Reviewed by Jonathan Wallace. Seen from space we are the Blue Planet. About 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by oceans and these waters are fundamental to life on Earth. The oceans were the cradle in which life began and they remain the home for vast numbers of species. They are also vital…
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
Sunday book review – Nature Notes by Tim Deane
This is a compilation of quarterly articles which appeared in The Organic Grower between 2009 and 2021. The author is, or was, an organic farmer in south Devon. We often hear that farmers are stewards of the countryside and all that lives there – well a better case for that can be made for organic…
Sunday book review – The Last of Its Kind by Gisli Palsson
This is a heavily revised and expanded English translation of a book published in Icelandic in 2020. The translator, Anna Yates, is to be thanked, along with the author and publisher, for making such an interesting book accessible to English readers. I’m interested in extinction and the Great Auk is a famous extinction. Of course,…
Guest blog – We need to talk about ALAN by Jonathan Wallace
After studying zoology at university Jonathan was involved in ornithological research and conservation for a number of years in France, Scotland and West Africa. Subsequently he has spent most of his career as an environmental consultant, assisting industry in managing its environmental impacts. Wildlife, particularly insects, remain his first love however and he is a…
Sunday book review – The Lie of the Land by Guy Shrubsole
This is Guy Shrubsole’s best book yet, despite the success of his excellent Who Owns England (reviewed here) and his book about soggy, slippery woods, The Lost Rainforests of Britain (reviewed here) because this book is about everything! It covers a lot of ground, all of it, because it is about land use and who…