Kaleidoscope Pro is now available as an annual subscription, providing an economical way to access the excellent analysis features of this software.
A discounted package is also available for students or academics who buy a subscription using an official university purchase order.
Each subscription will give you access to the software for 366 days and an automated email will remind you to renew at the beginning of the month that your current subscription is due to expire.
For customers who have purchased a copy of Kaleidoscope Pro in 2017, Wildlife Acoustics are offering you the chance to convert this to an annual subscription. Depending on when your software was purchased, you will be entitled to a one, two or three-year subscription (see the table below). This offer is valid until the 31st January 2018.
To take advantage of this offer: When Kaleidoscope Pro 4.5 is launched, you will receive a popup window notifying you of the conversion offer. You will be able to accept or decline at this time. If you choose to accept, your permanent license will be deleted.
Saltmarsh is the 5th and latest addition to the British Wildlife Collection. In this passionate and eloquent book, Clive Chatters celebrates some of our most beautiful and exceptional saltmarshes, bringing to life this mysterious and ever-changing habitat. To celebrate its publication, we recently chatted to Clive about the book and about conservation of saltmarshes in the UK.
Author, Clive Chatters
Your book is incredibly well-researched and is packed with fascinating details on the history, ecology and management of saltmarshes in the UK. However, if you were to be faced with an audience of people who know absolutely nothing about saltmarshes, their beauty or their value – what are the key things you would tell them to inspire and pique their interest?
Talking about Saltmarshes is no substitute to joining the audience on a short walk and experiencing the landscape first-hand. In a modest stroll one can share the reek of the mud and the companionable cry of waders. The breeze will bring minute particles of brine to our lips, a piquant introduction to a habitat so alien from our own. I would hope that such a stroll would leave people wanting more.
Some of the most enjoyable parts of the book for me were the historical accounts of the saltmarshes; finding out how both common people and nobles, together with the shifting political framework throughout the ages, influenced the landscape of our country. Is history a particular passion of yours and do you think that an understanding of a region’s history is important for current and future conservation decisions?
Our encounters with wildlife are just snatched insights into the lives of countless other species. Britain’s landscape has co-evolved with people, we are a part of our nation’s native fauna. By understanding how that relationship has developed we can better understand our place in the world and so appreciate our responsibility for the consequences of our actions.
To quote from the end of your book, “all habitats and landscapes are subject to change”. However, saltmarshes are arguably under the influence of a greater range of factors in comparison to many other habitat types; with short- and long-term fluctuations in tides, sea level rise and land subsidence in addition to the inevitable human impacts of agriculture and land development. For these reasons, do you think that saltmarshes are uniquely difficult to provide a conservation plan for?
Nature conservationists are asked to master a host of interactive challenges. There are common themes covering all habitats and species that focus on safeguarding interconnected landscapes and securing the wherewithal to allow ecological processes to progress unimpeded. In saltmarshes this usually means making spaces for tides and sediments to move and for the vegetation to develop in the presence of large grazing animals. Saltmarshes are particularly demanding as they shift across the landscape at a rate that can outpace our ability to manage change. If we fail then human life and property are at risk and the diversity of the natural world is diminished.
As a long-term naturalist with a rich and varied career, what do you think (or hope) will be your most important legacy to conservation?
All any of us can do is hope to leave Britain’s wildlife in better heart than when we first grew to know it. To me success is measured by rejuvenating conditions in which wildlife can cope with whatever changes are yet to come.
The research and writing of Saltmarsh must have been an immense undertaking. I’m curious what is next for you? Are there plans afoot for further books?
I enjoy writing as it helps to marshal the results of my curiosity into a semblance of order. If others enjoy what I’ve written then there are many more stories to tell.
Saltmarsh was published as part of the British Wildlife Collection; a series of books, each covering an individual aspect of British natural history. From the first publication in 2012, they have covered such diverse topics as mushrooms, meadows and mountain flowers, and books have been written by some of Britain’s finest writers and experts in their field. Filled with beautiful images, these wide-ranging and well-researched titles are a joy for any naturalist who is passionate about British wildlife and landscapes.
These bespoke nets, made by NHBS, are being used by ZSL in an ongoing project to monitor juvenile and larval fish populations in the Thames.
The Ichthyoplankton Net
Earlier this year we were contacted by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) who were interested in working with us to make a bespoke aquatic survey net.
Their specifications required the net to have a square frame with a four point bridle and connections for a flow meter. It also needed to have a diving vane which would ensure that it could be towed stably at a set depth, and a screw on cod end with a bag made from 53µm and 250µm mesh. Following these guidelines, our engineer and seamstress got to work and within a couple of weeks a detailed specification was agreed. The nets were then manufactured and two were sent to ZSL in February.
First draft of the net design
Several months later we were delighted to receive some photos from Anna Cucknell, who manages ZSL’s work on fish conservation in the Thames, showing the nets in use.
“It was great to work with NHBS, who listened to our specific needs to design bespoke sampling nets for juvenile fish, and used their experience to adapt our designs to fit our needs. Our juvenile fish surveys on the Thames are the first of their kind, in scale and resolution and we hope the results from which will be applicable in the Thames and further afield to help drive conservation and better management of our estuaries for all fish species”. Anna Cucknell, Thames Project Manager, Zoological Society of London
Nets are towed both at the surface and at a depth of two metres. Combined with data from seine and intertidal nets, these surveys provide a comprehensive picture of larval and juvenile fish populations.
Fish Conservation in the Thames
The nets we made for ZSL are being used for an ongoing project to monitor the use of the Thames by juvenile fish.
The Tidal Thames is home to more than 100 fish species including many that are commercially important such as Dover sole and European seabass. It also provides critically important habitat for rarer species, including European smelt and European eel.
Like most estuaries, the Thames provides invaluable spawning, migratory and nursery grounds but, despite this, the region is poorly studied. The ZSL project hopes to remedy this by providing essential information about the health of fish populations in the estuary, and to assess how these are affected by water quality and local developments.
Boat-based sampling for juvenile fish
The project, funded by Tideway, involves both boat-based and foreshore sampling and, excitingly, also provides an opportunity for volunteers to get involved via its citizen science scheme. Volunteers can help with a variety of tasks including measuring, identifying and counting the fish.
For more information about the Tidal Thames fish conservation project, head over to the ZSL website.
Interested in getting involved? Sign up here to volunteer.
Have a bespoke project in mind? Contact our Wildlife Equipment Specialist team on 01803 865913 or via email at customer.services@nhbs.com.
Bowland Beth dramatises the short life of an English hen harrier between 2011 and 2012 and immerses the reader in the day-to-day regimen of her life. Interweaved with her story is the larger tale of the species fight for survival under the constant threat of persecution. In this article our book specialist, Nigel Jones, talks to the author, David Cobham, about the plight of the hen harrier and his hopes for the future of this glorious bird.
The Author of Bowland Beth, David Cobham.
There are numerous organisations and NGOs in the book who want the same outcome for the hen harrier, but who seem to be in conflict as to how to achieve their aims. What strategy do you think would enable all these groups to speak with one voice; do you think this would help when confronting powerful lobby groups such as the landowners and their connections in government?
The problem lies in some organisations wanting an outright ban on driven grouse shooting. That is not going to happen as has already been demonstrated. What we all have to work for is a system of licensing driven grouse moor shooting. Controlled by DEFRA a driven grouse moor would be licensed to operate and granted the subsidies that are substantial. If a case of illegal killing was proven in court the license for driven grouse shooting would be revoked for 3 years. I believe this would get a majority backing.
The hen harrier in your book is named Beth. I encounter some people who disapprove of naming animals, they claim this is anthropomorphism and inappropriate to conservation. What would you say to those people?
Mark Avery in his review of my book saw exactly what I was trying to do. Ring numbers or tag numbers are impersonal. By giving them names it makes us feel closer to the birds. The news that Bowland Beth has died is much more heart wrenching than that 834759 has died.
Sadly, I have never seen a hen harrier. Your description of them is written with such a passion akin to awe that I am now determined to see one of these birds for myself. What chance does an everyday person like myself have of seeing a hen harrier in the wild?
A survey last year reported that there were 4 breeding pairs of hen harriers in England – none of them on grouse moors. The best time to see hen harriers is in the winter when there is a considerable influx of hen harriers from the Scandinavian countries. They pitch up from October on the east of England and can be seen as they come into roost in reed beds on the coast or in damp areas with shelter from silver birches inland. They return north to breed in mid-March.
The landowners say they need to make an income from the moors, and driven grouse shooting is the only way they can do this. They will put the case for local employment and, like the debate around foxhunting, accuse opponents of not understanding ‘the countryside.’ Do you think a ban on driven grouse shooting is the only way to force the landowners hand, or do you think working alongside landowners to assist with techniques such as brood management and diversionary feeding is the best way to proceed?
Brood management is just one of six measures in DEFRA’s save the hen harrier project. It is a concession to the grouse moor owners. This is how it will work. First, when a nest is found on a grouse moor, diversionary feeding must be tried. This involves feeding day old chicks during the six week period when hen harriers take grouse chicks. They are placed on a plank supported by trestles about 30 metres from the nest. Trials at Langholm showed that this method reduces chick predation by 86%. If another hen harrier nests within 10 km of the original nest then brood management comes into play. The clutch of eggs is removed and hatched in an incubator. They are taught to feed. When they can feed themselves they are placed in an aviary out on the moor. Monitored by experts they will be given a “soft” release and continue to be fed until they are self sustaining.
If the trial is shown to fail due to illegal killing it will cease immediately.
I’m quite cynical about this. I think a lot gamekeepers won’t allow a hen harrier to nest on their moor and furthermore there are not enough hen harriers breeding on grouse moors in England to justify this procedure.
There are some conservationists that advocate adopting a more laissez-faire approach to extinction, moving priorities to bio-abundance rather than biodiversity and accepting that extinction and invasive species are part of the evolutionary process. What are your thought regarding this way of thinking?
I quote directly from my book. An extract from The Diversity of Life by Professor Edward O. Wilson: “We should not knowingly allow any species or race to go extinct. There can be no purpose more enspiriting than to begin the ages of restoration, reweaving the wondrous diversity of life that still surrounds us”. The hen harrier was extinct as a breeding bird in England in 2013. Its fate lies in our hands now.
Despite the hen harrier being a totem and emblematic of a battle between conservationists and those wishing to preserve a ‘rural way of life;’ a quick straw-poll I conducted indicated little knowledge of the bird. However, with more knowledge, I believe the majority would care about the hen harrier. How can the plight of the hen harrier compete in a media blizzard of often superficial and meaningless content?
When Bowland Beth was shot we believe she had just found a mate. Her femur was fractured, six of her tail feathers cut through and her femoral artery nicked. She picked herself up and flew unsteadily off, streaming blood behind her. Her vision blurred and she crashed into heather. Don’t tell me that birds don’t feel pain. She must have been in exquisite pain. I know about pain. I broke my femur last October, and lay there for six hours before I was found. That is the bond I have with Bowland Beth.
Do you believe satellite tagging is a good way to monitor hen harriers, and if so why?
Illegal killing of hen harriers continues. There is an arms race – sophisticated satellite tagging versus state of the art weaponry. Since 2007 36 hen harriers satellite tagged by Natural England have “disappeared”. Bowland Beth was one of them. The Hawk and Owl Trust satellite tagged two hen harriers last year. The male, Rowan, was shot last October in the north of England. His leg was smashed and he was able to fly some distance before collapsing in the heather. Sorrel, a female, is alive and well and flourishing in Scotland.
Protecting the hen harrier requires dedication, passion and commitment to the cause of conservation, often from volunteers working long hours in all weathers. What would you say to inspire a future generation of conservationist to take up the baton?
To watch a young hen harrier successfully fledge from her nest and set out into the unknown is the start of a Great Adventure. Sharing this knowledge with other weary volunteers who have probably not seen anything all day re-invigorates them, gives them the impetus to go out again and search for that elusive V-shaped image of a hen harrier, searching up and down, for its favourite prey, short-tailed field voles.
Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier, written by David Cobham and illustrated by Dan Powell, is published by William Collins and is available in hardback.
Looking for a bat box but don’t know which one to buy? This article is the third in a three part series designed to help you to make the right choice. Here you will find our top 10 boxes for incorporating into the masonry of a new build or development. The previous two posts feature the best boxes for trees and woodland and for walls and fences.
For each box listed you will also find helpful information such as its dimensions and weight and the box type (e.g. whether it is for summer use, for hibernation or for access into an existing roost space).
The Glossary below provides a guide to the key terms used in the descriptions.
• Woodcrete/WoodStone: A blend of wood, concrete and clay which is very durable. It is also breathable and helps to maintain a stable temperature inside the box. • Summer: Summer boxes are suitable for the warmer months but are less likely to be used over the winter. • Hibernation: Designed to be larger and better insulated, hibernation boxes will provide a safe and warm space for bats over the winter. • Maternity: Suitable for the formation of colonies and raising of young. • Access: Provides an entrance to an existing roof space such as a wall cavity or loft. • Crevice: Provides one or more narrow roost spaces. Species which prefer this type of box include common, soprano and Nathusius pipistrelle, Brandt’s and whiskered bats. • Cavity: Provides a more spacious roost space. Bats such as brown long-eared, Daubenton’s and Natterer’s bats prefer cavity boxes. • Large cavity: These boxes allow space for flight within the roost which is preferred by brown long-eared bats in particular.
This guide is designed to help you choose the best bird box, based on the species of bird that you are hoping to attract, or that you know can be found in your garden or other outdoor space. Species are organised alphabetically by common name, and for each one we have included information about the preferred type of box and siting location. You will also find a handy list of suitable boxes available from NHBS.
• Box type: Large box with entrance hole measuring at least 150 x 200mm. An exercise platform for young owls is also beneficial. • Siting guidelines: At least 4m high in an undisturbed area, away from roads. Boxes can be installed inside a barn if there is a clear flight path to the entrance. • Suitable boxes: Barn Owl Nest Box Eco Barn Owl Nest Box Triangular Barn Owl Nest Box Flat-Pack Barn Owl Nest Box
Blackbird – Turdus merula
• Box type: Medium box with platform-style front. • Siting Guidelines: At least 1.5m high and preferably within a bush or shrub. • Suitable boxes: Blackbird FSC Nest Box
• Box type – Small box with 25mm entrance hole. Will also use boxes with a larger hole if there isn’t competition from larger birds. • Siting guidelines – Trees and walls in gardens and woodland. 1-5m in height with a clear flight path. Avoid direct sunlight and busy areas of the garden.
• Box type: Small box with 28mm entrance hole. Will also use boxes with a larger hole if there isn’t competition from larger birds. • Siting guidelines: Trees and walls in garden or woodland. 1-5m in height with a clear flight path. There is some evidence to suggest that crested tits will only utilise boxes if they are filled with sawdust or wood shavings. • Suitable boxes: Vivara Pro Seville 28mm WoodStone Nest Box Small Bird Nest Box with 28mm Hole Apex Bird Box with 28mm Hole
• Box type: Medium box with 50mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: On a tree at a height of 3 – 5m. Boxes should be stuffed with soft material such as rotten wood or bark. • Suitable boxes: Woodpecker/Starling Nest Box Woodpecker Box
• Box type: Medium box with 60mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: On a tree at a height of 3 – 5m. Boxes should be filled with soft material such as rotten wood or bark. • Suitable boxes: Large Bird Nest Box
• Box type: Small box with 32mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: On trees or buildings at a height of 2m or above. House sparrows are colonial nesters so multiple boxes can be sited near to each other, or terraced boxes used.
• Box type: Large box with 150mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: As high as possible on a building or tree (minimum 3m). Jackdaws are colonial nesters so several boxes may be placed close together. • Suitable boxes: Tawny Owl, Jackdaw and Stock Dove Nest Box
• Box type: Large box with open front. • Siting guidelines: On a tree or building at a minimum height of 5m with a clear flight path to the entrance. • Suitable boxes: Kestrel Nest Box Kestrel Open Nest Box
• Box type: Tunnel with rear nesting chamber. • Siting guidelines: Buried in a vertical bank beside a slow-moving river or lake. Only the entrance should be visible and it should be at least one metre above the maximum water level. Filling the tunnel with sand will improve the chances of occupation. If possible, two tunnels should be placed together, at least 70cm apart. • Suitable boxes: Vivara Pro WoodStone Kingfisher Tunnel
Little Owl – Athene noctua
• Box type: Tubular box with a 70mm entrance hole and internal baffle to reduce light. • Siting guidelines: On a horizontal branch at a minimum height of 3m. • Suitable boxes: Little Owl Apex Nest Box
• Box type: Small box with 28mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: In a woodland, preferably overlooking a glade. Boxes should be installed at a height of 2-4m. If competition with earlier nesting tits is a problem, the holes of several boxes may be blocked up until the flycatchers arrive. • Suitable boxes: Vivara Pro Seville 28mm WoodStone Nest Box Small Bird Nest Box with 28mm Hole Apex Bird Box with 28mm Hole
• Box type: Tunnel, approximately 100mm in diameter • Siting guidelines: Tunnels should be filled with sand and buried into an artificial or natural sandbank. (Banks should be vertical or slightly overhanging). • Suitable boxes: Sand Martin Nest Box
• Box type: Small box with open front. Front panel should be fairly low. • Siting guidelines: On a tree at a height of 2-4m and with a clear outlook (e.g. next to a lawn or woodland clearing). Alternatively on a building, nestled within ivy or other climbing plants. • Suitable boxes: Flatpack Bird Box – Open Front Robin Nest Box
Starling – Sturnus vulgaris
• Box type: Medium box with 45mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: On a tree or building at a minimum height of 2.5m. Starlings nest colonially so several boxes may be placed close together. • Suitable boxes: Woodpecker/Starling Nest Box Large Bird Nest Box Woodpecker Box
• Box type: Large box with 150mm entrance hole. • Siting guidelines: At least 3m high on a tree overlooking open fields or in an open barn. • Suitable boxes: Tawny Owl, Jackdaw and Stock Dove Nest Box
• Box type: Large box or chimney-style box with 150mm entrance hole.
• Siting guidelines: On a tree at a height of at least 2.5m with a clear flight path (particularly below the box).
• Suitable boxes: Tawny Owl Nest Box Tawny Owl, Jackdaw and Stock Dove Nest Box
Looking for a bat box but don’t know which one to buy? This article is the second in a three part series designed to help you to make the right choice.
For each box you will also find helpful information such as its dimensions and weight and the box type (e.g. whether it is for summer use, for hibernation or for access into an existing roost space).
The Glossary below provides a guide to the key terms used in the descriptions.
• Woodcrete/WoodStone: A blend of wood, concrete and clay which is very durable. It is also breathable and helps to maintain a stable temperature inside the box. • Summer: Summer boxes are suitable for the warmer months but are less likely to be used over the winter. • Hibernation: Designed to be larger and better insulated, hibernation boxes will provide a safe and warm space for bats over the winter. • Maternity: Suitable for the formation of colonies and raising of young. • Access: Provides an entrance to an existing roof space such as a wall cavity or loft. • Crevice: Provides one or more narrow roost spaces. Species which prefer this type of box include common, soprano and Nathusius pipistrelle, Brandt’s and whiskered bats. • Cavity: Provides a more spacious roost space. Bats such as brown long-eared, Daubenton’s and Natterer’s bats prefer cavity boxes. • Large cavity: These boxes allow space for flight within the roost which is preferred by brown long-eared bats in particular.
Here you will find our top 10 boxes for installing on a tree, in a garden, park or woodland. For each box you will also find helpful information such as its dimensions and weight and the box type (e.g. whether it is for summer use, for hibernation or for access into an existing roost space).
The Glossary below provides a guide to the key terms used in the descriptions.
• Woodcrete/WoodStone: A blend of wood, concrete and clay which is very durable. It is also breathable and helps to maintain a stable temperature inside the box. • Summer: Summer boxes are suitable for the warmer months but are less likely to be used over the winter. • Hibernation: Designed to be larger and better insulated, hibernation boxes will provide a safe and warm space for bats over the winter. • Maternity: Suitable for the formation of colonies and raising of young. • Access: Provides an entrance to an existing roof space such as a wall cavity or loft. • Crevice: Provides one or more narrow roost spaces. Species which prefer this type of box include common, soprano and Nathusius pipistrelle, Brandt’s and whiskered bats. • Cavity: Provides a more spacious roost space. Bats such as brown long-eared, Daubenton’s and Natterer’s bats prefer cavity boxes. • Large cavity: These boxes allow space for flight within the roost which is preferred by brown long-eared bats in particular.
Foraging was my first introduction to the natural world.
While sounding slightly trite, this statement is non-the-less true. I grew up in a town, like most of us do, and before I started foraging for nothing more exciting than blackberries I didn’t pay much attention to ‘nature.’
So, what did foraging teach me about the natural world that climbing trees and making dens couldn’t? Simply the realisation that blossoms provide pollen to pollinators such as bees, enabling the trees and shrubs to produce fruit. Eureka! So, that’s what bees are for! Then there are the seasons: not just for influencing the contents of the wardrobe, seasons were the on/off or pause for everything. I began to get excited, I discovered wild mushrooms, I was twelve and I’ve been foraging ever since.
Are we foraging too much?
Foraging is quite a controversial issue. There are lots of passionate arguments for and against it and a quick browse of the subject on the internet will tell you more. Like many, I am concerned that professional foragers can damage the natural environment. It seems logical that stripping out all the mushrooms or sea kale from a small area will damage that environment in some way. Surely foragers just need to abide by good practice, it’s the practitioner’s actions not the practice itself that can cause problems. Then there is the notion of sustaining oneself with ‘wild food.’ At best this notion is romantic, more likely delusional. My love of foraging is wholly based on getting outdoors and learning about nature – foraging is not an alternative to going to the shops.
Is it dangerous?
Firstly, you do need a book, especially if you are foraging for mushrooms; mis-identification can and does have dire consequences. You need to be careful and acquire knowledge with experience. You discover a sought-after Boletus edulis, considered the king of all mushrooms and totally delicious (I can vouch that they are). However, before you enjoy your gourmet mushroom, make sure the stem doesn’t turn blue when cut, otherwise you’re eating Boletus erythropus and are in for an unpleasant stomach ache. More serious consequences can occur from eating the morbidly named destroying angel, Amanita bisporigera, or the death cap, Amanita phalloides. Please be very familiar with both before you eat wild mushrooms. A book will suffice as a identification checklist, but the best way is to find a specimen and take note of all its pertinent features, cross-referencing with more than one book if possible. Once you can confidently identify a destroying angel or a death cap, you can be confident the mushroom you are planning to eat isn’t one of them.
Away from the more well documented mushroom poisoning, you might find yourself spending your evening taking the tiny stalks out of every single elderberry in the clusters you’ve picked – the leaves, twigs, branches, stalks, seeds, and roots of Sambucus plants can contain a cyanidin glycoside, so it’s best to be safe. Oh, and you need to cook the berries too. You don’t have to take risks though, as the Woodland Trust has planted many community orchards in towns, resulting in enough blackberry and apple jam to last you a whole year.
Which books should I use?
There are lots of books available and we have compiled a short list here for you to browse. In no particular order, the following contain interesting and practical information on foraging:
Being outside in all weathers, learning about nature, connecting with the natural world, acquiring more and more knowledge and experience: whether you are in town, country or even the city there will be plants growing everywhere that you can eat. It’s fun, slightly dangerous and can give children their first and lasting experience of connecting with nature. It did that for me and has stayed, and will stay with me all my life.
Orison for a Curlew takes us on a pilgrimage in search of the slender-billed curlew; once a common sight in its breeding grounds of Siberia, but now diminished to a handful of unconfirmed sightings. In this article, one of our book team Nigel Jones, talks to the author, Horatio Clare, about conservation, environmentalism and his hopes for the future of the titular bird.
The author, Horatio Clare
Despite the rather gloomy prognosis for the fate of the slender-billed curlew, your book seems to me about hope. Are you optimistic that conservation will gain ground due to stories such as the plight of Numenius tenuirostris, or do you think this story is more of a prelude of things to come?
It is about hope. I do think the hunger for watching nature footage, and writing and reading about the natural world will translate, given the unavoidable nature of climate and environmental awareness as the world changes, into action. My sense of my generation, currently in our forties, is that we came out of an easy time – the nineties – well aware of how lucky we were, and how things were going with the planet and capitalism generally – and that we have not seen the best of us yet. We have been getting it together, I know of great people in powerful positions, and others doing tremendous work, and I hope things will change for the better. Brexit and Trump are shattering reversals for the world and nature, but not insurmountable. Moreover, it seems the slender-billed curlew may not be on the way out! A population may breed in Kazakhstan and the birds may have been seen and filmed a few years ago in Holland.
Being such a delicate and ethereal creature; do you think the slender-billed curlew was always vulnerable to possible extinction, regardless of human activity; was there a more dominant species pushing it out of it’s niche?
No I am sure we are the dominant species which pushed it out, by draining marshes and polluting the water. It was surely vulnerable in that it is highly specialised.
The relentless corrosion of diminishing natural spaces is a strong theme in your book. The argument for development is usually ‘people come first’ and, by definition, wild spaces are mainly unoccupied by people. I would love to see the hundreds of white pelicans, spiralling up to find the thermals that you describe. However, most of us will only see a spectacle such as this on television, or envisage it vicariously. For me this is the paradox of conserving wild spaces for their own sake – how do we get everyone involved with conservation when only a few people ever get to experience what it creates? How do we make wild spaces matter to everybody?
Knowledge of the natural world and knowing what you are looking at can make a walk in the garden, park or road a safari. That is the way you make every space matter: put names and stories on the creatures that inhabit it. Funnily enough I have written two children’s books on the subject! Which makes me think, children’s literature being a kind of menagerie, we all begin as nature-lovers; it’s just that some adults discount the planet’s marvels, and certainly its needs. And of course corporations exist solely to harvest the planet’s riches as quickly as possible, heedless of environmental cost, if they are allowed to be, for the benefit of share-holders. I think some form of cooperativism between individuals and between nations offers the only hope for long-term sustainability.
There are some conservationists that advocate adopting a more laissez-faire approach to extinction, moving priorities to bio-abundance rather than biodiversity and accepting that extinction and invasive species are part of the evolutionary process. What are your thought regarding this way of thinking?
It is a sin to cause the extinction of a species, as Prof Kiss puts it in Orison. To fail to prevent the extinction of a species seems of a different order, if hard to enjoy. If you regard our privilege of dominance as responsibility, then we have a duty to look after all of what used to be called God’s creatures. We should not really accept anything less than bio-abundance and biodiversity, should we?
I really enjoyed meeting all the people in your book; their dedication, passion and commitment to the cause of conservation was wonderfully described, without ever reducing them to parodies or caricatures. For me they represented the ‘hope’ in your book. However, they all seemed at odds with the world, probably viewed by their relative governments as part of an ‘awkward squad’ and their work and funding was often in decline. What would you say to inspire a future generation of conservationist to take up the baton?
With journalism going through tough times, there is no better way to have the fun and the interest of being the awkward squad, travelling the world, getting up the noses of baddies and making the planet a better place than becoming an environmentalist! What a blessed and admirable profession! What adventure it offers! And…the happiest people you meet are naturalists and environmentalists, on the whole, though they deal in tragedy and folly often.
Numenius tenuirostris Vieilliot, 1817
The hunting for sport, the mist nets and the bird markets make for a very threatening environment for migrating birds. However, it’s the drainage of the marshes for agriculture and the encroachment and contamination of heavy industry that you more frequently allude to as the biggest threat. Do you see hunting as a potential partner to conservation, or are those two pursuits always going to be in conflict?
Having just read Bowland Beth: The Life of an English Hen Harrier by David Cobham I feel hunting is unhelpful, if not abominable, but that may be a grouse-centric view. In Greece the numerous hunters are thought of with something like revulsion by some conservationists; the hunting I saw while living in Italy was an absolute disgrace. No doubt many hunters are great and ardent conservationists. Unfortunately many are not.
The slender-billed curlew sightings in recent history are difficult to verify. What are your hunches about their authenticity and when was the last recorded sighting that you believe was accurate?
The birds filmed in Holland in 2013 seem genuine but I am no expert. I believe they are seen – and recorded – now and then. I heard a report from Oman, but a confirmed sighting is a tricky thing: it seems you need two or more photos and absolute proof. My friend Istavan Moldovan is cautious about the 2013 footage – as I write he is chasing relict populations of Apollo butterflies in the Carpathians in Romania. Does that not sound like a great career?
The last question is a simple one, but maybe the most difficult to answer. I know you certainly hope so, but do you believe Numenius tenuirostris will ever be seen again?
I absolutely do. I am quite sure they are out there and it is my dream to see one! Thank you so much for your wonderfully intelligent and acute questions, quite the best!
Orison for a Curlew, written by Horatio Clare and illustrated by Beatrice Forshall, is published by Little Toller Books and is available in paperback and hardback.
Little Toller was established in 2008 with a singular purpose: to revive forgotten and classic books about nature and rural life in the British Isles.
Their Nature Classics Library series was established to re-publish gems of natural history writing, with up-to-date introductions by contemporary writers. The success of the series has now developed into a publishing programme which includes a series of monographs by authors like Fiona Sampson, John Burnside, Iain Sinclair and Adam Thorpe as well as stand-alone books – all attuned to nature and landscape and aimed at the general reader.
Each Little Toller writer brings something new to the series – but it’s always characterised by a deep understanding of the subject, combined with wonderful writing. A sense of the personal reaction to the natural world is imperative. Little Toller also pay a great deal of attention to the aesthetic of their books, using artists to complement the writing to create a beautiful object, befitting Little Toller’s high publishing standards.
Little Toller is now preparing its books for the latter part of the year, notably the first ever biography of the legendary but enigmatic J A Baker, author of The Peregrine, and access to the new Baker archive has led to important new insights into his life. 2018 will see new books from Tim Dee on Landfill, a book about Ted Hughes and fishing called The Catch, and an examination of the landscape of the north of the Irish republic from Sean Lysaght. Little Toller’s sister charity Common Ground is also working on a large exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park next year, for which there will be a raft of publishing.
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