This is an interesting new petition – it only sprang into life four days ago. I’ve signed it because hare coursing is illegal and I disapprove of wildlife crime. It’s also a pretty nasty country field sport which we are right to put behind us and it’s good to see Edward Coles (who I am…
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
Wintering Blackcap
We get wintering Blackcaps in our garden every year, and this spring there was a resident bird through the summer in our neighbourhood too. Yesterday, 6 December, there was a male Blackcap on the fatballs in our garden. That’s great. But it is also the earliest winter record, ever, in our garden. The previous earliest…
Bird/poultry flu update
A poultry farm in the Brecks is affected. And there is a long list of ‘wild’ birds that have tested positive too in the last week reported (up to 30 November); The list of birds is interesting; lots of Mute Swans (and some Black) and some raptors. The pile of Mute Swans from Dorset are…
Oven-ready?
Last week, the door fell off our decades-old oven. They don’t make ovens just like ours any more so if we wanted a simple replacement then it just can’t happen. Through our large range of ancient-oven-owning local contacts we found the details of a man who fixes oven doors. He sounded amazing – one person…
Guest blog – WMPUK
Wild Mammal Persecution UK: What we do and why we do it. Wild Mammal Persecution UK (WMPUK) is a blog set up by a number of individuals to monitor and document the persecution of wild mammals in the UK. It is intended to make people aware of our diverse and wonderful wild mammal population and…
Gone for a Burton
The failure of the Arcadia group has been no innocent rural idyll. Sir Philip Green is a great poster boy for both capitalism and the Honours System having received his knighthood in 2006 for services to the retail industry. It’s a pity that these things don’t have to be renewed every few years (and it’s…
Sunday book review – Mammals of Ethiopia by Trevor Jenner
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Reviewed by Tim Melling Ethiopia has a remarkably rich mammal fauna including a number of iconic endemics like Ethiopian Wolf, Mountain Nyala, Bale Monkey and Gelada. This new guide is exactly what visitors to this region need to find and identify the mammals of this region. It is attractively laid out and brimming with useful…
Tim Melling – Brown Hare leveret
Tim writes: I spotted this young leveret crouching low in the grass near Holmfirth in late July. It was in a field next to a road, and I stayed on the road with the 420mm lens so as not to disturb it. Brown Hares give birth to about three litters each year, producing one to…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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A recycled cartoon, but some things remain true – see here.
BTO Conference tomorrow
Tomorrow is the BTO Conference – and of course it is an online event so no driving up to Swanwick in the rain, no afternoon of easily spotting the difference between members and staff (by the 30-year gap between their average ages) and no slipping away from the conference to find a local bookmakers to…