Day 2 – Saturday 26 March Wake up early and realise I am in Israel: Wednesday, home; Thursday, Devon; Friday, Luton; Saturday, Tel-Aviv. Tomorrow I’ll wake up in Eilat, one of the migration hotspots of the world where birds pour through from African wintering grounds to Europe and Asia. Can’t wait! Today we start fairly…
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
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
Champions of the Flyway 2016 – blog 1
Although it’s all over (all over bar the fundraising actually!), over the next few days I will be blogging ‘as-live’ on the Champions of the Flyway event I attended in Eilat Israel. ‘As live’ means I will write about each day as though it has just happened and without telling you anything about the events…
E-petition – update
While I was in Israel, our e-petition passed 11,000, 12,000 and 13,000 signatures, and then when I got back last night I watched it click over the 14,000 mark! Brilliant! Thank you everyone. At present, the leading constituency scores are as follows: Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 88 signatures – Drew Hendry MP, SNP…
At last!
Very early this morning, in a surprise announcement, the Countryside Alliance said it would stop defending the indefensible, lay down its arms, and advise its members to switch to walked up shooting. ‘We recognise that driven grouse shooting is damaging the environment in so many ways that defending it is taking up too much of…
Arctic Redpolls soar over the Negev
That was a birthday to remember yesterday. Up at 0130, out at 0205, and birding until after dark at 1940 or so. And we saw…well I’ll tell you more about this trip to Israel over the next few days. Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause of helping the Hellenic Ornithological Society combat…
Happy Birthday to my binoculars!
Today my binoculars are 40 years old! They are as good as ever, unlike their owner who is 58 years old today. Both birthday boys are doing the Champions of the Flyway bird race in Israel today. If you would like to sponsor us on our birthday then please click here to donate money to…
Fineshade Wood should be an SSSI
When they came into being, all those years ago, SSSIs were selected as representative examples of wildlife-rich habitats. There was no expectation that every qualifying site would be protected. Roll the clock on a few decades, and we can see that the SSSI notification has been very important in protecting our wildlife – hundreds of…
Oscar Dewhurst – Grizzly Bears
Comments Off on Oscar Dewhurst – Grizzly Bears
Oscar writes: This is the same bear that has been in a previous image, but was taken slightly before that one. We had stopped the car at a spot called Oxbow Bend, from where you can look out onto the Snake River. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a head just above…
Sunday book review – Devon Bird Atlas by Stella Beavan and Mike Lock
I was talking in Devon on Wednesday evening – and very nice it was too! Devon is big – big and grassy. Seen by some as a place to get through in order to cross the Tamar into Cornwall, there are reasons to stay and explore. Devon has two coasts and more coastline than most…