Alick Simmons spent most of his career in public service serving as the UK Food Standards Agency’s Veterinary Director (2004-2007) and the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer (2007-2015). He is the current chair of the Zoological Society of London’s Ethics Committee on Animal Research and a member of the Wild Animal Welfare Committee. He…
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
Tony Marr 1939-2025
Tony Marr was born in Glasgow but he will always be associated with Sussex where he was one of a small group of birders in 1962 who founded the Sussex Ornithological Society (other leading lights being Richard Porter, Chris Mead, Bill Bourne and Mike Shrubb). He attended Steyning Grammar School and was encouraged in his…
Press release – AFFRIC HIGHLANDS
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Highland red deer tracked by GPS in innovative landscape-scale study of behaviour and habitat use A pioneering scientific research project using GPS collars has been launched to track red deer movement and behaviour in the west Highlands to help land managers take informed decisions about how to manage deer health, numbers and habitats. The study…
Press release SCOTLAND The Big Picture – drone-seeding takes off
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Rewilding takes off: drone-seeding success offers hope for expanding remote woodlands An innovative rewilding experiment on a hillside on Scotland’s west coast has yielded promising results, raising hopes for faster, more cost-effective reforestation of the country’s wild and rugged uplands. At Dubh Allt, a 780-acre landholding near Roshven on the Moidart peninsula, forester and landowner,…
RSPB press release – Singing success for one of the UK’s rarest insects
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Singing success for one of the UK’s rarest insects The Field Cricket was previously threatened with extinction in the UK but has since made an incredible comeback following successful conservation efforts by a range of organisations including the RSPB. The males are known for their singing, using specially adapted veins on their wings to…
Debate on grouse shooting 4 – the petition system
If anyone ever tells you that it is easy to get 100,000 signatures for a petition then ask them how many times they have done it. Very few people have. I have – five times and I have given considerable help and advice to others too. I’m a fan of the idea that any citizen…
BSBI press release – Hunting for Wales’ missing wild plants
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This summer, botanists are out scouring Wales’ most special wildlife sites, trying to re-find wild plants that haven’t been seen for decades. They are taking part in a project, run by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) with funding from the Welsh Government’s Nature Networks Programme, to refind priority plants in Wales. BSBI…
Debate on grouse shooting 3 – the political parties
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Having discussed the most important aspect of the debate on driven grouse shooting, the government response – click here, I will now turn to other aspects of the debate. There are 650 MPs in the Westminster parliament, and 634 come from 13 political parties with an additional 15 independents and the Speaker. Grouse moors occur…
My new solar panels
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These are three solar panels I had installed maybe as long as 20 years ago. We were early adopters of green technology and these were panels that heated your water – thus saving on gas bills. They were a bad buy – they were pretty expensive, we were sold more than we needed and they…
Debate on grouse shooting 2 – the government response
If you are running a campaign then your aim is to achieve change in the world, change on the ground, change in reality. One of the most direct, though not particularly easy, routes to achieving widespread change is through influencing the action of governments as they control laws, regulations, enforcement, taxation and government spending. Petitions…