Yesterday I made a quick visit to the poppies filling the moat of the Tower of London. Apparently yesterday the last of the 888,246 was added, to commemorate the lives of British and Colonial forces lost in the First World War. It seemed appropriate to be there on 11 November. About 200 years ago, a…
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
Guest Blog – Tactics of the raptor haters by Peter Cosgrove
Peter Cosgrove carried out the first national pearl mussel survey and wrote about pearl mussels as a Guest Blog here in October 2012. I have been watching the raptor haters’ tactics since Hen Harrier Day and I think they might have secret list of 10 do’s and 10 don’ts,…
Botham fizzles out?
I’m glad that the Mail on Sunday’s latest rant at the RSPB for being a nature conservation organisation didn’t spoil Martin Harper’s weekend. It shouldn’t have done, because Botham appears to be bonkers. But there will be some, and Martin may be one of them, who work for the RSPB and feel a bit dispirited…
Jeremy Deller – Turner Prize winner and Hen Harrier enthusiast
Last week I arranged to meet Jeremy Deller to talk about Hen Harriers. We met in London and had a coffee together. I’ve never met a Turner Prize (2004) winner before, nor someone who has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I wanted to talk to Jeremy…
The backlash begins…
Governments from across the world, including the UK, decided over the weekend that lead ammunition should be phased out urgently – for the sake of wildlife and people. Not being able to see a mouth without sticking their feet in it, BASC and the Countryside Alliance oppose this move on grounds that they don’t explain….
Hen Harrier Day 2+
If you can, then save the date of 9 December for a rally of the Westminster parliament by nature conservationists. An event, organised by the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the League Against Cruel Sports (the first time these organisations have worked together in this way?) will be held on the 9 December – the…
Good news from Quito! Twice!
Governments across the world commit to stopping lead poisoning in migratory birds As described in my earlier blogs (here and here) the inter-governmental Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) has been holding a Conference of the Parties (COP) in Quito, Ecuador this week. One of the Resolutions aimed at stopping the poisoning of migratory birds includes…
Oscar Dewhurst – Kittiwake
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Oscar writes: These Kittiwakes were nesting offshore but would come to the islands on the scrape to collect nesting material This was taken just as one was coming into land. Nikon D800, Nikon 600mm f4 AFS-II lens
Sunday book review – John Muir by Mary Colwell
This year is the centenary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and also of the death of John Muir – ‘the Scotsman who saved America’s wild places’. John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and died in California in 1914 – in between he fell in love with the USA’s wildlife and wild…
And so…
Let’s just take a step back and survey the scene. the number of Hen Harriers nesting in England over the last decade has fallen and this bird is almost extinct in England Hen Harrier Day attracted hundreds of protesters (in appalling weather) and achieved a social media reach of millions the opening of the Red…