The Icelandic media are reporting that the single whaling firm on Iceland plans to resume hunts for Fin Whales this year. Government has announced that the quota would be 150 Fin Whales this year (less than last year, but then none of it was used last year). A new conservation/welfare NGO, Friends of the Whales,…
Author: Mark
Born Bristol, UK
Educated: Cleeve House School Bristol, Bristol Grammar School and Downing College Cambridge
Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, Winter activity of pipistrelle bats.
NERC post-doctoral Research Fellow, Edward Grey Institute, Oxford University
Former Conservation Director of the RSPB, 1989-2011
How to respond to consultation on shooting seasons
This is my advice on responding to the consultation on changes to shooting seasons for a variety of bird species across England, Wales and Scotland. The consultation can be found – click here. The closing date is Sunday 17 May so you have nearly four full weeks and all of four weekends to get…
Golden Eagles in England?
Plans are afoot to plan for Golden Eagles to be reintroduced into England. A few thoughts: This announcement didn’t announce much and should probably be seen as one of those from government which is designed to get some favourable media attention (in this case ahead of local elections in many parts of England in May)….
Hugh Brazier: 1953-2026
I first met Hugh Brazier nearly 57 years ago when I started at Bristol Grammar School. Hugh was already there and neither of us might have guessed that we would remain in touch as friends all that time nor that we would both spend much of our time engaged in birds, wildlife and the environment….
Sunday book review – Fungi and Human Life by Nicholas P. Money
There are a lot of fungi in the world. Of the 75,000ish species of animals, plants, fungi, algae and a few protists that are recognised as occurring in the UK about one in five, 15,000 of them, are fungi. If we knew more about them then that proportion would probably rise rather than fall. And…
Sunday book review – One Day A Thousand Songs by John Miller
This book isn’t quite what it seems, but on first glance it is a very simple and moderately engaging account of the birds heard or seen in a Wiltshire garden on 6 May 2025. The author spends 17 hours up and active and uses the Merlin app to help identify all the calls and songs….
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 20 of CEP (240 MW) by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Garden bird feeding – new RSPB advice
Today the RSPB has issued new advice to its million members and the public at large on feeding birds in gardens. The new advice represents a big change to current practice (amongst many), won’t be universally popular and will cost the RSPB a lot of money. This advice is based on the perceived dangers of…
Sunday book review – More Twitching through the Swamp by Peter Marren
For those of us who were accustomed to turn first to the Twitcher column in British Wildlife the loss of it was a heartfelt blow. Here then is a lightly edited compilation of the later columns from 2004-2023 to add to the earlier collection of 1990-2003 writings. Humour is a personal matter, and acerbic humour…
Sunday book review – Future Rural (various authors) edited by Adrian Cooper
I’ve been sent an uncorrected proof of this book for review but it is sufficiently uncorrected that I don’t think I can review it properly yet. Let’s hope that the final version for publication on 28 April is more corrected. I can tell you that I very much enjoyed the essays by Tim Dee, Richard…