Tim O’Riordan is emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He is President of the Norfolk Branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, and co-chair of Colney Parish. The threatened Yare Valley on the western margin of Norwich The valley of the River Yare situated on the…
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
Six and a half days, seven evenings
You have six and a half days, and seven whole evenings to write your entry or entries for this blog’s writing competition. Entries are now coming in and so there will be competition to win! If you would like to win a signed copy of my new book, Remarkable Birds, then write 400-1200 words on…
Sunday book review – Badgered to Death by Dominic Dyer
I enjoyed reading this book and I strongly recommend it to you. This is a powerful and stimulating read and it’s bang up to date with the important issue it discusses. It is written by a passionate insider with years of experience. The narrative is pacey and exciting. This book arrived with me on Thursday…
Tim Melling – Agami Heron
Tim Melling: Agami Heron is one of the most beautiful and sought after species in the Neotropics. It is a rainforest species that feeds deeply shaded pools and streams so isn’t usually encountered in the wetlands where all the other herons and egrets occur. We spotted this one sitting quietly over a small woodland pool…
August – a top month
Signatures on our e-petition Can you remember how many signatures our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting had, as we entered August? 68,000. And we left August with 118,000. That’s 50,000 signatures in a month. Did I mention that we had momentum? Wasn’t that phenomenal? Hen Harrier Days, the Inglorious 12th, and the Bird Fair…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
The latest Chris Packham video – Grouse medication and hare loss
Here is the latest Chris Packham video on driven grouse shooting. Oh yes – there are more to come. Please sign the e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting which passed 119,000 signatures today. Next week we will hear when the expected parliamentary debate on this subject will take place. Here are some other…
Conservatives and Firm Briefing 12
The Conservative Party is acting, in parts, as if it is a branch of the Countryside Alliance or BASC on the issue of grouse shooting – sometimes even using their literature as Conservative policy (or referring to the not-so-talented Viscount Ridley‘s article as a basis for policy). However, I should tell you that there are…
SNP need to do their sums – Firm Briefing 11
The dire nature of the replies of SNP MPs to their constituents was highlighted in an earlier blog. There are signs that the SNP are beginning to get their head around this issue and adjust their position. Several SNP MPs have been told in no uncertain terms, some face-to-face, that they need to smarten up…
Update on signatures
The rate of acquisition of new signatures has dropped off quite a lot – understandably. Note progress in Ribble Valley – up from #17 to #12 in just a week! Here is how the constituencies with over 300 signatures stand: Calder Valley 758 High Peak 545 Ross, Skye and Lochaber 499 Bristol West 493 Inverness,…