The recent debacle in the Scottish legal and conservation system over the four-year delay in doing nothing (!) over the illegal alleged killing of a Hen Harrier is a matter for Scottish legal officers and Scottish nature conservationists to sort out with the help and support of Scottish politicians. The female Hen Harrier that…
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 – Adder
Getting an Adder moving towards you takes a bit of patience as they’ll usually head for cover when humans approach. Most people photograph them early morning when they are torpid and usually coiled, while trying to warm up. I was on Thorne Moors in South Yorkshire when I came across five adders all basking in…
Sunday book review – Birds of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: an annotated checklist by Dominic Mitchell
We may be leaving the EU but we can’t turn our back on the geographic region in which ‘our’ birds sit (and fly). This book lists our birds – all 1,148 species recorded in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East (including Iran and the Arabian Peninsula). It is a phenomenal work of summary by…
Tim Melling – Crossbill
Here is a young male Crossbill with a lovely golden colour that superficially looks more like a female. You can see small patches of the adult male red colouration coming through. I see Crossbills quite frequently but they are usually high in the trees or flying over, so I was pleased to get this one…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (6) – by Paul Thomas
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Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Here is the story to which the cartoon refers.
Nature being let down by the system
I’m not entirely sure which shocks me the most – the deed itself or the inability of the conservation, political and legal systems to deal with it. The video released today by the RSPB is nearly four years old. It seems to show a Hen Harrier being flushed off the nest and shot. The RSPB…
RSPB video of Hen Harrier at Cabrach
On 10 June 2013 an RSPB nest camera filmed the following footage at a Hen Harrier nest on the Cabrach Estate in Morayshire. The only good thing about the dropping of the case after so many years (and years, and years) is that you can now see the evidence of the video footage for yourself….
RSPB press release
Alleged illegal killing of a protected hen harrier Court proceedings against a former gamekeeper, accused of shooting a protected hen harrier, have been dropped by the Crown Office, who have indicated that after considering all of the relevant material they could not use RSPB Scotland video evidence to support the prosecution in court. Since the…
I’m in Torremolinos
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It’s not often one can write that! Today is an odd day. Normal service will be renewed tomorrow. I’m going to see some Monk Parakeets today.