I was in North America when the last (and the first) State of Nature report was published but I wrote about it on my return. Last week I was at the launch of the latest version and I’ve already written about some of what went on there – but how about the report itself? It’s…
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
Chris Packham interviews me about our e-petition
We are in the last few days of our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. Every signature is valuable and you only have today, tomorrow and Tuesday to sign. How about signing now, please?
A bit of a round up
Some things that caught my eye or ear: the IUCN congress last week approved a resolution requesting countries to phase out use of lead ammunition in hunting which is a reminder that the UK as part of the EU delegation agreed a resolution to phase out lead ammunition by 2017 – another broken environmental promise…
Driven grouse shooting campaign – a timeline and how you can help
We have entered the last three days of our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. Overnight we passed another mini-milestone: at 122,399. Can you work it out? Answer at foot of page. I must mention that the Ribble Valley constituency reached 500 signatures yesterday – a tremendous achievement of community engagement. Thank you all! The…
Sunday book review – Cat Wars by Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella
I’m not a cat person; I’m not a dog person either; I’m not really a pet person at all. I prefer my animals wild and free, or cooked and on a plate. And so I enter this subject, the impacts of domesticated and feral cats on wildlife, with a slight preference for hearing that cats…
Tim Melling – Leaping Rays
Tim writes: I know they are “just” fish, but this was one of the most difficult things I have ever photographed. They are Smooth-tailed Mobula Rays that are known for their habit of leaping clean out of the water. But the problem is they give no warning so I had to react in a split…
A wonderful Green Sandpiper
Modern technology is opening up the details of bird movements in a very exciting way. A Green Sandpiper was fitted with a GPS tag at Lemsford Springs, near Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire in April this year and was recaptured there, enabling the tag to be removed, on 30 July. GPS tags collect information…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Brexit means Brexit, means…?
Goyt Valley peregrine – an update
The shooting of a young Peregrine Falcon in the Goyt Valley on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border has been well-covered by our big brother blog, Raptor Persecution UK (see here). Again – they broke the news of a raptor killing – they do that a lot. But there has been follow-up information on the BBC and in…
Hedges – a good response
That looks good to me. Thank you Mr Eustice.