RSPB seeks top boffin

The RSPB is looking for a new Director of Science to replace Dr David Gibbons who has held the role since 1998. David is stepping down at the end of August after a distinguished scientific career as a PhD student at Cambridge (Moorhen helping behaviour), the BTO (see Gibbons et al. 1993, the Atlas before…

Natural England to get small funding boost

Natural England is to receive an extra £15m this year – that’s quite good news. There is a very witty photo of Natural England chair, Tony Juniper, looking at chicken feed in the article – priceless! And the money is going to be spent on Natural England’s core duties such as SSSI condition, the planning…

Bird song (49) – Grasshopper Warbler

If I saw this bird perched out in the open like this, my first thought would be ‘Hmm, what’s that?’ and I’d be flicking through the possibilities in my head before quite quickly getting to the right answer. I’ve rarely seen this species as well as Tim Melling photographed this one, although I’ve heard it…

All change or no change?

BASC are having elections to their Council – it’s an interesting field of candidates. Clearly I don’t get a vote and I’d be struggling to find my favourite candidates having read the statements of them all. There’s an awful lot of ‘we’ve got to fight the external enemy’ in the statements and precious little ‘we’ve…