Hoopoe – A blog by nhbs – The NHBS Conservation Hub

Book review: The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs

***** Beautifully presented

Back in 2021, palaeontologist Dean Lomax impressed me with Locked in Time, a popular science book that looked at the behaviour of extinct animals as revealed by a selection of extraordinary fossils. Showing that there is more to be said on the topic, he now returns with The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, which features another tranche of remarkable fossils. More than just a sequel, this book improves on its predecessor in several respects.

Since the publication of Locked in Time, there have been several other popular books on trace fossils and the behaviour of extinct animals. I reviewed Michael J. Benton’s introductory guide Dinosaur Behavior and David Hone’s excellent Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior, while Jean Le Loeuff’s What Did Dinosaurs Think About? is on my radar. Anthony J. Martin, whose 2014 book on trace fossils, Dinosaurs Without Bones, merits mention in this context, returned in 2023 with Life Sculpted to look at trace fossils of bioerosion. Collectively, these books show what else you can do with this topic, so I was curious to see what tack Lomax would take this time.

Undeniably, The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs has all the appearances of being Locked in Time II. It follows the same formula: previously, we got 50 case studies under five subject headings; now we get another 49 case studies under eleven headings. Furthermore, in his introduction, Lomax adds that “You might even consider this a sort of sequel” (p. 1). Finally, when I interviewed Lomax back in 2021, he mentioned originally wanting to discuss 100 fossils but having to cut his selection in half. One fossil he regretted having to omit was the arthropod Aquilonifer spinosus, nicknamed the kite runner, that was found with its offspring tethered to its body by long filaments. That fossil here appears in chapter 3 as “Tethered Toddlers”. However, calling this book a mere sequel would be doing it a disservice: this is more than a compilation of the leftovers that missed the cut last time.

For starters, we can establish that the three strong points I highlighted last time are all still in effect. First, Lomax reiterates that not all interpretations of certain behaviours are uncontested. Though we have interesting evidence of swimming tracks made by small theropods, sauropod swimming tracks are more controversial, while palaeontologists continue to discuss whether the rocks swallowed by marine reptiles (gastroliths) acted as ballast or digestive aids. Second, Lomax continues to shine a light on the inner workings of palaeontology. When an excavator bucket cuts right through an elasmosaur fossil, he brushes this aside with a casual “These things happen” (p. 240). Several case studies show how certain fossil discoveries play out over decades of intermittent study and attempts to relocate historic dig sites. Third, Lomax continues to mix entertaining popular science writing that has lost none of its enthusiasm with gentle education. He still defines terminology on first use and continues to stress the relevance of studying animal behaviour today to understand animals of the past.

More importantly, The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs improves on its predecessor in several respects, most noticeably in its lush presentation. The publisher has thrown its full weight behind this book, printing it in colour on thicker paper stock. It is thus noticeably heavier than Locked in Time, even after accounting for its extra 54 pages. Bob Nicholls’s excellent artwork—and there is a lot of it—really pops this time around, while the numerous photos and illustrations of fossils are crisp and informative. One outstanding example of how this is put to good use is the section on the fossil evidence for caudal autotomy, i.e. the voluntary amputation of one’s tail, shown by many small reptiles today as a defence against predators. Page 117 shows two colour photos of a lizard fossil under visible and UV light, the latter revealing a regenerated, cartilaginous tail invisible to the naked eye. Another change is that all entries are slightly longer, increasing from an average of 4–5 pages to 5–7 pages. On several occasions, Lomax uses this to detail the chain of reasoning by which scientists eliminate competing explanations to arrive at their conclusions. How do you tell apart stomach contents from fossil embryos when a species is a known cannibal? Have we found evidence of ammonite eggs, or did another cephalopod repurpose empty ammonite shells? And how do you conclude that a combined trackway is evidence of two giant millipedes mating?

Finally, I think that more of the same, when done well, is not a bad thing. On that note, Lomax has again curated a collection of truly exceptional fossils. Though at least two case studies were discussed in Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior and that giant Tyrannosaurus rex turd featured in King Tyrant, much here was new to me. Never mind the title, this is about much more than just dinosaurs. Lomax jokes how one of the best ways of surviving in the fossil record is being eaten, as evidenced by descriptions of a new lizard and a new beetle species from respectively Microraptor stomach contents and coprolites from (likely) Silesaurus. And while the present often informs the past, sometimes the past reveals something about biology today, such as the discovery of an amber-encased fossil of a tiny springtail hitching a ride on a mayfly. Conventional wisdom had it that springtails spread via oceanic currents or aerial plankton; now we can add phoresy (the act of attaching oneself to a host organism to catch a free ride) to that list. Or take the footprint on a coprolite, showing that crocodilians, too, sometimes stepped in it. Or the scars on a plant leaf that, according to one team of researchers, exactly match those made by zombified ants today when they clamp their jaws down on a leaf vein just before dying and sprouting a fungus from their head. Yep, an unusual example of fossilised evidence of ant-fungal parasitism! It is hard to pick favourites with such a remarkable list of fossils.

How Lomax got Slash from Guns N’ Roses (!) to provide a blurb for the book? I am sure there is an interesting story here, but his praise, placed prominently on the cover, is one that I can echo. If you liked Locked in Time, this book is a no-brainer, improving on the execution of the concept. If you would like a novel kind of popular palaeontology book, whether for yourself or for somebody else, this book also comes highly recommended.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026: Interview with Dr Antje Steinfurth

To celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in STEM we chatted with Dr Antje Steinfurth, Conservation Scientist at the RSPB.

Antje has been studying Penguins for over two decades and is the RSPB’s resident expert on these birds. Antje currently focuses on the UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, a very remote, volcanic island in the South Atlantic which is a haven for many globally rare animals and plants, including shearwater species and an endemic albatross. Antje’s penguin expertise is helping to protect one of the islands’ most charismatic but threatened species, the Northern Rockhopper.

We had the pleasure of asking Antje a few questions about her extraordinary career and the importance of International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Can you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in conservation science?

I have always been drawn to nature and wildlife, which led me to study Biology at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Wanting to focus more on marine ecology, I later moved to Kiel University, where I completed my Diploma in Biology and, subsequently, a PhD in Marine Zoology.

Increasing awareness of the threats facing biodiversity motivated me to use science not just to understand wildlife, but to actively help protect it. After albatrosses, penguins are the second most threatened family of seabirds, with currently ten of the 19 species being of global conservation concern. During my Diploma studies, I worked on the foraging behaviour of Magellanic Penguins in Argentina. What I didn’t realise at the time was that penguins would accompany me throughout my professional life – literally leading me from the equator to Antarctica.

Supported by a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship, my doctoral research took me to the Galápagos Islands, where I spent two and a half years studying the marine ecology and conservation of the endangered, endemic Galápagos Penguin. After completing my PhD, I was a visiting scientist at the University of Bristol, contributing to an international, interdisciplinary project on African Penguins, another banded species now listed as Critically Endangered.

I then took up a postdoctoral position at the University of Cape Town, working on a range of seabird conservation projects and joining the South African National Antarctic Programme. Through this work, the sub-Antarctic islands became a second home. A project on the endangered Northern Rockhopper Penguins eventually led me to Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote inhabited island, which has been my ‘home away from home’ since 2012.

Since 2017, I have been based in Cambridge, UK, working as a scientist at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) where I continued my work on Northern Rockhopper Penguins and now lead the science and monitoring programme for threatened seabird species on Gough Island.

Science alone cannot save threatened species, but it provides a powerful tool to transform data into practical and hopefully long-lasting conservation outcomes.

What does your current role at the RSPB involve?

I work as a Conservation Scientist with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) in the UK. My research focuses on the UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha in the central South Atlantic, where I collaborate closely with local partners and the community to support the sustainable protection and management of globally important habitats and species.

Embedded within the Gough Island Restoration Programme, I lead the long-term science and monitoring programme on Gough Island, supporting efforts to restore one of the world’s most important seabird breeding sites.

I am also, unofficially, RSPB’s ‘penguinologist in residence’. With more than two decades of experience in penguin research, I work closely with the Tristan Conservation Department to help protect one of the islands’ most charismatic yet endangered species, the Northern Rockhopper Penguin.

More broadly, my work aims to improve understanding of the processes that shape species distributions, demography, and population dynamics, in order to inform effective conservation strategies. From 2020 to 2022, I also served as RSPB Project Manager for the UK Seabirds Count, coordinating RSPB’s delivery of this national monitoring programme.

Is there a female role model in the conservation sector who has influenced you, and what makes her inspiring to you?

For many women of my generation, figures like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey have been important role models. They challenged expectations, broke barriers, and pursued their passions with remarkable curiosity, courage and dedication. Their commitment to species and habitat conservation, often in the face of significant obstacles, has been deeply inspiring. Jane Goodall, in particular, has always reminded me that hope is essential, and that believing change is possible is just as important today as it ever was.

Despite progress, gender bias in STEM still exists. I feel fortunate to work in a field that attracts a more balanced mix of genders and to be surrounded by inspiring women and supportive colleagues of all genders. Being part of an organisation with visible female leadership and a genuinely inclusive culture has been crucial in shaping my confidence, career progression, and sense of belonging in STEM.

One woman I especially want to highlight is Juliet Vickery, now CEO of the BTO. When I joined the RSPB, she was Head of the International Section in the Conservation Science Department and later became my line manager. She has been an invaluable mentor and a true inspiration, in both leadership and pursuing a career in conservation science with scientific rigor, care and compassion.

She is a true champion for women in STEM, advocating for equality, supporting career development, and creating opportunities for others to thrive. I am deeply grateful for her guidance, support, and unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive and empowering environment.

Conservation volunteering with the Dartmoor Preservation Association

NHBS colleague Dan took a refreshing break from the office to volunteer with the Dartmoor Preservation Association. – Read below to find out what he got up to and what he learned.

Page 357 of Dartmoor 365, a unique compendium of Dartmoor by John Hayward, evokes a tranquil scene of early human settlement amidst the wild moorland that is now High House Waste – a place where remnants of a Bronze Age settlement, including a farmstead and field systems, still endure to this day.

A beard lichen covered tree by an old field boundary on High House Waste. Image by Daniel Moonen

Wedged between two streams, High House Waste’s ecological value is as fascinating as its archaeology.
The northern area consists of dry grass and heathland on granite, while the southern slopes feature wet mires on metamorphosed slate. One can find species such as white beak-sedge, bell heather, bilberry, cotton grass, bog asphodel, and sphagnum mosses. The fauna includes meadow pipits, Dartford warblers, common lizards, field voles, weasels, and various flutter-bys.
You may now better understand why an employee of NHBS would eagerly spend a volunteering day with the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA) at such a remarkable site.

This would be my second date with the DPA, an organisation I knew would lead me to a special place.
Led by DPA’s chief executive, Tom Usher, the day’s work party embarked on a grafting session to clear gorse from the ancient remains. High House Waste lies a substantial walk from the nearest parking spot along a farm track. Its remoteness aids preservation from visitor pressure and adds to its sense of moorland wilderness.
Though the gorse may offer some resistance with its prickles, it is a joy to work on the moor in the company of beard-lichen-draped trees and with expansive views stretching across the moor.

Left unchecked, gorse would quickly take over and obscure the site’s historical treasures. Included in our work party was an ecologist, as DPA regularly engages such experts to monitor the species residing on its grounds. DPA owns four sites on Dartmoor, all purposefully purchased to protect them from threats like industrial development or to impose conditions more respectful of the land’s ecological, historical, and cultural values.
Defending the natural beauty and cultural heritage of Dartmoor has been the DPA’s mission since 1883. Their website details a timeline of actions, testifying to their ongoing work in planning vigilance, access support, surveys, land management, and conservation both on DPA land and beyond.

View on farmstead remains at High House Waste. Image by Daniel Moonen

As the day’s work drew to a close, the quiet moorland around High House Waste stood testament to the delicate balance between nature and history. Through the careful stewardship of organisations like the Dartmoor Preservation Association, these ancient sites continue to breathe life into our understanding of the past while safeguarding the moor’s wild beauty for generations to come.

Some fungal and lepidopteran wildlife around High House Waste. Images by Daniel Moonen.

Volunteering here is more than clearing gorse – it’s participation in guardianship, a chance to connect with the land’s stories and to contribute to a living legacy. In the vastness of Dartmoor’s wilderness, one finds not only remnants of Bronze Age lives but also a call to cherish and protect the natural and cultural treasures that define this remarkable landscape.

Inspiring reads:

Rock Idols: A Guide to Dartmoor in 28 Tors
A journey through Dartmoor’s ancient tors—where geology, legend, and wild beauty converge to inspire awe and adventure.

Dartmoor
Complete your New Naturalist collection with HarperCollins’ facsimile: Dartmoor—England’s loneliest wilderness, a timeless wildscape of history, mystery, and natural wonder.

OS Explorer Map OL28: Dartmoor
The essential, most detailed companion for every explorer of Dartmoor.

Author interview with Steven J Falk: A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland

Over recent decades various ‘difficult’ insect groups have gradually been brought within reach of the non-specialist thanks to developments in field guides. Flies, however, have remained something of a final frontier, and it’s easy to see why – with more than 7,000 species in Britain alone, creating an accessible and user-friendly guide to this group is a daunting task.

Now, however, a team of expert field entomologists have stepped up to the challenge and produced A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain and Ireland – the first guide to ever tackle this amazingly diverse insect order as a whole. With beautiful photography and clean, concise text, this book is set to put flies on par with bees and other more ‘popular’ insect relatives, and bring them their due share of attention in the interests of general naturalists.

Ahead of publication, we had the pleasure of talking to lead author Steven Falk about the book’s development and the rewards of fly-recording.

Firstly, how did the book come about?

The idea for the book initially came from Peter Creed, the Creative Director (and Designer) at NatureBureau, which owns Pisces Publications. He wanted a book resembling A comprehensive guide to Insects of Britain & Ireland by Paul Brock, published by Pisces in 2014 (with a 2019 second edition) but concentrating purely on Diptera. He approached Gail Ashton who was helping to man the Dipterists Forum stand at one of the Amateur Entomology Society autumn fairs to discuss the possibility of doing such as book in conjunction with the Forum. Gail eventually agreed to help write it and asked Rory Dimond to assist. I become involved about one-third of the way through the project when it was clear that the book would need several hundred of my images to make it viable (we needed at least 1,500 accurately identified fly photos for the book), and my role later expanded into that of primary author. The internet has patchy information on Diptera, and what does exist can be misleading or out of context with the British fauna, so you need lots of first-hand experience to avoid creating misleading text. Even taking information from trusted literature can be challenging when it needs it be distilled down to short, snappy species accounts. Gail and Rory helped ensure that the text was not overly technical, though inevitably a book on flies ends up more technically worded and microscope-based than a book on butterflies or dragonflies. But we provide good diagrams and a large Glossary to help readers negotiate this. The proof-reading and creative discussions by the members of the team have been very important, making for a much better publication. It helps that all four of us share a passion for breaking down barriers in entomology and enthusing general naturalists about flies rather than just serving the converted. We were also keen to produce a more visually exciting and enticing book than much of the more technical fly literature and online resources available for flies. But we have still signposted those other resources for readers who want to develop a deeper understanding of flies and take things further by providing a good Bibliography. This covers all the key identification literature relevant to a British or Irish audience, both printed and that which is freely downloadable from the internet.

Let’s talk about flies themselves. What makes them so important, and what can recording flies tell us about the state of the natural world?

There are currently about 7,300 species of fly on the Britain and Ireland list, with the possibility of over 10,000 species being present, as we find dozens of new ones each year and DNA is revealing lots of cryptic species. So, if you are passionate about biodiversity and serious about its conservation, you cannot ignore flies. They are typically the most speciose eukaryotic group at a wildlife site and are also incredibly diverse ecologically. I regularly record over 500 fly species at a good wildlife site, and the Windsor Forest and Great Park list stands at almost 2,000 species. Those massive fly assemblages including predators, parasites, saprophages, herbivores, fungivores, pollinators, and so on. What is more, fly assemblages can be found from the intertidal zones of the coast to the tops of our highest mountains. Having some idea of what all those flies are and what they need in terms of breeding sites and adult feeding, makes you view habitats, sites and landscapes in a very different way to a botanist or general ecologist. You notice and value microhabitats and other features that others miss or under-value, such as sap runs or water-filled rot holes in old trees, different sorts of dung, different sorts of ‘wet’, different sorts of ‘decay’, different sorts of ‘bare ground’ and so on. Flies also make you think much harder about aspects such as habitat combinations and mosaics (bearing in mind that fly larvae and adults often have very different needs), habitat connectivity, habitat condition, site history, microclimate, seasonality and climate change. Dipterists are often pretty good botanists and habitat ecologists, but adding flies and other insects to the equation provides a much bigger ‘vocabulary’ when you are trying to understand and interpret the environment. That was particularly important a few years ago when several professional entomologists including myself were assessing the emerging Biodiversity Net Gain metrics. We were able to articulate some powerful feedback to Defra and Natural England concerning the over-simplistic metrics that were emerging, and the serious impact that might have for protecting invertebrate (as well as general) biodiversity. Flies are also really important in ecosystem services (e.g. crop pollination, pest control, sewage treatment). There is strong evidence that they may be more important than bees for the pollination of certain crops, and for general wildflower pollination in habitats like montane grassland and saltmarsh. The role of flies in ecosystems and food webs is something that comes through strongly in the book.

Faced with such a huge group, how did you go about deciding which species to include?

Being a photo-based book, the choice of what species to include is heavily based on what photos are available. But many fly photos on the internet are inaccurately identified, so we had to make sure that such images were either avoided, or (if we could tell what they actually were), used correctly. So, if a species lacked a decent photograph, it could not be subject of a typical species account, though we have name-checked many species without accompanying images within the Similar Species section at the end of many species accounts. For some smaller, iconic families, such as robber flies, horseflies, soldierflies and bee-flies, every published British and Irish species is included. For hoverflies, it is closer to about two-thirds of the fauna, and for groups like parasite flies and the housefly family, it is about half the fauna. In these instances, we tried to include representatives from most if not all the genera in a family and tried to ensure most of the more distinctive-looking or ecologically interesting species were covered. For some of the more obscure or difficult families, only brief coverage is provided. But all 108 fly families present in Britain and Ireland get some level of coverage in the book, which is quite an achievement.

Can you tell us a bit about the book’s approach – what can readers expect from the species accounts?

The book is arranged taxonomically following the sequence of the 2025 Checklist of Diptera of the British Isles which is hosted (and regularly updated) on the Dipterists Forum website. The individual species accounts mostly have a consistent format. It starts with an indication of the size of a fly, either using wing length or body length, then a basic description of the species, often carefully worded to highlight differences from other similar species. We then describe Habitat, Distribution, Season, and (for parasitic or herbivorous species) Hosts. The species accounts are accompanied by a map and photograph or, indeed, two or more photos for species with strong sexual dimorphism or several colour forms. A section on Similar Species is also used in many cases, namechecking other flies that might be confused with the main subject. These extra species are also sometimes provided with a map and photo. It means that about 1,300 species of fly get namechecked by the book (about 1,100 of these with standard species accounts). But it often came down to what space was available on each page spread as to what got covered. Suffice to say we used a flexible and opportunistic approach to ensure we made the most of each double-page spread.

The guide is beautifully laid out and packed with outstanding imagery. Was it a challenge gathering photos for all the flies you wanted to feature?

About 40% of the photos come from me and were already featured on my Flickr site. That made image selection for some families much easier and meant that Peter Creed could quickly download any of my images, and if I disagreed with an image choice, I could quickly send him hyperlinks to the image I preferred. Peter, who is also a keen insect photographer (and always thinking of the next potential Pisces book), provided about 20% of the images. We also turned to reliable British insect photographers such as Paul Brock, Simon Knott, Kevin McGee and Ian Andrews, and approached other photographers if we spotted images of further species on the internet (or better images of a species than we had to hand). The result is that we’ve ended up with over 1,500 images of over 1,100 species and have used images from 186 photographers. Suffice to say, we are immensely grateful to everyone who provided images.

For the general naturalist who has yet to become a fly convert, what can you say about the rewards of studying these insects?

Flies have huge intrinsic interest in terms of interesting appearances (including mimicry, loss of wings, bizarre wing markings and strange body modifications), interesting lifecycles, interesting behaviours, and their importance in ecosystem services. They are great fun to photograph (with cameras like the Olympus TG series making it easier than ever), and it is relatively easy to identify some from photos, either using this book, or by posting images on the various Facebook groups that cover flies (where others can provide feedback on what they think your photo is). Flies also provide an incredibly powerful framework or lens for interpreting and understanding habitats and landscapes better, as explained above. I think that aspect (using flies to view understand the environment more critically) is truly exciting and very rewarding.

What tips would you give for someone looking to take a deeper interest in flies and find a greater range of species?

Buying a stereo zoom microscope makes a big difference as it allows you to identify flies with much greater confidence and appreciate the beauty in the details of their morphology. While we are aware that many users of the book will not want to go down the road of collecting and killing flies for the purpose of identifying them critically, that is the approach that is generally needed to develop long and accurate species lists for a site. There is a limit to what can be achieved through photography. But going down the collecting route also means buying an insect net, tubes and pooters, insect pins and storage boxes for pinned specimens, plus obtaining some of the key literature listed in the book’s extensive bibliography, such as British Hoverflies (Stubbs & Falk 2002), published by the British Entomological and Natural History Society. I would also strongly recommend joining the Dipterists Forum. This is the national society for the study of flies and is very friendly and well-organised. It publishes a regular newsletter (Bulletin of the Dipterists Forum) and journal (Dipterists Digest) and organises regular indoor and outdoor events. It has a great website that can be used by non-members but has extra resources for logged-in members. The Forum acts as an umbrella for almost 30 family recording schemes or study groups, some of which have their own Facebook groups or satellite websites. Nowhere outside of Britain and Ireland comes to close to matching that offer.

Finally, what do you hope the book will do for interest in flies and fly recording?

We are hoping it has a major impact, not only by making general naturalists more aware of, and sympathetic towards flies but also by encouraging more naturalists to take up formal recording of flies as outlined in the previous response. Many parts of Britain have few (if any) resident fly recorders, and it would be especially good to promote recording in those areas, even if it is just the recording of easier groups such as hoverflies. Climate change is having a profound impact on insect life, and the more data we get, the more we understand that impact and formulate strategies to counter it through improved habitat management and other land use decisions. We hope that this book will support constructive dialogue – ecologists, farmers, planners all a little bit more familiar with flies, able to be enthusiastic about them and their conservation.

The Big Garden Birdwatch: NHBS Staff Results 2026

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch took place between Friday 23rd and Sunday 25th January 2026. This is an annual event is one of the largest citizen science wildlife surveys in the UK and helps us gain an understanding of how our garden bird populations are changing in abundance and distribution over time.

In last year’s event, over 590,000 people across the UK took part, counting 9.1 million birds! While House Sparrows took the top spot, counts of this species are down by 64% compared to the first Birdwatch in 1979, mirroring a wider and worrying decline in our bird populations: we’ve lost 38 million birds from UK skies in just the last 60 years. With birds facing so many challenges, it’s more important than ever to get involved in the Birdwatch and continue monitoring their fortunes.

Although the Big Garden Birdwatch has finished, there is still time to submit your results on the RSPB website. Even if you didn’t see anything, it still counts!

Greater spotted woodpecker by Oli Haines

Results

Many of our colleagues took part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch from our gardens or local parks, recording the species that visited our patch. With weather warnings across Devon it was a wet and windy weekend, but despite the conditions we were treated to some wonderful sightings and as a group spotted 17 different species.

Some of us were luckier than others:

Laura (Technical Advisor) did the bird count from her local park and saw:

3 Carrion Crow
3 Goldcrest
1 Blackbird
1 Robin
2 Woodpigeon
1 Herring Gull
2 Great Tit
2 Blue Tit
1 Dunnock

Oli (Graphic Designer) saw:

2 Woodpigeon
1 Wren
1 Dunnock

Ruth (Sewing Specialist) saw:

1 Pheasant

Steve (Head of Product and Purchasing) saw:

2 Robin
3 Goldfinch
8 Chaffinch
2 Blue Tit
7 Greenfinch
2 Woodpigeons
1 Starling
2 House Sparrow
1 Great Tit

Goldfinch (left) and Greenfinch (right) by Steve Powell

And Elle (Marketing Coordinator) recorded:

1 Blue Tit
1 Robin

RSPB

For more information on UK garden birds, the Big Garden Birdwatch and how you can help them, please visit www.rspb.org.uk. Here you will find a wealth of information to help you find and identify UK bird species.

Acoustics for surveying dormice and other small mammals

a small mouse resting on a bush branch — Image by Frank Vassen via Flickr

This is an updated version of a blog first published in 2020.

As static bat detectors continue to be more widely used and the technology improves, there are now many thousands of hours’ worth of nocturnal recordings captured each year from a vast spread of locations. This level of coverage has not only improved our ability to monitor bat populations, but also offers the potential to gather information on other animals that communicate at the same ultrasonic frequencies as bats. The calls of bush-crickets, for example, are commonly picked up as ‘by-catch’ during bat surveys, which has allowed the development of software that automatically recognises any cricket calls in a recording and assigns them to individual species.

Back in December 2020,?British Wildlife published an article by Stuart Newson, Neil Middleton and Huma Pearce exploring the potential – relatively untapped at that time – of acoustics for the survey of small terrestrial mammals (rats, mice, voles, dormice and shrews). Small mammals use their calls for a variety of purposes, including courtship, aggressive encounters with rivals and communication between parents and offspring. To the human ear, the high-pitched squeaks of different species sound much alike, but closer examination reveals them to be highly complex, extending beyond the range of our hearing into the ultrasonic and showing great variation in structure.

Mammal terrariums used for holding individuals overnight in the recording ‘studio’.

To answer the question of whether it’s possible to distinguish the calls of different species, the authors went through the time-consuming task of building a call library by taking recordings of all Britain’ native (and some non-native) small mammals. Call-analysis software was then used to examine the recordings and look for consistent differences between species, with some fascinating results – the calls of shrews, for example, can be readily separated from those of rodents by their warbling/twittering quality, while the house mouse typically calls at a higher frequency than any other species. Remarkably, it appears overall that the vocalisations of most species have their own diagnostic features, and that, with care, it should be possible to identify a high proportion of calls to species level. .

Recorded calls of (a) Brown & (b) Black Rats

Small mammals are unobtrusive and hard to observe, which means that even the more familiar species, such as the Brown Rat, are severely under-recorded. Given how critically important small mammals are within the food chain, this lack of knowledge is a problem – one that is gaining increasing attention, including through the creation of a Small Mammal Research Working Group by the Mammal Society.

In the mission to improve understanding of small mammal populations, the ability to detect and identify species by their calls therefore offers great potential as a survey tool. Analysis of calls collected by static detectors – whether specifically set to target small mammals or deployed as part of a bat survey – is already providing a rich source of data and helping to complement traditional methods, such as the use of Longworth traps or footprint tunnels.

Furthermore, this method also shows promise for monitoring some of our most threatened small-mammal species. In Winter 2023, an article in Conservation Land Management described a novel trial in which static-acoustic detectors were used to monitor the protected Hazel Dormouse (you can read the article in full here), with positive results. Two years on, we spoke to Stuart Newson, coauthor of both articles and the pioneering Sound Identification of Terrestrial Mammals of Britain & Ireland, about more recent developments in this exciting field of ecological survey.

Stuart writes, “Since the publication of our article in Conservation Land Management, our understanding of Hazel Dormouse acoustic identification has continued to advance, alongside major improvements in the BTO Acoustic Pipeline’s ‘bat’ classifiers, for automatically detecting and identifying the calls of this species.

As with bats, potential identifications still require verification by visually inspecting spectrograms and listening to recordings. However, this process can now be carried out relatively routinely alongside bat sound identification.

As a proof of concept, Hazel Dormouse recordings from Great Britain (2021–2024) that were shared by users of the BTO Acoustic Pipeline were manually verified. This work has produced what we believe may be the first national-scale map of a small terrestrial mammal generated using acoustic data – and it just represents the beginning.

Over the next six months, and through a collaboration with APHA and funded by Defra, I, with the BTO will manually verify small terrestrial mammal detections (from .wav files) that have been identified as ‘by-catch’ within bat acoustic data submitted and shared by users of the BTO Acoustic Pipeline across the UK and Ireland.

The total number of verified identifications for Great Britain and Ireland is still to be determined. However, between 2021 and 2025, the wider (predominantly European) dataset already includes an incredible 1,177,597 small mammal identifications.

Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) by Frank Vassen, via flickr. — Frank Vassen, via flickr.

This planned project offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate the power of acoustic monitoring for identifying small terrestrial mammals at an unprecedented spatial scale. It will also create a large, novel dataset that has the potential to transform our understanding of these species – including insights into their seasonal and nightly vocal activity patterns across the UK and Ireland.”

To read about the key identification features of small-mammal calls, see the December 2020 issue of British Wildlife or, for all mammals, pick up a copy of Sound Identification of Terrestrial Mammals of Britain & Ireland. For more information and to contribute to the BTO Acoustic Pipeline visit the project’s webpage.

This Week in Biodiversity News – 5th January 2026

The birth of the Earth Rover Programme

A groundbreaking new soil-health measuring technique could be crucial in helping to avert famine and drought. Most soil properties are undetectable from the surface, meaning that farmers currently rely on broad interventions such as fertilising and tilling the whole field, which is harmful to soil health and wildlife. The newly convened ‘Earth Rover Programme’, will use seismology (measuring down to the Earth’s crust, usually to assess potential for earthquakes) to assess the properties of soil in detail for the first time. The non-profit programme was set up with the support of author George Monbiot who called for an ‘advanced science of soil’ in his 2023 book Regenesis. A greater understanding of localised soil properties could be instrumental in maintaining global food security and creating a greener future for agricultural production.

Winter blooming in the UK

The annual New Year Plant Hunt organised by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) has taken place. Early results show common wildflowers such as Daisies and Dandelions among the hundreds of native species that have bloomed unexpectedly. The annual plant hunt has revealed and seen an increase of 2.5 species in bloom for every 1C temperature rise. Kevin Walker of the BSBI has described the early blooms as a ‘visible signal’ of climate change and a ‘very clear link between rising temperatures and impacts on our plant species’.

The BSBI study focused exclusively focused on Britain and Irelands flora, however, there is evidence of warming effecting spring phenology across Europe and beyond.

UNEP Global Environment Outlook Report

The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report, the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP) flagship report which monitors global environmental change, has been released. The 2025 report emphasised several ‘critical truths’ including the fact that environmental crises are political and social emergencies. Robert Watson, co-chair of the assessment says that the climate crisis, destruction of nature and pollution are ‘undermining economy, food security, water security, human health and national security’. The report is usually followed by an agreement summary approved by the world’s countries, however, objections from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, Turkey and Argentina regarding the proposed inclusion of references to fossil fuels, plastics, reduced meat in diets and other issues meant that no agreement was reached. The report proposes measures such as universal basic income, taxes on meat and subsidies for healthy, plant-based foods alongside the removal or repurposing of environmentally harmful subsidies to fossil fuels, food and mining.

Book review: Spinosaur Tales

***** A nuanced and detailed overview

These fish-eating and sail-backed (well, some of them) predatory dinosaurs are as enigmatic as they are controversial, and writing a book about them means navigating both fragmentary remains and strongly held opinions. So, who better to tackle this challenge than two of the best names in the business? This thoughtful book brings together palaeontologists Dave Hone and Mark P. Witton to discuss everything we do and do not know about spinosaurs.

Hone & Witton are, I think, exceptionally well-suited to write a book about a controversial group where so much is still unknown or subject to revision. Next to a track record of popular science books on dinosaurs, both authors stand out for their careful and nuanced views. Spinosaur Tales is logically structured and flows well. In their preface, the authors pre-empt concerns about this book becoming obsolete by acknowledging that they “can only present a snapshot of spinosaur science as it races along in the winter of 2024” (p. 8). This is followed by twelve chapters that take a detailed tour through research on the family Spinosauridae. Rather than a chapter-by-chapter summary, I want to focus on why spinosaurs are such a controversial group to begin with, how Hone & Witton tackle this, and how they have written an outstanding book in the process.

One of the foremost reasons why spinosaurs are such a challenging group is their fragmentary fossil record: we have not a single complete skeleton. Partial skeletons are or were (Spinosaurus) available for some species, but many currently named species are contentious, based on fragmentary remains such as loose teeth, bits of jaw, and some vertebrae. Despite having been named over a century ago, “we are still forming the foundation of our knowledge” (p. 23).

Though this situation is not unique to spinosaurs, there are two further complicating factors. I just mentioned Spinosaurus in the past tense, and this leads into a remarkable bit of history in that Stromer’s original 1915 Egyptian Spinosaurus aegyptiacus fossil was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII. All that remains are his drawings and descriptions, which continues to frustrate research to this day. The second problem is that some recent material has been bought from commercial fossil collectors who frequently do not record the geological context (i.e. the geological stratum and thus the age) of their finds and often only excavate the parts they can sell. The lack of standardised methods during such excavations means that vital scientific information continues to be lost, further hindering research.

Given these difficulties, our understanding of spinosaurs changes continuously. While certain past ideas might seem like howlers today, Hone & Witton provide nuanced historical context to clarify that they were reasonable given what we knew at the time. When described in 1986, Baryonyx walkeri was initially dismissed as a spinosaur. Similarly, a crocodilian origin for spinosaurs was long considered a possibility, based on the superficial anatomical resemblances between their skulls. A different sort of challenge is the celebrity status that spinosaurs attained in the 2000s, partially thanks to the movie Jurassic Park III, and partially to a relative glut of new finds. Spinosaur research is now newsworthy and thus a frequent subject of hype and exaggerated controversy. Online communities of dinosaur enthusiasts closely follow every academic volley and riposte and engage in “strongly worded discourse about their implications” (p. 18). A good example of this was the public unveiling of a new specimen from Morocco in 2014 that pushed the idea that Spinosaurus swam. Hone & Witton patiently but firmly consider this idea from multiple angles and show that, though we have several lines of evidence that Spinosaurus ate fish, it would have made a poor swimmer.

A consequence of this newfound fame is that spinosaur researchers are faced with questions “that demand simple answers, yet warrant complex, nuanced responses” (p. 287). I think that this, in a nutshell, beautifully describes what Hone & Witton have achieved here: Spinosaur Tales is a book-length exercise in nuanced responses. An important component of this, vital when writing a popular science book, is to familiarise readers with those aspects of palaeontology that its practitioners often take for granted. Most books fail to explain that the concept of a species differs in biology and palaeontology, something Hone & Witton thankfully clarify. Figuring out how many fossil species were distinct biological entities and whether the group was as diverse as we think is difficult. Similarly, I often feel that many books fail to emphasise that “fossilisation is a biasing, distorting process […] giving us partial, often skewed insights into ancient floras and faunas” (p. 107). The authors repeatedly remind you of the many caveats when interpreting this imperfect and incompletely sampled record.

Finally, the authors deserve praise for their progressive attitudes towards, and delicate handling of, the discipline’s historical baggage. Many past expeditions that collected important spinosaur material were “classic example[s] of scientific colonialism” (p. 53). There is similarly controversy over two proposed species from Brazil. With some remains now residing in a German museum, Hone & Witton are in favour of repatriation, both to clear up the taxonomic issue, but also to “rectify an injustice inflicted against Brazilian fossil heritage” (p. 51). And what to do with a historical figure such as naturalist Sir Richard Owen? Handle him delicately, I guess. Hone & Witton walk the fine line between acknowledging that he was at times a deeply unpleasant person who engaged in all sorts of skulduggery to advance his career, without erasing his significant achievements.

Witton is a professional palaeoartist, and this book benefits from a diverse selection of his illustrations. There is an eight-page colour plate section showcasing his well-known naturalistic artwork, while the diagrams of skulls and bones show his skills as a draughtsman. What caught my eye, however, are his black-and-white drawings that show life reconstructions and sit somewhere between doodles and comic book art. They reveal a different side to his artwork that I was not yet familiar with.

Overall, Spinosaur Tales is a thoughtful and accessible book about these enigmatic dinosaurs. It both explains why spinosaurs are such a difficult group to study, and then rises to the challenge by presenting a nuanced overview of what we know, what we can reasonably infer, and what is spin.

Authors interview with Frances Dipper and Paul Naylor: Coastal Seas

Looking for experts on British shores, the names of Frances Dipper and Paul Naylor quickly come to mind. With their combined lifetimes of experience in marine biology, a collaboration on a book on the wonderful British seashores is sure to be a success. At NHBS, we consider it a privilege to have Coastal Seas in our catalogue – a book that offers deep insight in the state and the wonder of British coastal seas, complemented by awe-inspiring photography.

While celebrating the release of this important book, we were honoured to interview the authors.

Frances Dipper is an independent marine biologist whose career spans over four decades of studying, lecturing, award-winning writing, and scuba diving. Her extensive bibliography reflects her deep knowledge, and she continues to share this through talks in Cambridgeshire and beyond.

Paul Naylor is also a marine biologist, as well as an underwater photographer and filmmaker. He is passionate about sharing his expertise to inspire appreciation and to draw people into the wondrous world of the marine environment.

How did you come to the decision to work together on “Coastal Seas”, and how did you complement each other in the writing of this book?

Frances: as the saying goes ‘two heads are better than one’ and in our case two marine biologists and lifelong divers are as well. When I was invited by Bloomsbury to write this volume, I immediately thought of Paul’s impressive underwater photography and story-telling skills and thought it would be great fun to collaborate on the project.

Paul: It really stemmed from having the same passion for observing and studying the wonders of our coastal seas and, even more importantly, sharing them with as wide an audience as possible. The collaboration worked well because we have similar overall ideas and are long-time friends, but have always worked separately, so we brought very different experiences to the project.

Over the span of your careers, what visible changes have you observed in British coastal seas?

This is a difficult question to answer on a personal basis, because the best way to record changes in the extent or condition of a particular habitat, community or site, is to visit it regularly – not so easy when diving is involved. Additionally, the extent of natural and cyclical changes in marine communities is less well understood than for many terrestrial situations. At particular sites over the years we have both observed increases in the variety and abundance of non-native species, and loss and destruction of long-lived species and habitats such as kelp and maerl. Tracking significant changes (whether good or bad) requires effective monitoring, something that is particularly important within Marine Protected Areas. A clearly visible and positive change from when we both started diving, is the increase in citizen scientist divers; many more eyes out there making records.

Neoturris medusa among kelp – photo by Paul Naylor

As marine biologists with decades of academic experience, which marine developments did you foresee when you started your careers, and which have surprised you the most?

Starting out with cumbersome and uncomfortable diving equipment and unwieldy cameras (our first underwater photography flashguns used bulbs that had to be changed after every shot) we sincerely hoped that things would become easier – as they have – dramatically.

Advances in GPS technology have been hugely helpful, but the rapidity with which it has evolved has indeed been surprising. It has proved really helpful for marine scientists, and for the fishing industry, but in the latter case perhaps too helpful in finding and catching large numbers of fish.

How has photography influenced your work in marine biology and conservation?

Underwater photography can be extremely effective in both gathering information and spreading the word about species and habitats that are largely hidden from view. It is also an effective memory aid as making written notes underwater is never easy. On a specific scale, we find the increasing use of digital photography, including by ‘citizen scientists’ both above and below water, to recognise and track individual animals (from small fish to seals and whales), very exciting. Talking of showcasing a hidden world, we were very grateful for the additional images kindly provided by some award-winning underwater photographers.

What do you see as the most effective ways to get people more involved and aware of the state of marine life?

It starts by showing people what is there through images and information about just what is in that hidden world, as we hope we have achieved with this book. In today’s world, social media is another powerful tool. We think that ‘stories’ about the fascinating and astonishingly complex behaviour of marine animals are particularly good at drawing people into that world. However, as zoologists and photographers, we are a little biased! We also hope that the new natural history GCSE due to be introduced in schools, will include a significant marine element to it. After all, around two thirds of the planet is covered by ocean.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are often established to conserve biodiversity. In your experience, do they deliver real improvements, or are they more symbolic?

They should deliver real improvements, but too many are still ‘paper parks’ with inadequate protection in force. Progress is being made but it is painfully slow, as we describe in Chapter 12 of the book.

Which marine areas around the British Isles do you find particularly interesting, and why?

Ooh so many!

Frances: the Hebridean islands off the west coast of Scotland, which provided many early diving adventures and meetings with so many then new and unfamiliar species (and new whiskeys!); the Isle of Man where I learnt to dive, gained insight into the colourful lives of British wrasses and met ‘Donald the Dolphin’.

Paul: the vibrant and easily observed shallow reef communities of Devon and Cornwall, the Scottish sea lochs and the North Norfolk chalk reef are my particular favourites.

Have you observed examples in our coastal seas of wildlife adapting to human activity, such as fishing, pollution or habitat alteration? If so, what are some of the most striking or surprising adaptations you’ve encountered?

As in the terrestrial environment, there are animals that can and will adapt and flourish, and many others that cannot. On land, foxes have taken to urban living and peregrine falcons use cathedral heights as substitute cliff faces. Ocean residents have far less experience of living alongside us humans, but we have seen some interesting interactions: butterfly blennies and other small fishes living and guarding their eggs inside discarded glass bottles and tin cans; sea urchins and spider crabs decorating themselves with ‘hats’ of plastic and other debris; lone male dolphins ‘befriending’ swimmers and divers; and of course seabirds following fishing boats waiting for discarded catches.

You discuss the “shifting baseline syndrome” and how human activities like trawling and dredging have altered marine habitats. What are some of the most concerning changes you’ve witnessed in your careers, and how can individuals help mitigate these impacts?

For decades it has proved extremely difficult to film the habitat destruction caused by commercial seabed trawls and this is something that neither of us has witnessed firsthand, even in a scientific trawling context. This year (2025) has shown the damage up for what it truly is, through ‘Ocean’ – a technically challenging, high-resolution film with David Attenborough. In most places it is impossible to know what seabed communities were like before they were ever trawled – hence the “shifting baseline syndrome” and so the long-term changes are likely to be even more stark than those we see today. What can individuals do? At least question where and how your seafood has been caught (read supermarket labels and press for better information) and support local sustainable fisheries. Support organisations such as WWF, Wildlife Trusts and the Marine Conservation Society who can apply political clout. Encourage and arm the next generation with information (good as well as bad).

While marine habitats have largely remained “wild” compared to terrestrial environments, you mention small restoration projects like kelp and seagrass planting. Could you highlight any successful conservation initiatives you find particularly inspiring?

While habitat restoration can be extremely valuable in the right places and at the right times, recovery and conservation in the sea often means simply stopping damaging activities and letting nature ‘do its thing’. Three inspiring examples of that are Lyme Bay (ambitious co-operation between many partners), Lundy (excellent co-working with local fishers) and Arran (community involvement).

For someone new to snorkelling or diving around the British Isles, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to help them connect with and appreciate the marine environment?

Male cuckoo wrasse – photo by Paul Naylor

Be patient! Wait for the best conditions, and once you are there, move slowly along rather than necessarily trying to cover a lot of ground (so choose a like-minded diving buddy). Animals will be less disturbed and you will be amazed at what you see! In summary stop, look and listen – and practise your buoyancy control.

In a time of over-exploitation of the marine world, how can we change the public mindset toward more sustainable practices?

It’s about showing people what’s been lost, but also what is still there to save, so striking the right balance between some of the shocking facts and figures while avoiding ‘doom and gloom’. A personal plea from us here is to show the recent David Attenborough ‘Ocean’ film (that we have already mentioned), on national free-to-view TV! Perhaps, most of all, we need to stress how everyone will gain from implementing sustainable practices, including industries and those with no involvement with the sea – it’s not just a plea from conservationists.

What can we, as consumers, do with an eye on marine conservation?

Quite a lot, but one of the most important is to make sure that any seafood we buy is sustainably caught (or grown). It’s a difficult issue with varying opinions, but there is good information out there (such as from the Marine Conservation Society and the similarly acronymed Marine Stewardship Council) and we’d say ‘if in doubt, don’t buy’. The latter should apply similarly to ‘single use’ holiday items such as plastic buckets and spades often discarded. Every conversation with shop or restaurant staff, with friends and family (and even local politicians) will help spread the message.

Looking ahead, what gives you hope for the future of marine biodiversity in the British Isles, and what are the biggest challenges we need to address?

The evident ability of natural systems to ‘bounce back’ when we let them has been clearly demonstrated by wonderful examples such as Lyme Bay and Arran that we’ve already mentioned. However these are just small areas and we mustn’t let these successes make us blasé – further damage to habitats and over-fishing continues apace. It remains a huge challenge to get governments to act on scientific advice, but on the positive side there is the ever-growing number of people, both within conservation organisations and independently, professional and unpaid, who are passionate about ‘spreading the word’ about marine biodiversity and making a genuine difference. Best of all, many of them are very much younger than us!

Peacock worms and dahlia anemones – photo by Paul Naylor

Coastal Seas is available as a limited edition signed hardback book, while stocks last, from NHBS here.

Other titles by Frances Dipper can be found here.
Other titles by Paul Naylor can be found here.

Author interview with Sverker Sörlin: Snö – A History

Sverker Sörlin is an author, historian, and science communicator. He is currently Professor of Environmental History at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

He has published more than forty books including bestselling literary non-fiction, biographies, academic books and journalism. In 2004, he received the August Award for Non-fiction, Sweden’s pre-eminent literary award, and in 2024 the Inge Jonsson Prize, awarded by ‘The Nine Foundation’ for outstanding non-fiction.

We recently spoke to Sverker about his new book Snö, where he told us what inspired him to write the book, why he loves winter and the message he hoes people will take away.

You seem to have been inspired by and reflective about snow for most of your life. At which point did you decide that it was time that the ‘Angel of History’ and the ‘Snow Angel’ started talking to each other?

Yes, snow has been part of my life since I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s. My professional interest in snow and ice also began a long time ago when I was a PhD student researching the history of glaciology in the 1980s. I then worked both on and in the Arctic for a long time and led the Swedish commission for the International Polar Year 2007-2009.

It was only in the last decade, with the rise of the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’ that my outlook on snow as a ‘vulnerable element’ started to grow. In the current epoch of massive and irreversible human impact on the earthly elements, snow and ice have become, we might say, drawn into history. Snow, ice, water and also wetlands, forests, oceans, deserts, minerals and of course all sorts of life on earth are acquiring more and more ‘agency’ which is often destructive. They get this agency from the ‘human super agency’ that starts moving the entire planet faster, raising temperatures, destroying species, ecosystems and much else. In working on Snö — a History, I started to frame this as a dialogue between two angels, the ‘Angel of History’ and ‘the ‘Snow Angel’. To my knowledge, no one has ever done that so I thought it was about time. I wanted to use these concepts as metaphorical tools to draw attention to complicated matters that would otherwise require a lot of words to explain.

In your view, why is winter ‘the best season of all’, as you describe it?

Well, if you want to get into the world of snow and understand it, winter is of course the season to cherish! My appreciation of winter was also a basic value that I learned and cultivated when I was a child. I loved winter play and winter sports, like ice hockey and especially cross-country skiing. In the latter sport I had a career of sorts until I was around 20 and had to make a choice for my future -should I become a skier aiming high, or should I take university seriously I chose the latter, but it was a tough choice.

Your book weaves together religious, philosophical, and scientific perspectives. Do you ever find it challenging to intersect those attitudes? Is it ever cause for internal conflict?

In fact, this hasn’t caused a conflict for me. I also don’t confess to any religious conviction. I use the spiritual mindset to understand what goes on with me and, I assume, many other humans when we stand in front of phenomena in nature and history that are hard to fully fathom or explain. That doesn’t make me less interested in finding more knowledge about the same phenomena. In Snö I write literary non-fiction. My relationship to religion and the spiritual, but also to philosophy and the scientific, is respectful of the internal rationality of these approaches to their various versions of knowledge. I would acknowledge and, if necessary, make it clear, that these versions of ‘knowledge’, or sometimes ‘experience’ come from very different methodologies. As a scholar I subscribe with particular care to the knowledge we call scientific.

You refer to snow as ‘historical’. Could you elaborate on what you mean by this? How does snow carry or reveal history in ways that might not be immediately obvious?

It connects to what I said above on the implications of the Anthropocene. In the past, for example when I went to school and later university in the 1970s and 1980s, we learnt that ‘history’ was a record of the past that related to what humans did and thought. This required, as famously argued by British philosopher R.G. Collingwood in his book The Idea of History (written in the 1930s), a distinction between natural history (marked by aimless events) and the human history of intentional actions. What we experience in our contemporary Anthropocene world is that agency, usually reserved for humans, is increasingly distributed into what I call the ‘elemental’ categories of the world. I listed some of those above and snow is a good example.

When snow and ice (which is old, packed snow) melt in a systematic long-term fashion, it is a result of human agency through global warming. But the implications are considerable in a sequence of steps. For example, irrigation from seasonal melt becomes reduced and irregular. This affects millions of people and households south and east of the Himalayas, near the Andes in South Africa and in other regions. For the same basic reasons, the geography of winter tourism is changing, and ski resorts are closing. Snow drought appears in vast regions. Hydro-electrical production in rivers is disturbed. Extreme weather- including massive unseasonable melting means growing risk of floods. There are other cultural, social and psychological effects wrought by lack of snow and a lack of possible seasonal variations and pastimes and activities. Simply put: this is change and it is part of history since it is born out of human agency, which are to varying degrees intentional. This means it also becomes part of our responsibility, for ourselves, our nations, cities and citizens, and for this thing we used to call nature but which we now often call ‘the environment’ or ‘the planet’- or as we did long ago and now return to calling: the elements. As we speed them up and tweak and dominate them, we make them an intertwined part of our (human) history.

I think it is profound. It is an example of what we now refer to as ‘Anthropocene history’, which is an expansion, or augmentation, of the history we always had. It is, at the same time, a specialisation building on previous sub-specialties such as environmental history, history of science, history of knowledge, history of technology, climate history and a range of knowledge usually connected with geography.

Some argue that climate change is a natural, cyclical process, and therefore not something we should be overly concerned about—even if human activity is accelerating it. How would you respond to this view?

I smile and hope it will finally go away, the sooner the better. It is a long time ago that science left this position. We have known that most, almost all of our contemporary climate change is anthropogenic and stems predominantly from the human burning of fossil fuels. This has been scientific orthodoxy since around 1980 and the scientific ideas behind it date back to the 19th century. I think the only choice is to go by the established science. Anything else is unwise and will make the already severe consequences of climate change only worse and hinder the work to mitigate the change.

There’s growing discussion about how global warming, in the short term, could paradoxically lead to a long-term ice age due to the weakening or collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). What are your most recent thoughts on this anticipated event?

Not many, really. It is correct that there is growing research into this issue but is quite speculative. The likelihood of it happening is under discussion. I have no other thoughts on this issue than what you can read in any newspaper, unfortunately, including that the risks do not seem big enough, by far, to make immediate action advisable. I am sure the issue will be followed though, so that, if necessary appropriate, preparations could be considered.

In your book you mention the decline of traditional water management systems, such as the acequias in the Sierra Nevada. How do you envision the future of water management?

Oh, that is a big issue. The answer largely depends on how successful we can be in pushing back against climate change. If we can push back, we will be able to hold on better to traditional management methods, like the acequias in southern Spain. These methods are an example of how local traditions have managed to make the most of high elevation snow reservoirs and preserve them until summer and use it economically and sustainably. If we fail to push back against climate change, I fear we will need to use more and more large and heavy-handed infrastructure that is both costly and risky. Big dams are for example vulnerable targets in war. And they are often too costly in developing countries, plus water is so scarce in large regions that dams are not a solution.

Over the decades, you’ve built an extensive body of work. How did the experience of writing Snö differ from your previous books—both in terms of process and personal resonance?

Since it is a more literary work than most of my previous work, it has been a quite different experience. I based much of my work on research I did myself over many years. The challenge was to supplement this body of knowledge with new knowledge and engaging stories that in a sense filled out the gaps, both chronologically and globally. Although quite a bit of this book is centred on the north- especially the European Arctic and the Scandinavian countries- it is quite literally a global history with examples from the Mediterranean world, the European Alps (in particular Switzerland), Russia, the Americas, Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, even Africa. It stretches across thousands of years although certainly the two last centuries take up most of the space, and our present time especially since elemental change is now so rapid and the social and political consequences so big.

There is also more history of art and literature built into the narrative that I didn’t work on so much before. Plus, a wealth of new stories that I tell which I didn’t even plan to include; I came across them in my research. One example is a long chapter called ‘Nivea’. It is about the controversial politics of the skin creme (Nivea means snow white before and during Third Reich Germany and the Nazi passion for snow. There are a number of in depth, often fascinating, stories which work as an assemblage in a literary work but may not seem relevant in a scientific journal article. The form offers a more holistic view of the topic that reaches out to a wider readership, I think.

Has the journey of writing Snö led you to any new perspectives or awareness? If so, would you care to share some thoughts?

Well, some such perspectives are presented above. All in all, I have been acutely more aware in writing this book how important snow is. Even more than I was before. It is fundamental to the water balance of the planet and to water supplies in vast regions, particularly as it functions as a holder, or a parking place for ‘slow water’. When water doesn’t slow down properly during winter and spring much of it goes away useless and can create disaster downstream. No new glaciers are being formed. The old are melting. Snow cover gets thinner and stays fewer days for every decade. We will have a planet of rapid water streams but less water security, in some areas drastically so. That has been a revelation to me.

What is the core message or insight you hope readers will take away from Snö?

First of all, I really hope that the reader appreciates this as a reading experience. Experience is unique for every reader, based on the reader’s own background, perception and imaginative powers. This is something I cherish and respect. Still, if the reader will see and take to heart some of the core ideas in the book that I have presented briefly in these answers, it is a bonus. Snow may seem a marginal thing to people in most parts of the world. But it is bigger, and more central than you might think.

Do you see enough reasons to remain hopeful for the future of the planet?

Yes, of course! Most things these days, including climate change, don’t go the right way but I am always confident. It is a better idea to retain hope and work for the better. It at least makes you feel better to work toward the good than to become cynical and opt out. Reading good, rewarding and fascinating books is to me a good part of such work.