Dear Times newspaper I don’t believe you are under any legal obligation to answer this question, but I also cannot see any reason why you should not be happy to answer it: Have you received any representations from the Peak District National Park or landowners, land managers, farmers etc in the Peak District National Park…
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
FoI Friday – 1
Dear Peak District National Park This is a request under the Freedom of Information regulations, but in any case you should be happy to answer it. Please answer the following: Did the PDNP contact The Times newspaper by email, letter or telephone concerning Simon Barnes’s articles about raptor persecution in the Peak District? I ask,…
Glad we’ve cleared that up
From Guy Smith’s Twitter feed (@essexpeasant): @bbcfarmingtoday please note that reports I mentioned on your prog of 70% of the Swedish OSR crop being destroyed by flea beetle were wrong and Now seen transcript and fully admit what I said was wrong. Apologies. Will not be repeating it again. Well done to Guy, NFU Vice-President,…
Live on BBC Radio 4 on The World at One
I’ll be talking to Martha Kearney on The World at One today – some time after 1pm (because they told me to turn up at 1pm!). It’s A Message from Martha to Martha Kearney. Publication is a week today but you can order right now.
Shooting – good for wildlife?
BBC Countryfile magazine has a poll about the good that shooting does in the countryside following the Countryfile programme last Sunday. The poll asks ‘Does the shooting industry do more good than harm to Britain’s wildlife?’. I know several people who have voted in the opposite way to that which they intended because of the…
Progress
Our e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting in England has, today, entered only its seventh week of life. Doesn’t it seem longer than that? Yesterday, just as Brazil kicked off with high hopes against Germany (did Brazil have the first kick of the match – I missed the first few minutes?) our e-petition passed 7000…
A good conference
A couple of weeks’ ago I attended a conference in Cambridge of the Cambridge Conservation Forum. It was really quite interesting, but as with many conferences, the details are fading into the mush of my mind. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good conference – I enjoyed it a lot. I’m not going to…
A message from someone…
I received an email from someone I admire and trust last week and he (for it is a he) has agreed that I can quote him as follows: Well done for stirring up on the subject of driven grouse-shooting. I have not been against this activity until recently but have substantially changed my opinion…
Katy’s diner
I’m getting very attached to the Peak District National Park. The more time I spend there, the more I’d like to spend there. Last week I drove through the western side of the park, past signposts to Wildboarclough and then past the Goyt Valley, through Buxton (the Bath of the North? Or is Bath the…
Hen Harrier Day update
The possibility of five events, across the North of England, all on Sunday 10 August, to show public outrage at the criminal killing of Hen Harriers, is being explored. The RSPB supports Hen Harrier Day but other wildlife conservation organisations have kept quiet so far. We are waiting for the county wildlife trusts, individually or…