Birding

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine February 2018

Like my childhood self I am in awe of the vast blueness of sky over the summer reed-bed. Is this ineffable depth, breadth an…

Tree Huggers & Tree Muggers

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine January 2018

Who could resist running one’s hand along the skin-smooth bark of a beech tree or hugging a hornbeam? Can…

Garden Cities

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine November 2017

I watched the World Athletics Championships Marathon wending its way through the historic streets of the City of Londo…

Tales of the Unexpected

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine Autumn 2017

Outside a summer gale is rocking every bush in my tiny garden… this seems to be an inevitable consequence of s…

Tales of the Riverbank

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine October 2017

Boxing is brutal with many more losers than winners. One might argue it saves tearaway teenagers from a life o…

Crop Rotation

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine September 2017

Half a century ago, a Malaysian friend told me of his dream. He wanted to write, but first needed to earn enough mone…

Rubbish Party

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine August 2017

The ‘Rubbish Party’ won a council seat somewhere in Scotland in the last council elections. If you think this appellatio…

Old Gits & Spoilt Brats

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine July 2017

Rant Warning! Why on earth would you be bothered about disability access to nature reserves? It’s obviously not …

Birding Doldrums

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine June 2017

Picture this, everyone around you is just getting into their shorts and sandals, beaming with bonhomie and generally fr…

Snap Happy Birders

Nature Study

This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine April 2017

The question I see asked on local birding forums, more than any other, is ‘how do I get the kids interested in birding?’ S…

Mindfulness

(This article first appeared in the March 2017 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

Mindfulness seems to be the buzzword of the last year or so… it’s a therapeutic technique, the idea bein…

Waxwing Winter Wonders

(This article first appeared in the February 2017 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

This winter waxwings were far enough south for me to see some on an outing that took just …

Bogies & Bugs

(This article first appeared in the January 2017 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

Do you have a bogie bird? One that, despite not being rare you keep failing to connect with, especia…

Women’s Work

(This article first appeared in the December 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

In the 1970’s TV sitcom ‘I didn’t know you cared’ Uncle Mort says that women are made for the frippe…

Call me 50 (per)cent

(This article first appeared in the November 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

Somewhere between 65% and 70% of this sceptre isle’s land is used for agriculture. 57% of ag…

Eat The Rich

(This article first appeared in the November 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

Jonathan Swift of Gulliver fame wrote his famous tract A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children…

Brave Kiwis

(This article first appeared in the October 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

I remember the first time I visited my parents after they emigrated to New Zealand; as we started our …

Rio & Reality

(This article first appeared in the September 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

Do you remember the Rio dictum ‘Think Global, Act Local’?

How about NIMBY – ‘Not In My Back Yard’?

Organics

(This article first appeared in the August 2016 edition of ‘Birdwatching’ magazine)

My food bill has risen and I’m glad!

We recently decided to change what we eat. I’m still a non-meat eater…