I remember attending a Game Fair, in fact it was the last one in 2011 (rained off this year) when in the space of two days I heard people say that we British have the ‘best farmers in the world’, the ‘best foresters in the world’ and the’ best shooters in the world’ – and…
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
Book review – Birds in a Cage by Derek Niemann
I liked this book. Birds in a Cage is the story of four British prisoners of war, Second Lieutenant Peter Conder, Second Lieutenant John Buxton, Second Lieutenant George Waterston and Squadron Leader John Barrett, who, after WWII, went on to influence nature conservation practice and policy. It’s a remarkable tale which is beautifully told. On…
Wild Travel
The latest edition of the 6-times-a-year Wild Travel is out now, with my column explaining how you and other animals can get through the winter. But after reminding myself of what I wrote I always enjoy thumbing through the fantastic images and interesting words of the rest of the magazine. There is a feature on…
BASC and Countryside Alliance – the chocolate scare
You may remember that the Food Standards Agency recently updated its advice on eating game shot with lead. And you may remember that BASC (see link) and the Countryside Alliance (see link) trotted out some outrageous nonsense about there being more lead in chocolate than in the meat of game that had been shot with…
Waging war
Today is Remembrance Sunday and this year it falls on the 11th day of the 11th month. The Second World War was the deadliest conflict in human history but I was surprised to learn that the First World War was ‘only’ the sixth deadliest. Are you wearing a poppy? It’s interesting that we use a…