Guest blog archive

Jane V. Adams

Jane is a naturalist, photographer and nature writer living in Dorset. Her work has appeared in books, anthologies and blogs for charities such as The Wildlife Trusts and the International Bee Research Association. When she’s not exploring Dorset’s lanes and countryside she can be found lying on her stomach watching insects in her garden. Jane is currently studying for an MA in Travel and Nature Writing at Bath Spa University and can be found: www.janevadams.com and on Twitter @WildlifeStuff

2021, 27 February – Mercury rising

2021, 30 January – Cause for celebration

2020, 30 December – Jackdaws

2020, 28 November – At least Nature has benefited

2020, 31 October – The Smells in Nature

2020, 26 September – Hunting for Ivy Bees

2020, 29 August – The Scabby Plant

2020, 25 July – Clutching at Straws

2020, 27 June – Stag Beetles

2020, 2 June – Wool Carder Bee

2020, 20 May – A chance encounter with a weevil

2020, 3 May – Brimming over with bees

 

Louise Bacon

Louise writes: I used to be a biochemist studying human immune system malfunction whilst being a part-time naturalist and conservationist. Then I converted to being an environmental data geek, which is what I do part of the time in a vague attempt to pay the bills I have been a birder since childhood, and am now the Cambridgeshire county bird recorder, and am also a butterfly and moth enthusiast, with an interest in several other taxon groups including lichens, ants and molluscs, and when not in front of maps or a database can usually be found in woodlands carrying out vital management work, or surveying farmland birds.

2020, 19 June – Afterwards…

2020, 29 January – Volunteeers in the conservation sector (4)

2020, 2 January – Woodland Musing (2)

2019, 23 December – Woodland Musing (1)

2019, 15 October – Reconnecting with nature through coppicing

2019, 10 October – Reconnecting with nature through foraging

2019, 23 July – Volunteeers in the conservation sector (3)

2019, 15 July – Volunteeers in the conservation sector (2)

2019, 29 January – Valuing conservtion volunteeers

2018, 14 October – The worst month

Bob Berzins

Taken with Lumia Selfie

Bob writes: I have a life long passion for the outdoors through rock climbing and fell running. A cancer scare in my thirties made me appreciate many things I simply hadn’t noticed before, from the smallest plants to the gap in the sky from a missing raptor. It’s all worth fighting for and that’s what I try to do.

2022,  27 June, Enforcement of Burning Ban

2020, 17 November Failure to assess and monitor Protected Sites

2020, 18 June, Natural England licences; a cover up? Part 2

2020, 16 June, Natural England licences; a cover up? Part 1

2019, 19 December Grouse Shooting, a Track and the Law

2019, 11 January Progress in the Peak

2018, 13 February Flood and Blanket Bog Management in the Peak

2017, 16 February More from the Peak District

2017, 13 February Peak District Paths

Ian Carter

Ian Carter has possibly written more words on this blog than anyone other than its owner. These include several book reviews, To significant series of blogs (Wild Food and A Break from Humanity) and a number of guest blogs:

2021, 9 October Blocking Motorways

2019, 11 April Hunting crimes in Devon (3)

2018, November Hunting Crimes in Devon (2)

2018, 7 August Rewilding – a step too far?

2018, 23 April Fox Hunting Crimes

2017, 22 November Conservation 21

2017, 1 August Hen Harrier Reintroduction

2015, 19 August State of Nature

filbert cobb

I’m pretty sure that filbert cobb is not the real name of this contributor.

2020, 29 October The Willow Butterfly

2018, 14 September Leopoldius

2016, 30 September Remember not to forget

2014, 25 September The Sunken Garden

Mary Colwell

Mary Colwell is an award-winning radio, TV and internet producer winning 14 awards over the last 10  years, including a Sony Gold in 2009.  She is also a radio presenter and feature writer for The Tablet.

2021, 2 March Curlew Recovery Partnership

2020, 29 May Natural History GCSE (4)

2018, 8 November Natural History GCSE (3)

2018, 24 October Natural History GCSE (2)

2016, 18 February Curlew Calls

2015, 15 January Shared Planet

2012, 23 November Natural History GCSE (1)

Derek Gow

Derek Gow is a farmer – you can see from the image opposite he is a serious farmer.

2021, 9 October Holding back the Beaver

2020, 12 May The Bureaucrats and the Beavers

2019, 3 June I must tell you something of the Beaver

2019, 4 February Winds of Change

Miles King

Miles King is Chief Executive of People Need Nature a charity working to highlight the sensory, emotional and spiritual values of nature. He has worked in nature conservation for 30 years, leading the conservation work at Plantlife, The Grasslands Trust and Buglife. He has also worked for English Nature, Natural England and as a consultant. He is co-author of Arable Plants: A Field Guide (2003), and The Nature of God’s Acre (2014).

2020, 6 November 100 acres of Bog, Heath and Grassland destroyed by tree-planting

2020, 15 June Pheasant or Pheasant’s-Eye?

2019, 28 June Farmland Tax Breaks

2017, 3 January Food for Thought

2016, 21 November Disturbing for Nature

2013, 13 November The Age of Can Do

Stephen Moss

Stephen Moss is a naturalist, author and course leader of the MA Travel & Nature Writing at Bath Spa University.

2021, 27 November Stephen Moss’s 2021 Round-up of Nature books.

2020, 13 November Stephen Moss’s 2020 Round-up of Nature books.

2019, 21 November Stephen Moss’s 2019 Round-up of Nature books.

2018, 5 December Stephen Moss’s 2018 Round-up of Nature books.

2012, 30 March National Trust Natural Childhood report.

Ian Parsons

Ian Parsons spent twenty years working as a Ranger with the Forestry Commission, where he not only worked with birds of prey and dormice, but where he developed his passion for trees. Now a freelance writer, Ian runs his own specialist bird tour company leading tours to Extremadura. For more details see www.griffonholidays.com

2021, 1 April Why so timid on Rewilding?

2020, 11 February Planting Trees (4)

2020, 30 January Planting Trees (3)

2020, 16 January Planting Trees (2)

2020, 9 January Planting Trees (1)

2020, 11 October The Climate Change Elephant

2019, 18 January Reclaiming the name

2019, 1 April Citizen Science by Olaf Lipur

2018, 18 December The worst of times or the best of times?

2018, 27 July Local tours for local people

2018, 18 July Acceptability of Wildness

2018, 12 July Feel Good Factor

2018, 14 March Whitebeam Spring

2018, 12 January A Recycled Argument

2018, 3 January Bird of the Year

2017, 18 November How red are Reds?

2017, 29 August Building for Wildlife

2017, 27 July Love Vultures – Ban Diclofenac

2017, 9 March Seeing the Wood for the Trees

2017, 13 January A Question of Importance

2016, 13 December Disturbing Conservation

2016, 15 September Tree Blindness

Alick Simmons

Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer.  He lives in Somerset.

2020, 28 December Digging holes

2019, 16 December Licensed Badger Killing; Ethical Considerations

2019, 10 July The Ethics of Animal Exploitation (4)

2019, 24 June The Ethics of Animal Exploitation (3)

2019, 17 June The Ethics of Animal Exploitation (2)

2019, 7 June The Ethics of Animal Exploitation (1)

2019, 5 March UK Guardians of Animal Welfare

 

Jonathan Wallace

After studying zoology at university Jonathan was involved in ornithological research and conservation for a number of years in France, Scotland and West Africa.  Subsequently he has spent most of his career as an environmental consultant, assisting industry in managing its environmental impacts.  Wildlife, particularly insects, remain his first love however and he is a keen butterfly and moth recorder and an active member of the North East England Branch of Butterfly Conservation.

2021, 25 March Who gives a toss?

2020, 20 December Unusual Christmas Gifts Company

2020, 25 June I wish I had swatted it

2016, 27 December What have invertebrates ever done for us?

2016, 4 July Nature Club (update) by E Truss (Senior Prefect)

2016, 17 February Nature Club by E Truss (Senior Prefect)

 

Dominic Woodfield

He is a life-long birder, a specialist in botany, habitat restoration and creation and in protected fauna including bats, herpetofauna and other species. He is also a highly experienced practitioner in Environmental Impact Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment. Most of his work is for the development sector, but he has also undertaken commissions for Natural England, the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and campaign groups. He once mounted an independent legal challenge in defence of an important site for butterflies in Bicester, Oxfordshire, which resulted in planning permission for a five-hundred unit housing development being overturned. He lives in Oxford with his partner and family.

2022, 24 June HS2 and Jones Hill Wood

2022, 18 June How a suppressed BTO report became published as a ‘joint’ BTO/NE study

2021, 1 May HS2, Natural England and Jones Hill Wood

2021, 7 April HS2 Ltd and Natural England – partners in Crime?

2021, 11 January Is it really too late to save the Scottish wildcat?

2020, 1 July The Great Divide

2019, 13 September Sorry Tony. You can’t spin this into a good news story for Natural England

2018, 24 September NE, badgers and Judgement

2018, 9 July Whither Now for State Nature Conservation