It has been brought to my attention that there is a report, commissioned by Natural England, entitled Revised Disease Risk Analysis for the Conservation Translocation of the Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) to England, 2021. This report discusses, I gather, the potential for introduced Beavers to spread diseases to other Beavers, other widlife, domestic stock…
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
Sunday book review – Wildlife of Maldon by John Buchanan
If you live in or around Maldon in Essex, or you visit regularly, then you should have this book. It is well-written, well-produced and will tell you much about your local environment. You get a lot about birds in these pages but also interesting information on the changing status of mammals, invertebrates and plants (though…
Sunday book review – The Wryneck by Gerard Gorman
I haven’t seen as many Wrynecks as I wish I had and most of my sightings have been in southern Europe where they are much commoner than here, but even so they are quite difficult to encounter. My first UK record was on the beach at Minsmere in the early 1970s and as a schoolboy…
Letter to my MP – are you ashamed?
Dear Mr Pursglove, I’m ashamed of the man who is our Prime Minister. Are you? And if not, why not, please?
Did you do a BGBW last weekend?
I counted birds in my garden for an hour last Sunday – as usual. Numbers were a bit lower than usual and Chaffinch and Greenfinch didn’t turn up at all. There have been very few Greenfinches around this year and my only garden records for 2022 are a few fly-overs. House Sparrow numbers were low…
Iceland to end whaling in 2024
This is good news in that it looks as though Iceland will be crossed off the very short list of whaling countries but it isn’t particularly good news for whales as it seems to be driven by Japan being able to meet its whalemeat demand from its own whaling fleet. Still, it will mean, I…
Freedom to downgrade environmental protection?
The Brexit Freedoms Bill is announced but not yet published so we don’t exactly know what will be in it but it is one to watch (with one’s fingers crossed). In her Telegraph article the Attorney General tries to persuade us that EU laws were undemocratic despite the fact that we voted to join the…
Interesting
This article in the 4 December Guardian, by highly respected wildlife journalist Patrick Barkham, raised a few eyebrows at the time and prompted an anonymous but clearly well-informed guest blog here, Natural England and the Hen Harriers 30 December, which raised a number of points including questioning how Natural England’s Stephen Murphy could possibly know…
Sunday book review – Ants by Richard Jones
I’ve praised this series of books before (see here), and I have to do so again. They are beautifully produced with lots of wonderful photographs and other images that are superbly reproduced and laid out on the pages. When you pick up one of this series you are struck by its weight and, as you…
Sunday book review – Wild Green Wonders by Patrick Barkham
These are collected writings from the pen and keyboard of Patrick Barkham, one of our best nature writers and foremost environmental journalists. They are taken from his Guardian pieces over the last 20 years, and they make a delightful book. Patrick writes so well and sees things that others would miss. I must have read…