This book, out of 50 I reviewed in 2025, was my choice of wildlife book of the year. You can buy this book from Bookshop.org and I have set up a booklist to make that easy through this link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/MarkAvery Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you…
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
Sunday book review – Beepedia by Laurence Packer
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This book takes us from Agapostemon to Zacosmia although that may not be the most helpful introduction from me as it suggests that this book is perhaps dull and worthy whereas it is fun and interesting. I enjoyed reading about the links of Danuncia Urban (bee taxonomist) and Charles Michener (another bee taxonomist) with bees…
Sunday book review – The Physics of Birds and Birding by Michael Hurben
Like many biologists, I have a dose of physics-envy born out of fear of physics. At school, I could cope quite well with mechanics because that felt like snooker writ large but when it came to forces, energy and electricity it all was a bit much for me. And so it was with mixed feelings,…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 21 by Nick MacKinnon
Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
Press release Walshaw Turbines Research Group – Legal challenge to massive windfarm proposal
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On 1 June 2025 the Walshaw Turbines Research Group (WTRG) sent a letter before action to Christian Egal, Project Director of Calderdale Energy Park. The letter can be read on the WTRG website here, and the paper giving the extensive evidence is available here. The work of the WTRG may be familiar to some in their long…
Sunday book review – Land Beneath the Waves by Nic Wilson
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The publisher’s attempt at describing this book’s genre seems pretty accurate to me, loaded as it is with words such as ‘health’, ‘self-help’, ‘illness’, ‘well-being’, ‘family’ and ‘memoir’. Would there be enough nature in here for me, I wondered. And the answer was a resounding ‘yes!’ (although one can’t easily have too much). Those drawn…
Sunday book review – Words from the Hedge by Richard Negus
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I’ve been looking forward to reading this book and that feeling was justified by the pleasure it gave me. Most of the pleasure was because this is a well-written book by someone who seems to be an interesting man with whom I’d be very happy to share a few pints at some stage. He is…
A letter to my MP, Lee Barron
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Dear Lee, I am writing to ask you to attend a Westminster Hall debate on the afternoon of 30 June where a parliamentary petition will be debated as the petition gained over 100,000 signatures. It is a petition close to my heart, indeed I was one of the three directors of the campaigning group, Wild…
Bank Holiday Monday book review – Wildly Different by Sarah Lonsdale
I wondered whether this book, written by a woman, about five women environmentalists, with praise from three women on its cover was for me but it most certainly was. I’ve read the words about two of the five women – two who lived and worked in the UK – but I may well get to…
Protect peat from windfarms petition passes 10,000 signatures
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This petition – click here – has passed the 10,000 signature mark and now will get a response from government. Jenny Shepherd said “It is vital that the Government acts on our message about the importance of protected peatland throughout England. Their drive to speed up construction of big onshore wind farms is all about reaching…