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My latest Guardian Country Diary described my search for the UK's largest slug - the ash-black slug, reputed to be the world's largest land slug. To read click here.
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I was chuffed to learn that my close-up photo of a rather bizarre looking moth, called the canary-shouldered thorn, was chosen by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee to illustrate its 2021 report on Biodiversity & Ecosystems.
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My June 2021 Guardian Country Diary was probably the most significant I have written, revealing that ring ouzels - mountain blackbirds - have not bred on Dartmoor this spring/summer for the first time. Given that I have helped monitor nesting pairs for the last decade, it is certainly depressing to witness their gradual local extinction in the national park, their last outpost in southern England. While there is always hope, things certainly look bleak. To read click here.
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Delighted to have made the National Poetry Prize longlist in the National Poetry Competition 2020 run by the Poetry Society, which attracted more than 18,100 entries, with results announced in March 2021. My poem was a tongue-in-cheek re-imagining of a typical ode to moorland using the modern day language of environmentalism. No joyful flowers and inspiring skylarks, instead carbon sequestration and keystone species etc. A necessity from a conservation and campaigning point of view, but perhaps we have lost something along the way...
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A surprise sighting of a dipper in an urban setting beneath the A38, on the outskirts of Plymouth, was my March 2021 Guardian Country Diary, with a piece on curious pond caddisfliy larvae in April. To read click here.
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Over recent months I have written a weekly series of nature features for the regional daily newspapers the Western Morning News and Western Daily Press, covering everything from spawning salmon and urban wildlife to rare moths, birds and bats. Click on images to view more closely.
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A strange parasitic plant called dodder was the subject of my Guardian Country Diary in August 2020, followed by a search for harvest mouse nests in September and choughs in December. To read, click here.
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Finding grayling butterflies on Dartmoor was my Guardian Country Diary for July 2020, with nest building wasps in May. To read click here.
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My series on wildlife, featuring a range of common and widespread species, ran during spring/summer 2020 in the Western Morning News. Features included bird groups, such as finches, birds of open skies, birds of prey and seabirds, followed by a guide to our better-known types of butterfly, ranging from the striking and colourful 'aristocrats' to the browns, whites and smaller species. The series covered common and widespread moths, including day-flying moths, spectacular species and masters of disguise, as well as dragonflies, beetles and bumblebees, before turning to reptiles, amphibians and finally mammals, small and large, including commonly confused species.
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My latest Guardian Country Diary pieces in 2020 describe encounters with great diving beetles and a friendly garden robin that became tame enough to feed from the hand (to read click here).
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Finding evidence of dormice in a west Devon wood in December 2019 and a Dartmoor walk accompanied by meadow pipits were my latest Guardian Country Diary pieces (read here). |
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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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Recent features in the Western Morning News have included the return of bluefin tuna to South West waters, a pine marten sighting in Devon, adders on Dartmoor, the departure of cuckoos, and work to save rare moorland bats and insects. In spring 2020 I ran a series of features with readers' wildlife sightings during the coronavirus lockdown, along with other articles on conservation, threatened species, local animal names, garden wildlife and spring bird song.
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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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Got the chance to chat with BBC Radio Devon presenter David Fitzgerald all about birds and the new book on his morning show.
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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 findings of the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch, the world's largest wildlife survey, is the subject of my feature in the Spring 2018 edition of RSPB's Nature's Home magazine, making the cover story and seven pages inside.
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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 conservation work of individuals and organisations behind national State of Nature reports was the topic of my five-page feature in the Autumn 2017 edition of the RSPB's Nature's Home magazine.
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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. |
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My feature for the RSPB on Priority Species was a lead article in the winter 2016 edition of Nature's Home magazine
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National Geographic included a photo taken on my trip with the Manx Basking Shark Watch team, tagging a shark off the Isle of Man, in its book for children: Mission Shark Rescue.
My next Bloomsbury book, an RSPB title, is due for publication in spring 2018. |
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The paperback edition of Few And Far Between was chosen as a Daily Mail 'Must Read' in April, and also featured in the Western Morning News and the World Travel Guide top ten April reads
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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). |
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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. |
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A double-page feature on While Flocks Last by Simon Parker made the Saturday Westcountry Life section in the Western Morning News, and Plymouth Waterstones branches also stocked up on a few copies in the run-up to Christmas. |
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Well worth the drive to give a talk at the North West Bird Watching Festival, November 21, at WWT Martin Mere Wetland Centre - with time to enjoy the reserve's great birdlife
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It has been a few years since I last gave a talk at the Appledore Book Festival, but it was as excellent as ever, with a great audience and a book signing session afterwards.
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Enjoyed giving a talk on my Few And Far Between travels to a good crowd in a wonderful gallery setting at the Plymouth Museum as part of its Lunchtime Talks series.
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A feature describing my trip to find dormice on the Isle of Wight appeared in the September edition of BBC Countryfile magazine, covering five pages and including photos from the visit.
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Had a great day at the popular Birdfair event in Rutland on August 22, giving a talk, signing a few copies of Few And Far Between and meeting up with the Bloomsbury team and conservation contacts who helped on my wildlife travels.
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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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Enjoyed an excellent day at the Telegraph Way With Words book festival at Dartington, with a talk to a great audience in The Barn and book signing session.
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Delighted to get the cover story in the July edition of BBC Wildlife magazine on wildlife predictions for 2050, with ten pages of coverage inside.
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Extracts from Few And Far Between were printed weekly throughout July as the Saturday centre page spread in South West daily regional paper the Western Morning News. The serialised sections described my searches for Scottish wildcat, endangered European eel, dormouse and golden oriole.
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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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Few And Far Between was picked as Book of the Month in the June edition of BBC Countryfile magazine, with a review (see Books page) by Environment Editor James Fair. It also featured in the academic journal Fish Biology in 2016.
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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) |
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Thanks to everyone who attended my talk on Few And Far Between at the Fowey Festival. An excellently organised event on a lovely sunny day.
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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 |
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A six-page feature on my travels in search of Britain's rarest species for my book Few And Far Between has appeared in the Spring edition of the RSPB magazine Nature's Home - really pleased it has got such good coverage, and the layout and additional photos look great.
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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. 
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