Messi is a pseudonym. He has worked on flood risk and water level management and nature conservation in the UK and overseas, advised farmers on agri-environment schemes and, most recently, has worked on community-led, nature-based tourism development in SE Europe and SE Asia. The heat of the day was freshened somewhat by a cooling breeze…
Category: BLOGS by guest authors
Guest blog – OSME Summer Days by Richard Porter
Richard Porter worked for the RSPB for many years (1968-1999) and then for BirdLife International, particularly in the Middle East. He first went to Turkey in 1966, surveying wetlands, and that autumn (with others) counted the raptors migrating through the Bosphorus – the first comprehensive count of raptor migration at a site in the Old…
Guest blog – De-mythologising ‘country people’ and ‘Rural Sports’ by John Burton
John Burton is one of the most experienced and free-thinking of British conservationists. He was a founder and the first chief executive of the World Land Trust. John blogs here. Robin Page has long been known for his outspoken opinions, and very often, he writes quite a lot of sense. Unfortunately, he also writes…
Guest blog – Ethical hunters? by Hugh Webster
Hugh writes: I recently took a break from teaching and returned to work for the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust (on twitter @BPCTcamp) as a research coordinator, living and working in the bush on the edge of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, having completed the field work for my PhD at the same field site between…
Guest blog by Scotland: the Big Picture
The Red Squirrel: A Future in the Forest SCOTLAND: The Big Picture is a team of media professionals – photographers, filmmakers, writers and designers – fusing ecological science with visual storytelling to amplify the case for a wilder Scotland. Though undoubtedly spectacular, Scotland is an ecological shadow of its former self. Its turbulent past has…
Guest blog – Badger culling: time to work together? by Prof Rosie Woodroffe
Rosie Woodroffe is an ecologist and former member of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB, which advised government on TB control for 10 years. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Zoological Society of London and a Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. She is on Twitter at @rosiewoodroffe. Badger culling: time to…
Guest blog – A GCSE in Natural History? by Chris Baker
Chris is a science teacher of nine years and a former country park ranger. He began his teaching career in London before taking up posts at British schools in Vietnam and China. He is a Biology specialist and currently Head of Science at the British School Bucharest. An online petition calling for the…
Guest blog – Defending our Birds by BirdLife Malta
Each springtime as birds begin their migration north from their wintering grounds in Africa, BirdLife Malta starts to rally together volunteers from across Europe to participate in Spring Watch, a conservation camp working to monitor migration and tackle wildlife crime. Situated along one of the main migratory routes, Malta provides an ideal spot for birds…
Guest blog – Seeing the wood for the trees by 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 This is…
Guest blog – 15 miles of What?! Where? 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. Arriving at the Gwent Levels after travelling south through upland Wales it’s the intensity of the light and the sense of big skies that hits…