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

RSPB press release

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Men given community order for possession and trade of 22 wild Peregrines On 11 December 2023 Timothy Hall and his son, Lewis Hall pleaded guilty to multiple offences relating to the possession and trade of wild Peregrines in Scotland and were both handed community service orders yesterday for these crimes. Without the introduction of sentencing…

RSPB press release – Bird Flu

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New study shows role of bird flu in widespread declines of UK seabirds A new report by the RSPB has for the first time, quantified the effects of recent Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreaks on the populations of the UK’s seabirds. Of the 13 species included in the study, nine showed declines, three of…

I’m coming out… as a…

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… moth-er. In other words I have a moth trap and I am now gradually becoming addicted to moth trapping. How can one resist when there is the possibility of catching moths like the one above – what a corker! Well, that is the type of thing that birders say about the drabbest of Phylloscopus…

Sunday book review – Purposeful Birdwatching by Rob Hume

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This is a lovely book, filled with an appealing mixture of wisdom, humour, nostalgia, stories, facts, speculation and common sense. It’s about birdwatching, very much birdwatching, and not just birding, for Rob Hume has watched many birds and thought about what he was seeing and, it seems, enjoyed most of it immensely. In a mixture…

Guest blog – Walshaw Turbine 43 by Nick MacKinnon

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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…

BSBI press release: Thousands of citizen scientists find hundreds of wildflowers blooming at New Year

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The results are in for BSBI’s thirteenth New Year Plant Hunt, when plant-lovers across Britain and Ireland head out to see what is flowering in their local patch. More than 3,000 people – a record number! – took part in the Hunt, after the hottest summer on record was followed by an unusually wet December….

Guest blog – Short-eared Owls need your help by Jimmi Hill

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Based on the Cheshire/Flintshire border. Founding trustee and Chair of Raptor Aid CIO a UK based charity with a focus on birds of prey and their conservation. A licensed ringer and field worker covering birds of prey as an active member of several raptor study groups across the UK. Twitter: @raptor_jimmi “You’re Joking – Not…

Bird flu through the years

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The lists below tell you something of the progression of bird flu in wild birds in the UK since the winter of 2016/17.  The data come from Defra – click here. You are able, and very welcome, to re-do this little analysis and see for yourself.  I expect my version has a few errors in…

Guest blog – Creating Shrike Shrublands by Steve Jones

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Steve Jones (stevecjones.uk) has worked in UK and international conservation for nearing three decades. He’s unusually fond of shrikes. In fact, he’s written a short book about how to create ’Shrike Shrublands’ in the UK (click here). Here, he summarises how we might go about creating species-rich grassland-shrubland mosaics. Twitter: @SteveCJJones     ‘Scrub’ has…