Last week I received this letter from a farmer and I’m grateful to him for permission to publish it here along with my reply to him. Dear Dr Avery I have read articles and letters from you from time to time particularly in Farmers Weekly. We have a small farm of about 150 acres 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
Things peregrines do
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Fight – amazing footage (look at the 15 April clip) Eat – you’ll be surprised at what it is eating
Kids stuff?
A couple of weeks ago Stephen Moss wrote a guest blog here about the National Trust report, Natural Childhood, (which he wrote) which discusses the lack of connection between children and nature. Did you read the full report – it’s well worth it if you didn’t and it is quite short. Now the National Trust…
Pieces and bits
A titanic beetle? And my earlier words on this subject. Sunnyhillboy was a whisker away from winning. I enjoyed reading this. I am writing occasional blogs for this site – but it has many good bloggers contributing too. And here is something slightly different from me on another site. I saw my first common tern…
Bits and pieces
Wuthering Moors: I’m grateful to Defra for their acknowledgement of my FOI requests – watch this space. NGOs – love ’em or hate ’em?: Over 400 of you have voted in this poll in four days. Thank you and the results so far are fascinating. I’m surprised at some of the organisations that you don’t…
Are you going out looking for nature this weekend?
Last weekend was a bit of a disappointment nature-wise so I am experiencing nature-deficit grumpiness. Most of my nature watching is within 10 miles of where I live but an occasional trip further afield adds variety now and again. Living as far from the coast, almost, as it is possible to be, a trip east…
Clockwork?
The sedge warbler has a stuttering song – it starts – it stops – it starts again – it speeds up – it slows down – it trills – it chatters – it clicks and it churrs. It sounds like a mechanical toy which has been wound up and explodes into song until it runs…
Love ’em or hate ’em
Yesterday I launched a new poll – or actually two of them – on this website through my (free) monthly newsblast. These two polls give you the opportunity to vote for your favourite and least favourite UK nature conservation organisation. Are wildlife NGOs like Marmite – you either love ’em or hate ’em? We’ll see….
Splash or soak?
Easter Monday could have been spent looking for migrant birds, spotting some spring butterflies or going to the races at Huntingdon – or all three. But the heavy rain made each an unappealing prospect. The rain fell against the window behind my back as I sat at the computer deleting emails, unfollowing people on Twitter,…
I’m going cuckoo
A cuckoo was seen, or maybe just heard, down the road from me in east Northants yesterday – brave bird! My earliest record for the last decade or so is 15 April but I’ll have to keep my eyes and ears open for sightings and hearings over the next week. There have been a few…