If we ate more of what we grow we could feed another 4 billion people – which would go a long way, in the short term to deal with global food poverty. Many of these gains would be achieved in a few countries. The major gains would be from eating less meat (and more plant…
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
What they say 10:
Bob Elliot, Head of Investigations at the RSPB, is the latest to be interviewed ahead of Hen Harrier Day. His interview is available to hear on the BAWC soundcloud ‘Without doubt there is widespread illegal persecution of Hen Harriers’ ‘If someone’s intent on killing them, then the chances of us being in the right…
Breaking news…Government forgot about the general election!!!
I have just (17:19) received this email: Dear Dr Mark Avery, Unfortunately we’ve had to bring forward the closing date of your petition Ban driven grouse shooting from 28 May 2015 to 30 March 2015 The dissolution of this Parliament has now been scheduled for 30 March 2015, and it’s not possible for petitions…
This blog – 2 landmarks (of a sort)
The first post on this blog was on 21 April 2011, a few days before I left the RSPB. Today saw the 1500th blog post here, and, by chance, the 20,000th comment on that blog too. Early on, I told you what this blog would do, and I’m glad to see that I have held…
Just a Water Rail
If I hadn’t been with Lennox, I would have come home saying that I had had a nice toasted cheese sandwich but had seen just a Water Rail at Wicken Fen. As it was, because Len knows his dragonflies and damselflies, I could say that I’d seen about a quarter of the UK species. Most…
Game Fair 6: this blog, ‘overheards’ and en passant
‘Oh we all read your blog – don’t you worry‘ – a senior staff member of a pro-shooting organisation. Trimbush – was that you entering Churchills’s tent at around lunchtime on Saturday? ‘Ian Coghill out-Faraged Nigel Farage‘ – a back-handed compliment, if a compliment at all. ‘Nigerian Garage‘ – how the GWCT’s Chair was reported…
Game Fair 5 – missing my bison burger for breakfast
Of course, man cannot live by blasting birds out of the air alone. One has to eat. And although there are an awful lot of places to buy a bacon buttie at the Game Fair (including the one Indian Food stall that I spotted) other foods are available. Sloe Motion is run by a former…
Game Fair 4 – BASC, seriously nice people
I spent some time, on both Saturday and Sunday, talking to BASC people on their stand at the Game Fair. I’ve always thought that BASC was the serious and nice end of shooting with lots of wildfowlers and not many grouse shooters, and my conversations strengthened that view. They also plied me with cold drinks…
Hen Harrier Day updates
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Hen Harrier Day is now supported by RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust, the Hawk and Owl Trust, the Peak District National Park, the League Against Cruel Sports, Birdwatch magazine, Rare Bird Alert, the Welsh Ornithological Society and Quaker Concern for Animals. Thank you to all who are supporting this day. Three events are…
August Birdwatch coming soon – Stop Killing Our Harriers!
Coming through your letterbox or to a newsagent near you very soon. There is a striking editorial by Dominic Mitchell and a couple of pages on the subject of Hen Harriers by yours truly. I just hope that many newsagents put this next to The Shooting Times and The Field on the shelves. Birdwatch is…