And so we say farewell to David Davis, the Brexit Bulldog. I have quite a lot of time for Mr Davis even though I agree with him about very little. You may have noticed that I did not list him in the three Cabinet minisiters who lack moral compass. I think Davis has a moral…
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
Guest blog – Whither Now for State Nature Conservation? by Dominic Woodfield
Dominic Woodfield is the Managing Director of Bioscan, a long established and well respected consultancy specialising in applied ecology. He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats…
Tim Sarney – Short-eared Owl
Sunday book review – A Natural Selection by Bill Meek
This is a charming book, but lest that sounds a bit condescending (it wasn’t meant to be) it is also a cracking good read. Bill Meek is an ex-CEH ecologist who wrote a column for his local paper, the Cleethorpes Chronicle, for three and a half years. In that column he aimed to inform, entertain…
Tim Melling – Purple Emperors
Tim writes: As a child I was puzzled why Purple Emperors were invariably illustrated with asymmetrical colours; one side purple, the other side black. This is because the colours are iridescent so only shine when viewed from the right angle. So the iridescence can bounce from side to side as the angle of view moves….
Football’s coming home?
Ralph Underhill is on holiday. We should beat Sweden today, and we could beat Sweden today but it would be a rash person who assumed that we will beat Sweden today. The Betfair odds are that England are even money to win (in 90 mins), Sweden 3.8/1 and the draw is 2.35/1. The best looking…
National Trust makes meadow purchase in the White Peak
National Trust Press Release Lifeline for plunging wildlife as important hay meadows saved in the Peak District The National Trust has purchased 186 hectares (460 acres) of wildflower-rich farmland in the Peak District – securing a potential lifeline for plunging butterfly and bee populations. As Britain marks National Meadows Day, the conservation charity…
Wild food (39) – Bilberry by Ian Carter
I used to think of the Bilberry (often Blaeberry north of the border) as an upland plant – something available for browsing in high summer when crossing wide expanses of heath or moor. In recent years I’ve found it along local hedge-banks and within deciduous woodland in the dairy and sheep country of the lowlands,…
Fair Game?
The Game Fair is limping along still. It seems to have settled at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire. This year’s dates are 27-29 July, that’s just over three weeks away. Here are a few of the events where the shooting community tells itself how wonderful it is and how everyone is on its side provided they all…
Almost there…ha ha!
The Cabinet meets today on an away-day to iron out the last few wrinkles in the UK’s Brexit programme. All that needs to be resolved is that they decide what sort of Brexit we want and what might be remotely achievable. What could go wrong? By the end of today we will either be seeing…