Dear First Minister and Cabinet SecretaryMay I ask, respectfully, which image of a white-tailed eagle do you prefer? And which best represents the aspirations of the Scottish government and its attitude to Scotland’s native wildlife and the environment? I am writing to you because of the latest in a long line of sickening and illegal…
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
Dear First Minister – from Jon Dunn
Jon Dunn is a birder, author and more, as his letter to Nicola Sturgeon about the poisoning of a young White-tailed Eagle in Strathdon demonstrates. Dear First Minister, I don’t expect you to have heard of me – though I have to say as a Shetland resident, I have admired the SNP’s governance of Scotland…
Dear First Minister
Dear First Minister and Cabinet Secretary I am writing to you about the poisoned White-tailed Eagle that was found on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park. I’m sure you’re getting lots of emails on this subject and I know you will read very few of them. No matter, somebody will read this and…
Inglorious without a doubt
A spreadeagled, poisoned White-tailed Eagle on the heather of a grouse moor surely tolls the death knell for driven grouse shooting. Politicians cannot continue wilfully to ignore the scale of crime against nature that is so closely associated with the niche hobby of shooting Red Grouse for fun. At least they cannot if we all…
World Land Trust Wildfire Appeal – help us get ahead of the flames
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Do you remember the fires of last year? This year they are starting even earlier. The World Land Trust works with partners across the world to protect land of high conservation importance. Our partners are people on the ground fighting these fires and protecting wildlife. I say ‘our’ because I am the chair of trustees…
Press release – Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire Moors
Doncaster Council has backed a ban on heather burning to save the region’s peat moors from being damaged for grouse shooting. In a letter sent to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Mayor Ros Jones said that the environmentally-damaging practice, which is performed by shoot operators to engineer breeding habitat for red grouse,…
Update on 2020 Hen Harrier brood meddling (1)
Natural England issued an update on their controversial Hen Harrier brood meddling project on Friday but I’ve only just seen it. They’ve also sent me (and the RSPB) a further update from their legal department because both RSPB and I are taking legal action against this daft project. First, the Natural England blog. As reported…
News from a kitchen window
Oh no!
RSPB acts – good!
The Times reports that RSPB has intervened to brief its BirdLife International partners in France and Spain to warn them of the unpopularity and indeed perhaps the folly of reintroducing Hen Harriers to southern England. The Times is reporting old news, the emails are over a year old and were obtained by the Countryside Alliance…
Paul Leyland – Brimstone Moth
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Paul writes: This is a colourful night-time visitor to many gardens. The Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolata) is smaller but a brighter yellow than its butterfly namesake. There are also a series of chestnut marks along the edge of its forewings, making it unmistakable. It’s a very common moth and can be seen throughout the UK in…