Wild Justice started its legal challenge of gamebird releases in July 2019. The latest published figures for gamebird releases of which we were aware were those by the GWCT in 2018 (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. 2018a. How many birds are shot in the UK? Game and Wildlife Review 2017: 41–42.) which referred to the…
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
Gamebirds victory (1) – what sort of victory?
On Today on Saturday morning (in the last 10 minutes of the programme) Mishal Husain described Wild Justice as a campaigning organisation, and we wouldn’t disagree with that, but our victory in this matter is not a campaigning victory it is a legal victory. We have not persuaded government to change their policy or the…
Book review – The Law of the Wild by Ian Swingland
Ian Swingland is a friend of mine and it’s his 74th birthday tomorrow, so I thought I’d mention his recently-published book which is an autobiography. Ian came into my life in my 20s in the late 1970s in Oxford through a friend of a friend and we were in the same circle of Oxford-associated biologists…
Another good month for readership of this blog
Over 103,000 pageviews in October makes it the eighth month this year (and the seventh in a row) to top the wholly artificial 100,000 pageviews level. And with 24,000+ unique users (readers) this month that is very respectable too. As hinted at a few weeks ago, despite some saying it will never happen, it is…
The Well-read Naturalist
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I’ve been catching up with John Riutta’s recent book reviews on The Well-read Naturalist. I read all of his book reviews even those that are rather local to his part of the world, of northern Oregon. I read them because they are so thoughtful and so well written. I sometimes feel I’d rather read John’s…
Sunday book review – Bird Senses by Graham Martin
The cover of this book shows a beautiful Great Grey Owl with yellow eyes, barred feathers and trailing legs in flight, with what looks like snow falling off its legs and feet. The blurred background looks like a forest and the book’s title is in yellow with the rest of the writing in white but…
Tim Melling – Mole
Tim writes: “To the gentleman in the velvet waistcoat” was apparently a popular Jacobite toast. It refers to the mole that raised the hill at Hampton Court upon which the horse of William III (William of Orange) stumbled which subsequently led to his death. He broke his collarbone but he became ill when complications arose,…
Jane V. Adams – The Smells in Nature
Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane’s…