Tim writes: Cirl Buntings are one of Britain’s most localised breeding species. In the 1930s it bred on farmland in North Wales and much of the south Midlands of England. But in the second half of the twentieth century the population started to collapse. Even at the time of the first Breeding Atlas (1968-72) they…
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
Saturday cartoon from Ralph Underhill
Something for a rainy weekend
Many of you were very enthusiastic about the idea of a GCSE in Natural History – and some were less enthusiastic. Whichever you are, then you have the opportunity to add your views to the consultation, and it looks like rain this weekend so maybe now is a good time (although you have until 19…
Garden birds
The Blue Tits fledged from the nestbox in our garden last week – I miss watching the adults them rushing in and out. It was partly watching the adults take feathers into the nest that made me think about feathers (see here and here). For a few days I could occasionally see the face of…
Do you have the energy?
A Guardian article has led me to find some new-to-me sources of information. But the story was about the fact that the UK is on a record run of coal-free power days – 56 days and counting. That is quite a transformation, but let’s not get too cocky as there are plenty of European countries…
Vulture flights
Comments Off on Vulture flights
Check out the Saving Asia’a Vultures from Extinction website for information on the movements of released captive-bred and captive -reared White-rumped Vultures from Nepal, how COVID-19 is affecting fieldwork and the discovery of a breeding colony of White-rumped Vultures in Laos.
Guest blog – Inkcap by Sophie Yeo
. Sophie Yeo is a freelance journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She has written for publications including the Guardian, the Washington Post, and National Geographic. She tweets at @some_yeo. Four weeks ago, I set up a newsletter. It is called Inkcap, and it focuses on nature and conservation in the UK. It was an idea I…
BBS ‘late’ visit
I was back at one of my BBS squares this morning. It was a cold morning and the birds seemed to be sulking a bit. However, there are always birds to be seen, noted and their existence entered online so that’s what I have done. There weren’t many people about either. ‘Best’ birds? Bullfinch isn’t…
Tweets
This is an occasional update on the main Twitter accounts of some of our favourite wildlife organisations (and BASC and GWCT). The table below shows the number of followers in thousands (NT 886,000 followers). A caveat: you can’t judge a man, or an organisation, by the size of their Twitter following, but in a world…
The Woodcock’s world
This paper, from GWCT scientists and the Woodcock Network, is a fascinating insight into Woodcock behaviour and is another example of the great value of satellite telemetry in moving on our understanding of bird movements by leaps and bounds. There is a declining UK breeding population of Woodcocks which in winter is greatly augmented by…