It was a bit of a dull day when I did my first visit to one of my two Breeding Bird Survey squares – the sun came out a bit later. But an early morning stroll recording birds cannot ever be dull, can it? I was hopeful that I might add Cattle gret to 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
Today at 10:30 – Skydancer Day ’22
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Robert Gillmor – 1936 – 2022
Robert Gillmor, one of Britain’s best known and most loved wildlife artists passed away yesterday, aged 85 (birthday, 6 July). Gillmor’s work is familiar to many generations of professional and amateur naturalists – many of us grew up with it. His clear lines, tasteful composition and love of species with bold patterns make his work…
Sunday book review – Children of the Anthropocene by Bella Lack
This is a book written by an 18-year-old environmentalist – and it’s being reviewed here by a 64-year-old environmentalist. Forty-six years ago there weren’t books of this sort written by undergraduates and I’m very glad that I didn’t have one published then because I suspect that it would be an embarrassing read with the benefit…
BBC Radio 4 Today dips into the environment
I listen to the Today programme a lot – I’m awake at those hours and I’m interested in politics and current affairs. I sometimes wince at the tone and content of their environmental coverage. If this programme had the same standards of challenge and enquiry on environmental matters as it does on sometimes trvial events…
Sunday book review – In Search of One Last Song by Patrick Galbraith
This book, out of 55 I reviewed in 2022, was the title I chose as my wildlife book of the year – I recommend it highly. You can buy this book from Bookshop.org and I have set up a booklist to make that easy through this link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/MarkAvery Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org…
Guest blog – Burdens Not Gain – have we all missed a trick? by an anonymous planning ecologist
For the last 10 years I’ve been the planning ecologist for a local authority. The role of planning ecologist is little-understood by the wider public but that’s not the subject of this article. Instead, my point is about Biodiversity Net Gain and whether we have confidence the private market will deliver this public good. I…
Three years in the garden – on this date
Three years, the first of which was the glorious spring of lockdown (best), then last year’s cold drear spring (worst) and now this year (middling).
Sunday book review – Saving Eden by Kevin Corcoran
I hadn’t heard of The Gearagh until I received this book. I can be forgiven for that, perhaps, because it is in Ireland and essentially this superb site for wildlife was destroyed a few years before I was born, in the 1950s. This book describes what we lost and how we lost it. The Gearagh…
Published today – The Trespasser’s Companion by Nick Hayes
This is a follow-up to the same author’s Book of Trespass from 2020 – see review here – and just as I loved the first book I love this one too. Perhaps even more so. It’s a book with attitude, and I like that. I also agree with a great deal of it, although even…