If you liked Fighting for Birds then…

       … you’ve got an 86% chance of liking A Message from Martha.   That’s what the readers’ poll said, anyway. Of the 222 of you who read Fighting for Birds and rated it either ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ then 86% of you rated A Message from Martha as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ too.

My books aren’t just for Christmas

I know that quite a few people are hoping that they receive A Message from Martha as a Christmas present. Please don’t let them be disappointed… It was nice (for me anyway) to see that A Message from Martha was listed by Stephen Moss in the Guardian as one of the best examples of nature…

An open letter to the RSPB Chairman Professor Steve Ormerod

Dear Steve Hi!  Happy 60th anniversary of the Protection of Birds Act! It must be around now that you are heading off to Conservation Committee to discuss the RSPB’s conservation work.  And then, in July, there will be a Council meeting, I guess, unless things have changed a lot in the last three years (which…

Miscellany

More birding bits and pieces: After my blog of last week I can now add peregrine to my M1 list (hunting over a field near Luton) and another ‘up-and-about-early’ red kite from the M1 somewhere in Hertfordshire (I think!). Birkbeck: I enjoyed giving a public lecture at Birkbeck on Friday evening – lots of good…

Cartoon and bits and pieces

Apologies for the non-appearance of yesterday’s blog – I wrote it and then pushed the wrong button (and then spent a lot of time driving on snowy roads). Is it snowy enough for you? Imagine its impact on wildlife. A week tomorrow it is Big Garden Birdwatch – time to get those bird feeders filled…

Round up

Defra: are pretty hopeless really aren’t they?  I haven’t had a reply to my ex MP’s letter about Andrew Wood’s witness statement.  I’m probably on a database as a pleb – but that’s better than being a patrician.  (see previous blogs on Wuthering Moors). Autumn: I saw a jay on my walk around Stanwick Lakes…

Book signings

At the beginning of the Bird Fair weekend I had never done a book signing – but by the end I had done 10. You might imagine that this involves a team of helpers marshalling the eager crowds of expectant book-purchasers into an orderly queue whilst the author pens witticisms in the title pages of…

Fancy a new job?

A little bird tells me that Songbird Survival is looking for a Chief Executive to work a few days a week running the charity. The little bird seemed to have this on very reliable authority so I attempted to ask Songbird Survival through their website for details and an application form as I may have…

Going on holiday?

Do you want something amusing and entertaining to take on holiday – then take me?  Or at least take Fighting for Birds. That Chris Packham knows a bit about wildlife and this is what he says about Fighting for Birds (click here). I am actually wandering around the north of Britain and so if this…