Thomas Widrow

This week my coffee jar has been playing host to a caterpillar transforming into.... we shall see!
Feeling like a kid running down the stairs every morning to see how the metamorphosis is going 😂

No National Park: A betrayal of working-class communities Green activist in Dumfries and Galloway Laura Moodie writes for Green Left Scotland about who will really lose out from the scrapping of plans for a new National Park.

This.
@scottishgreens.org

"The stars are for everyone" 💯

Peak Rail Fare Scrapped For Good. Scottish Greens.

🚨 BREAKING: From September 1st peak rail fares will be scrapped for good in Scotland!

🟢2023: Greens scrap peak rail fares.
🟡2024: SNP bring them back
🟡2024: thousands join Green and trade union calls for the SNP to reverse their decision
🟢2025: SNP reverse their decision

Excited to be on a panel Monday eve to chat rewilding and wild places on behalf of @johnmuirtrust.bsky.social with colleagues from @scotwildlife.bsky.social, @treesforlife.bsky.social, @highlandsrewilding.bsky.social, Mossy Earth, and the Alladale Estate 🌳🌳

Book a free ticket at the link!

It has never been more true than today.

#naturalenvironmentbill #naturerestoration | Thomas Widrow 📢 Breaking news - first time in history Scottish landowner is forced to manage estate for nature recovery 🎉 Minister Jim Fairlie has confirmed a "control scheme" (under section 8 of the Dee...

Some good news to finish the working day!
A good step in the right direction for nature recovery, but now we need to accelerate.
@johnmuirtrust.bsky.social @treesforlife.bsky.social @rspbscotland.bsky.social @wtscotsocial.bsky.social
@scotwildlife.bsky.social
@n-t-s.bsky.social
@scotlink.bsky.social

Scotland's Land Reform Bill is broken, here's how to fix it Scotland's land is the foundation of our communities, economy, environment, and future prosperity, yet just 421 people and companies own half of all…

Scotland's efforts to reform land management and ownership are failing. Max, from REVIVE, explains why in this piece for the Herald:
www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

Keep at it! @foescot.bsky.social @leagueacs.bsky.social @raptorpersuk.bsky.social

#landreform #landreformbill #politics

🔴 Who’s lobbying Scotland? Fossil fuel giants, influential PR firms and the short-term lets industry are among the top lobbyists influencing the Scottish Government since John Swinney became first minister, The Ferret has found. theferret.scot/lobby...

I finally sit down for a one on one with gamekeeper Glenn Massacre (@mrhenrymorris.bsky.social) and it gets HEATED !

We discuss what constitutes 'vermin' and how he ALWAYS follows the letter of the law .

Please sign our petition to ban driven grouse shooting now govpetition.uk/700036

Comic by Stephen Collins for the Guardian. Script as follows: Scene is a British WOODLAND by a RIVER. A NATURALIST is stood next to a cage, and TV NEWS REPORTERS are filming him and the cage. 1 NATURALIST: And now It is my great honour 2 NATURALIST: to reintroduce the first wild beaver back into Britain 3 [Cut to the BEAVER’S CAGE. Its door is open and the Beaver is leaned nonchalantly up against the opening, smoking a cigarette.] 4 BEAVER: Well, well, well. 5 BEAVER: Look who's come crawling back. 6 BEAVER: Got a rubbish ecosystem have ya? 7 BEAVER: Not happy with the *critical anti-flood infrastructure* engineered by the flippin *badgers*? 8 BEAVER: I almost didn't recognise you without one of my ancestors on your head… 9 BEAVER: First you wipe us out… now you ask us to come back and build dams for free… You actually expect me to be *pleased* don’t ya? NATURALIST: I'm so sorry I…I… 10 BEAVER: “Ooh la la, the Brits have come crawling back…” Do I look like *Michel flippin’ Barnier*? 11 NATURALIST: I-if there’s some kind of… *remuneration* we could offer I-I’m sure… 12 BEAVER [throwing cigarette to the ground]: Unlimited pond weed, two tickets to Abba Voyage. NATURALIST: Done. [ends]

beaver's return

We didn't hike the whole ridge, literally beelined to the top from the village off path. And none of us had any idea what we were getting ourselves into. I wish I had come across Ramblers back then so I could have avoided some cold sweats 😅

That it was. Not quite a trial by fire, more like a trial by scree haha

My first munro was Liathach. A uni pal took a few of us out to Torridon. I looked up the wall of rock and asked half jokingly, half panicking how the hell we were meant to go up there. He pointed to the top, drew an imaginary line down to us and calm as a cucumber said "like that". Don't recommend 😂

Aaah that makes a lot more sense!

That's a beautiful photo! Fionn Loch is near Suilven right?

Sometimes you just know it's time to head into the hills.

#wildplaces #wildmoments #highlands #beinndreagmor #shenavall

It's time for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax Learn about our land tax to lock up carbon emissions, unleash biodiversity and strengthen rural communities in Scotland. Sign the petition today!

It's called a Carbon Emissions Land Tax, or #CELT for short.

Yes the acronym is awesome and no, there's no good reason to not implement it asap. Just a lack of political leadership.

Check out www.johnmuirtrust.org/celt for more and sign the petition 😇

Scotland ‘likely to miss net zero climate target by up to 20m tonnes’ Exclusive: Top officials and climate policy experts believe delays in cutting emissions make it improbable 2045 target will be met

Turns out after abandoning our 2030 #climate targets we're now on track to miss our #netzero targets entirely. Who could've possibly predicted that one...

And btw, I've been working on a policy proposal that would soak up around a third of emissions we'd need to slash.

@johnmuirtrust.bsky.social

Worst. Episode. EVER.

...regulations that protect nature. A repeat of what's going on down south?

3. The updates to the National Parks aren't nearly as ambitious as they could have been

4. Once again, it looks like large landowners and powerful estates have had their way re deer management.

Stay tuned for more...

Analysing what's in the #NaturalEnvironmentBill just dropped by ScotGov on my way back to Inverness.

First impressions:

1. Good to see nature targets are in there, but we've all seen what happens when the climate targets weren't met... Nothing.

2. Very worrying provisions to weaken...

Our petition has now passed 60,000 signatures, and is heading steadily for 65K.

Every name added draws us closer to a parliamentary debate. Please sign and share!

➡️ petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
@chrisgpackham.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social @ruthtingay.bsky.social

BP chief says it will ‘fundamentally reset’ amid threat of activist investor Murray Auchincloss promises improvements after annual profits fell to $8.9bn last year from almost $14bn in 2023

Today @theguardian.com reports an activist hedge fund is buying up BP stock to force management to U-turn on what's left of its climate targets to increase profits. Apparently $1.17 billion per quarter (!) isn't enough.

Anyone wants to defend "green capitalism"? I'll wait...

P.S. a wee typo in the OP changed much of the meaning. I meant *deployed* not delayed!

With thanks to partners across the sector, from @rspbscotland.bsky.social, @wtscotsocial.bsky.social, @scotwildlife.bsky.social and @n-t-s.bsky.social to @ramblersscotland.bsky.social and @communitylandsc.bsky.social and many many more.

Coalition-building works!

Trust reacts to SRN rollback by UK Government The Trust is delighted by the UK Government's decision to cut back funding for the Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme's plans to erect telephone masts in rural areas

It's good to see some common sense policy-making going on down south!

My team at @johnmuirtrust.bsky.social will be following up with UK Gov to ensure masts are delayed where local communities need them and #wildplaces remain protected.

Thanks Gavin! It was a team effort though. In particular shout-out to Mountaineering Scotland's Davie Black who's been working with us from the very start!

We'll have to increase the pressure on them when the #LandReform bill and the Natural Environment bill come along.

Because at this rate we'll be looking at two bills devoid of any substance and a bunch of very happy large landowners free to continue to wreck #wild places and rural communities...

John Swinney rules out reintroduction of lynx to Scotland The first minister tells farmers that no carnivorous species will be reintroduced under his government.

Nobody in the sector expected ScotGov to reintroduce lynx anytime soon. So why go ahead and pander to the NFUS and the big interests it represents?

That was unnecessary and shows where this government's priorities lie.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...