Who I am – Scottish with a fascination for wildlife from childhood – in lieu of formal qualifications (and not being able to flash them about!) – was on the 1990 International Youth Conservation Exchange to Hungary, was the 1993 winner of the BBC Wildlife Magazine ‘Realms of the Russian Bear’ competition and spent nearly…
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
RSPB press release
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The RSPB is today warning that vital laws that protect nature in England will be under threat in Autumn when the new Prime Minister assumes office. The warning comes as both candidates in the Conservative Party leadership contest have spoken recently of their commitment to reviewing remaining EU laws currently in English legislation. This, the RSPB…
Defra – just the job!
Which is your favourite Whitehall government department? It’s got to be Defra hasn’t it? They are the ones who are going to solve England’s environmental problems including those of our wildlife. Floods, pesticides, sewage discharges, bird/poultry flu, a new agriculture policy post CAP, wildlife crime, habitat loss and degradation, overfishing, tree diseases, non-native species and…
Always think of the land!
It’s somewhat ironic that a few weeks after the Labour Party said it was dropping its policy to renationalise water utilities the idea is gaining more currency in public debate. On Today this morning, at around 08:23, Baroness Young, a Labour peer, was asked about the idea and sounded somewhat sceptical and on PM this…
Not much interest in the Inglorious Twelfth not even in the Shooting Times
The media coverage of the Inglorious Twelfth is very muted this year. Daily Telegraph – a rambling piece as much about Pheasants and partridges as Red Grouse. At least it admits that game shooting is in crisis but says it is an ancient sport. That’s as ancient as the Victorian age as far as driven…
The eve of the Inglorious 12th
Tomorrow is the Inglorious 12th – the start of the Red Grouse shooting season. Since the first Hen Harrier Day events on 10 August 2014 in Derbyshire, Northumberland, Dorset and Northern Ireland we have come a long way, together. Driven grouse shooting is on its knees and cannot survive long. That’s partly because of the…
Gamebird releases and bird/poultry flu – an astounding risk to take
Today the RSPB calls for a moratorium on gamebird releases, because of bird/poultry flu, in an article in the Guardian. I’m interested in bird flu and in gamebirds. Thanks to Wild Justice’s activity on gamebird releases I’m quoted at the very end of the article. The quote I gave the Guardian was slightly longer than…
Letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove, First, congratulations on your promotion to Minister of State at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice. As your colleagues resigned in droves I wondered whether you would be one of the few remaining government ministers. I am writing to you about an endangered bird called the Woodcock. It’s a wading bird,…
Defra fails nature – in the big things and the little things
If Defra were a school it would be judged inadequate, would be served a notice to improve and be put in special measures. But it isn’t, so it jogs on as the government department near the bottom of the political pecking order and with few friends in government or in the real world. Defra sprung…
Bird/poultry flu on Today today
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Good to hear more about bird/poultry flu on this morning’s Today programme. ‘Patchy’ does seem to be the word, which will make any biologist’s antennae start wiggling – what is the cause of the variation? But note that the patchiness has some pretty big chasms. Gannets down by ‘up to 25% in some colonies’ –…