Please sign Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting.
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
Good start!
Gavin Gamble’s e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting has got off to a very good start. It’s already over 6500 signatures and there are only (at the time of writing yesterday) five constituencies (out of c650) which have no signatures; three in Northern Ireland and two in London – we’ve seen this pattern before….
Two Bucks
I gave two talks in Buckinghamshire last week – one to 6th formers at Ousedale School and the other to the Bucks Bird Club – I enjoyed both. Talking to the young people about being a biologist and conservationist is one way that I can, in a small way, put something back after a long…
Objection to planning proposal
Sent to East Northants Council last night. See two previous blogs (and the well-informed comments on the second of them)(Local issue – Higham Ferrers and Rushden – Northants 30 September 2017; Not just a local issue, 5 October 2017). Today is the closing date for comments (unless ENC decide yet again to change the…
Wild food (5) – Parasols by Ian Carter
I’m normally fairly relaxed about the idea of collecting small numbers of fungi for the pot. The structures we see above ground are the fruiting bodies produced by the main mass of the fungi, safely tucked away below ground. The analogy is not perfect but it’s not too dissimilar to picking blackberries – taking a…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (28) by Paul Thomas
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RSPB AGM
If the Conservative Party wants to know how to run an event then they could ask the RSPB. I’m not sure what would count as the Leader’s speech but none of Miranda Krestovnikoff (President), Steve Ormerod (outgoing Chair) or Mike Clarke (Chief Exec) did any coughing or were handed P45s, and no letters fell out…
Tim Melling – Short-eared Owl
Tim writes: I love the eye contact in this photograph, and also that it has a moorland, not sky background. Those intense yellow eyes seem to make the owl jump right out of the picture. I took the photograph high on the Peak District moors in South Yorkshire. They nest on the ground, usually among…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Remarkable!
The Chinese language edition of Remarkable Birds – I assume my name is on the front cover somewhere but that looks like a lot of characters for MARK AVERY – so now I am curious! For an English language version try here.