Tag: Q&A

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.

Image by Steven Falk

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.

Dark-edged Bee-fly by Oli Haines

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.

Bronze Sap Hoverfly by Oli Haines

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.

Image by Steven Falk

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.

Great Pied Hoverfly by Oli Haines

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.

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?

Seagrass bed – photo by Paul Naylor

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. 

Supplier interview with Ria Painter-Coates: Founder and illustrator at Button and Squirt

Supplier interview with Ferne Glannan-MacRae: Founder and illustrator at Ferne Creative

As a self-taught nature illustrator, Ferne Glannan-MacRae brings the intricacies of British species to life using Procreate on iPad. Her designs are inspired by a love for the environment and, in particular, British wildlife.

With a background in the design industry and a degree in wildlife photography, Ferne uses intricate line work and natural colour palettes to create products that celebrate the beauty of the natural world.

We recently spoke to Ferne about her company, Ferne Creative, where she told us why the business started, how she decides which species to include in her collections, which charities she supports through her work and what new products she has on the horizon.

You can browse the range from Ferne Creative available from us here.

Firstly, can you tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to start Ferne Creative?

I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil, with many artists in my family. I actually studied Marine and Natural History Photography at university, but after my Masters degree I worked as a designer in the printing industry. I always knew that I would hate office work and during lockdown I started painting again and ventured into digital illustration. It was after people online started enjoying my work that I turned it into a business and decided to leave my job. My business is split in two – my product-based business, which focuses on species I want to draw and things to make for nature lovers, and the other commission-based work for charities, nature reserves and other wildlife organisations.

You have such a wide range of products on offer, with so many species featured. How do you choose which species would work on which product?

I often find that choosing what to draw is really hard, so I focus on species I would like to see – a manifestation list. I have started to create collections based on what other people are likely to try and find at nature reserves around the UK, such as Ospreys and puffins. As for which species suits which product, really I go with the flow of what product I want to focus on at that time based on what has been popular.

 

 I love how you manage to ensure that the illustrations are true to life, and each animal or plant looks as it would in nature. Is this important to you and do you have a favourite species to portray?

I have always been a bit of a perfectionist, which I am trying to escape, but I do want all the species to have that sense of accuracy even if I am leaning away from 100% realism at times. My audience is nature lovers and they will notice and care if I miss something important from a drawing (I did get contacted about a ladybird with a missing spot before!). In terms of my favourite species to draw, I have found over time – and as will be clear from my products – that I love drawing birds! In particular, I love all the textures and patterns in their plumage.

You donate a percentage of sales from selected products to various wildlife and conservation charities. Which charities do you support?

I currently have two dedicated products from which I donate a percentage of sales. The first is my Hedgehog enamel pin, which started after my own experience with an injured Hedgehog and the desire to give back. The backing card that the pin comes on is a mini booklet with information to help people in similar situations with injured hogs and tips on who to call. In the past I donated to Secret World Wildlife Rescue, and now I rotate my donations to different Hedgehog-specific hospitals. My other product is an iron-on patch of a Scottish Wildcat. A portion of sales from these are donated to Saving Wildcats, a project aiming to help one of our rarest species through breeding programmes, releases and monitoring.

Do you have any new products on the horizon that you can tell us about?

After the launch of my bird of prey educational colouring book I have had my sights set on making a seabird version and there have been requests for one on butterflies. I love making these, with facts about the species, but I have been working on some simplified colouring books for younger children too.

An interview with the British Mycological Society: A celebration of all things Fungi

UK Fungus Day is an annual celebration of all things fungi, organised by the British Mycological Society. The day invites people to get involved and learn more about the world of fungi through interactive events, online resources and institutions. We were lucky to speak to Professor Mark Ramsdale, about what makes UK Fungus Day and UK mycology so important.

Mark is chair of the BMS Fungal Education and Outreach Committee and head of training at the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Exeter.

Can you tell us how the British Mycological Society began and what its mission is today?

The British Mycological Society was first active in the late 1800s, when small groups of naturalists began organising “forays among the funguses” to explore and record fungi. What began as a shared passion soon became a learned society, dedicated to advancing fungal biology, supporting research, and encouraging collaboration between scientists and enthusiasts. Today, the BMS is a community for professional and amateur mycologists and enthusiasts. It is one of the major mycological societies in the world, committed to promoting cutting-edge scientific research, fungal conservation and species recording and the provision of educational resources.

Read more about the history of BMS here

And about the society’s current strategic aims here

UK Fungus Day has been running for over a decade. What impact have you seen it make so far, and where would you like to see it go next?

UK Fungus Day has had a huge impact over the past decade, both in raising public awareness and in shaping how fungi are perceived. When it began, fungi were often seen as a niche interest. Now, thanks to the coordinated outreach, school activities, citizen science projects, and media coverage that UK Fungus Day generates each year, there’s a much greater recognition of the vital role of fungi in ecosystems, climate regulation, and even human health.

One of the biggest shifts I’ve noticed is how fungi (funga) are now being celebrated alongside plants (flora) and animals (fauna) and included in biodiversity conversations. More schools, community groups, and nature reserves are running fungus-focused events, and citizen scientists are contributing valuable records that inform policy development and strengthen fungal conservation efforts. The event has also helped inspire the next generation of mycologists by making fungi approachable, fascinating, and fun to learn about.

Looking ahead, I’d like to see UK Fungus Day expand its reach even further, engaging even more with sectors such as food, medicine, art, sustainability and technology – to show just how interconnected fungi are with our lives, and why fungal research is so important.

What are the best ways for people to get involved with UK Fungus Day and mycology as a whole?

There’s so much going on! Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced mycologist, you can join local fungus walks and forays, take part in citizen science projects like “Find-a-Fungus” on iNaturalist, or explore fungi creatively through school and community initiatives such as “Fungi Connect”. There are also talks, festivals, workshops, and exhibitions, taking place all over the UK.  Or, you can simply head outdoors to photograph and learn about fungi in your own neighbourhood. The UK Fungus Day website features blogs on a range of fungus-focused topics; there’s also poetry and videos of past talks and presentations on YouTube @BritmycolsocOrgUk.  However you take part, UK Fungus Day is all about discovery, and helping to grow our understanding of the fungal world.

Explore everything on offer here

Mycology appears to be gaining greater appreciation in popular science with more media, books and ID guides being written each year. Some even reaching best seller status. Why do you think this is, and do you hope to see even more coming from the discipline?

Fungi are certainly receiving more attention in popular science media now, and I think this is down to several converging factors. For a long time, fungi were a “forgotten kingdom” compared with plants and animals so they have not been on people’s radars, yet they clearly underpin many key processes.  Increasingly, public interest in climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainability has brought fungi into the spotlight because they are powerful agents of change.

Fungi have always inspired creative artists, and it is not hard to see why. Their biology is full of surprising and often unfamiliar elements: hidden mycelial networks that connect life underground, fruitbodies that mysteriously appear overnight, and species that can adapt their shapes in response to their environment.  So, in terms of both popular science and science fiction, their unusual strategies of growth, survival, and reproduction lend fungi an aura of mystery that fuels the imagination. For many, they offer metaphors hinting at hidden connections, transformation, resilience, renewal and decay – concepts that resonate throughout storytelling and art.

It may also simply be that the extraordinary colours, forms and versatility makes them visually compelling subjects. Writers, filmmakers, and field biologists have all recognised this, producing books, documentaries, and field guides.

This cultural shift and growing awareness translate into greater public engagement, fuelling a desire for people to join fungal forays, learn identification skills, and contribute to citizen science recording schemes. As a professional mycologist, it is hugely encouraging: broader awareness of fungi feeds into conservation priorities, medical and agricultural research, and a deeper appreciation of biodiversity as a whole. I absolutely hope the momentum continues. Mycology still has countless stories to tell, and the public appetite is clearly there for more inspiring works.

What developments in mycology are you most excited about right now, and what are your hopes for the field in the future?

I’m particularly excited by the growing recognition of fungi in conservation. In the UK, species such as Waxcaps and wood-decay fungi are finally being acknowledged for their global importance, especially in ancient grasslands and forests. Protecting these ecosystems means protecting the fungi that underpin them.

At the same time, research is giving us unprecedented insight into the fundamental biology of fungi. We are beginning to unravel the molecular mechanisms that control fungal growth and development, yet there are still huge gaps in our knowledge – especially around how fungi interact with one another and how they organise into complex multicellular structures.

From a medical perspective, advances in our understanding of how fungi interact with the immune system are particularly exciting. We now know that the immune response to fungi is much more dynamic and nuanced than previously thought, and that we can use this to our advantage in treatment patients with fungal infections.  On top of this, the recent discovery that some fungi host intracellular bacterial parasites which can alter their susceptibility to antifungal drugs opens up entirely new avenues for treatment of human fungal diseases.

What books would you recommend for someone just starting out in mycology? Similarly, what would you suggest for readers wanting to explore the subject further?

There are many excellent books to choose from and different reasons to look at them…

For field identification

Geoffrey Kibby (2017-2024): Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe (Vols 1 to 4)

Thomas Laessoe and Jens Petersen (2019): Fungi of Temperate Europe (Vol 1 and 2)

For stories and insights into fungal biology

Jassy Drakulic (2024): Fungi for Gardeners (RHS)

Merlin Sheldrake (2020) Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures

Nicholas Money (2024): Molds, Mushrooms and Medicines

Richard Fortey (2024): Close Encounters of the Fungal Kind – In Pursuit of Remarkable Mushrooms

Pat O’Reilly (2011): Fascinated by Fungi. Exploring the History, Mystery, Facts and Fiction of the Underworld Kingdom of Mushrooms

For younger readers with curiosity

Lynne Boddy and Ali Ashby (2023): Fungi – Discover the Science and Secrets Behind the World of Mushrooms

William Brown (2023-2025): Fungalphabet – The ABC’s of Fungi (and the more recent books in this series).

Author Q&A: Peter Fretwell and Lisa Fretwell – The Penguin book of Penguins

A Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, Dr. Peter Fretwell, like the subjects of his new book entitled The Penguin book of Penguins, spends the majority of his time in the cold. As a senior geographic and remote sensing scientist, Peter has been responsible for leading many projects that further our understanding of the Polar regions and the wildlife that inhabits the area. Establishing and contributing to key projects to help better understand predators in the polar region by using satellite imagery has assisted in crucial conservation efforts.

For this book, Peter has joined forces with his wife Lisa who provides a unique selection of illustrations throughout the book. As an artist of over 30 years, Lisa draws on a wealth of experience having exhibited her works in London and New York.

Peter and Lisa Fretwell. Courtesy of the authors

We were lucky enough to catch up with Peter and Lisa recently to talk about the new publication.

What inspired you to write “The Penguin Book of Penguins”? Why penguins?

Peter: Strangely, there has never been a book titled The Penguin Book of Penguins, so when we were asked to write it, it was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down. I had previously written the Antarctic Atlas, published by Penguin Random House in 2020 and I have worked with penguins and on penguin science for twenty years. These small charismatic creatures are such a delight to be involved with, and they are a major part of working in Antarctica. Working at the British Antarctic Survey you pick up stories and anecdotes about them almost by osmosis, so having a chance to relay those narratives to a wider audience is a real privilege. We all love the jovial nature of these unique birds and their amazing adaptations to survive and thrive in some of the most challenging environments on Earth, but there is a more serious message that I also wanted to convey about the challenges that many of the species now face with climate change, pollution, habitat loss and overfishing. Communicating these challenges to a wider audience is one of our main drivers, whilst keeping the message light and not too “preachy”, to engage and inspire that wider readership.  What was more, we decided we wanted to include drawings rather than photos, so my wife, Lisa, who is a professional artist joined the author team to bring the illustrations to life.

How has your work as a cartographer and scientist at the British Antarctic Survey influenced your writing and perspective on penguins?

Peter: I really started researching penguins through my work on mapping and remote sensing. I started my scientific career as a geographer and got a job in the British Antarctic Survey as a cartographer. I have always loved maps, especially mapping the natural world around us, but I also loved the science and was soon not just making maps but helping with the geospatial analysis. The British Antarctic Survey is a wonderful and diverse place for environmental science and to help the scientist analyse their data was fascinating – you never knew what you might be working on; one day it could be mapping and analysing volcanoes, and the next it might be cuttlefish distribution.  In 2008, whilst making a map for our pilots, I discovered that we could see emperor penguin colonies in freely available Landsat satellite imagery. At the time, we didn’t know how many emperor penguin colonies there were or their distribution, so it was a groundbreaking discovery.

Peter Fretwell nose to nose with a wild Emperor Penguin.

How has the use of satellite imagery revolutionised the study and conservation of penguin colonies?

Peter: Fast-forward 17 years and we now know that there over double the number of colonies that we thought there were. We track their locations each year and do annual population assessments using satellite imagery. We have also used the technology to discover unique, previously unknown behaviours and traits, and we have witnessed and recorded the struggles and calamities they suffer as the continent warms and the sea ice diminishes. The Earth observation methods that we developed for emperors have been transferred to many other species of penguins and other types of wildlife around the world. My job itself has changed dramatically, from a scientific cartographer to a remote sensing expert and an expert on penguins and other polar vertebrate species that we track from space.

What were the major obstacles or challenges you’ve come across during your study of penguins?

Peter: Using satellites is a brilliant way to study these animals as most of the colonies are in extremely remote locations, where on-the-ground research is almost impossible. Even now the resolution of the most powerful satellites is still not good enough to see every individual adult and chick. We still need to get out there to calibrate our satellite counts and see how accurate they really are, but getting to emperor penguin colonies and synchronising ground (usually a unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV) counts with satellite data is really challenging, not just for emperor penguins, but for all the wildlife that we study from space. One of our current technical challenges is to improve the methods.

Lisa: Finding the inspiration and imagery for the more temperate penguins was quite challenging. The Antarctic and sub-Antarctic penguins were easier, as Peter had taken hundreds of photos of all the species throughout his career that I could work from. We had also visited New Zealand and seen many of the penguin species, like the adorable little blue penguin, there. On his travels, Peter had also photographed penguins on the Falklands and South America, but there were still some species that we had to trawl through published sources to get good reference images for. You have to be careful as what you see on the internet is not always correct, but it helps when you are married to a penguin expert!

Adélie penguin leaping out of the water. Lisa Fretwell

Many people feel rather enamoured by penguins. Why do you think that is?

Peter: I agree, and it’s hard to put your finger on the reason. Maybe it is a combination of their comic trusting nature and the fact that they are one of the few animals that stand upright on two legs, which makes them look a bit like us. It is really hard not to anthropomorphize penguins and compare them to little people with similar habits and social structures. Like us they often live in huge congregations, sometimes hundreds of thousands strong, they have complex courtship routines, bicker with their neighbours and do daily commutes to look after the family. They are also very tame, curious and often clumsy, which makes them quite endearing. Add their incredible, unique abilities in response to their challenging environments and you have an animal that really is quite engaging.

What are the biggest misconceptions about penguins that you would like to clarify?

Peter: There are many. Firstly, and perhaps obviously, penguins are a bird. They have feathers, not fur. Secondly, not all penguins live in Antarctica. A minority, only four of the eighteen species, breed around the coasts of the Southern Continent, but it’s fair to say that almost all (except for a few hundred) live in the Southern Hemisphere and most of them would call the waters around the Southern Ocean home.

What are the primary threats to penguin habitats, and how can these be mitigated?

Peter: It’s not just their habitats, but we can start there. Over the years, penguins have been eaten, killed for their feathers, had their eggs collected in their millions, been squashed and boiled down for their oil, and had their nesting habitats dug up and destroyed for fertiliser. In more recent times, urbanisation and land clearance has affected some of the more temperate birds, and the introduction of non-native species has had a devastating impact on many of the island-living species that are endemic to just one small group of islands.

Today, the main threats to the temperate species of penguins that live close to humanity are pollution from oil spills, overfishing and bycatch in their foraging grounds. But even in Antarctica and the remote island homes of penguins that no one ever visits, the influence of humans is affecting populations. Climate change is a global, man-made phenomenon that cannot be averted at a regional scale and is starting to have dramatic effect on many species. Although it is fair to say that in a warming environment, there will be winners and losers, at the moment, it looks like we will see more losers than winners.

BAS scientist Peter Fretwell in the field. Snow Hill, Antarctica.

What conservation efforts have been most effective in protecting penguin populations?

Peter: Around the world there are many amazing people and organisations helping penguins, from re-homing little penguins in New Zealand and Australia to the fantastic efforts to save African penguins from oil spills. In South America, there has been a great effort to protect breeding colonies from predation and on many sub-Antarctic islands there have been great programmes to eradicate non-native species that eat eggs and chicks, and trample breeding sites. There are fantastic efforts in many places that are saving penguins from the brink of extinction that anyone who loves or admires these birds should be grateful for.

Personally, what thoughts and feelings were you left with after this study of penguins?

Peter: Writing the book has not only highlighted how much we love penguins and how our culture has embraced these charismatic birds, but also the paradox of how badly we have treated them over the years and how threatened they are from human activity. Today most of those threats are indirect, but they are still caused by us and can still be solved by us.

Lisa: In terms of illustrations, I had to re-draw the ‘Penguin Digestor’ numerous times, because it made me feel a bit queasy just thinking about it. If you look at the original image it is very expressive and full of angst! I left those images of how we had mistreated penguins, like the Digestor and the Egg Collector until the very end when I could summon up the will to re-engage with them.

Emperor Penguin with chick. Lisa Fretwell

How do you envision the future for penguins?

Peter: For many species, it is a worrying time. Several are on the brink of extinction; some, like the emperor and chinstrap, are on a worrying trajectory caused by climate change that can only be solved at a global level. But there is hope. So far, we have not made any species of penguin extinct and there is still time to save all of the wonderful types of these birds, but the window for doing that is growing narrower every year.

What are the most important impressions you would like the reader to be left with after reading “The Penguin Book of Penguins”?

Peter: We hope readers will come to understand how wonderful and loveable these birds are and how invested into our culture they have become. When we think about the future of penguins, it can be a little depressing, but we are not there yet and that future is not yet written. If people care about a subject, then maybe they have it within their power to alter the future so that the worst predictions never come to light. If this book does anything, we hope it will enthuse people to help save penguins.

Lisa: I also hope that my illustrations enhance and portray these amazing birds in a true light. I tried to capture their personalities, particularly their behaviour, which I think is absolutely fascinating! The infographics should enable the reader to differentiate between each species, which for some penguin families, especially the banded penguins, is very subtle. I wanted to portray how endearing and intelligent these birds are. They have evolved to survive against the odds and their quirky nature is often fundamental to whether they breed successfully, survive extreme weather conditions and ultimately sustain their populations, and I wanted to reveal these quirks visually to enhance the reader’s experience.

What future research or projects are you planning on currently?

Lisa: I am planning to enhance my penguin illustrations with colour and exhibit them at a number of galleries. I have already been asked to create some other wildlife illustrations for the Arts Society Youth Fund locally, and I hope to illustrate or even write more books in the future.

Peter: I am currently leading multiple projects on penguins and other polar wildlife. My penguin-themed projects include mapping and monitoring seabirds on South Georgia, recording and improving the methods, carrying out population surveys of emperor penguins, and counting chinstrap and Macaroni penguins on the remote South Sandwich Islands. Results from all these studies should be coming out over the next year.

The Penguin Book of Penguins is available as a limited edition signed hardback book, while stocks last, from NHBS here.

 

From waste, to resource – an interview with Waterhaul


NHBS is delighted to be working with Waterhaul, a company turning harmful marine debris into valuable resources. Their commitment to tackling ocean plastic and promoting sustainable practices aligns closely with our own mission to protect wildlife and the natural environment.

Earlier this year, NHBS arranged a beach clean using Waterhaul products, giving us first-hand insight into their quality and effectiveness. After seeing them in action, we’re excited to now offer Waterhaul’s beach cleaning range through NHBS.

To learn more about the inspiring work behind the brand, we spoke with Jon Green at Waterhaul and asked a few questions about their mission, processes, and impact.

Waterhaul collecting “ghost gear” from across the UK coastline. Photo credit: Waterhaul

You primarily create your products from recycled “ghost gear”. What is ghost gear? and have you set your sights on any other forms of marine pollutants for future projects?

‘Ghost gear’ refers to any fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost, or discarded in the ocean. Once separated from fishing vessels, this gear continues to drift in the ocean, entangling marine life and damaging habitats. Ghost gear is a subset of marine litter but is particularly harmful due to it being designed specifically to trap and kill marine animals, combined with its extreme durability.

Unfortunately, around 640 000 tonnes of lost or discarded fishing gear end up in our oceans every single year, making it the most harmful and abundant plastic – there is certainly enough of it to keep us busy! That being said, in the past we have worked with other forms of plastic, for example our ‘ReTask The Mask’ campaign where we recycled PPE from the NHS post-COVID-19 into litter picking components.

How and where do you find the nets needed to supply your products?

Being a team of ocean users all passionate about protecting what we love, we often can be found out and around the Cornish coastline physically collecting reported ghost gear ourselves; from remote corners requiring boats, paddling or swimming to in plain sight on some of our busiest beaches following storms.

As well as collecting ourselves, we have a dedicated Impact & Recycling team who have established strong relationships and partnerships with local fishermen, harbours, organizations and waste management companies such as Biffa, providing an end-of-life solution and preventing the gear ending up in landfill.

Waterhaul collecting “ghost gear” from across the UK coastline. Photo credit: Waterhaul

We often hear stories of plastic packaging that has lasted for an age in our waters, only to wash up in recent times. Is there a particular piece of netting that stands out from your time working with marine plastic? 

The most prominent one/example that comes to mind happened on September 21st 2023 where the Raggy Charters crew spotted a juvenile humpback whale in Algoa Bay, South Africa, exhausted and entangled in fishing gear and fighting for its life.

The whale was struggling under the weight of heavy plastic ropes cutting into its flesh as well as two large orange buoys, a small yellow buoy, and a huge amount of 20-mm nylon cable wrapped around its caudal fin.

A rescue operation, led by the South African Whale Disentanglement Network took hours of painstaking effort involving multiple rescue boats and a coordinated team where they were able to free the whale who swam away, shattered but alive.

The ghost gear that ensnared the humpback was recovered and through collaborative links with the World Cetacean Alliance (WCA), made its way to us, where we saw an opportunity to create something unique and share this near-tragedy as part of our ‘Rescue to Recycle’ Campaign. An initiative that transforms harmful marine debris into products that drive change and supports ongoing conservation efforts.

Gathered plastic marine debris is recycled for manufacturing. Photo credit: Waterhaul

What percentage of your total product is made from ocean-reclaimed materials?

100% of all plastic components across our entire product range are made from Traceable Marine Plastic (TMP), our material feedstock derived from lost, abandoned and discarded fishing gear.  Our eyewear frames are also made 100% from TMP.

Do you partner with any marine conservation or environmental organizations?

Waterhaul was founded with a background in and ethos of marine conservation and environmental direct impact, ultimately initiating the mission we are on. We are incredibly proud to be supported by and have partnered with organizations such as Surfers Against Sewage, The Wave project, Sea Shepherd, The RNLI, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Canal and River Trust, and many more.

Can you explain the process of transforming ocean plastic into your final products?

Every single piece of ghost gear, whether collected by ourselves or the end-of-life fishing gear we have received from the source, is taken to our processing unit here in Cornwall.

The gear is then separated by polymer type and recycled in the UK through a mechanical process of shredding and washing. The plastic is then extruded into pellets and becomes our fully traceable raw material, Traceable Marine Plastic (TMP).

We then injection mould this plastic into our range of purposeful products. This is the stage where we give new value to plastic ‘waste’. Our impact is driven further by our extensive network of partners, from stockists to product partners and more.

What’s the best way for someone to get involved in helping your mission, any tips for how everyone can make a difference?

Aside from the conscious purchasing of products that make a direct impact and questioning the materials of where our products come from, getting out there is the most efficient way of making a difference. Grab a litter picker and whether it’s a 2-minute beach clean, a litter pick around your nearest green area or picking up rubbish you pass on the street, it all makes a huge difference in protecting our planet’s ecosystem and wildlife! Spending a few extra minutes to sort out recycling from domestic waste will also play a huge role. Finally, talking about and sharing stories on this often-overlooked topic will also spark conversations and inspire others to go out and do the same thing!

Waterhaul ocean friendly litter picking kit made from recycled marine debris. Photo credit: Waterhaul

Browse the Waterhaul products available through NHBS here

Visit the Waterhaul website to learn more about their work here

Making data work for nature: 25 years of the National Biodiversity Network Trust

The National Biodiversity Network Trust has been supporting the sharing of wildlife data since 2000. The trust consists of over 200 members, ranging from world renowned organisations to individual enthusiasts and there are now more than 300 million wildlife records available through the NBN Atlas.
Mandy Henshall, communications and engagement manager for NBN tells NHBS about the early days of the trust, achievements so far, how you can get involved and their hopes for the next 25 years.

 

How did the NBN Trust come into being in 2000? 

It might come as a surprise, but there’s never been a legal requirement for any one organisation to collect or manage biological records over the long term. 

Despite, or because of this, the Biological Records Centre (BRC) was set up in 1964 to bring together data, mostly from volunteer recording groups, share it with conservation organisations and publish the findings. 

The BRC has done a brilliant job, but without a joined-up approach or enough resources to support both local and national recorders, no single organisation could get a full picture of what was going on. As the need to report on environmental issues grew, so did the pressure to make data more accessible. 

The push to create the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) came from the Biodiversity Action Planning process, which followed the 1992 Rio Summit. A report from the Coordinating Commission for Biological Recording helped bring together UK organisations in 1997 to pool their efforts and make sharing data easier. 

That’s how the NBN Trust came to be. It was set up as an independent charity in 2000 to help build and support the Network. 

If you want to delve a little deeper, you can find out more about our story and our founding members on the NBN Trust website. 

What was the early work focused on? 

In the beginning, the focus was all about getting things off the ground and developing projects and activities that would help move the NBN Trust forward and support the wider Network. Some of the key things we worked on included: 

  • Creating a shared set of principles for how data should be exchanged 
  • Hosting an annual Conference to bring people together, share ideas, and build connections across the partnership 
  • Launching the NBN Gateway — the first online platform for sharing biodiversity data (this was replaced by the NBN Atlas in 2017) 
  • Building the Species Dictionary (now called the UK Species Inventory – UKSI) in 2003, which enabled data to be indexed and searched 
  • Producing guidance on everything from managing and sharing data to handling sensitive information and intellectual property rights, so that data could be used more freely and confidently 
  • Creating mapping resources to support better mapping and recording 

Much of this is still central to our work today. 

What has been the biggest change for the NBN Trust and wildlife recording since 2000? 

There have been two major changes over the years:  

  • The first is all about technology, specifically the launch of the NBN Atlas in 2017. This platform is based on the Atlas for Living Australia and was built to handle the growing amount of data being shared. When we moved from the NBN Gateway, we were making 117 million records available. Now, the NBN Atlas holds over 300 million species records, so almost double. Downloads have also increased significantly, with over 1 billion records downloaded by the end of 2024. 
  • The second big change is how much easier it has become for anyone to record and share wildlife sightings. Thanks to apps and websites like iNaturalistUK, iRecord, and other platforms, many more people are getting involved. This new and accessible technology helps to standardise record collection and gather more valuable data, from experts and citizen scientists alike, which can be used to protect and restore nature. 

Looking ahead: What might the next 25 years hold for the NBN Trust? 

Undoubtedly, technology will continue to keep evolving and changing how we record and share biodiversity data. We’ve already started seeing this with the rise of environmental-derived DNA (eDNA) datasets on the NBN Atlas, and that’s only going to grow. We’ve made big upgrades to the Atlas to keep up with technological advances and the sheer volume of data, and we’ll need to keep adapting as new tools and techniques come along. 

We might also see more automated data collection, like AI-powered species identification from photos or sounds, and even drones or remote sensors helping to monitor habitats in real time. These kinds of innovations could make recording faster, more accurate, and accessible to even more people. 

It’s not just about technology though, who we engage with in the future will be crucial to our success. We’d like to increase our impact and our mission by working not only with data collectors, academics, and policy makers, but also with businesses, financial institutions, and the private sector all of whom have a crucial role to play in tackling the planetary emergencies through data, collaboration, and investment in nature.  This will be a key change for us, but one which is really exciting.   

Despite these broader changes, the heart of the Network will still be the recorders: the volunteers, the citizen scientists, and the organisations who collect, share and verify data. Without them, there wouldn’t be an NBN Atlas, or a National Biodiversity Network. 

So, as we celebrate being 25, we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s part of the NBN community. Whether you’re a member of or donor to the NBN Trust, a partner in the NBN, a data provider to the NBN Atlas, or someone who’s just started recording wildlife – you’re helping us to make data work for nature.  

How can people get involved? 

We’ve already talked about the importance of people and data to the Network, so one really important activity for people to do is to record the wildlife they see and to share the details. We’ve got information about this on the website – https://nbn.org.uk/record-share-explore-data/record-wildlife-a-fun-way-to-help-nature/  

We have our annual NBN Conference on 20th November in Bristol. This will be themed around our 25 years anniversary and will delve into the past, present and future of the NBN. It’s also a great occasion to come together and celebrate the amazing people already recording nature through the NBN Awards for Wildlife Recording. The Awards’ shortlist can be found here and NHBS is one of our generous sponsors. 

Finally, as a UK registered-charity, income generated from our donations and partnerships helps fund our vital work supporting the whole UK nature recovery sector with wildlife data. 

We’re nothing without our members, supporters and donors and we’re grateful to every individual and organisation that contributes to our work. If you would like a future where nature is thriving everywhere, in all its diversity, please consider a donation. Every penny will go directly to our work – to make data work for nature. Thank you. https://nbn.org.uk/support-us/  

Mandy Henshall Communications and Engagement Manager NBN

Dave Ellacott – Reserves Warden for Wild Planet Trust

NHBS has teamed up with the Wild Planet Trust as part of our ongoing commitment to support wildlife and conservation. We have donated over 30 habitat boxes alongside wildlife cameras for use both on their local reserves and zoo sites.

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Reserves Warden Dave Ellacott, who is responsible for both the Primely and Clennon reserves. This week, we chatted to him about the work of the trust, his plans for the donated boxes and what successes and challenges he faces in his work.

Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about Wild Planet Trust, what you do and how the organisation began?

Wild Planet Trust – previously called the Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust – operates zoos, but we also manage nature reserves. I look after two of them: Primley and Clennon. Primley is what remains of the old garden and parkland that surrounded Primley House, the former estate of the Whitley family and residence of the zoo’s founder, Herbert Whitley. In 1995, the first warden was brought in to transform it into a local nature reserve and public open space. It’s been a popular spot for locals ever since. Clennon serves a slightly different purpose. For the most part, there is no public access. This allows us to safeguard the habitat from disturbances caused by human presence. However, Paignton Zoo’s Nature Trail, which zoo visitors can access, offers the public the opportunity to experience a small corner of this reserve, including our traditionally managed coppice woodland. Both reserves play their part in supporting local ecosystems while offering people genuinely rewarding places to connect with nature.

What are you hoping to achieve with the installation of our habitat boxes across your three nature reserves?

These sites already have considerable natural assets – caves, some magnificent veteran trees, and areas we deliberately leave undisturbed. The habitat boxes should provide those additional ecological niches that might otherwise be absent. It’s about creating opportunities for species that need very specific conditions for nesting or shelter. Every habitat has its gaps, and these installations should help fill some of those spaces. We’re curious to see what takes up residence and how it might shift the balance of wildlife we’re already supporting.

A large part of the work that Wild Planet Trust does is focused on educating the next generation on the natural world. Why do you think this is so important?

While education isn’t really my area – I’m more focused on the practical side of habitat management – I can see how these reserves function as living demonstrations of what healthy ecosystems actually look like. When families explore the Nature Trail at Clennon or spend time wandering Primley’s varied landscapes, they’re experiencing woodland, meadow, and wetland habitats firsthand rather than just reading about them. There’s something valuable in that direct encounter with nature that you simply can’t replicate in a classroom. People need to feel that connection before they truly understand why conservation matters.

What conservation challenges have you faced over the past few years?

Ash Dieback has been particularly challenging – it’s an ongoing process of assessment, removal, and replanting that’s fundamentally altered the character of our woodlands. You’re constantly weighing safety against habitat value and planning for a very different canopy structure than what was there before. Then there’s the perpetual balancing act between maintaining public access and protecting sensitive habitats – you want people to engage with these places without compromising their ecological integrity. But we’re increasingly seeing the impact from climate change too, which adds another layer of complexity. From gradual shifts in species behaviour and plant communities, to the sudden loss of our 230-year-old Lucombe oak in Primley during Storm Kathleen last year – we’re continuously having to adapt our management approaches while working within realistic resource constraints. All of this means being strategic about where you can make the most meaningful impact.

Halting species decline and preserving vital ecosystems is a key aspect of the work you do. Do you have a favourite success story that you can share with us?

The transformation of Primley’s meadowland over the past three decades is probably our most satisfying long-term achievement. It’s been a simple but persistent approach – removing the annual hay crop to gradually reduce soil fertility and allow a more diverse plant community to establish. What was once a rather monotonous sward dominated by aggressive grasses has evolved into diverse wildflower meadow. The change has been incremental but vital for native biodiversity, supporting insects, birds, and small mammals. It’s a perfect example of how patient, consistent management can restore ecosystems, even if the results take decades to fully appreciate.

Finally, are you working on any other conservation projects at the moment that we can hear about?

Maintaining what we have certainly keeps us occupied, but we’re also developing some thoughtful enhancement projects. We’re planning watercourse improvements across both sites – installing leaky dams and other features that should improve flood resilience while creating diverse wetland habitats. The Ash Dieback situation, while challenging, has also created opportunities to diversify our woodland structure with more resilient native species. We’re thinking carefully about connectivity too – how these reserves can better serve as stepping stones in the broader landscape for wildlife movement. It’s about working pragmatically with the challenges we face while looking for those opportunities to genuinely improve what we can offer.