I gave a talk for children in the Wild Zone at the BirdFair wildlife festival last year about our new book. Birdfair is a national 3-day event celebrating nature and raising funds for conservation.
Share nature and get help with wildlife ID
GET CLOSER TO NATURE
• I post various events and opportunities on here as they arise. I have steered various community projects, campaigns and wildlife practical conservation and education sessions eg with school kids, park groups, adult learners, variously on pollinators, bats, butterflies, moths, caterpillars, bioblitzing, hedgehogs, young jungle explorers, woodlands, willow tunnel creation, mammal tracking, reptiles, pond creation, dormice, wild flowers, trees, dormice, climate, pollution, plastic; some in partnership with conservation charities.
• I am DBS-checked for working with children. Please ask if you're interested.
I am an occasional guest on Bristol City FM and Stokes Croft FM with the Shepherd's Way show, discussing all sorts of wildlife topics - eg how wildlife hits headlines in the wrong way, also wildflower ecology, bees, bats, hedgehogs, gardens, how to be a naturalist, wildlife recording & more: here.
Thanks to presenter Steve Yabsley for our eco chat on BBC Radio Bristol. We discussed: ecology, our environmental mess, dormice, why Sean Taylor & I wrote Winter Sleep, wild things in the woods, the power of one, social shift, plastic attack & why I'm #flightfree. It starts at 33 mins: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07m70f2
Less loved wildlife in the media
How do we get bats and other less popular wildlife covered better in the media? I joined biology professors & science communicators as a guest on a Bats in the Media webinar discussion, hosted by the IUCN and Global Union of Bat Conservation. This event was for those who work in communication on bats or other less loved wildlife, biologists and science comms students, interested in working more with the media on coverage of important conservation science, which can be challenging for many reasons. The event was made possible by the IUCN, G-Bats, University of Oxford, National University of Singapore, Technical University of Berlin, Texas Tech University, Susan Tsang, Joanna Coleman, Tanja Straka, Ali Finneran and Ewan MacDonald.
I lead a New Year Plant Hunt most years in Bristol. Due to Covid I am not leading one this year, but anyone can take part on their own walk - details are on the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland citizen science project website here: https://nyph.bsbi.org/
🌿 Wildlife short courses 🌿
My courses are on hold for now due to Covid. I run wild flower, tree, pond, ecology, urban wildlife and other courses + ecology events most years as a freelance tutor, often at the Grow Wilder site in north Bristol. Keep an eye on Avon Wildlife Trust's events pages for details. I have also run them for Bristol Museum, Field Studies Council /Identiplant, Festival of Nature, Buglife, Butterfly Conservation, UWE students, University of Bristol staff and private groups.
We still have some display plaques available if anyone wishes to take part in the Hedgehog Highway Appeal which was a joint project with South Bristol Voice, Avon Wildlife Trust and the Hedgehog Society. We've appealed to Bristol people to help hedgehogs, record & map sightings, and open up garden access to increase habitat for this declining, iconic British species. Simply make a hedgehog access hole in your garden wall or fence about the size of a brick (13cm x 13cm). Please contact me to claim your plaque, to inspire your friends and neighbours & map your sightings!
Independent Ecologist, Freelance Journalist, Educator, Author
Bristol Naturalists' Society events
I help run this Society. We are always on the lookout for guest speakers for our winter lectures and sites for field visits. Please get in touch if you have ideas or would like to join. We host a fantastic range of wildlife events throughout the year for all abilities across the region. We are lucky to have members with incredible knowledge to share.
Birdfair: Winter Sleep talk
I have set up an iSpot project page for south Bristol. It is free, fun and open to everyone to use. The site provides a permanent map and growing photo gallery of local wildlife records, built continuously by everyone in the community. It supports the My Wild Bedminster project. Hopefully it will trigger and satisfy curiosity about nature, increase wildlife recording and knowledge. Anyone can use it to share photos of wildlife sightings and get free expert help to identify species.
My Wild Bedminster Winners
Congrats to our wildlife art winners: Filippo Mele, Megan Anthony, Sebastian Flower and Ashton Gate Primary School. We challenged children to go out on a wild adventure, discover & draw Bristol's wildlife - with kids' TV Star Andy Day, My Wild Bedminster's Ben Barker, South Bristol Voice, schools, Avon Wildlife Trust, Butterfly Conservation and me.