Remarkable Birds has been my highest-earning book to date – at least as far as payments from publishers are concerned (I never keep track of the sales I make of books at talks etc, at least not by title). Having been published in English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian that’s probably about it although there…
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A message about A Message from Martha
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Dear Mark Apologies for the sudden email from a random stranger. However, unknown for me, I felt compelled to contact to congratulate and thank you your excellent book on the extinction the Passenger Pigeon which I’ve just finished. As a lover of the natural world ( and fascinated by extinct birds) I wouldn’t say it…
Guest blog – Cambs Bird Club Easter Monday bird race (2) by Louise Bacon
This follows yesterday’s update. Louise writes: At the end of a tough twelve hours of lock-down bird race, I thought I’d give a summary. At least 30 people participated (the data entry is online, so I dont know all the answers yet) across Cambridgeshire. The top count for 11 hours of home-based birding and an…
Guest blog – Conservation community hit hard by COVID-19 by Kristi Foster of Conservation Careers
Kristi Foster is Head of Engagement for Conservation Careers, a major careers advice centre for conservationists – helping over 200,000 conservationists across the globe achieve career success. Conservation Careers believes that all wildlife is beautiful and that it deserves great conservationists working to protect it. Conservation community hit hard by COVID-19: Why the planet’s guardians…
The Lockdown Nature-writing Challenge
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Across the world, people are experiencing a shared concern for themselves and their loved ones and many are enduring a period of social distancing and being cut off from wildlife. But, also, many are discovering nature around them in ways that are giving them delight and solace. Humankind has never had this experience before. There…
Bird song (24) – Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler
Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler are a little bit like Blackcap and Garden Warbler – not that they look like those species, or sound like those species, but that they are similar to each other in song and one (in this case the Sedge Warbler) usually gets back to the UK a good week or…
A week on…
Last week: This week: It’s still an utterly beautiful yet terrifying curve. In a week it has increased from 48,000 cases to 84,000 cases. The first case in the UK was in early February, about nine weeks ago. Exactly the same data on a log scale, a week ago: And on a log scale, now:…
Guest blog – Cambs Bird Club Easter Monday bird race by Louise Bacon
Today is Cambridgeshire Bird Club’s Easter Monday lockdown bird race. Objective, 12 hours of recording from your home, with up to one hour allowed out, on foot. Our house being not in the least competitive (2 birders – oh Ok, we are…) we have different lists and different strategies for this. I started with my…
Guest blog – My Lockdown by Paul Irving
Paul Irving is a retired scientist and ecologist. Involved in raptors and raptor protection in Northern England for over 30 years, especially Hen Harriers and Merlins. A Bird Ringer since the early seventies, other interests include just about anything to do with wildlife, photography (of wildlife), fishing, reading and Native Americans. Worked and lived in…
Paul Leyland – Tapered Drone Fly
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Social Distancing Week 4. Tapered Drone Fly. This is the most visible insect in my garden at the moment. It is a hoverfly, which mimics a drone Honey bee (Apis mellifera). The male Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax) is fiercely territorial and is busy staking out its territory. It can be heard buzzing and seen…