I really hope that this e-petition by Gavin Gamble (whom I don’t know personally) crashes through the 10,000 signatures mark very quickly and then heads rapidly past 20k, 30k, 40k, 50k, 60k, 70k, 80k, 90k and 100k signatures. It’s a long way – but it’s feasible and I’ll be promoting this e-petition as if it…
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
HH Day in Boat of Garten – the movie!
The Boat of Garten HHDay event was well worth the journey to the fairly far north – but if you couldn’t make it there then here is a short video that gives you a flavour of it. Thank you to Andrea Goddard who organised the day and to all attendees, speakers etc. This film was…
This week
This week I am giving a talk at a local (fairly local) school about being a biologist on Wednesday and talking to the Bucks Bird Club in Wendover on Thursday evening. I am meeting various friends in London on Friday and am expecting to have recovered from that experience in time to attend the RSPB’s…
Ban the burn on bogs
While I was swanning around in Yorkshire on holiday there was an important conference event held in Edale talking about the future of blanket bogs in the South Pennines (although its findings seem equally to apply to the North Pennines and other areas I guess). Interesting reports reached me of unlikely events such as plates…
Wild food (4) – Penny Buns by Ian Carter
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These delightful fungi are also known as Ceps or Porcini but I prefer Penny Buns because, well, because they look just like them, even if the price has gone up since they were first named. This is arguably the most esteemed of all the wild fungi and they fetch a high price at local markets…
Mind how you drive.
Today would be the first day of the Pheasant shooting season were it not a Sunday – so in practice it starts tomorrow. I hope you have all been driving carefully to protect the 40 million or so non-native Pheasants which have been released into the UK countryside so that c25 million of them can…
Feral review, a winner – Kerrie Gardner
This blog’s recent writing competition was to write a review of George Monbiot’s book Feral. The entries were judged by John Riutta, The Well-read Naturalist, Ian Carter and myself. Three entries were in the running for the winner (who receives a signed copy of my book Remarkable Birds) and I will publish the two highly-commended…
Tim Melling – Little Terns
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Tim writes: This is an adult Little Tern carrying a fish. I thought it was a sandeel when I took it, but the body looks too broad, more like a juvenile Herring. Little Terns are one of our rarest breeding seabirds with a British population of just 1,600 pairs, and declining. The Arctic Tern has…
Local issue – Higham Ferrers and Rushden, Northants
When I went to the local farmers’ market this morning, after a walk at Stanwick Lakes, I learned of this proposed new development (ref 17/01328/ful East Northants District Council) just to the east of the A6 near Rushden. I’ll be looking at this over the weekend – I think objections (or messages of support, of…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (27) by Paul Thomas
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