Paul Sterry has an academic background in freshwater biology and is a passionate conservationist. He has been writing about natural history and photographing wildlife for the last 40 years, with an emphasis on the British scene. He now has a string of beautifully illustrated guest blogs here. Wildflower Verge or Colourful Eyesore? I don’t regard…
Category: BLOGS by guest authors
Guest blog – Volunteers in the conservation sector (2) by Louise Bacon
Volunteers in the conservation sector: Part 2, Building expertise Over the past few years, whilst working within the conservation charity sector as an environmental data specialist, recorder and amateur naturalist, I have attended several seminars/one day conferences etc. asking the question ‘where do we get our next generation of experts from?’. None of those events…
Guest blog – The Ethics of Animal Exploitation part 4 by Alick Simmons
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. After a period in private practice, he followed a 35-year career as a Government veterinarian, latterly as the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. Alick’s lifelong passion is wildlife; he volunteers for the RSPB and NE in Somerset, is chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare,…
Guest blog – Ragwort: friend or foe? by Paul Sterry
The other day a neighbour knocked on my door and asked if I knew I had ragwort growing in my garden and what I was going to do about it. My replies were ‘yes’ and ‘nothing’ in that order, to which he responded in a slightly tongue-in-cheek tone that it was a ‘notifiable’ weed and…
Guest blog – Hookpod by Paul Sterry
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. Bird Photographer of the Year and Hookpod by Paul Sterry As naturalists, photographers and conservationists, the Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) team sees firsthand the mounting pressures on bird populations around the World. If bird photography is going to thrive and not become metaphorically speaking a dying art we must all do our…
Guest blog – The (new) M4 is no more! by Ian Rappel
Ian Rappel is a conservationist and activist of 25 years. He’s currently Chief Executive for Gwent Wildlife Trust, and lives in Talgarth on the northern fringes of the Black Mountains. In March 2017 he wrote a guest blog here entitled ‘15 miles of What?! Where?‘ This might sound like a strange recommendation at first, but…
Guest blog – The Time is Now by Patrick Killoran
Patrick works for Green Alliance as the policy assistant for the Greener UK Unit. Greener UK is a group of 14 major environmental organisations, with a combined public membership of over 8 million, united in the belief that leaving the EU is a pivotal moment to restore and enhance the UK’s environment. He holds an…
Guest blog – The Ethics of Animal Exploitation part 3 by Alick Simmons
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. After a period in private practice, he followed a 35-year career as a Government veterinarian, latterly as the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. Alick’s lifelong passion is wildlife; he volunteers for the RSPB and NE in Somerset, is chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare,…
Guest blog – Dewilding Basingstoke by Paul Sterry
Dewilding Basingstoke One thing leads to another. This all harks back to the saga of Basingstoke’s beleaguered Common Toads, a story that not only continues but also evolves. So as summer approaches, and all those young toadlets leave their breeding ponds, perhaps an alternative title for this blog might be ‘Toad Rage – metamorphosis’. To…
Guest blog – The Ethics of Animal Exploitation part 2 by Alick Simmons
Alick Simmons is a veterinarian, naturalist and photographer. After a period in private practice, he followed a 35-year career as a Government veterinarian, latterly as the UK Government’s Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer. Alick’s lifelong passion is wildlife; he volunteers for the RSPB and NE in Somerset, is chair of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare,…