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
A round up
A few things that caught my eye: my first Sand Martins of the year were at Stanwick Lakes on Wednesday morning – it was a cold morning and I bet they wished they were back in Senegal the weather looks good for the weekend, especially Saturday, across much of the UK – butterflies, migrant birds…
Guest blog – Defending our Birds by BirdLife Malta
Each springtime as birds begin their migration north from their wintering grounds in Africa, BirdLife Malta starts to rally together volunteers from across Europe to participate in Spring Watch, a conservation camp working to monitor migration and tackle wildlife crime. Situated along one of the main migratory routes, Malta provides an ideal spot for birds…
Feral Daffodils – don’t you just…?
I have a love-hate relationship with daffodils. Our wild daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus is a native species (although even that is somewhat doubtful and disputed) whose world range stretches south from Britain to Spain and Portugal and east to Germany. It is a woodland plant that occurs in carpets that add splashes of spring yellow to…
Mine’s a pint of Hen Harrier
Get your Hen Harrier here from the excellent Bowland Brewery. And what might Prince Charles have said when necking a Hen Harrier?
GM crops
Genetic modification after Brexit is now being discussed and I’ve just listened to Princess Anne’s opinions on Farming Today. What she said wasn’t very controversial despite all the hyping by the BBC yesterday. The benefits of genetic modification were all hypothetical ones in the future rather than ones that are available now and being held…
Merlins in the Lammermuirs
In the current issue of British Birds there is a paper on a long-term study of Merlins on grouse moors in the Lammermuirs which makes an interesting read (as do many other pages in the journal). Data were collected over a span of 31 seasons (with that break in data for the Foot-and-Mouth year…
Closing the day after tomorrow
Chris Packham’s e-petition asking for a moratorium on shooting of declining waders to allow some proper research to be done on any potential impacts of shooting is entering its last couple of days. I’d love to see it gain a few more signatures before it closes, even though it has done pretty well, so if…
Bird flu update
It seems as though (touch wood!) the H5N8 bird flu outbreak across Europe is coming towards an end – at least that’s what is being said in France, arguably the country worst hit this winter. In England, Defra has a map of higher-risk and lower-risk areas which looks like it could win a prize for…
An article by me in British Birds
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British Birds kindly asked me to write one of their guest editorials and Driven grouse shooting – where next? has recently been published on their website.