Wednesday 20 February 2013

Snail mail

There's got to be some sort of pun waiting to fight its way out of 'snail mail' and bees, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Writing a letter to your MP seems a quaint way to go about things and emailing it rather than actually putting it into a postbox doesn't make it much less olde worlde, but perhaps every little helps.
The most impressive environmental campaign of the moment has to be the fight to put a stop the use of a group of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The evidence seems to suggest that they're very bad news for bees, or at least that they may be bad for bees.
Very soon Europe may decide to suspend the suspect substances, but how will the UK vote on the issue? The charity Buglife is worried that our Government will block the measure and is calling for those of us who care about bees, pollination and a healthy environment to apply a little pressure by writing to MPs.
Can't do any harm. Read Buglife's point of view in a guest post at Mark Avery's blog and then visit the Buglife site for some ideas about what to write.
 

Sunday 17 February 2013

Mud lark

At last this weekend, a real sense of the seasons on the move. We have lamb's tails in the hedge, the wren is singing away down by the compost heap and there's flowers on the lesser celandine.
There's so much that needs doing in the garden, but I decided to spend some of the day on my little walking project - a Ceredigion guidebook. I've 40 walks to do by November and I'm itching to get stuck into it.
So, I headed off to do a circuit in the Teifi valley. But a mile in and the mud got the better of me - it was terrible.
It's wetter this year than ever. A couple of days without rain is OK, but I think I need at least a fortnight.