I first met Hugh Brazier nearly 57 years ago when I started at Bristol Grammar School. Hugh was already there and neither of us might have guessed that we would remain in touch as friends all that time nor that we would both spend much of our time engaged in birds, wildlife and the environment….
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 – Fungi and Human Life by Nicholas P. Money
There are a lot of fungi in the world. Of the 75,000ish species of animals, plants, fungi, algae and a few protists that are recognised as occurring in the UK about one in five, 15,000 of them, are fungi. If we knew more about them then that proportion would probably rise rather than fall. And…
Sunday book review – One Day A Thousand Songs by John Miller
This book isn’t quite what it seems, but on first glance it is a very simple and moderately engaging account of the birds heard or seen in a Wiltshire garden on 6 May 2025. The author spends 17 hours up and active and uses the Merlin app to help identify all the calls and songs….
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 20 of CEP (240 MW) 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…
Garden bird feeding – new RSPB advice
Today the RSPB has issued new advice to its million members and the public at large on feeding birds in gardens. The new advice represents a big change to current practice (amongst many), won’t be universally popular and will cost the RSPB a lot of money. This advice is based on the perceived dangers of…
Sunday book review – More Twitching through the Swamp by Peter Marren
For those of us who were accustomed to turn first to the Twitcher column in British Wildlife the loss of it was a heartfelt blow. Here then is a lightly edited compilation of the later columns from 2004-2023 to add to the earlier collection of 1990-2003 writings. Humour is a personal matter, and acerbic humour…
Sunday book review – Natural Habitats & Wildlife Gardening by Shaun McCoshum
This is an American book with lots of mentions of backyards and strange creatures (most of which are bigger than their UK counterparts). But I thought it might be of interest and it certainly was. The starting point of many books about wildlife and gardens in the UK is a rather traditional garden with flower…
RSPB – UK’s tallest bird, the Crane, has record high year
UK’s tallest bird, the Crane, has record high year A record number of Cranes bred in the UK last year, with 87 pairs raising 37 young, bringing the total to around 250 individuals Cranes went extinct in the UK around four hundred years ago due to overhunting and the loss of wetlands, but thanks to…
Peatland Alliance press release – Calderdale Energy Park defies council guidance
Calderdale Energy Park defies council guidance with rushed public consultation on Walshaw Moor wind farm Community consultation on new version of contentious wind farm timed for local election purdah period. Calderdale Energy Park developers have defied Calderdale and Bradford Council advice to delay their statutory consultation on the proposed “Critical National Priority” wind farm on…
Guest blog – Walshaw Turbines: Laneshaw Bridge bypass of CEP (240 MW) 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…