Rona Ess

Writing about the environment and health - and trying to discern the green from the smokescreen. Regeneration and carbon drawdown needed!

[Andy Hunder @AndyHunder]

I’m standing in a downpour in the middle of a golden wheat field in Ukraine.
Right now, Ukrainian farmers are gathering the 2026 harvest: 80 million tons of grain and oilseeds.
That’s roughly 10 kilograms of food for every single person on Earth.
But that food might never reach the world's table.
Russia is systematically bombing Odesa’s ports and civilian cargo ships—deliberately targeting international vessels and American commercial interests.
This is a direct attack on global food security. It fuels inflation in every grocery store worldwide.
Protecting Ukraine’s port infrastructure isn’t charity.
It is defending global economic stability—and keeping the world fed.

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

A renegade polymath with binoculars and a beard , Bill was invariably funny and occasionally furious . He loved birds and loathed those who harmed them . He was delightfully unpredictable , sparky , smart and at times a bit spiky . Critically he really knew his stuff , and his passion was true - he didn’t just pick up his binoculars on telly , he went birding whenever he could . So he was genuine and that’s why we loved him , he never needed a script , and took scant interest in any he was given . He didn’t like rules and often neglected to play by them . This may have frustrated the serious and the worthy but it always amused his audience - he was an utter joy to be with . I recall finding a Black Woodpecker in a damp Dutch park with him once , he gazed at it intently , sighed , put down his bins , turned to me and just smiled . A massive grin . No words , just a beautiful childlike bliss . That says all you need to know about Bill Oddie .

Sadly we’ve not only lost a goodie , we’ve lost one of the besties .

[Peter Dynes @PGDynes]

The Pyrocene is here. The wildfires near #Bordeaux are now generating huge pyrocumulus clouds, creating their own weather. These fire clouds can produce winds & lightning that ignite new fires. An era where fires don't just respond to the weather; they help create it.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

The last overseas shearers Britain intends to let in are on the fells right now, working out the final weeks of their leave.

The door shut on 30 June. No vote, no debate, no announcement, just a date passing quietly in a summer when everyone was looking elsewhere. Those still working the Borders this week are here on leave that expires on 1 October, and when they fly out that is the end of it.

Understand what is walking out.

Six New Zealanders spent three months in one Northumberland valley last year and sheared nearly 90,000 sheep. Fifteen thousand head each, across farms from the Scottish Borders down to County Durham. They have been coming into Coquetdale for over thirty years. Since 2011 a concession has let up to 75 of them in each spring, and between them they take the wool off one and a half to two million British sheep in a window a few weeks long.

The Home Office rejected the application on 2 February. Twenty-six days of farmers writing to their MPs got it reinstated on 10 March for one final year, with a line about the sector having had fourteen years to train British workers and now being expected to transition to domestic labour.

Here is what that sentence is standing on. British Wool trains over 800 people a year, most of those courses are basic level, and most of the people on them are sheep farmers learning to do their own flock. Training was never the bottleneck. A top shearer clears a ewe in two or three minutes, calm hands, no panic in the animal, hundreds a day for weeks on end, and reaching that standard takes years of conditioning and a place in a global trade that follows the season around the planet.

Fourteen million breeding ewes. A few weeks to do them all. A sheep left in fleece gets eaten alive by maggots, so the job is not optional and the date is not negotiable.

Next spring those farms make phone calls that nobody answers.

Seventy-five shearers, once a year, and a government that could not find room for them.

[Matthew Blair @ThrimbyFarms]

A facebook memory popped up today. 8 years ago, gathering Mardale common, Brandstree and Thornthwaite flocks of Cheviot sheep and Swindales flock of Swales. At the time, we gathered around 800 Chivs to shear and 300 swales. These used to be tremendous sheep, the fell was a very good grazing fell. Today, the same lump of ground is grazed by 20 cattle part time. No sheep other than strays. It’s such a shame that environmental payments (tax payer funded) is driving this. With all the wildfires around at the moment you must surely stop and think, if we carry on like this in the Lakes, we are creating a tinder box with no firebrakes?

[Guadalajara España @esguadalajara]

Hay imágenes que una cámara puede captar, pero hay emociones que ninguna fotografía será capaz de explicar jamás.

No puedo imaginar el miedo que debieron sentir los animales cuando el fuego avanzaba sin descanso, convirtiendo su hogar en un infierno. El humo, el calor, el ruido de las llamas... y la desesperada búsqueda de una salida entre un bosque que conocían de memoria y que, en apenas unas horas, dejó de existir.

Cuando me vieron, no huyeron. Me miraron. Durante unos segundos permanecimos en silencio, compartiendo un instante imposible de describir. La corza, agotada, bajó lentamente la cabeza y terminó sentándose sobre las cenizas, como si ya no le quedaran fuerzas para seguir. El macho, más receloso, permanecía de pie, oculto tras los troncos carbonizados, vigilante, protegiéndola incluso cuando él mismo apenas podía sostener el peso del cansancio.

Fue entonces cuando sentí un nudo en la garganta. En sus ojos no había rabia. Solo había agotamiento, desorientación y una inmensa tristeza. Confieso que la vista se nubló por la emoción. Porque entendí que el incendio no solo había quemado árboles; había destrozado hogares, rutas de escape, refugios y la vida de miles de animales que nunca aparecerán en las estadísticas.

Después de unos minutos, el macho se acercó a la corza y, con un leve gesto, pareció invitarla a levantarse. Ella lo hizo. Muy despacio. Y ambos desaparecieron entre ramas negras, afiladas como cuchillas, buscando desesperadamente algún rincón donde la vida hubiera conseguido sobrevivir a las llamas.

Hoy comprendí que un incendio forestal no termina cuando se apaga el último foco. Empieza entonces otra batalla, mucho más silenciosa: la de los animales que sobreviven y deben aprender a vivir entre las cenizas. Y esa batalla pocas veces tiene testigos.

[The potting shed @GardenerFliss]

Every sheep in the UK has to be shorn for its welfare. There is no choice. Yet the heartbreaking reality is that it often costs more to shear a sheep than the fleece is worth.
So tonnes of beautiful British wool are treated as waste, burned, buried or composted, while we fill our wardrobes with synthetic fibres made from oil that shed microplastics into our rivers and seas.
It feels as though somewhere along the way we’ve forgotten the value of the things nature gives us so generously.
British wool is warm, breathable, biodegradable, renewable and grown every single year by animals already grazing our countryside. It deserves to be treasured, not thrown away.
Perhaps the answer isn’t to produce more. Perhaps it’s to remember what we’ve always had, and start valuing natural materials, skilled craftsmanship and the people who produce them once again.

[Mike Hudema @MikeHudema]

Fossil fuels were given over $7 TRILLION in subsidies last year: https://t.co/xGqpR4WS7M That's $19.2 billion per day,
$799 million per hour,
$13.3 million every minute.

The first step in addressing the problem is to stop funding it. #ActOnClimate

#climate #energy #panelsnotpipelines #cdnpoli

[Climate Dad @ClimateDad77]

The UK Government’s OWN 2024 REPORT warned our food & water systems face CATASTROPHIC FAILURE as early as 2030.

That was BEFORE this summer’s devastating heat & unprecedented drought.

A report suppressed by Starmer’s government & yet to be acknowledged by @andyburnham

[Raptor Persecution UK @RaptorPersUK]

Confirmation of further White-tailed Eagle poisonings in Dorset 🦅☠️

Press release from Wildlife Poisoning Research UK ⬇️

https://t.co/DfGrE0h9T3

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

“We will always pursue and prosecute those alleged to have committed serious offending against the environment.”

I’m sorry, but saying “always” is quite simply a lie. I have handed to you repeated instances of outright illegal sewage discharges on my river & you have done nothing- not a single prosecution for illegal sewage discharges on the River Roding in 30 years despite dozens of illegal outfalls.

Will you commit to prosecuting every single illegal sewage discharge on the River Roding? If not, why not?

[Daniel Lismore @daniellismore]

I was in Edinburgh. Arthur's Seat was on fire. I'm in the South of France, there's a forest fire. This is not normal, our planet is burning. This is just the beginning and we have the Dubai based entertainment channel GB News trolling the British public with fake news about climate denial so the foreign owners stay rich.

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Too late.

The water that should be keeping our rivers flowing now washed off into the sea months ago. It did so in part because the EA is fixated on flood risk, & not on re-naturalising our rivers & landscapes to retain water & release it gradually. Indeed, if someone came to you & offered to do this work (re-wiggling rivers, building ponds, re-creating marshes etc) to prevent drought on their river, you would demand they pay you for a permit to do it & then prosecute them if they went ahead without one.

[Mike Hudema @MikeHudema]

Madrid is building 74km forest belt of half a million trees 🌳 around the city to fight extreme heat, air pollution & climate change.

We have so many solutions. Implement them. #ActOnClimate #ClimateCrisis #climate #energy #renewables #biodiversity #IPCC

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Denmark, particularly in Copenhagen, has installed floating platforms/islands planted with wildflowers and native vegetation in its harbors and canals.

These create safe urban habitats and sanctuaries for birds, bees, pollinators, insects, and even some aquatic life.

[Salt River Wild Horse Management Group @srwhmg]

Great explanation of wild horse behavior. Three stallions. One missing mare. An unforgettable display of what wild horses care about.
Watch closely.
These three Salt River wild stallions gallop through the river with power and purpose. They're not fighting. They're not showing off.
One of their mares has gone missing, and together they set out to find her. Watch their breathtaking strength, grace, and determination.
This is what many people don't realize about wild horses: they have deep family bonds. They protect and love one another, and refuse to leave loved ones behind.
Wild horses aren't just beautiful—they're intelligent, social, loving, and nothing means more to them than their families.
❤️ If this changes the way you see wild horses, please share this video. The more people understand them, the more people will fight to keep them wild and free. Footage by Christine B, editing by Simone N.
#SaltRiverWildHorses #saltriverhorses #WildHorseFamily #ProtectWildHorses #Nature #wildhorses #Arizona #WildAndFree #Mustangs #FamilyMatters #ViralNature #HorseLovers

[Peter Mawson @HighFarndale]

Loving it.

Hardly moving, a big animal with just the right amount of contact on that tree guard…

Looks dry, we’ve had very little rain, but below those seeded tall species there’s plenty of green to turn into beef.

Moving the cattle twice per day around the farm leaves plants to capture dew and reduce evaporation: the small water cycle.

Eat real red meat and animal fat; buy the best you can.

[PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE @Protect_Wldlife]

Something changed when Swiss farmers stopped fighting pests with more chemicals and started planting flowers instead.
Researchers found that wildflower strips sown through winter wheat fields cut cereal leaf beetle numbers by up to 53%.

Crop damage dropped by 61% because the flowers gave natural predators like parasitic wasps and hoverflies a place to live and hunt on. The idea is refreshingly simple.
Give nature's pest controllers a home and they take care of the rest.

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has now planted similar strips across 15 farms in England to test whether the results hold outside Switzerland.

Early signs suggest these flower corridors help insects reach the center of large fields, not just the edges. It is a small change with a big promise for farmers hoping to grow food without leaning so hard on pesticides.

Source: Schumi et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Agroscope, Switzerland.

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"Watchdog accused of ‘giving away’ billions of litres of spring water to foreign bottling giants."

Yep the EA are up to their old tricks again. The EA are charging Coca-Cola £6,070 a year to abstract water from the north of England which Coca-Cola then sells for £30 million.

Did I mention that according to the EA by 2050 in England we will need to find another 5 billion litres of water per day just to keep our taps running and to try and save our chalk streams.

What a hoax of a regulator.

https://t.co/i4R1bahBuz

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Using early morning condensation from a hail net to water crops

📹 Jack Adelaide