier, making it necessary to change crop protection practices. Conversely, some pests and diseases may become less of a problem as conditions become less…
Would you miss the mistletoe?
I was thinking “what shall I write about in my Christmas blog?” I then remembered a news item I heard in one of the BBC radio stations about the mistletoe being under threat of disappearing from our landscape. I searched for the news item in their news webpage and found it still there. The article…
Cold weather and lots of snow – is this the sign of things to come?
As I watched the news last night, I heard how the current unusually cold temperatures and snow fall in Europe has affected Christmas travelling and the Christmas trade across the continent. Heathrow and Gatwick airports in the UK had to cancel flights, with only one runway operating at Heathrow. Both Paris and Berlin airports had…
REDD: Protecting forests or shirking responsibilities?
One of the main hopes for the Cancún summit held earlier this month was to find an answer to deforestation. Advances on the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, which aims to compensate developing countries for protecting their forests, are seen as a triumph by many, but others argue that the scheme…
Xmas camels, tobacco and kids
Copyright: W.Norris My daughter decided to make this camel for the annual school Xmas tree competition. To her, at age 11, camels are “cuddly” and linked to the Three Wise Men, part of the Christmas Story. To me, whilst overseeing her sewing efforts, I’d made the link to the 2 empty packets sitting on my…
Counting the cost of invasive species
Invasive non-native species (INNS) cost the British economy at least £1.7 billion per annum. This is the headline finding of new research conducted by CABI on behalf of Defra, the Scottish government and the Welsh Assembly Government. And even this is likely to be significantly less than the full economic cost, since many indirect costs…