We are 100 days away from 20 September when our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting will close. We aren’t half way through our time yet – that is just over a week away – but let’s have a little stock-take. Today we passed the 42,000 signature milestone! That is just fantastic – thank you…
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
Otmoor
Last week I went to Otmoor. I like Otmoor. I go as often as I can – which isn’t that often (see here, here, here and here for some previous visits). As you can see, it was an overcast and dull morning weatherwise but an uplifting visit otherwise. In the winter it’s possible to see…
Kite attack!
The Daily Mail is edited by Paul Dacre who owns a grouse moor. Saturday saw a piece about a scourge of Red Kites attacking young girls and old ladies – men seem to be immune. There is a serious issue here and that is that artificial feeding of Red Kites has made them less…
Oscar Dewhurst – Snipe
Oscar writes: Another bird that kept me busy while waiting for Bitterns in Suffolk was this Snipe, which was feeding in front of the hide for most of the afternoon. It was an effort to get an unobstructed view though, with reeds always seeming to obscure its face or beak! Nikon D800 | Nikon 400mm…
The National Trust’s former shooting tenant, Mark Osborne
Mark Osborne, the exiting shooting tenant of the National Trust in the Peak District, is a very well-known name in shooting circles. He is not a nobody, he is someone for whom ‘failure is not an option’ according to Lord James Percy in Fieldsports magazine. Mr Osborne is prone to tell people that he is…