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?…
Tag: passenger pigeon
Sunday book review – The Book of 365 by Hugh Brazier and Jan McCann
This book is not all about nature but there is quite a lot of nature dispersed through its pages, which is to be expected since one of its authors is a former Guest Blogger here. And so, it comes as no great surprise, but a delight nonetheless, to find mentions of Passenger Pigeons, California Condors…
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…
Poppies
Yesterday I made a quick visit to the poppies filling the moat of the Tower of London. Apparently yesterday the last of the 888,246 was added, to commemorate the lives of British and Colonial forces lost in the First World War. It seemed appropriate to be there on 11 November. About 200 years ago, a…
Sunday book review – John Muir by Mary Colwell
This year is the centenary of the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon and also of the death of John Muir – ‘the Scotsman who saved America’s wild places’. John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838 and died in California in 1914 – in between he fell in love with the USA’s wildlife and wild…
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…
Sunday book review – 100 Things that Caught My Eye by Chris Packham
I’ve spent some time with Chris Packham this year. We both talked at the Hampshire Ornithological Society AGM on my birthday in March, and chatted about Hen Harriers on that day and wound each other up on the subject. We stood together as part of the ‘Sodden 570’ on Hen Harrier Day in the Peak…
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…
Saturday
This is the first time for years and years the RSPB AGM has been held away from London (and it’s back in London next year). The ICC in Birmingham was a short walk from New Street station and a perfectly good venue. As I arrived I remembered that I had been here before – for…
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…