I’ve spent the last couple of days with the World Land Trust at the BTO HQ in Thetford (thank you! BTO). There was a meeting of partners from across the world (mostly Latin America but also Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Madagascar) and so I was seeing images of Jaguars, Orangutans and a wealth of…
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
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (54) by Paul Thomas
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Tomorrow this blog is seven years old
Tomorrow is this blog’s seventh birthday (no presents please). Over 4.8m recorded page views (and there have been a couple of significant periods when Google Analytics was not working on this site so it is probably close to 5m really), over 5,160 blog posts and over 53,400 comments. But, remember, this blog is having a…
See you there on Thursday 3 May
Liverpool, last week
I spent a few days in Liverpool last week where I added Oystercatcher to my Aintree bird list and several hundred pounds to my bank balance. I spent some great time with some close friends and it was kind of them to set it up as a birthday treat for me. But I also took…
Flowers we can pick (2) – Daisies
I recognise them – they are Daisies! These plants jostle with the Dandelions to fill my lawn – I have a slight preference for the Daisy. Plantlife says it’s OK to pick a few Daisies now and again – good for them! It’s a long time since I made a daisy-chain – it’s time…
A 2-month spring break is coming soon
It is too late in the year to be regarded as hibernation, and possibly too early to be aestivation, and vernalization means something else entirely, so I’m not sure what to call it. However, this blog will be undergoing a 2-month period of semi-torpor from 4 May – 4 July. I am travelling, coming and…
Spring comes late to east Northants
Last week I was away for four mornings but from Saturday to Wednesday I have been for my regular walk around Stanwick Lakes each morning. There have been so few birds that I have resorted to looking at plants! Like this Coltsfoot – one of the few plants I recognise (at least on a good…
Bird flu – update with some interesting developments
I’m grateful to Miles King’s Twitter feed (@MilesKing10) for pointing me in this direction – although it was on (although quite a long way down) my to-do list anyway. I’ve updated you on the cases reported by Defra of bird flu in ‘wild’ birds over the last few years, and several times this winter (most…