This joint petition, supported by over 50 environmental NGOs is not going too well – only a few more than 2000 signatures in the last week despite the support of the National Trust, WWF-UK, old Uncle Tom Cobley and all… I’ll say again that it is a marathon not a sprint, but it would be…
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 future of this blog
This blog is 9 years, 11 months and 1 day old. On 21 April it will undergo a significant downshift for at least six months. From 22 April I will not normally post any material from Monday-Friday inclusive. At weekends I will post any guest blogs that have captured my attention and I will continue…
Sunday book review – The Oak Papers by James Canton
I came across this book when it was reviewed by the incomparable John Riutta – it seems odd to learn of a book about an oak tree in Essex from a resident of Oregon, but there you go! And after my mention of it here on a Sunday I was most impressed that someone in…
Tim Melling – Rock Pipit
Comments Off on Tim Melling – Rock Pipit
Tim writes: I found this Rock Pipit at Ingbirchworth Reservoir in South Yorkshire in early October. That is at least 60 miles from the nearest coast and is 850 feet above sea level but Rock Pipits are rarely found away from the coasts where they breed. Here is the UK distribution map so you can…
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
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Press release – Scottish Rewilding Alliance
MSPs urged to back Rewilding Nation motion Momentum grows as first-ever World Rewilding Day held The Scottish Rewilding Alliance, a coalition of over 20 organisations, is calling on MSPs from all parties to support a parliamentary motion recognising the potential social, economic and environmental benefits of Scotland becoming the world’s first rewilding nation. The Alliance is…
Press release – Leigh Day
Cancellation of Oxford-Cambridge Expressway plan welcomed Wildlife campaigners have voiced their relief and delight that plans for an expressway between Oxford and Cambridge have been axed. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) had issued a legal challenge to a new corridor route with a highway and new homes between the cities. The Department…
Regrets, we have a few
You’ll remember that DEFRA said it was going to do great things on preventing burning of blanket bogs and then it did very little. Yesterday, Labour Peer, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, tabled a motion of Regret in the House of Lords to draw attention to the inadequacy of the government’s much delayed and much-caveated Statutory…
A few birds
When I make the first cup of tea of the day at around 6am we have arrived at the time of year when I don’t have to turn a light on in the kitchen to accomplish this task. Indeed, if I step outside the back door while the kettle is boiling, or pause on the…
Professional? Or professional foul?
This is an interesting report in a local newsletter. I feel that, whatever the rights and wrongs of this particular case, this is a significant issue. Carrying out weak environmental assessments for developers is a gravy train.