This is a book for the intelligent and inquisitive birder – which may limit its reach somewhat – but also for students of evolutionary biology and all those who have wondered at how we have ended up, in any part of the world, with the mix of species we see today. It is a…
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
Tim Melling – Collared Crow
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Tim writes: the Collared Crow used to be common over large areas of lowland, rural China, just creeping into Vietnam. But its numbers have tumbled over the past 15 years and is now only found commonly in a few areas in its former range. Places that used to support hundreds of birds are now…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (53) by Paul Thomas
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Flowers we can pick (1) – Dandelion
Plantlife says that, provided we don’t go over the top, we can pick some of our commonest and prettiest flowers. That’s quite brave of them! I’ll cover one of the ‘Pickable 12’ each week at relevant times through the spring and summer. Let’s start with the Dandelion – and you can come pick them in…
Plantlife’s Code of Conduct for picking wild flowers
Plantlife, the charity which looks out for wild flowers, says it’s OK to pick a few common, widespread and pretty flowers. Here are eight things to remember when picking any of the 12 wild flowers on the Plantlife list. Make sure you’re not trespassing on any private land. Never pick flowers from nature reserves or…
Plantlife’s 12 pickable flowers
Plantlife, the charity which speaks up for the nation’s plants, says that it’s OK to pick these 12 common flowers (provided you don’t go beserk in the woods and fields of the UK). Can you match the names to the pictures? If not, you’d better do some research before you pick anything!
Go out and pick some flowers says Plantlife
Plantlife, the wild plant conservation charity, is telling us it’s OK to pick flowers – some flowers anyway! Good for them! I trust they will be on the Today programme this morning on Radio 4 – it would be criminal if they are not. Here is their press release and I’ll be featuring the flowers…
Nice wine, nice bird
We had a good bottle of Malbec before attending a performance by comedian Mark Steel at the Derngate Theatre in Northampton a couple of weeks ago. We didn’t just have the Malbec – we had it with Pizza etc in the nearby Pizza Express. I’ve been wondering ever since why an Argentinian wine has…
Swallows don’t make a summer at Stanwick Lakes
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Yesterday produced my first Swallow of the year at Stanwick Lakes. Spring is ticking slowly along. This Swallow was a little bit later than my earliest records but well within the range, according to my records from Birdtrack. It still feels as though spring is a bit unsprung to me though. And it certainly felt…