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

All change at DEFRA

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What a difference a month makes – see here for a blog about who does what in DEFRA. Out: George Eustice (the real Cincinnatus of the regime change, returning to his farm), Zac Goldsmith (keeps his Foreign Office half-job but loses his environment role, despite the DEFRA website not having caught up with this change…

Book review: Low-carbon Birding by Javier Caletrio

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  This is a welcome book, dealing, as it does, with an important issue for those of us who are birders. The structure of the book is that the editor produces two introductory chapters on the issue of climate change and the contribution of travel as it applies to birdwatching in its widest sense, and…

Sunday book review – The Horizontal Oak by Polly Pullar

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This book isn’t really a nature book though there is nature in it. It is a moving and funny autobiography of someone who is interested in wildlife and wild places as well as domestic animals and a whole range of other things. But none of that matters as it is a very good read. The…

Sunday book review – From Little Acorns…. by John D. James

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This is an account of the history of the Woodland Trust – an organisation which reaches its 50th birthday on 10 October 2022. I used to be quite sniffy about the Woodland Trust, and I think I was right  because in the past it neglected the importance of management of woodland and seemed to prioritise…