Government talks with EDF over Sizewell in stark contrast to PM’s environment pledge Boris Johnson will fail in his first major domestic test over its declared commitment to the environment if talks with EDF to build the Sizewell C power station go ahead. If allowed to go ahead Sizewell C could have devastating consequences for nature. The build could destroy…
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
Never, ever, trust the NFU
I think it is over 20 years since I stopped trusting the NFU at all. I have quite liked some of the leading NFU characters over that time but I haven’t respected the organisation and its grip on the truth in that time. On Friday George Monbiot exposed an example that shows you the type…
Tim Melling – Roe Deer
Tim writes: I spend lots of time trying to capture birds in flight but it isn’t often I manage to capture an airborne mammal, in this case a Roe buck. Though I suspect that right front hoof may be touching so not really airborne. I took this on 1st May not far from my house. …
The Favourite River Lugg
The River Lugg has been in the news a lot recently due to the management of the river and of some of the surrounding farmland by a local farmer (see here, here and here). More recently the farmer’s account of events has emerged (click here, here) and we’ll have to wait and see how this…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Bird/poultry flu update
DEFRA has now brought its reporting of bird/poultry flu cases in wild birds more up to date with cases recorded in the week ending Sunday 6 December. This shows three new counties; Gwent, Carmarthenshire and Yorkshire with bird flu cases in wild birds. Any ornithologist would be fascinated to see Great Egret and Dabchick on…
That’s more like it…
On Tuesday, 8 December Bellway Homes admitted damaging or destroying a breeding site or resting place for bats at a construction site in Greenwich. The company was ordered to pay a fine of £600,000 with further costs of over £30,000. Bellway Homes also agreed to make a voluntary donation of £20,000 to the Bat Conservation…
No sign of that new grouse shooting debate
I pointed out over a couple of weeks ago that BASC was claiming that; There is a broader grouse debate in the diary for early December, which follows another anti-shooting petition to ban driven grouse shooting. This will be a more comprehensive debate and will cover a broader spectrum of topics. Our briefs are being…
Back at Wicken Fen
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This time yesterday I was back at Wicken Fen with a small group of friends and colleagues – talking legal challenges and looking for Hen Harriers. We saw a couple of distant ringtails and as the light was really failing, an adult male brightened the gloom. It was spotted by a lawyer! It was now…
An interesting paper
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This is a conservation success story through a combination of site and species protection where the main small population resides in Morocco… … and reestablishment in the species’s former range.