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
19,000, 20,000 and 21,000
Yesterday our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting passed 19,000 signatures: today, so far, it passed 20,000 and 21,000 signatures. As I write it is the top trending e-petition on the parliament website and has amassed 1100 signatures in the last hour. Thank you to LACS for an email to their supporters (which include me!)….
Most Scots want a ban on driven grouse shooting
In a remarkable YouGov poll (carried out in mid-March) a majority of Scots indicated that they wish driven grouse shooting to be banned. A majority of Scots voters (52%) oppose driven grouse shooting compared with a mere 19% who support it. Opposition to driven grouse shooting is not a class issue but the opponents of…
Fineshade Wood should be an SSSI
Mr James Cross, Chief Executive Natural England, Foss House, Kings Pool, 1-2 Peasholme Green York YO1 7PX Dear Mr Cross We are writing to ask Natural England to consider, as a matter of urgency, the complex of woodland known as Fineshade Wood (SP99) in Northamptonshire for notification as a Site of Special Scientific Interest…
Well said Mr Watson!
I don’t know who this guy is but I rather suspect he has signed our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting – given his very well-argued and detailed evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
18,000!
The Calder Valley is the first English constituency to reach 100 signatures on our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting (highlighted in blue above). It joins Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (113 signatures) and Ross, Skye and Lochaber (110 signatures) in the ‘100 club’. Yesterday the total number of signatures passed 18,000 signatures and we…
My NGO disinvestment policy
In March, of course I was struck by the fact that LACS supported our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting but I didn’t have any spare dosh to give them after giving over £150 to the BirdLife appeal, linked to Champions of the Flyway, to support work by the Hellenic Ornithological Society to combat illegal…
Guest blog – #Think500YearsAhead by Findlay Wilde
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” Albert Einstein The EU referendum is set to take place on 23rd June. It is a chance to have a say in whether we stay in Europe or not. This decision will have an…
What nature does for Britain – quotes
I reviewed Tony Juniper’s book on ecosystem services quite a while back, but after a tweet from him yesterday supporting the questions I posed to Countryfile, I went back and checked what Tony had written about grouse moors. Page 102: ‘We’ll always be able to treat the water, it’s just that it’s very expensive’ [A…
See you at Rainham Marshes on 6 August
RSPB will be hosting a Hen Harrier Day event at their Rainham Marshes nature reserve on Saturday 6 August (time TBC) organised by Birders Against Wildlife Crime and Mark Avery. Chris Packham will be speaking. Check back on the BAWC Hen Harrier Day website for more details from mid-May and on social media #HHDay2016. The…