Thank you to all who submitted entries for this blog’s first writing competition – there were some really good entries and five very good winners: Wildlife and Politics Kerri ni Dochartaigh Invertebrates Sue Croxford Wildlife and the Arts Ross Hunter International Wildlife Hugh Webster Under-18 category Hazel Peters But there were some excellent other…
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
Help protect nature and the EU nature laws
European Commissioners, including our new bloke (Sir Julian King), meet tomorrow to decide whether to maintain the laws that have done so much to protect nature across the European union. Help to give him a nudge in the right direction before he goes off to represent the UK’s views. Many thanks to Friends of…
Guest blog – Saving Loughs Neagh and Beg by Chris Murphy
Chris Murphy has lived in Northern Ireland since arriving on the ferry from Liverpool in 1984 as the RSPB’s first, and last, Assistant Regional Officer. Together with his German wife, Doris, he’s known to shout HALT! when special places are threatened like the Belfast Harbour Pools and the Bog Meadows – once zoned for development,…
A press release from the RSPB in Scotland
STARTS RSPB Scotland has dismissed a press release issued today by the “Gift of Grouse” campaign that attempts to draw a veil over the continued persecution of birds of prey on areas of land managed intensively for driven grouse shooting. The reports on which these assertions are based are not in the public domain, and…
Planet Earth 2 again
Next week is the last episode of Planet Earth 2 and I guess it will be about oceans – if so, then it is certain to be brilliant. And last night’s ‘grasslands’ was a very strong programme too. I’ve always wanted to see Saiga antelope and that desire (which I guess will never be realised)…
And yet, we will miss Zac
And so we say farewell to Zac Goldsmith as an MP having been well and truly trounced by the electorate of Richmond Park (turning a majority of 23,000 into a loss of 1,900). Had I been a voter in Richmond Park I would have been torn between voting for the LibDems in order to…
Writing competition – Wildlife and Politics winner, Kerri ni Dochartaigh
Kerri ní Dochartaigh grew up climbing trees, eating beans on toast, watching birds, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and making wreaths from wild flowers. She still does all of these things. She read English Lit and Classics at Trinty College Dublin and taught in Steiner Schools in Edinburgh and Bristol. She finally moved home to…
This blog’s books of the year
I have reviewed 31 books on this blog this year – three more than last year. Some of these are sent to me by publishers or authors, some I simply go out and buy. Which books you like is as personal a choice as what music you like. But for what it’s worth, here are…
Tim Melling – Scarlet Macaws
Tim writes: I photographed these wild Scarlet Macaws at Corcovado National Park at the extreme south of Costa Rica on the Pacific coast. They are enormous birds, usually fly round in pairs and show a dazzling display of red, blue and yellow. They are also extremely noisy so usually give you some warning that they…