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

Guest blog – Bowland: crimes against nature by Eleanor Upstill-Goddard

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Eleanor is a wildlife conservationist and raptor enthusiast from Northumberland with an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management from Newcastle University. She indulges her passion for wildlife through photography and writing. Twitter: @DaisyEleanorug       We have all heard of the expression ‘to turn a blind eye’, meaning to pretend that a particular act…

Trusted Trustees (2) – Richard Benyon MP

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Richard Benyon MP is the second in this series of blogs introducing you to the trustees, chairs and patrons of wildlife and environmental charities etc. The idea is to let you know who is running or has a senior, perhaps albeit largely honorary, position in your favourite, or least favourite, charity. The trustees in this…

Tales from the Bird Fair (4)

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A now-regular attendee at the Bird Fair from the USA is John Riutta, The Well-read Naturalist, @WRNBookReview. John has agreed to be a judge (with Ian Carter and myself) of this blog’s writing competition – writing a review of George Monbiot’s Feral. And I know that John, who works with Celestron, had some interesting discussions…

So sensitive…

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Burning of what looks like a blanket bog – difficult to tell sometimes when it’s burned to a crisp – in a National Park.  Yorkshire Dales this time. Many thanks to Nick Miles for these images.              

Tales from the Bird Fair (3) and a reminder

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Two unanswered questions in the Bird Brain of Britain quiz (winner, David Lindo) at the Bird Fair on Saturday had their answers in my book Remarkable Birds – see page 174 for the name of the female Chatham Island Black Robin from which all the population is derived and page 127 for more information on…

Guest blog – New Natural Areas by Steve Jones

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  Steve Jones has worked in conservation in the UK and overseas for two decades, promoting wildlife-friendly farming and designated site conservation in the UK, and large mammal conservation in the tropics. He writes on wildlife-friendly farming, land sparing and rewilding and wrote a guest blog, England’s Serengeti, for this blog, back in January.  …

Reflections on the 2017 Bird Fair (3)

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Here are some suggestions for how the Bird Fair could help nature conservation even more than it does at the moment. Some are my ideas and others are good ideas from other people.  They come in two lists – the less contentious list and the more contentious list and, I’ll keep stressing this, they are…

Reflections on the 2017 Bird Fair (2)

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I’ll come back to using the Bird Fair for political leverage this evening – this blog is a mixture of thoughts about how it could be a little bit better for attendees. These thoughts have been derived from in-depth surveys of people in my car heading to or from the Bird Fair and a few…