Witnessing the evening flight of hundreds of greater horseshoe bats was my latest Guardian Country Diary (read here), with autumn 2019 Western Morning News features including the invasion of non-native Pacific oysters, work to save England's last colony of narrow-headed ants, finding the Westcountry's rare Vigur's eyebright flower, and the need for individual action to help save biodiversity and tackle climate change.
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An after-dark visit to a Dartmoor wood in search of the rare tree-climbing, slug-eating blue ground beetle was my Guardian Country Diary in May 2019 - click here to read the piece.
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Encountering a visiting flock of golden plover on west Dartmoor was the subject of my Guardian Country Diary in February. Click here to read.
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A search for the tiny eggs of the scarce brown hairstreak butterfly near Exeter made for a fascinating morning with Devon Wildlife Trust and was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in January 2019. Click here to read.
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A sighting of a scarce winter visitor - a black redstart - in Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth, was the subject of my December 2018 Guardian Country Diary. Click here to read.
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New species discovered on 2018 citizen science Borneo expedition included a semi-slug (left) - a kind of slug with a vestigial shell - found by turning over leaves on a rainforest night walk, and a colourful type of sticky frog (right) on a mountain trek, which experts have been unable to identify from photographs and is likely new to science.
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Delighted to be among those named on an Oxford University Press scientific paper after our group of citizen scientists discovered a new species this year - the first semi-slug of its kind in Borneo since the 1890s, on a pioneering expedition with Taxon Expeditions and DNA barcoded in the field. Scientific paper in the Journal of Molluscan Studies (introduction here).
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A trip to view rare and endangered freshwater pearl mussels in Devon's River Torridge was the subject of my October 2018 Guardian Country Diary, click here to view, and also featured in the Western Morning News
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A marine wildlife watching trip off Cornwall, which included close encounters with a minke whale and rare ocean sunfish, made for a July Guardian travel feature with photos. Click here to read.
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Fleeting glimpses of rare grey long-eared bats was the topic of my June 2018 Guardian Country Diary here.
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A project to save England's last remaining population of a rare species of wood ant was my Guardian Country Diary in February (click here to read). Bird Watching magazine's March edition and Birdwatch magazine's April edition included a review of The Everyday Guide To British Birds (see Books page).
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My Guardian Country Diary for January 2018 describes an encounter with a scarce hawfinch in a Devon wood (click here to read). This month also saw the release of my new book The Everyday Guide To British Birds, a Bloomsbury/RSPB title for birdwatching beginners and nature enthusiasts. My blog for Bloomsbury on enjoying everyday birds is here.
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The Plymouth pear, one of Britain's rarest trees with one located behind Derriford Hospital, was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in October. To read, and link to other diary features listed on my Guardian page, click here.
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The violet oil beetle was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in May here. The cover for my forthcoming book The Everyday Guide To British Birds has also been finalised. An RSPB/Bloomsbury title, it is due out on sale in early 2018, with the Amazon link here, Bloomsbury link here, and Waterstones link here.
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An adder encounter featured as my Guardian Country Diary piece in April with photos - visit the page here.
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A surprise hare sighting on a Dartmoor lane at night was the topic of my first Guardian Country Diary in February 2017, which can be read here. |
Few And Far Between was included in The Guardian list of Best Nature Books of 2015, and described as 'entertaining' by Stephen Moss. Also great to get positive feedback from naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham and leading conservationist and Wildlife Trusts president Tony Juniper (see 'Books' quotes). |
The new UK Birds of Conservation Concern 'red list' was published in December - up once again since my While Flocks Last travels and now totalling more than a quarter of British birds. My piece for the Western Morning News on the worrying declines can be read by clicking here.
Few And Far Between made the Christmas Books selection in the Daily Mail. |
The Autumn edition of RSPB magazine Nature's Home included Few And Far Between among its pick of the new nature books, and a Bloomsbury quarter-page advert. Also pleased to get positive reviews from conservation charities such as Buglife and Froglife, as well as various online book bloggers, and a feature in the Countryside Management Association's Ranger magazine.
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A couple of chance wildlife encounters led to articles in The Herald in Plymouth and South West regional daily newspaper the Western Morning News - and even a live drive-time interview on BBC Radio Devon. The first was a huge, scarce Tanner beetle which crash- landed in the garden at dusk. The second, a white red deer spotted with its mother near Dartmoor.
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Pleased to get a good review in the Times Literary Supplement, July 31, by literary editor and consultant Janette Currie, who described Few And Far Between as "an engaging, thoroughly researched and informative study of contemporary conservation".
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My review of former RSPB conservation director Mark Avery's Bloomsbury book Inglorious, on banning grouse shooting, appeared in BBC Wildlife magazine's August edition.
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A summary piece on my wildlife travels, angled on summer species, was the mid-June 'Big Read' feature in The Independent, spanning three pages. The article was posted as the top home page story on the paper's website. To read in full click here. |
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Really pleased with this very generous full page review in the Daily Mail, May 22, by writer, broadcaster and columnist Bel Mooney. 'A terrific book that's very easy to love... his adventures are as strange and engaging as the wonderful creatures he sees... this delightful book is a triumph.' (Click here to read in full) |
Delighted my article on why out of sight
shouldn't mean out of mind for our 'invisible' species has been published by the Guardian online. The piece, which made the top ten most popular environment stories and was shared over 1,000 times, was angled on a tiny rare spider (left) that lives at Radford Quarry, near Plymouth. Click here to read in full |
Few And Far Between has been featured in The Herald, Western Morning News and North London's Ham&High, among other local publications, and on a number of BBC regional radio stations, including BBC Scotland, Jersey, Wiltshire, Sheffield, Devon Berkshire and Cumbria, following ten back-to-back live interviews.
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Here is a small selection of photos from my travels around Britain for Few And Far Between. They include encountering a common skate, accompanying the BBC Coast crew in the Hebrides, joining a puffin ringing session, sunset at Lakenheath Fen, handling a smooth snake, getting a close-up view of a corncrake, the remote Shiant isles off Scotland and, below, Loch Garten in the Cairngorms. |