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Ten Books About The Natural World You Must Read
1. The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson This amazing book tells the story of how life on earth became so diverse and stresses our obligations to conserve ecosystems and not just single species. He...
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“If you can get Orson Welles, you’ve got the money”
A long time ago I made a film for the BBC based on a short story by Jack London called “To Build Fire.” It was set during the days of the Gold Rush to the Klondyke at the end of the nineteenth century....
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Why Do Owls Hunt At Night?
My love of birds of prey was kindled early in my life when I was staying with my grandparents. I was about four years old and my younger brother, Richard, had just entered the world. I was put to bed...
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The Norwich Cathedral Peregrine Falcons
The story of the Norwich Cathedral Peregrine Falcons began in November 2009 when Nigel Middleton and I responded to a telephone call from an eagle-eyed bird watcher in a building nearby. He’d seen a...
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A Superb Afternoon’s Watching
I remember that, shortly after the Hawk and Owl reserve at Sculthorpe Moor had been opened, Roger Clarke, who was our Scientific Officer and accountant, made an appeal for volunteers to help monitor...
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A Message From Gerry
The other night I watched an episode of “The Durrells,” a new TV adaptation by Simon Nye of Gerald Durrell’s much loved book “My Family and other Animals” and very good it was too. Watching it brought...
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Another Red Letter Day
I have been lucky to enjoy many red letter days out bird watching. Two of them stand out way above the others. Twelve years ago on April 30th 2004 I took part in a Birdathon to raise funds for the Hawk...
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Fingers in the Sparkle Jar
Chris Packham’s book is a brave book, a very honest book, about growing up in the suburbs around Southampton. It must have been painful to write, excoriating. He was a loner, an outsider. He didn’t fit...
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Lloyd Buck – World Famous Bird Trainer
Lloyd Buck is the most well known and sought after trainer of birds for Television and Film in this country, particularly for BBC tv’s Springwatch and Autumnwatch. He’s become a household name by...
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Gaining A Better Understanding Of Hen Harrier Behaviour To Improve It’s...
The Hawk and Owl Trust, of which I am proud to be a Vice-President, is assisting in parts of a six-point plan initiated by the government to restore the population of English Hen Harriers which are...
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H Is For Hawk… And Heffers
Last Thursday I went to Heffers bookshop in Cambridge for a book signing of my book, A Sparrowhawk’s Lament. Sharing this event with me was Helen Macdonald who has written a cracking good best seller,...
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Keeping The Birds Happy This Winter
My wife Liza and I live in deepest Norfolk. The view from the kitchen window, which is where I do a lot of my bird watching, looks out on to the garden. There’s an orchard we’ve planted – apples,...
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Haste Makes Waste
With below freezing temperatures most nights recently it has been a battle to keep our patio at the back of the house ice free. Liza has endeavoured with the aid of sprinklings of rock salt to keep it...
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The Silver Pear Tree
Another frosty morning and I’m at the kitchen window watching the birds feeding. First to arrive are the Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves and Collared Doves. They jostle and flap on the trough feeder stuffing...
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A Message for Martha
There were two stories that the late Gerald Durrell told me about animals being driven to extinction. They both occurred in America during the early nineteenth century. The first was set in the Great...
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Norwich Murmuration Of Starlings
I’d seen the pictures of the Norwich murmuration of starlings on Twitter and decided I must view it at first hand. On 27th February Liza and I settled down to wait in the Assembly Rooms car park. It...
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If You Go Down To The Woods Today You’re Sure Of A Big Surprise
I recently received an email from a fan in The Netherlands who wanted to know where the hollow tree was in the New Forest where I’d made a children’s television drama series based on “BB’s” famous book...
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Is This The Best Book Ever Written About A Bird?
In my opinion The Peregrine written by J.A.Baker is the best book ever written about a bird. For years I tried to get the Natural History Unit at BBC Bristol to finance my attempt to film it. In 2008...
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Dandelion Wine
The hen Blackbird, whose territory is at the front of our house, has been busy gathering material for the nest she’s building in the clematis that covers the wall to the right of the kitchen window....
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Mrs ‘H’ Is Back!
Looking out of my study window on this bright, frosty morning, beyond our big boundary hedge, are three or four Blackthorn bushes, covered in white blossom, sparkling in the sun. Our Blackbird nesting...
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Sparrowhawks In Art
Dr Roger Clarke was a world expert on the analysis of the pellets of birds of prey. They are the undigested items of prey – fur, feathers and bones – which are regurgitated before the bird goes hunting...
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The Swallows Are Back
The two Swallows that nested in our potting shed last summer are back. They arrived at day break on 21st April. They spent the morning resting on the uppermost branches of the middle Sycamore. If they...
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Peregrines On Our Doorstep
The Hawk and Owl Trust installed a nest platform in 2010 for the Peregrine Falcons which appeared on Norwich Cathedral in 2009. They have nested successfully each year. Two cameras transmit images of...
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How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?
My dog of the moment is a splendid black Labrador called Donald. He’s a rescue dog. My previous dog, a wonderful big black Labrador called Scoter, of whom I was inordinately fond, had died under very...
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Dear Cobham Family
“Woof!” was a big success, it was re-commissioned year after year. Pippin and Judy were the original dogs used but after we had completed four or five series they were replaced by Punch. Here is Punch...
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He Sings Each Song Twice Over
My alarm wakes me at 6.29 each day and I’m out of the kitchen door having a look round half an hour later. I am immediately greeted by our Song Thrush. He’s got a fine vantage point looking down on our...
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Nature Red In Tooth And Clay
I love all birds of prey. Their position in the natural world is a precarious one. Persecuted for taking game birds from rearing pens and decimated in the fifties and sixties by the effects of...
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All The Fun At The Fair
On 22nd August, Liza and I went to the Bird Fair at Rutland Water. I was there to give a talk at the Authors Forum on an update of my book “A Sparrowhawk’s Lament” which was published last year. With...
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The Buzzards and Other Poems
When I embarked on the biggest task of my film making career in bringing Henry Williamson’s classic tale of an otter, “Tarka the Otter,” to the cinema screen one of the pleasant tasks I had to put in...
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