The sedge warbler has a stuttering song – it starts – it stops – it starts again – it speeds up – it slows down – it trills – it chatters – it clicks and it churrs. It sounds like a mechanical toy which has been wound up and explodes into song until it runs…
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
Love ’em or hate ’em
Yesterday I launched a new poll – or actually two of them – on this website through my (free) monthly newsblast. These two polls give you the opportunity to vote for your favourite and least favourite UK nature conservation organisation. Are wildlife NGOs like Marmite – you either love ’em or hate ’em? We’ll see….
Splash or soak?
Easter Monday could have been spent looking for migrant birds, spotting some spring butterflies or going to the races at Huntingdon – or all three. But the heavy rain made each an unappealing prospect. The rain fell against the window behind my back as I sat at the computer deleting emails, unfollowing people on Twitter,…
I’m going cuckoo
A cuckoo was seen, or maybe just heard, down the road from me in east Northants yesterday – brave bird! My earliest record for the last decade or so is 15 April but I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open for sightings and hearings over the next week. There have been a few…
Shifting butterfly baselines
It’s the Easter weekend and it’s cold and a bit wet – not ideal weather for butterflies. So far, in east Northants this year, I’ve seen commas, peacocks, speckled woods, brimstones and orange tips. It’s a start. Through the year I will hope to see white admirals, black hairstreaks, purple emperors, white admirals, purple hairstreaks…