It seems to have been raining for two weeks – please stop. I want to see some butterflies and more spring migrants.
The summer of 1976 was a hot dry summer – and my gap year before university. When a Drought Minister was appointed the heavens opened and my first month at Cambridge seemed to be full of rain, although it didn’t dampen my spirits much. Something similar seems to be happening now – a drought order is followed by rain for days, weeks, surely not months…?
I’ve been in London for a couple of days. Here is a collection of snippets from those days:
- I did a radio interview for Farming Today (of which, more tomorrow) where I met, as he exited and I arrived at the Millbank studio, Chris Packham. Chris has written a very kind foreword for my book coming out in August and I thanked him again for his kind words. You will hear more of this subject as time goes on.
- by chance, in the same building, I came across an ex-colleague who told me she reads this blog regularly – it’s always nice to be told as otherwise I don’t know
- by chance, my MP, Louise Mensch, was coming into the recording studio as I left – life is full of coincidences
- by design, I spent a very pleasant couple of hours being shown Richmond and being given lunch by a friend. In a stroll around Richmond Green, Richmond Hill and the River Thames we saw or heard a remarkable number of birds: mallard, tufted duck, great crested grebe, coot, moorhen, cormorant, grey heron, Canada goose, sparrowhawk, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, carrion crow, jackdaw, jay, ring-necked parakeet, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, wood pigeon, feral pigeon, blackbird, mistle thrush, robin, dunnock, wren, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, chiffchaff, blackcap, starling, chaffinch, greenfinch, goldfinch, house sparrow. I make that 34 species, which seems pretty good to me.
- by chance, I met another former colleague at the now-magnificent Kings Cross station. We had a coffee together and a chat.
- I have to give a mention to a lady whose name I do not know but who once got a mention in my RSPB blog. Last week I was also passing through Kings Cross early in the morning, as I once did much more frequently, and went to the Cafe Nero coffee booth. I was once a regular customer but haven’t been there for 12 months. I recognised the lady making the coffee, who once complimented me on my tie, and thought she might remember me but I was amazed and impressed when she looked up, saw me, and said, correctly, ‘large latte and two almond croissants?’. After 12 months and thousands of cups of coffee that is impressive.
I’ve been receiving very positive feedback on my column in British Wildlife on forestry issues.
And the latest Birdwatch has my column extolling the virtues of Birdtrack.
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Oaks out before the ash here we in for a splash!!
Very impressive customer service indeed! I take it the fact you hadn’t been there for a year meant she didn’t feel the need to lie about your tie this time 🙂
Jonny – hi1 Hope all is well with you.
Not bad and if it’s nice to be told, I read your blog pretty much daily
Jonny – it’s nice to be told!
The rain might be a nuisance Mark but it is holding migrants down and making them viewable. Over 250 Arctic Terns and several Little Gulls in the Cotswold Water Park yesterday. That is about 240 more than you normally see and I did notice as soon as the sky cleared they started to lift up and move on. That is one day I was thankful for the rain.
And was that ‘TWO’ almond croissants.
Bob, Bob – yes, yes; it was, it was; yum yum.
Hi Mark,think it nice indeed charming for you to be so thoughtful about a lady remembering you as obviously you are a bit of a celebrity and my guess is the lady was chuffed at you being gracious.
Always think it is the true test of those higher up the ladder how they treat us humble people and a good example of that is that Dave Sexton treats us the same as T V personalities.(no easy way to say this but you know what I mean).
Re British Wildlife article: you make your ‘wildlife voice’ say that the Woodland Trust and National Trust dont do wildlife conservation?! Is this a prejudiced position from you, or do you have some real evidence that wildlife is poorer on WT & NT land?
Redwood – that’s not exactly what the article says but it is not far off. I don’t have the data to compare wildlife on Woodland Trust and National Trust land with that off that land – I wonder whether they do? It certainly isn’t on their websites. I can’t find a graph of woodland butterfly numbers on Woodland Trust land compared with the national trends – nor woodland birds nor woodland plants. The relative lack of attention to woodland management comnpared with woodland acquisition and planting by the Woodland Trust is a regular source of dismay amongst the memebers of nature conservation organisations. It is a source of contention and regret – my article voices a little of what many others say privately. And the National Trust does quite a lot of good – but far too little considering its size, its resources and its ability. It’s not a leader and it doesn’t even always follow as far as nature cosnervation is concerned. Those are my views – you may have your own. But it is interesting that both the Woodland Trust and National Trust are doing very badly in the two polls of nature conservation organisations on this website (and for which voting ends at midnight on Monday) so this blog’s small readership (although there are over 1600 votes cast in all) seems to share a low opinion of both organisations.
Mark – you were a champion for evidence-based conservation in your time at the RSPB. And that was a highly commendable approach. It put the RSPB in a strong position for giving clear advice on effective nature conservation, both in policy and practice, on its own land and elsewhere. And I applaude that.
However, your many comments about the Woodland Trust and National Trust, and your patronising statements about the Wildlife Trusts (eg in your Br Wildlife column), you do yourself no credit. They are personal, and not evidence-based.
You rightly deride the NFU for ignoring the scientific evidence of the decline of farmland wildlife.
And then write in a similar style about other NGOs.
Please regain the position of being an environmental commentator that uses real evidence on which to base your blog and articles.