We welcome the decision of the court today that ruled against the NFU’s legal challenge of the UK Government over not allowing the badger cull to come to Derbyshire. The NFU legal challenge over the decision by the government not to allow a badger cull in Derbyshire has reached its conclusion today and has ruled…
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
The life scientific with Prof Debbie Pain
This programme is quite fun – my friend Debbie Pain talks about lead poisoning, saving Asian vultures and the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Although I’m sure there is even more to come, the examples demonstrate how Debbie has already had a career packed with both scientific and conservation achievement. It’s well worth a listen. And it provides…
My first BBS visit
Travelling a couple of miles by car for a 6km walk is the furthest I’ve been for weeks. But we are in mid-May and the May is out in flower, and this is the time for the first visit to Breeding Bird Survey squares. I can see why the BTO hasn’t yet updated its guidance…
Guest blog: Emma Turner: a life looking at birds by James Parry
My name is James Parry and I’m a writer based in Norfolk. I focus mostly on art and heritage, but have recently become fascinated by the history of wildlife photography. With co-author Jeremy Greenwood, I’ve just published a biography on Emma Louisa Turner, one of the greatest early pioneers and yet whose life and work…
It could be you…
It could be you … it’s going to be someone. Are you the person for one of the most important jobs in ornithology? You might get about £80k for doing this job, which certainly isn’t overpaid for the complexity, importance and difficulty of the role. A good interview question might be ‘In the 87-year history…
Bird song (47) – Meadow Pipit
I have to remind myself that this is one of the most numerous species in the UK because I don’t see them much around me. There’s an old airfield near me where Meadow Pipits nest in thelonger patches of grass – and it always surprises me to find them there, close to my home, singing…
Guest blog – The Bureaucrats and the Beavers by Derek Gow
Derek Gow is a farmer. A previous guest blog here, about rewilding his farm (and much else besides), Winds of Change 4 February 2019, was one of the most popular posts on this blog in all time. His second guest blog, I must tell you something of the Beaver was about the subject which he…
Lockdown garden bird list – the first seven weeks
My lockdown garden bird list has leapt from 46 to 53 species in the last three weeks. The ‘new’ species were Cuckoo, Hobby and Sand Martin (summer migrants) and Mallard, Little Egret, Herring Gull and Skylark. Little Egret was a garden lifer too – but now I’ve seen it three times. Here’s the list (with…
Bird song (46) – Common Crane
Cranes are now rare breeding birds in the UK having established small populations in East Anglia, the Somerset Levels, Humberside and some parts of Scotland. What amazing birds they are, and they make amazing noises too. Here are some Cranes singing to each other. These are not UK recordings but if you were very lucky…
Hatched!
The Blue Tits in the nestbox in my garden have hatched, judging by the behaviour of the adults over the last few days. There are millions of pairs of Blue Tits in the UK, but these are ‘my’ Blue Tits and are special (to me at any rate). One parent was flying down the road…