The only person on the scene, missing, was the Xerces blue – almost what Bob Dylan sang. A few days after I disclosed that I was leaving the RSPB, back in January 2011, I was in Oxford for the farming conference and had a coffee in a cafe with Martin Warren, the Chief Exec of…
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
Strange collection – blog 26
I am going to see an extinct butterfly’s last home so I may not have time to write a blog tomorrow (now today), so here, as a stop-gap, is a collection of wildlife sightings and sightings of Americana that I just want to get off my chest: Amerigo Vespucci, after whom America is named, probably…
More whales – blog 25
Today was writing, whale-watching, writing, whale-watching, writing. I went on morning and evening whale-watching trips and each was excellent, each was different from the other and from my earlier trip (which seems like it was ages ago!). Taken together these two trips provided more blue whales, 2 humpback whales, lots of Risso’s dolphins, lots of…
Cute as anything – blog 24
I was still glowing with delight at seeing killer whale and blue whale yesterday when I woke today. It was quite a misty morning as I headed along California Highway 1 to Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough. Here, I’d been told, I would see the cute sea otter. And I did! I had a few…
Monterey Bay – blog 23
And now I am in Monterey, just up the road from Carmel where Clint Eastwood was mayor, and the setting for a couple of Steinbeck novels. Hello Pacific Ocean. Fisherman’s Wharf is a bunch of restaurants and gift shops that are keen to sell you fish food or hats and tea-shirts. But there are also…
Not everyone’s cup of tea – blog 22
The Holiday Motel, Los Banos, CA is not everyone’s cup of tea. It is the cheapest place I’ve stayed and for $35 a night you don’t expect much. But I don’t want much – wifi, a shower and a bed will do it. The wifi works, the shower works (I’ve washed myself and some clothes…
Sequoia and bears – blog 21
There are a lot more bears in Yosemite than there are giant sequoias – so they should be easier to find. Of course the bears can hide behind the giant sequoias in a way that the sequoias can’t hide behind the bears. I asked a very nice lady on the entrance to Yosemite where to…
Yosemite – blog 20
I take back all I thought about Nevada – I like it! Even quieter roads than Utah, looks like the Flow Country, has clownish motels and has a few birds too. As I left Nevada, with a touch of sadness, but quite quickly as it was on a long downhill straight off the White Mountain…
Nevada – Blog 19
I didn’t want to come to Nevada but I’m staying two nights in the Clown Motel in Tonopah. There are clowns everywhere – in the motel office, on the doors, on the walls and, yes probably, as guests. All I knew about Nevada was that Las Vegas was in Nevada – a rather popular but…
Utah in three parts – Blog 18
Part 1: Arches National Park is a landscape feast. It has the red cliffs of Marble Canyon, the weathered sandstone of Badlands NP and the majesty of Sion NP all rolled into one. If you think I liked it, you’re wrong – I loved it. I visited it first late yesterday afternoon and stayed until…