Dave Smyth
tarquinhawk.bsky.social
Dave Smyth
@tarquinhawk.bsky.social
Gooner
Pinned
Hello everybody. Ex RSPB/WT employee here. Worked heavily in peatland and hay meadow restoration. Still write funding bids for the former. Too stroppy to continue working in the sector. Hoping to keep abreast of what’s going on in the sector and help fight vested interests 👋👋
Reposted by Dave Smyth
WTF! Is the 'poor farmer' quoted on #BBCLaurak, moaning she's too poor to pay any inheritence tax, the same Arabella Salwey who owns this HUGE mansion and surrounding land? So you only pay 0%, while we pay 40%? Rightyho.
#TinyViolin #PayYourTaxes
January 26, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Have that Michael Oliver you absolute melt. I hope your dinner gets burnt, your boiler breaks down, your garden fence gets blown down in the wind and your dog has a shit on the carpet and the robot hoover accidentally turns on and spreads it round the house. #arsenal
January 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Great reporting. The Israeli army said that most people killed in bombing a Beirut apartment block were Hezbollah. The BBC found that nearly all were in fact civilians, and a third were children. www.bbc.com/news/article...
January 24, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Keir Starmer, your government promised bold action on climate and nature - but this isn’t it. ❌

It’s a move that risks tearing up our chances for a future where nature, people, and the economy thrive.
January 23, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Disgusting and despicable, but no surprise as Starmer and his cronies row back on just about every green promise

And that's another big chunk of potential Labour voters consigned to the dustbin

One-term Starmer? I don't think he is going to last that long

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Labour MPs ordered to sink landmark climate and environment bill
Exclusive: Supporters of bill say Labour has already insisted on removal of clauses requiring UK to meet targets agreed at Cop and other summits
www.theguardian.com
January 23, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
I want to remind Londoners that our city is—and always will be—a place for everyone.

We’ll continue to celebrate London as the diverse, open and welcoming city it is.
January 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Oh, and Jesus is back to having a stinker 🙄
January 4, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I’m a massive fan of Ethan but don’t think that was the best half of football from him. I can understand the change
January 4, 2025 at 6:37 PM
This has 1-1 all over it #afc
December 27, 2024 at 9:37 PM
Is it just me or is Arsenal.com getting less and less usable? Difficult to find anything you actually need, doesn’t even seem to post line-ups in any quick time. Videos don’t load. Can never find the live stream you paid for 🤷‍♂️ It should be the place I go for news but hardly use it now #afc #arsenal
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Arsenal.com
December 19, 2024 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Oh dear. I see @rcolvile.bsky.social intends to keep digging.

Leaving the abuse aside, the key point is that not only did @cps.org.uk make obviously false statements about what the data said, they refuse to correct them. Nobody should take theme seriously.

bsky.app/profile/rcol...
Jonathan, you are literally the one who has smeared our paper. I did a whole thread on the other place about the lies you have told about what it said, and the language you have used - utterly unmatched by anything from me. Take the beam out of your own eye.
December 18, 2024 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
According to the Express, magpies are "hooligans" & "instinctive killers" best controlled by using pesticides to kill their insect prey. Against stiff competition, possibly the worst piece of journalism I've seen. www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1984...
Warning issued to anyone with magpies in their garden
Magpies can cause damage to gardens, particularly in the breeding season.
www.express.co.uk
December 9, 2024 at 12:16 PM
How very depressing ☹️ Labour have gone full Tory and are attacking the environment, pretending that ‘newts’ stopped houses being built. Seems they only care about Reform voters. Why not just call us the green blob and be done with it?
Prioritise people’s needs ‘over newts’ in housing policy, says Angela Rayner | Planning policy | The Guardian
Housing secretary says wildlife should be protected but not at the expense of building the homes the country needs
amp.theguardian.com
December 9, 2024 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
We humbly interrupt your scroll to bring you the news that Wisdom—the world's oldest known wild bird—is breeding again, age 74.

Go on girl. 😍
December 4, 2024 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
No surprise here.
Just a sad reminder really.
#bees 🌍🐝

- Bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides found in 85% of rivers tested in England.
- Up from 79% in 2020-22.
- Areas where sugar beet farming/processing is concentrated had some of the highest detection rates.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...
Bee-killing pesticides found in majority of rivers tested in England
Areas where sugar beet farming and processing is concentrated - particularly the East Midlands and East of England - had some of the highest detection rates of neonicotinoids.
www.dailymail.co.uk
December 2, 2024 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
“Some 56% of farmland bought in 2023 was sold to landowners who were not working farmers. The revenue per acre is too low to warrant the purchase, unless you are extremely wealthy and are avoiding inheritance tax”

🚜🌾 vs. 🧐💰
Whose land? Tax avoidance and the broken economics of British farming
Noise in the billionaire press about inheritance tax changes hides a basic fact: the non-farming rich own too much land
yorkshirebylines.co.uk
November 30, 2024 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Another demonstration that healthy bogs are not (necessarily) treeless places
November 30, 2024 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
November 29, 2024 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Natural England's own Director of Science found no justification for further badger culls, yet chair of Natural England Tony Juniper approved 26 supplementary cull licenses in May 2024.

It's an absolute disgrace.

Sign our govt petition to end the cull: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
November 28, 2024 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
Please sign and share if you'd like an end to moorland burning, raptor and mountain hare persecution, and the pointless slaughter of thousands of grouse for 'entertainment'. @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social
Petition: Ban driven grouse shooting
Chris Packham, Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery (Wild Justice) believe that driven grouse shooting is bad for people, the environment and wildlife. People; we think grouse shooting is economically insignifi...
petition.parliament.uk
November 26, 2024 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
And there it is.

Netanyahu's govt has put sanctions on the Israeli newspaper Haaretz for its criticisms of Israel's behaviour.

Sanctions include prohibiting all public institutions from communicating with the paper.

This profoundly undermines democracy.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Israeli government imposes sanctions on Haaretz, cuts all ties and pulls advertising
***
www.haaretz.com
November 25, 2024 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Healthy peatlands are one of our best climate heroes, storing carbon for thousands of years. Healthy peatlands are gloriously mucky. Drained peatlands might grow food for some time but are a massive source of greenhouse gas emissions. Keep bogs wet - please share!
November 24, 2024 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Optimist: the cup is ½ full

Pessimist: the cup is ½ empty

Proponent of dangerously incorrect carbon accounting: half of the cup has water in it, and the other half has avoided water in it. Therefore, the cup has achieved net zero water.
Optimist: the cup is ½ full

Pessimist: the cup is ½ empty

Geographer: actually, it all depends which projection was used
Optimist: the cup is ½ full

Pessimist: the cup is ½ empty

Economist: but at what price?
November 24, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Israeli government orders officials to boycott left-leaning paper Haaretz
Israeli government orders officials to boycott left-leaning paper Haaretz
Ministers also ban government advertising from critical newspaper that is widely respected internationally Israel’s government is set to punish the country’s leading left-leaning newspaper, Haaretz, by ordering a boycott of the publication by government…
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2024 at 8:35 PM
Reposted by Dave Smyth
Hebden Bridge is flooding 😢 if ever there was an example of why not to damage, drain and funnel water from gigantic hilltop peat bogs down into a valley - this is it. Really feel for all the small business owners and homes.

-from Jack Wallington
November 24, 2024 at 5:20 PM