Who was instrumental in determining the wording of the press release which described Rowan, the Hen Harrier, as ‘likely to have been shot’ when, it appears, that all involved knew that it had been shot? For new readers see Raptor Persecution UK blogs here and here, and my blogs here and here. Was it: someone…
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Travelling
I was in Dublin at the weekend and because I had the time, I travelled there by train and ferry. Instead of driving to Luton or Stansted and flying to Dublin and getting a lift or taxi to the conference venue I was dropped off in Northampton, took a train from Northampton to Milton…
Who are the Likely Lads?
Raptor Persecution UK lift the lid on a can of worms in two blogs today (here and here). It’s all about the puzzling tale of Rowan who was ‘likely to have been shot’ (see RPUK blog of 7 November, and my own of 11 November) – and now we know, as if we didn’t before…
Have you just been paid?
Several people have said to me that a crowdfunder right after Christmas is swimming against the tide, but the BAWC raptor-tagging fundraiser has already passed its first target of £10,000 in about a week. Wow! People have been really generous. Click here if you suddenly find you have some money in your bank account and…
Bird flu update
There has been another outbreak of bird flu in another turkey farm in Lincolnshire and another in another Pheasant farm in Lancashire. We are told that bird flu is widespread in wild birds across the country and yet the cases affecting farms are well and truly clumped around commercial farms in two discrete but well-separated…
Conclusions built on sand
‘We conclude that these data demonstrate that there is a low risk to honey bees from systemic residues in nectar and pollen following the use of thiamethoxam as a seed treatment on oilseed rape and maize‘ – the Syngenta study, October 2013 Most people interested in bees and neonicotinoid pesticides probably won’t read the scientific…
Guest blog – Neonic analysis by Jeremy Greenwood
Mark writes: This guest blog, by Prof Jeremy Greenwood, rounds off the story of doubts about Syngenta’s analysis of impacts of neonics on bees. Professor Jeremy Greenwood CBE, Hon DSc, CBiol, FRSB is a former Director of the British Trust for Ornithology and is an Honorary Professor attached to the Centre of Ecological and Environmental Monitoring…
Martha
Remember I had that lovely letter from Åsa the other day? Well here is the drawing that arrived in the post the other day. Isn’t that wonderful – what a lovely present! And here is the detail of Martha A Message from Martha by Mark Avery is published by Bloomsbury.
Leaving Dublin
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I’m on my way home from an excellent Irish Raptor Study Group conference, topped up by a visit to Leopardstown.
Oscar Dewhurst – Mallard
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Seeing cold weather forecast overnight, I made sure I was at Richmond Park early the next morning to try and get some images of ducks on the ice. As not all the water on the ponds was frozen, most of the ducks were concentrated in the few remaining areas of water, but I did manage…