This blog has touched on the subject of the drying out of Catfield Fen on four previous occasions; 30 May 2012, 22 August 2012, 10 September 2012, 30 September 2012. Whilst this blog, Standing up for Nature, has not paid much attention to Catfield Fen for nearly a year the owner of the site, Tim…
BLOG POSTS
Wuthering Moors 32
Blogs entitled ‘Wuthering Moors’ form a series of articles about the Walshaw Moor Estate and its relationship with Natural England and Defra. Defra were supposed to reply today to my complaint over their late and uncommunicative response to an FoI request. I had an email from them on Friday saying that they have now decided…
Sunday Book Review – Birds and People by Mark Cocker (photographs David Tipling)
This book arrived on Thursday and I have to admit that I have not read all the 400,000+ words, but I don’t have to, to be able to tell you that this is a fantastic book. It is a book to dip into for knowledge and pleasure. I have dipped into some of those places…
Ralph Underhill cartoon and how to cut consumption
A friend and I were chatting this week over lunch (not as portrayed above) and speculating on how big the task is to save wildlife in the UK and on the planet, and what it would take to make a real difference. We came up with three game-changing events: 1. A human…
Uncomfortable results for the RSPB
An overwhelming proportion of the respondents to the poll on this website do not approve of the planned change of the name of BIRDS magazine to ‘Nature’s Home’. The final results were 66 (12%) in favour and 497 (88%) against the change . When the poll started, the first 13 votes were ‘no’, and I…
Guest Blog – Birds of a feather? by Frances Hurst
Frances Hurst is passionate about charities (and birds). She is co-founder of Birdsong Charity Consulting, which has been helping charities work more effectively with their people for more than a decade. She is a trustee of the BTO and spent the 1990s working as the RSPB’s Marketing Director. Have you ever quit a job out…
You have been warned…
Today, until midnight, is the last chance to buy the new Bird Atlas of Britain and Ireland at a reduced price. I’m looking forward to my copy and will review it here some time – but you will definitely want your own copy because it will be a fascinating read. Click here to avail yourself…
The best read
I think Butterfly Conservation‘s magazine, wittily called ‘Butterfly‘, is the best read of all the magazines produced by wildlife NGOs. I’m not sure whether it has had a make-over because it has always been excellent, but the current issue, that has a common blue on the cover (a close up of the image used at…
What’s in a name?
I’m quite happy being called Mark. It’s nice and short, easy to say and comes from the Roman god of war – Mark was one of the three commonest male names in Ancient Rome. And seems fitting given that I was born in March too. My surname, Avery, is of uncertain origin. I had a…
Sunday Book Review – Finding birds in southeast Arizona by Tucson Audubon Society
This part of the USA has some great birding sites and some great birders. I didn’t field-test this book as I was given it when in Tucson and I had Richard Fray to show me birds so I didn’t need a book. But flicking through the pages now, it has everything that you want from…