I highlighted the disappearance of the Woodland Trust from much online activity quite some time ago – no online shop, no online membership subscription, no online donation. Clearly something serious was happening. Now, the Woodland Trust has gone public with what seemed to be a likely, but highly unusual situation – they’ve been hacked. I…
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
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (4)
Today we go to court – to the Court of Appeal – although I won’t actually be going anywhere. I’ll be facing the same computer screen at which I spend a lot of my time. I had better have a shave and put on some clothes before then although video cameras will be off. Both…
Snow birds
Sunday’s snow has lingered but it will soon be gone as it is raining now. But the snow always brings a few more birds into our garden although the Song Thrush and Redwing seen today were next door, not chez nous. I doubt that either will be around at the weekend for the RSPB Big…
Press release – Songbird Survival has new CEO
This year, as in 2020, the dawn chorus continues to help us all staycalm and connected to nature, whether we live or work in an urban or rural location. Indeed, hearing birdsong is known to calm our minds because it signals the absence of nearby threats: if the birds are singing, then, ‘all must be…
Environment Bill delayed – report
Flagship Bill sinking – or at least becalmed? RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight satys: The slow, stop-start nature of the Environment Bill’s passage does not help us take the rapid action needed to tackle the nature and climate emergency. Our only hope is that this delay is used to improve the Bill. Environmental groups including…
Bird/poultry flu update
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A couple more cases in wild birds in the latest DEFRA update.
Birdwatch?
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The Guardian reports that Twitter will trial a means of allowing users to flag and annotate misleading or inaccurate tweets – this will be called Birdwatch in an attempt to piggy-back on the respected profile of the UK’s premier birdwatching magazine. A spokesperson for Birdwatch magazine may have said ‘We’re touched that the small inconsequential…
Interesting and important paper
Peatlands cover <3% of the world’s land surface but account for >33% of soil carbon – that’s a fact with which to amaze your dinner guests (when you are allowed to have them again). This paper reviews studies of the impacts of road and track building through peatlands – this sort of thing: see here,…
Biodegradable shotgun cartridges from Spain
Things are moving slowly in shooting, but in the right direction it seems. Fifty million biodegradable shotgun cartridges this year – that’s enough to replace just those used in Pheasant shooting in the UK in a normal year where about 15 million Pheasants are shot but that takes between three and four cartridges per downed…
Hen Harrier brood meddling on trial (3)
Assessing the success or failure of brood meddling for Hen Harriers cannot adequately be measured by looking at survival of chicks in captivity even if this were to be compared with correctly comparable nests in the wild. How about post-release survival too? There are plenty of potential reasons why captive-reared chicks might fail to survive…