Plop! If you’ve ever been lucky enough to hear that distinctive noise, you will probably share my enthusiasm for water voles. I've been thinking about water voles after the recent reintroduction of 100 voles at the National Trust's Malham Tarn …
In the wilderness of Surrey, I went on a tiger hunt. A hunt for tiger beetles, that is. I work for Natural England as a warden on the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. The heath tiger beetle should be widespread on my patch, but is sadly in massive decline.
Alan Law is Natural England’s Chief Officer for Strategy and Reform. Here he writes about Natural England’s innovative new approach to protecting important wildlife – like the great crested newt – while reducing burdens on developers.