This is a reprint of the classic 1956 book by David Lack but, as in the updated version of his Life of the Robin, this is updated whilst maintaining the original text. David Lack’s study of Swifts took place in the tower of the Oxford University Museum and has continued to this day. Lack’s…
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
Book review – Eagle Country by Sean Lysaght
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Reviewed by Ian Carter Seán Lysaght is a poet and writer and he brings his poet’s eye for observation to this exploration of his home country of Mayo and the wider west coast of Ireland. Spurred on by an interest in eagles and the tragic history of the two species in Ireland he trawls the…
Book review – Mrs Pankhurt’s Purple Feather by Tessa Boase
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This is a very interesting book which I recommend highly as a challenging read. The author takes us back over a century to Victorian and Edwardian London where in nasty little workshops the women working in the millinery trade produced the hats to adorn the heads of rich women – many of these hats…
Tim Melling – Common Sandpiper
Tim writes: Common Sandpipers are quite unusual among British waders as they are almost entirely summer breeding visitors from sub-Saharan Africa. Most of Britain’s wading birds are winter visitors although quite a few also breed in Britain. The “kitty-needy-kitty-needy” flight call of the Common Sandpiper heralds the arrival of spring close to where I…
An Unreliable End to Birdwatching by Paul Thomas
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Paul is having a break from producing cartoons to coincide with my ‘blog sabbatical’. He seems to be working on a book. It’s been good to have him here for so many weeks using this audience as a testing ground. And I now have this image in my office:
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Wuthering Moors 68 – the background to an unlawful decision
How did NE get into the position of allowing an unlawful Habitats Regualtions Assessment to be done? In this blog I will explain what I think has happened. But let me repeat that it is a serious matter when the government nature conservation agency produces an unlawful Habitats Regulations Assessment – Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? …
A significant victory! – Wuthering Moors 67
Yesterday afternoon our lawyers at Leigh Day received a delayed response from Natural England on our Pre-action Protocol letter about Walshaw Moor. It contained the following important phrases: ‘Natural England accepts that in relation to ground (2), the HRA could have been clearer in certain respects. In particular, Natural England accepts that it is not…
Wuthering Moors 66 – Natural England you have lost the trust of the public
Nobody really trusts politicians these days (which personally I think is sad because there are some good ones out there) but until recently we have trusted government agencies. In nature conservation, in the olden days, some of the greatest nature conservationists of their time, of any time, worked in and led the statutory agencies –…
Amazing support – thank you! (Wuthering Moors 65)
The crowdfunder to support legal action against Natural England‘s failure to protect Walshaw Moor launched yesterday at 1pm – by 10pm it had already reached the first target of £5000. I’m so relieved and so grateful. This means that we can move forward with confidence and that I am not left with a big debt!…