On 1 September 1914, between midday and 1 pm, in the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio, a pigeon breathed her last, and with her died her species. The pigeon was known as Martha, and the species was the Passenger Pigeon. Amongst all extinctions, this example remains unusual in two respects: the precision with which…
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 – Rebugging the Planet by Vicki Hird
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This book covers some of the same ground as last week’s reviewed book (Silent Earth by Dave Goulson) in that it is invertebrate-based, is on the side of the creepie-crawlies, explains their value to us and sets out some actions that all could take to help to make things right. This book is written in…
This was nice
Good morning Mark, Just writing to thank you for the excellent ‘A message from Martha‘ which I have just finished reading this morning (I know it’s been around a while – I’ve been busy!). I’ve never been particularly excited by pigeons – especially dead ones- but I was stirred to read your book partly by…
Sunday book review – Silent Earth by Dave Goulson
This is a very good book by an expert. For those of us whose knowledge and understanding of the natural world is highly slanted towards feathered vertebrates this book helps to put things in perspective. The argument is that we need insects, and if we don’t look after them there will be consequences for us….
Grouse shooting in the shared policy programme for the Scottish government
The draft shared policy document that forms the basis for a political alliance between the SNP and Scottish Green Party runs to a concise 51 pages. The document has six sections , two of which relate to the climate emergency and Scotland’s natural environment. It is good to see these alongside consideration of Scotland’s place…
Would you like glyphosate with that?
I’ve visited the Kettering Starbucks a couple of time in the last two months as it’s a pleasanter place to hang around, if one has to, than the Kettering Hospital car park. On my first visit there was a guy cutting the grass with whom I got into conversation as I drank my coffee outside….
Sunday book review – Goshawk Summer by James Aldred
I don’t see many Goshawks, and so I was interested to read about film cameraman James Aldred’s experiences filming this species for much of the spring and summer of 2020. Spending so much time with this bird would make it ‘a season unlike any other’ for most of us but it was also a season…
Inglorious – no sparkle here
Driven grouse shooting still exists but it is beleaguered. It’s good to think of how far we have come in just a few years. It is a worthless hobby and its proponents have no answers to the charges against it except to ignore them. If driven grouse shooting hadn’t been invented c170 years ago then…
Black-browed Albatross – by Brian Leecy
There’s something about albatrosses – they are big, they are ocean wanderers and when they turn up in UK waters they are a bit lost! This bird has been around for a few weeks now and is sometimes seen at the RSPB nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire. I know a few people who’ve made…
Yesterday’s Hen Harrier Day broadcast
Yesterday’s Wild Justice Hen Harrier Day broadcast was watched by well over a thousand people and that will have included quite a few readers of this blog – but also many people new to the issues of land management in the uplands and the persecution of protected wildlife. You can catch up with the broadcast…