I’m keeping a note of whether I see Red Kites on each day through the year – in April the tally was 20 days out of 30. The grotty weather and spending a few days in London are probably the reason for the lower strike rate in April than in other months. January: 22 days…
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
Fighting for Birds – signed copies
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I have a few hardback copies of Fighting for Birds available for the bargain price of £10 (which includes postage, packing, my signature and a dedication to whomsoever you want). Published in 2012, Fighting for Birds is an account of nature conservation issues and topics based on my experience of working for the RSPB…
Save an albatross and a turtle?
Hookpod Ltd PRESS RELEASE Sir David Attenborough backs UK Innovation to save albatrosses and turtles Globally, an albatross dies on a fishing hook every 5 minutes. Six out of seven marine turtles are threatened with extinction. Thanks to a clever design by UK company Hookpod, there’s now a proven answer. The Hookpod is small in…
Petitions update 30 April
Not much to say about this because nothing much is happening.
My first House Martin
I like House Martins. Yesterday at Stanwick Lakes I was wearing a T-shirt (Hen Harrier Day 2014 if you really want to know), shirt, fleece and my Barbour but I wasn’t warm in the cold NE wind. However, there were 2 Common Sandpipers and my first LRP of the year so it felt as though…
Guest blog – Save Mortimer Forest by Nigel Rowley
Nigel Rowley is a founder member of the Save Mortimer Forest campaign which was started earlier this year when the public became aware of proposals by the Forestry Commission and Forest Holidays to build a large holiday complex in Mortimer Forest. Twitter: @MortimerForest Mortimer Forest, near Ludlow, on the border of Herefordshire and Shropshire, a…
Paul Leyland – Dandelions and hoverflies
Paul writes: Recently Mark wrote about the beauty of dandelions and I fully agree with him. As well as brightening up the dullest grass verge or lawn they are great for attracting insects. They are an ideal nectar source for lots of the early hoverflies that are beginning to appear. I found half a dozen…
Wild food (32) – Golden Saxifrage by Ian Carter
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There are two similar species of Golden Saxifrage known as ‘opposite-leaved’ and ‘alternate-leaved’, the names helpfully highlighting their main distinguishing feature. This one is opposite-leaved and it is very common locally, forming a low, dense carpet in patches of woodland with heavy, waterlogged soils. It acts as a handy warning that you risk a…
Sunday book review – The Wonderful Mr Willughby by Tim Birkhead
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Reviewed by Ian Carter This is a book I probably wouldn’t have read had I not been asked to review it. The name Willughby was not a familiar one – other than a vague notion that he, and his close associate John Ray, had something to do with birds a very long time ago….
Tim Melling – Red Panda (2)
Tim writes: Photographs of Red Pandas in the wild are so rare I have decided to post a second photograph. This one was high in a Berry tree, realising it was a little exposed as they normally feed on bamboo, so spend their time deep in bamboo thickets. They venture out in the autumn,…