Tom Finch

Logging in to remind you that Bluesky 🟦🌥️exists, is free to join, and has some #ornithology and #climate science 🧪🌎

Summer 2024 was the coolest in a decade. 40 years ago it would have been anomalously warm for many areas. Shifting perceptions in a rapidly warming climate.

Always nice to have a letter in @FarmersWeekly No one’s pretending that reducing emissions from farming and land use is easy, but it’s much better than the alternative And done well (and early), there are lots of opportunities for win-wins

ICYMI, we mapped opportunities for onshore renewables across the UK, and found that there's easily enough space to meet net zero energy targets without compromising other objectives from land: cell.com/cell-reports-s… Eagerly awaiting the government's Strategic Spatial Energy Plan

@IanCarter67 "Rewilders can't even agree what it means", but also "it's a threat to rural communities"

So why the intense debate about ‘rewilding’. Partly it’s because it’s a new word and so we are more inclined to battle furiously over the territory. But there’s a more sinister reason too. The word has been weaponised by those who don’t much like what it stands for. 5/

‘Rewilding’ – the endless (often pointless) debate, and a proposed solution. Firstly, what does it mean? Well, academics have tried to nail down a precise formal definition, but for the rest of us it means different things to different people. 1/11

Great to Josh's hard work pay off with a publication. We reckon there is ample space for onshore renewables to be deployed without meaningfully impact food or nature. So, no excuse for development in silly places. As with all land-use decisions, we need to be strategic.

I’m pleased to share our newest paper: “Ambitious onshore renewable energy deployment does not exacerbate future UK land-use challenges”. cell.com/cell-reports-s… 1/8

@TamarHaspel @OurWorldInData Net tree cover is going up, but gross tree cover loss still happens - I guess?

Delighted to see our new @RSPBScience paper out. In a declining upland population #Whinchat are more likely to persist further from enclosed farmland in mid altitude valleys that contain a v low density of trees & a mixed bracken & ericaceous field layer doi.org/10.1080/000636…

The UK is getting hotter and wetter. 50 years ago 28°C happened 4-6 times a year in England - now 12-20 Number of very wet days almost doubled in some counties rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jo… If only we’d been warned decades ago we could have been more prepared. Oh, we were.

National Farmers Union boss Tom Bradshaw backs UK solar farms, and warns MPs against making "sensationalist" claims about food security. "It’s a small amount of land which is being taken out of production," he told @POLITICOEurope pro.politico.eu/news/183361

Jailed Activists 🤝 Overcrowded Prisons

"The truth is that we, as a country, have not thought about the role of our land enough in recent years. We hope that will be driven by the land use framework" - more from @Ed_Miliband in the Commons today on crucial importance of land to reaching net zero #main-content" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2024-0…

Before agroforestry: 9 Skylark territories. After* agroforestry: 2 Skylark territories + 19 territories of 10 other bird species. So is agroforestry good or bad for birds? (*Reesults representative of 18ha of arable land in Lower Saxony) link.springer.com/article/10.100…

What are wood pastures? Why are trees pollarded? How can abandoned pollards be recognised? Why are wood pastures so rich in insects, lichens, fungi and bats? More videos @Bill_Sutherla" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">youtube.com/@Bill_Sutherla…

Tomorrow!

🌿 How can we balance local values with national tree cover targets? Find out on 4th July at our next webinar! Hear insight from experts @melissa__minter & @alixzelly from the STAND on stakeholder-led land-use scenarios. #Conservation #SustainableLandUse ticketsource.co.uk/future-of-uk-t…

@howemill @SarahShuffell @DavyMcCracken Isn't SI usually defined as better (or equal) yields with lower (or equal) environmental impacts?

@howemill @SarahShuffell @DavyMcCracken Interested in what you see as the difference between your approach (which I think increases grass utilisation and so presumably also benefits yields?) and sustainable intensification? [Replying to old post, only just seen it]

Regenerative agriculture matters but let’s not forget about High Nature Value farming systems pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/business/fa…

This indicates that diversionary feeding is a useful tool to intervene when unwanted nest predation is occurring, without needing to compromise wider conservation goals. Find the pre-print @ biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… (6/6)