Curlews are pretty spectacular birds: large with amazing bills and a loud bubbling song. Once common in grasslands, wetlands and uplands across the UK they are now rare as breeders outside of the uplands. There is a pair of Curlew in the Nene Valley about six miles from my home, and I occasionally go to…
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
Bird song (32) – Golden Plover
The Golden Plover has a wonderfully evocative song – only really heard in the UK on moorland areas up in the hills. The sound of it takes me right back to places like the Durham Moors and the Flow Country of northern Scotland. Golden Plovers will be singing in both those places today – I…
And another week on…
Comments Off on And another week on…
Two weeks ago: Last week: This week: And yes, it’s still an utterly beautiful yet terrifying curve. Last week cases increased from 48,000 to 84,000 cases – an increase of 36,000. This week, cases increased from 84,000 to 120,000 – an increase of 36,000 cases. In other words, the same number of new cases but…
BASC press release and Wild Justice response
BASC issued a press release a while ago and the three Wild Justice directors have been chortling over it ever since. We were asked by a journalist to comment and sent them this: Our legal challenge is a strong one. Defra can be as robust as it wishes but these matters will be settled by…
Bird song (31) – Oystercatcher
Comments Off on Bird song (31) – Oystercatcher
It’s not just passerines which sing – quite a lot of waders have striking (and rather easily recognised) songs. One of these is the Oystercatcher which is a Spring arrival at my local gravel pits. I heard Oystercatchers near to home on the same day that I heard my first Chiffchaff this year; back on…
Prospects for the shooting season
When I first started asking contacts in the shooting industry about the prospects for shooting and how it would be affected by coronavirus they all sounded surprised to be asked and expressed no doubt that all would be much as normal. This round up on the William Powell site tells a very different story. Confidence…
Paul Leyland – Gooden’s Nomad Bee
Social Distancing Week 5. Gooden’s Nomad Bee. I love dandelions at this time of year. They are one of the main food sources for a huge variety of insects so a nice expanse of flowers in a sunny spot is an ideal place for watching and waiting. There is a grassy bank just along the…
Bird song (30) – Nightingale
This date is the earliest I have heard a Nightingale in Northants but I won’t be hearing one this evening in lockdown. In any case, for the last couple of years the regular haunts near my home have been bereft of Nightingales. My favourite Nightingale wood is Glapthorn Cow Pasture (a Beds, Cambs, Northants Wildlife…
Tim Melling – Tibetan Macaques
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Tibetan Macaques
Tim writes: these are Tibetan Macaques, sometimes known as Milne-Edwards’ or Chinese Stump-tailed Macaques (Macaca thibetana). They are the largest species of Macaque and occur mainly in Eastern Tibet and Western China. They are classified by IUCN as near-threatened largely because of habitat destruction. They live in mixed sex groups of twenty to thirty with…
Bird song (29) – Goldfinch
There are lots of Goldfinches in my garden these days, and all other days of the year actually. They are much commoner now than they once were. Despite being delightful, gorgeous birds to look at, their song is an unimpressive twittering. Here are some examples, from Portugal; … and from Kensington Gardens, London, UK; ……