The news that there may be no hen harriers nesting in England this year is sad but this day, if it has come, was going to come soon. Of course, extinction in England is a bit of an odd thing as England is ‘just’ a line on a map and on other sides of that…
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
The toad that croaked
Yesterday was an anniversary – I don’t think many people noticed it. Does it matter that a small, bright, shiny toad was last seen on Earth on 15 May 1989 – does extinction matter? The golden toad was only discovered in the Monte Verde cloud forests of Costa Rica in 1966, by herpetologist Jay Savage…
Marmite revisited
Marmite – you may love it or hate it. Wildlife NGOs – you may love them or hate them. The results of the polls on this website over your favourite and least favourite wildlife NGOs produced a lot of interesting results. I guess it doesn’t really matter that much to Marmite how many people hate…
Oh oh!
I went out for a drive last week and saw a couple of red kites. They are fantastic birds aren’t they? If you remember I set myself the target of seeing red kites on 200 days of 2012 – and enjoying the moment each time. I am falling short so far – I’m heading for…
Bits and bits
Good luck to Jonny Rankin and team in seeing as many species as possible today in Norfolk. Looks like it will be a fine day and so my guess of 121 species looks on the low side. I’ll give Jonny and team £1 for every species above 121 that they see – the money goes…
Guest Blog – Big Bird Race by Jonny Rankin
About me Based in Bury St Edmunds Suffolk, I have a number of interests but I am always content to be out birding, which is usually every day walking my dog Fender. I do a lot of birding in Suffolk Breck but of course go further afield too. Firstly many thanks for the…
In my backyard
Recently the Daily Telegraph reported on windfarm developments in the county where I live – Northamptonshire. Apparently we are going to become the windfarm capital of the UK although the Telegraph only mentions 53 turbines and suggests the country (presumably England in this case) is considering applications for only 94 in total. That doesn’t sound…
Wuthering Moors 15
Defra, as Natural England, say that they need more time to answer my questions. I don’t accept that they do. But it would obviously be rather strange if after all this time, and extra time, I don’t get some very detailed and full answers to my questions.
A song for Guy
Guy Smith, NFU environment spokesperson asked for the details of species I saw on my BBS visit. I wonder why. I’ll do better than that Guy, I’ll list the species seen on my visit last Saturday and compare them with those seen on my first visit to this BBS square almost exactly seven years ago…
Poor things and real things
Did you watch Planet Earth Live on Sunday night? I did and there were some enjoyable moments in it. It seemed to be all about going ‘Awww’ at cute little mammals that were having a tough time of making their way in the world – but enough of the presenters Richard Hammond and Julia Bradbury….