A climate-friendly aproach to ornithology
By Javier Caletrío Climate Matters is a group of scientists and data analysts working with journalists to communicate climate change. One of their initiatives has been to build stories about climate change that TV weather forecasters can tell their audiences every time there is an extreme weather event. I read about this successful initiative shortly …
Continue reading "A modest proposal: birds, weather and climate communication"
By Dominic Martin Thursday morning, my phone is vibrating. A quick look on the screen and a notification from the Swiss Bird Alert app is telling me that a Lesser Yellowlegs was spotted at Klingnauer Stausee—the first time this American wader has been observed in Switzerland. Exciting! I haven’t got the time today, but tomorrow …
By Robert Fletcher, Wageningen University Costa Rica has long been considered something of an “ecolaboratory” wherein cutting-edge conservation strategies are tested and refined for emulation elsewhere. One of the main strategies developed in this way has been nature-based tourism, leading ecotourism guru Martha Honey to indeed label the country “ecotourism’s poster child.” As throughout the …
Continue reading "Costa Rica: Lessons from the ecotourism laboratory"
By Finley Hutchinson What do you think of when I say 'nature'? Or 'biodiversity'? I reckon that most people in the UK would picture rainforests full of monkeys, birds and tree frogs. Or maybe a remote river bursting with kingfishers, multi-coloured fish and dragonflies. Granted, that may be largely the less 'wildlife-orientated' members of society …
Matt Phelps It’s barely light. The sky is gunmetal grey tinged with indigo, while a ribbon of fiery pink stretched across the eastern horizon warns of inclement weather ahead. For now, it’s dry and bitterly cold as I crunch my way along the frozen riverbank from home to my local patch, Pulborough Brooks. There’s a …
By Peter Moore My relationship with my local patch at Swineham in Dorset sometimes reminds me of the joke by the late comedian Sean Hughes about why he wasn’t into one night stands: ‘too much commitment’. In my defence, living within what has been claimed as the most biodiverse 10km square in England, it would …
By Joe Parham In October 2020 I was appointed a Youth Representative of the British Trust for Ornithology, with the goal of increasing access to and knowledge of birds among young people across the country. Pondering how I might initiate this, I thought that green patch birding would be worth promoting—it is an accessible form …
Fifty autumn postcards from forty birdwatchers—a fraction of the growing number of individuals who are thinking more carefully about why, where, and how they travel to watch birds. As these accounts show, there is no single or perfect way of understanding and doing low-carbon birding. Some of these birdwatchers live in bird-rich places, others in …
By Robert Fletcher, Bram Büscher, Kate Massarella and Stasja Koot Among the pandemic’s most significant effects has been its impact on the global tourism industry – an important source of conservation financing in many places. In some places, this is affecting wildlife directly. For instance, fears that endangered mountain gorillas might contract the virus from …
Continue reading "Time to rethink ecotourism and conservation"
By Tom Jordan The idea of the car as the default mode of transport is embedded in modern society and birding is no exception. Can this culture be changed? By questioning our defaults, many birders will be surprised at what can be achieved. Apart from birding, my other great love is Southampton Football Club. As …
Low-Carbon Birding 