I did break the habit of a lifetime and bought The ST yesterday because I had been told it was full of jokes – and it was! As I flicked through it I couldn’t help but notice that there were about ( I stress ‘about’ – my eyes did begin to glaze over) 150 blokes…
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
This blog has Klout
June was quite a busy month for this blog what with all that stuff about Hen Harriers and grouse moors and the ever-growing number of signatures on this e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting in England. However, it was the two blogs about Simon Barnes’s imminent departure from The Times that caused the biggest stir…
Two weeks until publication
Comments Off on Two weeks until publication
Just a brief reminder that A Message from Martha is published two weeks today. To order in advance of publication, and get this book as soon as possible, then click here.
Purrrrring with pleasure
I’m pleased to tell you that I have seen Turtle Dove in Northamptonshire this year. It was only just in Northants but it was a Turtle Dove. When I did a bird survey for my favourite local farmer, many years ago, I was delighted to find that there was a Turtle Dove purrrrrring on his…
Let’s be reasonable.
I don’t know how often readers of this blog go back a few days and read the comments that continue to accrue on earlier posts. And I don’t know whether I would recommend it either – sometimes a late post is the best of the lot, but not always. So, I have little idea how…
Four butterfly moments
Number 1: I spent five minutes in the garden, looking at my ‘meadow’ and ended up looking at a Meadow Brown (so it must be a meadow, mustn’t it?). Aren’t butterflies lovely? But wouldn’t they look quite ugly if they didn’t have such amazing wings? Have you ever looked at a butterfly’s face and body? …
BB
As a boy, I loved the books of Denys Watkins-Pitchford (who signed off his writing as ‘BB’ after the size of shot used for shooting geese) so when I saw that there was a small exhibition of his ‘Life and Works’ at Lamport Hall, across the road from where he had lived as a boy…
Talking to the deaf
Last week the RSPB wrote to the Moorland Association thus; Amanda Anderson Director The Moorland Association 16 Castle Park Lancaster LA1 1YG Dear Ms Anderson The RSPB has always sought to work with the sport shooting community to create grouse moors that are environmentally sustainable and provide a safe home for birds of prey and…
Quite funny really
I don’t quite know what to make of the report concerning the BBC’s impartiality in reporting on rural affairs. Maybe you should read it for yourself and see how many times it makes you laugh. It made me chuckle quite a lot. Apparently the RSPB get a lot of air time because they are good…
Hen Harrier day update
Hen Harrier Day – 10 August 2014 – is an opportunity for the public to express their concern over the widespread, illegal killing of Hen Harriers. Action is being planned for five localities in the north of England for that day: the Forest of Bowland, Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire and the Peak District. This is the…