Locked down since my last newsletter, here are some distractions and musings for an extra-ordinary start to 2020.
There’s a need to re-frame some fresh issues. Beavers are back. As eco-engineers. As hats. As media click bait. Just perhaps easier without loud voices wielding them as weapons against existing land use rather than as management tools….
Badgers, bees, hedgehogs re managing wildlife AND restoring habitat - see below.
Oh and be aware of the editor’s pen removing key parts of a ‘just-tad-too-nuanced’ letter on past policy, pesticides, wildlife Ag Bill and productivity…..
To then publish it without the highlighted yellow bits above!
World Curlew Day was mainly about missing this ‘iconic’ wading bird over the gritty reality of what we collectively need to do. How to insert necessary tough stuff into media-friendly narratives? Work in progress – suggestions welcome!
Before lockdown, I managed a trip to Kent to speak to some farmers at Farm Expo on some issues not always aired on social media feeds.
Then back to Wales, I led a ‘walk and talk’ on a range of topical countryside issues - and received this amusing feedback “"I dreaded it - a woke bandwagon of green credentials shoved down our throats.What I experienced was a very informative enquiring examination of the conflicting position of nature v human interactions. This was very much down to the questions you posed and the discussion you led”
Perhaps rather like my interview with Ben Goldsmith - now published with links on my blog – reinforcing the notion of how people engage depends very much on how complex topics are framed within the media, for interviews, in lectures, on Twitter, and around village halls.
By the time you read this, my review of Red 67 will be out in Countryfile Magazine with Patrick Laurie’s book ‘Native’ next on the list
Much to do – contact me if if I can help via my evolving, adaptive services in finding better ways to communicate (incl backchannel dialogue (Track II comms) – click here
has published a few tricky ones of mine. 
