Following on from yesterday and silage production and Curlews (and I am grateful to a reader for pointing me to this paper); This graph, note the logarithmic scale of the Y-axis, shows the increase in silage production, in Great Britain, from practically nothing to rather a lot over a century or so. This will not…
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 unchecked march of silage…
At lunchtime I wrote of some errors of avian population trends in Magnus Linklater’s recent opinion piece on the demise of the Curlew. It’s a good example of how all opinions are valid, but that facts are sacred, and that if your opinion doesn’t fit with the facts then maybe you should rethink. By the…
Magnus Linklater and old Times
Magnus Linklater’s piece in Monday’s The Times reminds me of many of his previous pieces (but we all believe in recycling) in that he always forgets to mention his close personal interest in game management and he always gets it a bit wrong in my humble opinion. Where he is undoubtedly right is that farmland…
Guest blog – Chaffinch numbers in Big Garden Birdwatch by Lyn Ebbs
Lyn Ebbs is a scientist by education and has been a member of the RSPB for many years and volunteered for them since she retired. Lyn is actively involved with wildlife campaigns and has attended Hen Harrier Day rallies every year since joining the Sodden 570. Lyn has written three accounts of RSPB AGMs here…
Blast from the past
Sent from a readr of this blog.
Bird song (17) – Blackcap
There was a Blackcap in our garden through December and into early-March – in fact, my last record was of one singing on Tuesday 10 March (just as I was was packing the car to go to the races). I’d never previously heard a Blackcap sing in our garden in March (or through the winter)…
NEWS: No Bird Fair 2020
It was nice of Tim Appleton to ‘phone me with the news that the Bird Fair has bowed to the inevitable – the next Bird Fair will be 2021. I’ll miss it, more for the friends I won’t see, than for the event itself (although it is a very fine event). Maybe we’ll be out…
Guest blog – Phylloscopus collybita by Dave Clark
Dave Clark is an ornithologist with an MSc in Ornithology from the University of Birmingham and environmental campaigner with a particular interest in the interactions between birds and humans. Dave is keen to spread the word about the importance of urban areas for wildlife and improving our engagement with nature. He can be reached at dave@mailbox.co.uk. In…
Press release – National Trust
National Trust acquires vital new stretch of coastal land to help create a new home for nature Former golf course will help conservation charity create new 30 hectare coastal nature reserve National Trust and partners will start work once restrictions due to Covid-19 are lifted Sand dunes and wetland habitats will be restored to help…
Guy Shorrock – Chimpanzee
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Guy writes: a couple of weeks ago Mark posted an image of a Mountain Gorilla I had taken during a recent trip to Uganda. In the current lockdown, such things now seem particularly distant. On the same trip I was lucky enough to see chimpanzees on three occasions. Twice on organised trips with habituated troops,…