This article was first published in British Birds on 15 August 2017 One Sunday last July I strolled down to the hide at RSPB Otmoor, one of my local birding patches in Oxfordshire. Five years ago I might have entered an empty hide. Not anymore. The place was packed with bird photographers, happily chatting as
In December 1978 the famous Brazilian ornithologist Helmut Sick made one of the ornithological discoveries of the 20th century. He located a breeding population of the fabulous Lear’s macaw – a species that had been known in collections for 150 years but whose whereabouts in the wild was a mystery. Lear’s macaw is one
This article was published in Geographical Magazine on 15 June 2017 The idea of rewilding boar into the UK’s landscapes is gaining plenty of traction, but if we truly want them back we’ll need to consider hunting them as well. Cycling through the Forest of Dean, my daughter and I encountered a sign instructing
In 2012 I was invited by Cerry Levy to visit Malta with a group of artists seeking to offer new thinking on the campaign to stop springtime hunting on Matla. Below is my contribution - an imaginary article in published in online newspaper in 2025. It offers a vision of a future Europe where opti-hunting is
Good morning all, and thanks for the invitation to present today. Gary asked me to present some thoughts on new paradigms for conservation. My aim is to do just this. I will argue that we need to seize the opportunity of Brexit to reframe how we think and talk about rural lands. Brexit is a
David Novillo opened his presentation to my Masters students with the words “Do today what you want to happen tomorrow” Using an engaging mix of stories, facts and mine he went on to describe with humour, candour and humility his work to restore the marine ecosystems in the municipality of Adeje, Tenerife. But David is
On 19 April Rewilding Europe celebrated its 5th anniversary with a special gathering in Amsterdam called Wild Ways. The event included dialogue, a 'rewilding' market, previews of film projects, music by Lex Empress and two talks, one by Rewilding Europe MD Frans Schepers and one by myself. Here is the text of my talk. Good evening
Each March I take my MSc students on a field trip to Tenerife and each year I ponder on why more is not made of the canary in the island’s tourism promotion, tours and branding. This year the first canary I encountered was whilst eating breakfast in the Albergue de Bolico hostel. One alighted on a
This is the text of a presentation I made at the #Conservation2037 event at the Linnean Society of London in 26 Jan 2017. I hope you enjoy the ideas. In 1977 Kraftwerk embraced the affordances of emerging technologies to expand the range and repertoire of musical possibilities. Their innovative electronic music inspired new genres of
On a Saturday afternoon in late November I went for a walk along Iffley meadows in Oxford. The gate to the BBOWT meadow was hung with a sign telling the story of a cow that had gotten stuck in a ditch and was pulled out with a neck rope. Those entering the field were asked
