One of the most exciting developments of recent years has been the ability to track birds with satellite tags – and the technology allows smaller and smaller birds to be tagged all the time. One of the most exciting current examples is that of cuckoos being tracked by the BTO as they make their way to…?…
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
Film it then forget it?
The BBC has confirmed its intention to close the BBC Wildlife Fund. Chief axe-man, George Entwistle, appears unbending to the arguments of those who point out that this move will not save the BBC appreciable money – it will simply cost nature conservation appreciable money. In its first week, 7000 people signed the petition appealing…
Talking naturally
I really enjoyed being interviewed by Charlie Moores in the garden of a Luton pub, and I really enjoyed listening to the interview again now it is online. We discussed farmers, grouse moors, the BTO, how I got into the RSPB and how I got out of it and I was asked to disclose the identity of…
3.6 million reds under the bed!
I’m sure we all share the sentiments of Bob Neill, the CLG Minister, who attacked the National Trust for being a den of lefties. It has long been a worry to me that the National Trust has been such an anarchic and, frankly, revolutionary body, always championing underdogs, speaking out loudly on environmental issues and…
Raptor haters – an update
A reader of this blog contacted the Chair of the National Trust, Sir Simon Jenkins, over his apparent views on raptors as referred to in my blog on 9 July. And having been in contact with Sir Simon myself he writes ‘The piece was written before I had any link to the National Trust and certainly now…
Mad Max again
Good to see that the RSPB has had a response to Max Hastings’s article of last week published in the Financial Times, a rather moderately worded response given the poor nature of the original article. It is always a bit of a lottery whether newspapers publish responses or not. It’s frustrating if errors go unchallenged…
Reach for the round up!
Sparrow Survival, a wholly mythical NGO, reacted calmly to the news revealed in the erudite Sun ‘newspaper’ that one whole blue tit was eaten by a carnivorous plant, with the following statement: ‘We love plants but they’ll all have to die. This is proof-positive that plants are the cause of all songbird declines and they’ll just…
A slightly dull report
Yesterday’s blog considered an interesting report by gamekeepers about the state of the countryside and today’s blog is about a slightly dull report by the BTO, RSPB and the JNCC about the state of breeding bird populations in the countryside. Yesterday’s report was based on a questionnaire survey whereas this one is based on tens…
An interesting report
At the Game Fair – I said those couple of days could keep this blog going for ages – I picked up a report by the National Gamekeepers Organisation considering the state of nature on commercial shoots. It’s an interesting read. With the snappy title ‘Gamekeepers and Wildlife’ this report compiles information from a postal…
Bitter harvest?
Around where I live the combines are out in the fields working by day and into the night. It’s a bit unusual that some farmers are getting in their wheat before the end of the barley or rape harvests. The high prices of wheat mean that everything depends on a good wheat harvest and yields…