This blog is a transcript of a talk I gave at Birdfair 2019. Many thanks to those that requested it, and especially to the many women (and men) who contributed the thoughts and ideas that inspired its writing. At 3.45 on a July morning my phone roused me from comfortable slumber. I lay in a …
When nightingales sang
Folk singer Sam Lee is addressing a crowd seated on the lush grass of Berkley Square in the heart of Mayfair. ‘The nightingale,’ he says, ‘is the spokesperson of our hearts… and the decorator of silence.’ He’s right. I heard one just the other day, far from London, admittedly, but festooning a hawthorn thicket with …
NATURE FOR ALL: A PEOPLE’S MANIFESTO FOR WILDLIFE
Something important has happened. At least the start of something important. A few months back I got a call, from Chris Packham. We talked about the gender balance at BridFair, and on the judging panel at the Bird Photographer of the Year competition, and the damage done - the opportunities lost - by our failure …
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Brexit 6000 BC: The lost land between Britain and Europe.
While the separation of The British Isles from mainland Europe is usually measured in miles – twenty of them between the chalk siege-walls of Dover and the sandy beaches of Calais – our island status is currently dictated by the much smaller value of twenty-six metres. That’s the depth of water south of Dogger Bank, …
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A life less plastic
It started when we moved house and inherited a milkman. In addition to the pleasant early morning chime of glass on glass I soon noticed that for the first time in years, without the bulk of plastic milk bottles, our recycling box was actually able to contain everything we needed to put in it. Around …
Celebrating conservation – the ‘Green Oscars’
The Whitley Fund for Nature is a small charity that claims to punch well above its weight in terms of conservation outcomes. Last night I found out why.Swanky award ceremonies are not my natural habitat. The mere act of digging out a frock and footwear I can’t run, climb, or ford puddles in is alien. …
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Small steps
I'm fully in favour of exposing children to nature. I do my best to immerse my three-nearly-four year old son in wildlife experience at every opportunity and I've written about some of the ways it can be done, even if you don't live in a particularly wild spot (for example here). But the more I read …
Why I want the village green to be green
Some recent comments in my local Parish Council Newsletter bother me. They relate to management of the village green, and suggest that the moles that recently reappeared there need eradicating and that some of the 'thorn trees' may be removed, presumably for aesthetic reasons. There is also, apparently some interest in entering a Best Kept …
The best time to plant a tree
The best time to plant a tree, say the Woodland Trust, is 20 years ago. The next best time is now.It's mid November and overcast, breezy but not yet wintry cold. As we wander up an elongated triangle of land adjacent to the B651 between the Hertfordshire villages of Sandridge and Wheathampstead, we're well off …
Trust is earned
When you donate to a charity, you're relying on them to make your money work hard, and to use it to really make a difference for whatever the cause happens to be. In the case of the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) that cause is quite plain. They provide funds to carefully vetted research …
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