Nick MacKinnon is a freelance teacher of Maths, English and Medieval History, and lives above Haworth, in the last inhabited house before Top Withens = Wuthering Heights. In 1992 he founded the successful Campaign to Save Radio 4 Long Wave while in plaster following a rock-climbing accident on Skye. His poem ‘The metric system’ won…
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Chris’s Evolution
Last night’s episode of evolution was very good, I thought. Covering: the need for an arse, ears, jaws and flight we got to bats. There was a brief view of Mexican Free-tailed Bats flying out from their roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge over the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, which I witnessed on 24…
Sunday book review – Protecting the Countryside by Matthew Kelly
It is CPRE’s centenary and this is the second resulting book. The first was an attempt, partially successful I thought – click here, to look forward. This is an account of the past, and is an informative and interesting, and therefore successful, one. I don’t know that much about CPRE because it hasn’t cropped up…
Sunday book review – Unwilded by Alastair Humphreys
I like Alastair Humphreys’s writing (see a review of a previous book – click here) and have signed up to some of his five newsletters (!) after reading this book and being reminded that I like his prose. The book is in three parts: The Great Disconnection (we’ve lost touch with nature); Fifteen Minutes of…
Is this the way to run the Environment Department?
The new SoS at Defra, Angela Eagle I wish Angela Eagle well in her new role as Secretary of State at Defra. She has the experience of being a junior minister in Defra and a range of other departments that will equip her for this important role. The eagle has landed. Not that most Prime…
A year of solar
These seven south-facing solar panels were installed in early July 2025 so we’ve had them, and the battery they fill when our electricity production is greater than our immediate need, for just over a year. Overnight, when there is no solar generation, we use whatever electricity is stored in our battery and then switch to…
The Evolution of Chris
It’s generally the case that the second in one of these series of wildlife documentaries is really good – and that is true of this one. You will watch the first episode to see what’s what and if you come back to the second and see something amazing then you’ll be hooked for the rest…
Book scams
I’ve written a few books and it’s lovely to get feedback on them – especially positive feedback (but negative feedback sometimes makes me smile too!). Recently there has been a wave of positive feedback and offers of help. Emails, of various sorts have arrived to tell me how brilliantly well-written are my books (so true!),…
Sunday book review – This Beautiful Country by Edward Cutler
I’ve never been to Italy despite the food and the culture, and that is partly because I was rather of the mind that it wasn’t a great place for wildlife. I think that may have been based on an overly bird-centric view of wildlife as Spain, Greece and the former Yugoslavia exert stronger pulls for…
Sunday book review – Planning for Nature by Simon Marsh
The author worked in my directorate at the RSPB for many years and so I know him and I know he knows this subject well. I didn’t know that he could write as well as he does here, though. Simon admits to being a town planner in his first words in this book and he…