I’ve never been to the North West Birdwatching Festival before and I’m looking forward to it. I’m giving a talk in the middle of the day which will start with Passenger Pigeons and end with Hen Harriers. But I am also looking forward to seeing a few birds – there will be birds won’t there?…
Category: AUTHOR: Reflections, Inglorious, Message from Martha, Remarkable Birds etc
Not tied up in Notts
I spoke at a BTO regional meeting in Nottinghamshire on Sunday, but so did many other people and I enjoy learning new things and being reminded of old things. Chas Holt gave an excellent talk about WeBS (that’s WeBS not Webs, WEBS, WEbs or any other combination!). Have you looked at the excellent WeBS online…
Broadcast on Passenger Pigeons
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This is a good science programme – from Canada – Quirks and Quarks. I guess I was a quirk. Have a listen to the last 10 minutes of the programme to hear me (although the whole show is interesting) talking about Passenger Pigeons, and remember, A Message from Martha would make a good Christmas present…
A really lovely review for A Message from Martha
A review of A Message from Martha in the Guardian. This book has had mostly good reviews, and some very good reviews, and a couple of stinkers. Obviously, as an author one tries to believe the good reviews and tries to dismiss the bad ones, but the bad ones tend to stick in one’s mind…
A few things
Here are a few things in brief: the farmland bird index declined in 2013 (as predicted here) – and to their lowest level ever. You are living in a country with fewer farmland birds than at any time in your life. Doesn’t it make you feel good? I’ll blog in more detail on this next…
Visit to Aberdeen
It was great fun talking to a packed lecture theatre in the Zoology Department in Aberdeen about Passenger Pigeons and Hen Harriers on Tuesday evening. We also all had the opportunity to look at a stuffed Passenger Pigeon in the adjacent museum – which I always find is a rather poignant experience. I was talking…
Guest blog – What Martha Means to Me by Emma Websdale
Emma Websdale is a Conservation Biologist and Writer. Working as the Communications Support Officer for The Wildlife Trusts, she is particularly motivated in engaging younger audiences, helping them make sure that nature doesn’t drop off their agenda. I sit on a train that’s heading to London, September’s issue of BBC Wildlife in my hands….
Disease implicated as a cause of Turtle Dove decline – a bit.
The Turtle Dove is a lovely bird but is declining dramatically in the UK but also in many other parts of Europe. Although one of the more dramatic problems it faces is being shot by hunters on migration, particularly unsportingly (and illegally) on spring migration, this has never seemed to me to be likely to…
A century and a week
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I am grateful to Seppo Leinonen (@sepponet on Twitter; seppopost@seppo.net by email; www.seppo.net/e/ website) for this beautiful cartoon. It’s a century and a week since Martha died in Cincinnati Zoo and the most numerous bird on the planet was driven to extinction.
A couple of recent reviews
I’m sorry – I just haven’t had time to review a book this week. It’s been a busy week in which I have given four talks and attended three ‘events’. But the reviews of A Message from Martha keep arriving. Here are two that pleased me a lot: The Independent (Michael McCarthy): ‘This book will…