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

Sunday book review – Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition) by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom

Mark Comments Off on Sunday book review – Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition) by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom

An identification guide is a functional thing – it exists so that the reader (or looker) can put a name, they hope the right name, to some creature. These are not the books that one picks up to read, or re-read over the years. They are the books one takes out into the field and…

Letter to my MP

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Dear Mr Pursglove, Happy New Year! Thank you for the letter, dated 20 January from Defra which you passed on to me and I received yesterday. I am grateful to you for your efforts on my behalf. However, the letter was in response to your letter on 18 August when you forwarded my letter to…

Low Standards at Defra – I complain

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Defra Service Standards Adjudicator I wrote to my MP on 10 August last year about the failure of Defra to respond properly to a parliamentary petition. My MP, Tom Pursglove, forwarded my letter to George Eustice (then Secretary of State, Defra) on 18 August.  Yesterday, 24 January, I received a reply from Defra (from Trudy…

Guest blog – Calling it for what it is by Ian Parsons

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Ian Parsons spent twenty years as a ranger before running his own wildlife tour business. He now writes books and articles on wildlife.  He has contributed many articles to this blog (see here). His book A Vulture Landscape (reviewed here) was published by Whittles Publishing in 2020, this was followed by Seasonality in 2022 (reviewed…