Q&A – Page 23 – Hoopoe

Ladybirds: an interview with Helen Roy, Ecological Entomologist at the BRC

Helen Roy, Ecological Entomologist at the Biological Records Centre, is one of a team of authors who have been involved in the revision of this classic Naturalists’ Handbook.

I see from your professional history that throughout most of your career you have been involved in research with ladybirds. What originally drew you to these fascinating insects? Does it stem from a childhood interest?

Ladybirds are fascinating beetles. I can remember, as a small child, observing ladybirds as they emerged from their pupal cases on the vegetables in our garden on the Isle of Wight. Simply magical and I was entranced. Throughout my childhood I pursued my passion for natural history and have been so fortunate to continue to do so through my working life.

What do you feel are the biggest pressures on UK populations of ladybirds at present?

There are many factors that contribute to dynamics of insect populations. In recent decades the effects of environmental change on insect populations has been the focus of my research. It is widely recognised that invasive alien species, climate change and habitat destruction are all major players in the declines of many insects. Ladybirds are no exception. However, there are so many questions that remain unanswered. It is important that we address these questions with robust and rigorous research. We have so much to learn about the many subtle and complex interactions between insects, other organisms and the environment.

In your book you state that winter is a very critical period for ladybirds and, during this time, they survive entirely on their own fat reserves. How severely do you think ladybird populations in the U.K. will have been affected by the very long and cold winter we have recently experienced?

Every year winter conditions result in the death of ladybirds – winter is a tough time for ladybirds in Britain. However, they have many amazing adaptations for surviving the adverse winter conditions. Ladybirds recently began to wake up from winter and I am reassured by the observations I am receiving from people across the country, through the UK Ladybird Survey.

The arrival of the Harlequin ladybird in the U.K. has obviously been a very big concern and has been covered extensively in the media. How serious a threat do you feel this is to our native species and are there any viable steps that could be taken to halt the spread?

The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyrdis, is an invasive alien species which is predicted to cause problems for a number of insects. It is a voracious predator and not only has the potential to outcompete other insects but also eats the other insects. The 2-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata, was a widespread and common species during my childhood. Not so now. I worked with a team of scientists, using the observations received through the UK Ladybird Survey from many, many people (an inspiring number of volunteers), to look at how the distribution of native ladybirds is changing in response to the arrival of the harlequin ladybird. A number of species appear to be declining and the 2-spot more than most. Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done about the harlequin ladybird but it will be interesting to continue to monitor this species and its interactions with other species in the coming years. Additionally the harlequin ladybird has demonstrated the effectiveness of people at recording alien species, and with the rate of new arrivals increasing rapidly people can play an extremely important role in surveillance and monitoring. I invite people to submit sightings through a recording form developed for species surveillance (including alien species) at the BRC.

For any amateur naturalists who are interested in ladybirds and wish to get involved or help in some way, what would you suggest is the best way to do this?

I have been utterly inspired by the contributions that people from across the country make to the UK Ladybird Survey, and indeed many other wildlife surveys, by reporting the ladybirds they see wherever they may see them. Biological recording is a wonderful way to get involved with natural history. I often receive detailed observations from people who have been recording ladybirds in a particular location on a regular basis. This information is incredibly useful. Some people have even been recording the parasites they see attacking ladybirds. Natural history studies are fun, rewarding and an invaluable source of information. Professor Mike Majerus wrote the first edition of this book and we open the revised version with his inspiration: “Biological Science must stand on its foundations in basic observations of organisms in the field: what they do, when they do it, why they do it, and how they have come to do it.” Majerus, 1994

Do you have any plans for further books?

I have a passion for writing. As a teenager I contributed to the newsletter of my local natural history society – I enjoyed writing and I hoped that people would enjoy reading what I wrote. Writing, coupled with my love of natural history, remains very important to me. I will definitely be writing another book… perhaps the parasites of ladybirds, which are almost as charismatic as their hosts, would be worthy of attention?

Buy a copy of Ladybirds

Record your ladybird sightings at the UK Ladybird Survey

Pick up your free copy of the new NHBS Ecology & Biodiversity Equipment Catalogue 2013 which includes survey kit for entomologists

The birding ID guide revolutionary Richard Crossley, interviewed by NHBS

The Crossley ID Guide series hit the market in 2011 with the guide to Eastern Birds, marking a revolution in identification guides. The plates of birds, scenically arranged in their natural context, are photographic composites and show a variety of angles. They cover plumage, sex, and age variations, and situate the birds among other species for comparison, and in perspectives unusual for an ID guide.

With publication of the Raptor guide imminent, we asked ID guide mastermind Richard Crossley about the concept, and how well it’s working so far…

It has been two years since the first Crossley Guide hit the market. It’s a great design – context is often critical when trying to identify birds. How has the Crossley concept been received?

I think it has been received really well. It has been interesting to watch all the different reactions to something that was totally different from anything people had seen before. It has been the biggest hit with beginners and kids because it helps them to understand the ‘big picture’ of how a bird’s appearance and behaviour is linked to where it lives. It makes sense to them and they are generally not biased by any preconceived ideas of what a bird book should look like.

Adapting to this new approach may be harder for long-time birders who have used side-on, white backgrounds with arrows pointing to specific features. It has been interesting to see that many people are slowly but surely coming around, and may be now finding it tougher to look at traditional guides. Particularly inspiring for me are the number of kids who love the ‘discovery’ aspect of the plates. Today, they are taught at school to work things out for themselves by seeing patterns and repetition. This ‘discovery’ within each plate is just like being outdoors, but a lot easier. My dream is that this style of imagery will encourage more people, young and old, to go outdoors and have a better grasp of what they are looking at. That is the biggest compliment for me!

How would you sell the concept to the average birder who hasn’t been initiated?

I believe that birding is about the voyage of discovery and that learning how to look is the key. At school there are some teachers who make you learn by memorizing the answers parrot-fashion. The second type of teacher helps you to understand how to work the answer out for yourself. They also make it as fun and realistic as possible with lots of examples to practice on and build confidence. Practice still makes perfect! My books are intended to be the second one.

The intention is for the viewer to enjoy looking at the birds in their habitat, behaving as they do in their world so that birds’ personalities can be understood. Everything is connected so it is logical to show all the dots – the viewer can put them together. Today, we now know how the brain works much better than before and this is the better way to inspire all ages. I suppose the Crossley concept can be described as somewhere between traditional guides and reality.

How did you come to have such a passion for birding, and how did the road lead to the Crossley ID Guide concept?

My teacher, Mr. Sutton, introduced me to birding when I was 10 years old. Remarkably, I lived in Whykeham Forest just down the road from the now famous Honey Buzzard raptor watch site. I had collected eggs since I was 7 years old. I just loved it right away. I think there are lots of reasons why. I feel I have had an incredible life because I have seen and experienced so much in my quest to see birds. Birding has quite simply shaped my life.

Funnily enough, I am not a book person and rarely look at them. My favourite is the Collins Bird Guide, in large part because of Killian Mullarney’s and Dan Zetterstrom’s beautiful vignettes. It seemed logical to make books even more lifelike and create one scene. Digital photography and Photoshop came along just as we started the original edition of The Shorebird Guide. I soon became fascinated with book design. The backbone of The Shorebird Guide was the comparative wader shots and making every image as different as possible from the last one – to keep people interested. Ironically, we couldn’t get the comparative images needed and this was the catalyst for me buying a big ‘fancy’ lens and taking up photography. I soon became hooked. Amazing how things come about! Towards the end of making the The Shorebird Guide there was a simple question. How do you take 5 pages, about 15 photos and put all this information in to one image and make it lifelike?

So what goes into the making of a Crossley ID Guide? Do you do all the photography leg-work?

It is scary just thinking about what goes in to these books. The learning curve in the early days was brutal with so many things to work out. In hindsight, many seem quite obvious now. The close-up section of the backgrounds is the most difficult thing to create. There are so many decisions to make and then you have to try to piece it all together. If you don’t have a large selection of images to choose from, it can seem overpowering at times. It’s like a big jigsaw that can be frustrating but ultimately very rewarding.

I set myself the goal of taking all the images for The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds (I consider over 99 per cent to be good enough). I live with multiple, constantly updated, ‘want lists’ of crazy things. They include certain behaviours, different plumages, habitat shots and flight shots – back then nobody took flight shots of warblers, sparrows etc. I hand-held my big lenses for speed, didn’t use flash and moved quickly – this was not in vogue back then. I didn’t tell people what I was doing for some time because it seemed far-fetched and I didn’t think any one would believe it was possible. Technology has changed a lot in just a few years and now it is possible to get just about any image. How things have changed!

The Eastern guide had over 10,000 photos in it, took 5 years and more money than I care to remember. Most plates have dozens of layers of extracted images and require an intimate knowledge of both Photoshop and understanding what a camera can do. Like everything, practice makes perfect, and I feel like the learning curve is still fairly steep. Perhaps that is why it is still fun.

The new book covers raptors in North America – does the chronicling of different kinds of birds in their natural environments present different kinds of challenges to the photographer?

Not really. It is all a challenge but that is the fun. It comes down to creating a mental image of what you want to create like any artist. Going to the right places makes life a lot easier. My paint brush is a camera and Photoshop. It is amazing what you can ‘paint’ these days with a few pixels and some time!
The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors only covers 34 species so it certainly gives you room to express yourself differently from a book covering hundreds of species. That was fun. It is always a challenge to think of new ways to capture people’s interest with new kinds of imagery that bring about a better understanding.

We are eagerly anticipating the Britain and Ireland guide later this year. Dominic Couzens is providing the text. Where next for the Crossley crusade?

The Crossley ID Guide: Britain and Ireland is just about finished. Dominic has been great to work with and I love his engaging writing style. I believe we are very much in sync.

Of course, it was a great excuse to spend a lot of time travelling to get all the photos I needed. Britain and Ireland are so photogenic and I really hope I have captured the essence in the book.

In many ways, this book is for my Dad. He is a very casual birder who loves his backyard and going for a stroll down by the river. Many of the bird books are written for Europe, which he finds a bit overpowering. He is an artist and likes things done right. The true test will be to see if my Dad puts his other books away!

We have lots of other projects going on. Hopefully we can get The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl finished in the next six months. We are also just finishing up The Crossley ID Guide: Western Birds. We have a couple more books on the go but I need to get out of the forest before thinking about those.

I am also the co-founder of a new global birding initiative called Pledge to Fledge. The goal is to encourage birders to introduce a non-birder to the outdoors and so fledging a birder. We have 2 weekends a year set aside for this; the next one is April 26-29. Eric Dempsey heads up Ireland and Alan Davies & Ruth Miller Britain (keep an eye on the Biggest Twitch website for more information about events in the UK). This campaign takes up a lot of time but hopefully we can have an impact, particularly in countries where birding is not currently so popular.

And finally, I couldn’t resist: what’s your favourite bird?

Oh come on, hard core birders don’t have favourite birds! Okay, here is your answer. There is one bird I like a lot, and more importantly, we have a lot in common. It is the Sanderling. We are both sort of chunky, always on the run, love the beach and tend to be in photogenic places. Although we both superficially have many colours, if you see past this, we are remarkably consistent in our shape and behaviour. We both travel the world a lot and are approachable – if you can catch up with us. I think Sanderlings are great!

Buy a copy of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors

The Crossley ID Guide: Britain & Ireland – out November 2013

The World’s Rarest Birds: an interview with author and birder Erik Hirschfeld

The World’s Rarest Birds is a sumptuous visual treat for birders, featuring a gallery of competition-winning bird photos from around the world. But it is more than that: Erik Hirschfeld – and collaborators Andy Swash and Rob Still – want everyone to be engaged with the plight of the rarest bird species. Here’s what he has to say about the book:

The World’s Rarest Birds compiles information from many different sources and represents a great conservation collaboration. What were your aims in writing the book?

I wanted to give the term “bird conservation” a more recognizable face. In order to evoke feelings, funds, and engagement for a cause, it is essential to make the cause recognizable. By presenting each one of the world’s rarest species in text and image, and sorting them in a geographical context, there is a bird for everyone: regardless of where you live, it should be easy to find the birds in your vicinity. I work much with beginners to birding, as a guide and lecturer, and the taxonomic order does not make sense to them. I think it is important to convince these newcomers about the conservation needs. It does not matter if you are a beginner or expert, Swede or Polynesian – there is a bird in the book that everyone can feel for in conservation terms. And that was my aim, as I think it is extremely important to spread knowledge about endangered birds.

Could you tell us a little about how you became a fully fledged conservation author?

My professional career is in an unrelated sector but I am basically a birder, and was heavily involved on the Swedish twitching scene in my early birding years. Over time my interest in birds has widened – I hardly keep lists any more, and I appreciate the birds’ context in nature more, as well as my own personal experiences of them. I am right now enjoying watching Rooks doing clever things on my street more than twitching a Yellow-nosed Albatross at my local patch (although I did twitch it…). I have always written: identification papers in the eighties, in British journals, and much about migration and faunistics. With the maturing of my interest it was quite obvious I should do something on conservation. I have been a staunch supporter of BirdLife International for 20 years, and am very happy that I could make them benefit from this book. It is important to remember though that the book is a team effort by Andy Swash, Rob Still and myself.

There are some beautiful and striking images in the book, which we loved. Do you feel that the images are an essential way of engaging people with the species?

Yes, as I touched on in the first question. It is a matter of applying simple marketing principles from commercial contexts also in conservation and the NGO world, to make people aware of the birds. You know the old saying: a picture means more than a thousand words.

Some of the image contributions were from winners of an international photographic competition – did you get a good response?

Absolutely, I had tried it out with the Rare Birds Yearbooks so we knew it was going to be a success. The timing has also been good. With the digital photography boom, many people can take decent pictures, and you see much more camera equipment in the field now than 30 years ago when you had to wait a couple of weeks to get your films back. And we are very grateful to the photographers who submitted their images.

The World’s Rarest Birds is quite different in format and content from your previous series The Rare Birds Yearbook, did you also have a different audience in mind?

No, actually not, I thought that basically the same people would buy them. Andy Swash and Rob Still have been instrumental in the evolution to The World’s Rarest Birds and I was convinced by them from the beginning this was the way to go. I remember Ade Long at BirdLife suggesting already after the first edition of the Rare Birds Yearbooks that I should go more for photos and less for texts.

The purchase of this book contributes towards supporting the BirdLife International Preventing Extinctions Programme which is a fantastic cause. Could you tell us about any notable conservation success stories that you have seen since your involvement with the project started?

Several. The Madagascar Pochard project in which the species population recently has quadrupled. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper project with artificial hatching and building up a captive population. The project that established a breeding centre for Spix’s Macaw, and now will release birds into the wild this summer. The banning of diclofenac in the Indian subcontinent which, slowly, helps vultures. Even if they are not saved yet, it is not all gloomy! And the many dedicated people and organizations behind these and other positive trends are success stories in themselves.

Buy a copy of The World’s Rarest Birds

The Cambrian Explosion: an interview with paleobiologist and author Douglas H. Erwin

The Cambrian Explosion: The Construction of Animal Biodiversity synthesises latest research about this massively siginificant moment in evolutionary history. Author Douglas H. Erwin introduces himself, the subject and some of the life forms that emerged.

Could you please provide a brief evolutionary history of Douglas Erwin as a paleobiologist.

I expected to be a biologist when I was in high school (or a doctor). But when I arrived at Colgate University as an undergraduate I discovered that geology was much more fun than biology (no pre-med students, for one thing). My teacher and mentor, Bob Linsley, was a fantastic teacher – Steve Gould used to claim that he was the best undergraduate paleo teacher in the US. Bob got me hooked on paleo, on evolution, and on Paleozoic snails (my systematic speciality, and Bob’s). Then I was off to UC Santa Barbara to study with Jim Valentine for my Ph.D. Although my Ph.D was on Permian snails from the SW US and the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, I was quite interested then in the Cambrian explosion, and Jim and I wrote several papers on it. I have been at the National Museum of Natural History since 1990, working on aspects of Paleozoic gastropods, the causes and consequences of end-Permian mass extinction and on aspects of macroevolution, particularly the Cambrian. I have been fortunate to have been able to visit many of the critical Ediacaran and Cambrian localities, and to have had wonderful colleagues on associated projects, including a bunch of colleagues associated with NASA’s Astrobiology Institute at Harvard and MIT, and developmental biologist Eric Davidson on the evolution of gene regulatory networks, which features prominently in the later stages of The Cambrian Explosion.

What is the importance of the Cambrian explosion in evolutionary history?

It is one of the critical major evolutionary transitions in the history of life, an episode where virtually every aspect of life on the Earth changed, with impacts on everything from the chemistry of the oceans and atmosphere to the nature of sediments in the ocean. So understanding not just the new fossils but the larger context of the interactions between changes in the physical environment, ecology and evolution is key to understanding what happened. For evolutionary theory, the Cambrian explosion raises some really interesting challenges to how we understand these events. Jim and I argue that it is only by looking at changes in the physical environment, ecological opportunities, and developmental novelties, that we can begin to understand the mechanisms involved, and moreover, that some of the processes force us to extend some traditional approaches to evolution.

Could you briefly introduce one or two of the specific species that came into being so we have some context – I imagine we are not talking about life as we know it?

No, the world of the Ediacaran and Cambrian was a much different place from our world today, and indeed the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods were themselves much different from each other. Rangea is a representative of one of the oldest Ediacaran lineages, the Rangeamorphs. These are found in a variety of frond-like morphologies, and have a fractal structure, so that as you zoom in the frondlets have the same form as the overall frond, as do the petals that make up each frondlet. Opabinia, the beast that graces the cover, is one of my favourite of the Cambrian animals, and one that also illustrates the transformation of our understanding of these animals since Stephen Jay Gould wrote Wonderful Life. In 1989 Opabinia, with five stalked eyes and the long proboscis, was one of the ‘weird wonders’. Thanks to more study and phylogenetic methods of reconstructing evolutionary history we now understand that Opabinia is part of the panarthropod diversification, and is positioned on an evolutionary tree between the Cambrian lobopods and the true arthropods. But these two illustrate something else – whereas Rangea probably fed by adsorbing [not absorbing!] dissolved organic nutrients and lacks any discernible gut, eyes, etc., Opabinia was a mobile, predatory animal, with those great five eyes, appendages, and a gut. The contrast between these two illustrates something of the complexity of the ecological and developmental changes between the Ediacaran organisms and those of the Cambrian.

The book contains reconstructions by illustrator Quade Paul. Paleo art must be quite an intriguing process. What was the nature of your collaboration, and how do you come to settle on a ‘final’ representation of each creature?

Doing illustrations with an artist is always an interesting experience, particularly since I probably have not just zero artistic ability but actually negative artistic ability (sucking it out of those who do). But Quade was great to work with. He is the first artist I have worked closely with who used a lot of the new digital tools, and that was quite a learning experience for me. Jim and I selected the animals we wanted to illustrate, and sent Quade copies of illustrations from the scientific literature, or previous reconstructions, and in many cases copies of the original scientific papers. For a couple of the commonly reconstructed animals of the Burgess Shale we had to steer Quade away from some of the reconstructions found on the web. Then there was considerable back and forth between us getting the details of the critter right, refining the pose and the background details. Artists always want to know about colours, but of course fossils aren’t any help, so we had to infer these from studying modern marine animals. The quality of Quade’s work speaks for itself I think.

In what ways might the latest research about Earth’s evolutionary past affect current conceptions about biodiversity?

Many people often think of biodiversity in terms of the number of species, in part I think because species are easy to count. But there are many other components of biodiversity – ecological function, morphologic disparity, phylogenetic history, etc. One of the themes of this book is that to understand evolutionary history we often have to look as much at these other aspects of biodiversity. Similarly, as we confront the challenges of the current biodiversity crisis, I am among those biologists who feel that we have to consider conservation priorities in a broader context in order to maximize the amount of evolutionary history that we preserve for future generations.

Do you have any more books in the pipeline?

The Cambrian Explosion was the beginning of a new project on evolutionary innovation that I expect will extend over the next decade. Part of the project involves a book that will involve a much more comprehensive look at evolutionary innovations and major evolutionary transitions through the history of life, from the origin of life to aspects of innovation in humans. This will be a pretty big book, but much different from (and much less illustrated than) The Cambrian Explosion. And one always has other ideas…

Buy a copy of The Cambrian Explosion: The Construction of Animal Biodiversity

Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part three: Paul Souders on “The grace of giants”

We are marking the forthcoming publication of the new 2012 portfolio from the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition with a mini-series of interviews with some of the category winners from last year.

Our third and final interviewee is Paul Souders, who won the Underwater World category in 2011.

You won the Underwater World category in last year’s competition with “The grace of giants” (left). Can you describe the special challenges, and special appeal, that underwater photography must have?

I come from a long line of Pennsylvania dirt farmers here in the US. We are, by our very nature, sinkers not swimmers. I’ve been a professional photographer all of my working life, but it was only in 2005 that I learned to dive and then to photograph underwater. It was an entirely new world, with a vast array of new subjects to shoot and new techniques to learn.

I’ve enjoyed the opportunities it’s presented to expand my view of the natural world and the discipline it has required. Photographing large, unpredictable subjects like a giant walrus in ice-cold sea water at the edge of the world is not for the faint of heart. I can’t imagine that more than a handful of people have deliberately gone swimming with a walrus in the Arctic oceans, but it’s an amazing privilege to witness the sight of them gently gliding in their natural environment.

Could you reveal a bit about the photo and how you got the shot?

I’d imagined this photograph for years, but it took a lot of planning and effort to make it happen. I had to charter a steel-hulled yacht in Svalbard, 600 miles north of Europe’s edge, and drag hundreds of pounds of scuba and other underwater gear from my home in Seattle through four different airports. Walrus are by reputation, large, aggressive and unpredictable. It took an enormous leap of faith to get into the water with them. But sometimes you just have to hope for the best. We’d sailed to one of their haul-outs in the Svalbard archipelago, and found a few of them swimming in the water. I quickly put on all of my gear and then, as last-minute nod to safety, tied an old piece of rope around my waist for the boat skipper to hold onto. And then I slid off the iceberg and into the water.

I could see the walrus circling below me in the depths, and they slowly came up, equal parts wariness and curiosity. They seemed impossibly big, but quite graceful and gentle as they swam towards me. One grew bold, and was soon pressing his whiskers and tusks against my camera’s glass dome. He even gave it a little tap, just to see if I was paying attention.

Apparently blue-lipped, hyperventilating photographers aren’t all that distracting after all, since they soon swam off, taking one last look at me before diving again into the depths.

And your tips for aspiring wildlife photographers?

Probably the best advice I can offer is “don’t quit your day job.”

There has never been a better time to be a nature photographer. In the last decade, we have witnessed a revolution in digital photo technology. Guided tours travel to wilderness areas that were once the sole province of National Geographic and BBC film crews.

Of course, there has never been a worse time to make a living as a nature photographer, since everyone and their dog can now go out on holiday, make amazing pictures and give them away on the internet for nothing.

The hard part for professionals is thinking of images that will show the world in a new way, to create pictures that people haven’t seen before. It requires a level of dedication and perseverance that should give any sane person pause.

Paul Souders’s website:

www.worldfoto.com/

Read part one: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part one: Steve Mills on “The assassin”.

Read part two: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part two: Peter Chadwick on “Taking off”.

Pre-order now and save 20% when you buy the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 22 book and wall calendar together:

Naturalist and author Mike Dilger on building a wildlife sanctuary in his garden

Mike Dilger – enthusiastic naturalist, freelance presenter and author of My Garden and Other Animals – on the rewards and challenges of creating a wildlife sanctuary on his doorstep.

You always wanted to own your own nature reserve – do you remember what first stirred your interest in wildlife?

The trite answer I always give to this question is that as I was dropped as a small child! As no other members of my immediate family were interested in wildlife I think my passion for natural history may have been genetic. I have vivid memories of spending hours watching butterflies on a huge buddleia bush in our next-door neighbour’s garden when I was around seven and also wanting to know what all the bird songs were. What really started me off was when I acquired my first pair of binoculars (10 x 50 Prinz from Dixons, for the record) at the age of eight, leading to me learning the calls of all the different birds, starting with the wood pigeon. That was over 30 years ago and I’ve never looked back since!

What were some of the pitfalls and high-points of creating your own garden wildlife sanctuary? Any surprising visitors?

One of the pitfalls of creating an attractive and inviting place for wildlife is that it is impossible to dictate (unlike an immigration officer), as to what comes in. For example, having built compost bins in the hope that grass snakes would take up residence, I was more than a touch dismayed when only rats seemed keen to take advantage of the warm, moist accommodation on offer. I was also keen to provide home for as many nesting birds as possible, but after three sleepless nights, the jackdaws building a nest in our chimney simply had to be evicted before we lost our sanity.

In terms of high points, there were simply too many to recount – you’ll have to read the book to uncover them all! The meadow stood out as a stunning success, and in addition to turning up a wide variety of wild flowers, enabled me to add grassland butterflies, like ringlet and gatekeeper, to my garden tally. The simple of addition of a pond resulted in an incredible six species of damselfly and dragonfly laying their eggs into the water. With plenty of food also permanently on offer for the birds, a grand total of 61 species were recorded visiting the garden throughout the year. With foxes and badgers all regular visitors, the biggest surprise of all was the brief appearance of an otter in the brook at the bottom of the garden, which I was lucky enough to spot early one morning whilst listening to the dawn chorus! (see picture – right)

In many ways the best aspect of turning the garden over to nature was the fact that it was a joint effort with my partner Christina – with the project soon becoming our labour of love. When it finally came to producing the book, I provided the words whilst Christina produced the lovely art-work which can be seen studded throughout.

How is the garden doing now after the interesting weather we have been having this year?

Currently the garden is looking soggy to say the least and to be honest the flower borders are ‘twixt cup and lip’, but the feeders are still being emptied on a daily basis and on a warm day the pond is still a hive of activity. Come the winter I’m looking forward to getting stuck in again and have a list as long as my arm of jobs to undertake… Creating a wildlife garden is one of the best projects I have ever undertaken, and continues to reward us every day, but sometimes it can feel like we’re painting the Forth Bridge – with wildlife gardening you can never stand back and say “finished!”

If anyone is inspired to undertake their own garden wildlife project, what would be your top tips to help them on their way?

Don’t be daunted! You don’t have to be the world’s most practical person to construct a wildlife garden – I certainly wasn’t, and yet am delighted with the results. Size is not important either. With our garden only marginally larger than the Centre Court at Wimbledon, we concentrated on quality (of habitat) rather than quantity.

The single, easiest way to improve your garden for wildlife is to dig a pond. It doesn’t have to be the size of a swimming pool (or even a bath-tub) but you’d be amazed at how it draws in the wildlife. By keeping it free of fish, we were able to provide a home for everything from pond skaters and pond snails to aquatic beetles and dragonflies. Plus the constant supply of freshwater also pulled in the birds too!

It’s also sometimes not about what you do, but what you don’t do. A quiet, unkempt corner, for example, can be worth its weight in gold in providing a refuge for some of the more introverted members of the garden wildlife brigade.

My Garden and Other Animals by Mike Dilger is available now in paperback from NHBS

Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part two: Peter Chadwick on “Taking off”

We are marking the forthcoming publication of the new 2012 portfolio from the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition with a mini-series of interviews with some of the category winners from last year.

Next up is Peter Chadwick, who won the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife in 2011 with ‘Taking off’, pictured below.

Your photograph, “Taking off”, won the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife last year. What did it mean to you to win in this category?

My picture of the African Black Oystercatchers taking off from the rock as a wave crashes over them really showcases the harsh yet fragile environment that these birds live in, also highlighting their need for complex social interactions. In the early 1980s their numbers plummeted to around 4500 birds and through conservation efforts the population now stands at around 6000 birds. This makes them a good ambassador for the coastal environment, showing that we can make a positive difference if we choose to. Thus the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife was particularly fitting as it certainly helps me showcase these endangered birds and the marine environment in which they live. As a boy my excitement about the outdoors was certainly enhanced through reading all of Gerald Durrell’s books and it is indeed a great privilege to receive the award in his name.

Could you reveal a bit about the photo and the process of getting the shot?

This particular image was taken on Malgas Island, that is found within the West Coast National Park of South Africa. The island is critical to protecting breeding populations of Cape Gannets, African Penguins, Cape, Bank and Crowned Cormorants and of course the African Black Oystercatcher. The island in fact holds the highest breeding density of African Black Oystercatchers anywhere and breeding space is harshly contested for.

The island can only be reached by boat and weather is often a limiting factor to getting onto and off the island and any trips needs to be planned well in advance. As this is a protected area, special permits are also required. All food and water has to be taken with you and all rubbish obviously has to be removed. Planning for the trip is quite considerable and time consuming but it is an incredible privilege to sit on a small island with thousands of breeding birds.

To obtain this particular image, I had been photographing the birds over three mornings at the same location and saw that they regularly met in the early mornings to strengthen pair bonds, proclaim territories and on occasion squabble with one another. The particular rock where these birds were photographed was the popular meeting point for up to sixteen birds and so I concentrated on this point, waiting several hours for the specific action to happen. In this particular series I took about seven or eight images but over the three days probably took about 75 – 100 images. Patience brings the reward!

And your tips for aspiring wildlife photographers?

I would say the most important aspect is to respect your subject – capture the image without disturbing your subject or manipulating the situation. Have patience and get to know your subject before going anywhere near a camera. Experiment and look at the work of other photographers but do not try to copy them – create your own style that makes you unique. I would say that only 20% of the image is created through technical knowledge of your equipment and 80% through your own creativity.

Peter Chadwick’s websites:

www.peterchadwick.co.za

www.photodestination.co.za/who-are-we

Read part one: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part one: Steve Mills on “The assassin”.

Read part three: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part three: Paul Souders on “The grace of giants”.

Pre-order now and save 20% when you buy the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 22 book and wall calendar together:

Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part one: Steve Mills on “The assassin”

We are marking the forthcoming publication of the new 2012 portfolio from the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition with a mini-series of interviews with some of the category winners from last year.

Our first interviewee is Steve Mills whose 2011 category winning photo, ‘The assassin’, is pictured below.

Your photograph, “The assassin”, won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011, Behaviour: Birds category last year. What draws you to birds as a subject in particular?

For me, all wildlife is wonderful but birds are simply fantastic. For one thing they are so accessible. Close encounters with other wild animals are few and far between. They tend to be secretive creatures of the night, reluctant to be seen. It’s birds that allow us that connection with the natural world. We see them everywhere – in the garden, in the park, above the city etc. My fascination has always been more than simply ‘What bird is that?’ but rather ‘What is it doing?’ and ‘Why is it doing it?’ and I think this lifelong interest in bird behaviour has helped me enormously in my photography.

Could you reveal a bit about the photo and the process of getting the shot?

Following a week of snow cover and sub-zero temperatures in the north-east of England many birds were struggling. Snipe and woodcock, amongst others, had been forced to the coast in the search for unfrozen feeding areas. Most had abandoned any pretence of secrecy and were probing anywhere there was even the tiniest patch of grass sticking up through the snow.

I drove around the lanes near my home looking for a likely spot and came across a tiny patch of exposed grass that would allow me to use the car as a hide with the sun well-positioned. With my 500 lens balanced on the window I settled down to wait. Eventually a snipe appeared and began frantically feeding only a few metres away. This was what I’d hoped for and felt my preparation had been suitably rewarded. What happened next was where the luck came in. As with all good wildlife photography there’s preparation, understanding the behaviour of your subject, some decent kit etc., but overriding all this is whether you get lucky.

The snipe, desperately hungry, showed little regard for its exposed position and within seconds had paid the ultimate price. As I watched the snipe through the camera my left eye caught a movement. A merlin arrived at speed inches above the snow, and hit the snipe talons first. The ensuing struggle lasted only a matter of seconds. After looking up, seemingly straight at me, the merlin gave a series of rapid and violent pecks to the head of the snipe to end the uneven contest. Of the 15 shots I was able to take this image worked best.

Have you any tips for aspiring wildlife photographers?

You’ve got to be passionate because it can be frustrating. There isn’t an album in the world big enough for all the ‘almost’ photos – those missed through not quite being in the right place, not reacting quickly enough or having crucially misjudged a setting. That happens to everyone and all you can do is to try to learn from these experiences to make you more likely to get the shot next time.

Wildlife, including birds, tends to be timid, so a long lens helps enormously but if you get to know how your subject behaves you can often predict what it will do and position yourself accordingly. For example, large birds always take off into the wind so by positioning yourself well you’ve got more chance of a bird flying towards you initially. Getting to know your subject also increases your chances of getting action shots such as a bird feeding, preening, wing-stretching, interacting with others etc. This type of action can often add punch to a photo.

Whatever camera you’re using, I recommend you make sure you’re completely comfortable with its settings. Make sure you can change them without losing vital moments having to fiddle about trying to find this or that button. Understanding your camera is vital because, in wildlife photography, you often don’t get a second chance.

Use the light to your advantage. If there is bright sunlight try shooting early in the morning or just before dusk when the shadows are less harsh and the bird is lit from a lower angle.

For birds, keep your shutter speed high. This is particularly important for moving or flying birds. To do this you may have to sacrifice depth of field or ISO.

Finally, never think that you have to travel across the country or even further afield to get great shots. My wife and I run a conservation organisation in Greece – Birdwing – and this takes me to spectacular birdwatching sites where I spend days at a time behind a camera, usually in wonderful light. Ironically however, this picture was taken only yards from my house in the north-east of England, which demonstrates something I’ve learned time and again – in wildlife photography you never know what is around the corner and that extra hour in the field can sometimes be richly rewarded.

Steve Mills’s websites:

http://stevemills-birdphotography.com

www.birdwing.eu

Steve is the author of Birdwatching in Northern Greece: A Site Guide – available now from NHBS

Read part two: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part two: Peter Chadwick on “Taking off”.

Read part three: Wildlife Photographer of the Year winning inspirations, part three: Paul Souders on “The grace of giants”.

Pre-order now and save 20% when you buy the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 22 book and wall calendar together:

Mycologist Geoffrey Kibby on childhood discoveries, woodchip mulch, and his long time passion for the genus Russula

Geoffrey Kibby, senior editor of Field Mycology, and author of two recent best-selling photographic keys to fungi – British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britain – talks about how childhood discovery in a woodland wonderland led to a life spent mushrooming…

What first attracted you to the curious world of fungi, and what are your mycological credentials?

I have been mushrooming for over 45 years; as a boy of 13 I was convalescing from some surgery and was staying in a cottage very close to the Queen’s estates at Sandringham in Norfolk. Opposite the cottage was a large area of fenced-in woodland with “Private, property of HM the Queen” on a gate. Like any self-respecting schoolboy I completely ignored the sign and climbed over the fence and into what I can only describe as a wonderland. A damp, mossy conifer wood, dripping with lichens and ferns and with fungi everywhere. I still remember the first fungus I was ever consciously aware of, a beautiful, small and intensely violet toadstool (Laccaria amethystea) and I thought I had never seen anything so amazing, so magical. I soon purchased my first book, the Observer’s Book of Mushrooms, and quickly realised that I needed a bigger book! I have been collecting and writing about them ever since.

For most of that 45 years I have been a member of the British Mycological Society and for the last 12 years have been the Senior Editor of the journal Field Mycology which deals with all aspects of mycology (the study of fungi). For about six years I lived in the USA and was at one time the President of the New Jersey Mycological Association. I have published numerous books on fungi including general field guides as well as more specialist monographs.

Your recent publications on British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britian have become instant bestsellers. Who are they aimed at and what can the reader expect from them?

My specialist books are aimed at the enthusiastic amateur all the way up to the specialist – usually people who realise that the popular field guides are not sufficient to tackle some of the larger or more difficult groups of fungi. I have tried to make them more user-friendly than the traditional identification keys, often using a synoptic system whereby the reader only has to decide on 6 or 7 principal characters before attempting to key out the particular species. My keys include lots of illustrations to aid the reader in making these decisions. In some cases a microscope is required but the techniques needed are not that difficult and of course a microscope opens up a whole new world of wonderment in all areas of natural history, not just in mycology!

Generally, what part do fungi play in the world’s ecosystems?

Without fungi to digest and break down the decaying organic matter in our woods and fields the world would soon be swamped in enormous depths of fallen twigs, leaves and other debris. Most trees are dependent on fungi and form specialised symbiotic relationships with them, they cannot grow well without them and vice versa. Other fungi of course are parasitic and attack other organisms (including ourselves…) and many others have strange life cycles which we scarcely understand at all and this all adds to our fascination with them.

We’re in fungi season now – to what extent are there annual changes in the fungi ‘populations’ throughought the UK, and is there any way in which fungi acts as an indicator of wider environmental changes?

In recent years there have been enormous ‘invasions’ of new fungi and as the climate has changed we have seen corresponding changes in the way fungi behave and fruit. Our penchant for covering the world in woodchip mulch has paved the way for numerous exotic species to come into the country. Some species have spread to every British county, using this newly invented habitat, within 5 years of their first discovery, an amazing colonisation by any standard.

Increased annual temperatures are affecting the way in which fungi fruit; species which formerly fruited only in the autumn are now often fruiting twice a year in both spring and autumn. Others which were specialists in fruiting only in the spring, such as the common and deliciously edible morel have been appearing as late as November or even January!

Do you have a favourite mushroom?

Almost an impossible question to answer, but I certainly have favourite groups. The boletes have been a favourite since my childhood as they are for many other mycologists. Their large size and often bright, exotic colours are very appealing and they are relatively easy to identify also, hence my recent book on the subject. I also have a long time passion for the genus Russula, a sometimes very difficult group with around 170 species in Britain, often of very bright colours once again and very common everywhere. I am putting the finishing touches to my ‘magnum opus’ on that group as I write this.

Can you describe a particularly interesting species, or feature of a species of a mushroom found in the UK?

Many fungi form associations with other fungi, some of which we are still in the process of discovering. Many boletes for example, particularly in the genus Suillus form associations with a group of fungi called Gomphidius. Each species of bolete seems to latch onto a particular species of Gomphidius, very specific, and we don’t really know what is going on, although the best guess is that one partner is sort of hitching a ride on the other, tapping into its associate’s ability to obtain nutrient from the particular conifer with which it grows, without having to do the work itself.

There is some great photography in the keys – I guess a mushroom is a perfect still subject for the nature photographer – is photography a hobby of yours that has grown from your work?

I have been photographing for as long as I can remember and using fungi as subjects was a natural extension of this. I now teach digital photography and the use of Photoshop to enhance and edit photographs as part of adult education courses at local colleges. Fungi are ideal subjects since they don’t run away or even sway in the breeze as wild flowers do, and of course their strange shapes and colours are wonderful subjects to try and capture.

I went mushroom hunting recently and always ended up way off a positive identification. Given the dangers of mistaken-identity, what advice would you give the amateur fungi hunter?

Start small: learn to recognise the basic groups where possible, that is half the battle. Go on as many guided mushroom walks as possible and learn from experts in the field – there is no substitute for that. Field guides can only take you so far and cannot show you all the many variations that fungi are capable of. My favourite saying is that “mushrooms don’t read the books!” Meaning that they don’t always conform in size and appearance to the illustrations in the book, they vary enormously as they age. Get as many books as you can afford, each will offer some extra information and pictures that another might lack. Finally, never, ever eat a fungus you are not confident of. All mushrooms can be eaten once but sometimes not twice……the history of mushrooming is filled with people who have eaten and become very sick or even died from making an error in identification.

On which cautionary note…

Geoffrey Kibby’s keys are available now from NHBS:

British Boletes: With Keys to Species

The Genus Agaricus in Britain

“This tiny bundle of energy in my hand…”: John Altringham talks to the Hoopoe about bats

John Altringham, author of Bats: From Evolution to Conservation, discusses the appeal of bats, what they are, and how we should think about their conservation needs.

How did you first become interested in studying bats?

I was taken to a Natterer’s bat roost, almost 30 years ago now, and saw my first bat close up. I was a research scientist in biomechanics – trying to understand evolution’s engineering problems and solutions. This tiny bundle of energy in my hand was an engineering marvel I’d never really thought about, so I went away and read about bats. However, I didn’t read just about flight and echolocation, the subjects that came immediately to mind. As a zoologist and conservationist, I read more and more widely and became increasingly fascinated. Bats became an important ‘extra-curricular’ activity, but it was many years before they displaced biomechanics in my work. However, the seeds were most definitely sown during that very first encounter.

We all know what bats are, but – what exactly is a bat?

A bat is the only flying mammal and one of nature’s few echolocators. With these ‘skills’ it has evolved and radiated into the most diverse, the most widespread and the second most speciose group of mammals on the planet. A bat is a small mammal with the lifestyle of its much bigger cousins. It lives a long time, but only produces one baby a year. It lives within often complex social units, exhibiting complex behaviours, and makes use of the landscape on a grandiose scale through the seasons. It shows a bewildering range of ways that an animal can makes its way in the world. It is an important cog in many ecosystems, as predator, pollinator, seed disperser. Its contributions to the human economies of the world are only now being determined and appreciated. Likewise its value as an indicator of the planet’s health. It is a source of endless fascination, study and appreciation.

Why do you think there is such popular interest at this time in bat detection and conservation, and what can we learn from studying their ecology?

I really think that bats sell themselves. The formation of the bat conservation movement, some knowledgeable and enthusiastic activists and some cracking documentary footage are the catalysts in the bat conservation movement – the bats themselves do the rest, if we just show the world something of them.

Bats are also surprisingly accessible. It is relatively easy, even in suburban areas, to see and hear bats, sometimes at fairly close quarters – you can’t say that about many wild mammals. They often live in close proximity to humans, you don’t have to be particularly stealthy, and they just get on with life while you watch – they have a lot to offer the casual naturalist. However, there are plenty of challenges for the more dedicated naturalist.

The need for conservation is pretty self-evident. Bats need large home ranges in connected landscapes, they rely on threatened habitats for both roosting and feeding and they are slow to recover from population setbacks. However, there are modest things we can do to help them, from practical conservation to education, which encourages widespread involvement – and success fuels further effort. Conservation needs passion and commitment – bats appear to have the charisma to generate them.

Conservation gets a big chapter in the book – it is the focus of a large and growing proportion of ecological research. There has been a lot of bridge building between research ecologists and conservation practitioners in recent years, but we still have some way to go. I’ve tried to highlight some of the issues in this chapter – evidence-based conservation is the future!

What can we learn from bats? Where do I start?! Science is all about understanding how the natural world works. Everything we learn, from the ecology of individual species to the general processes that govern the way ecosystems function, comes from the study of appropriate ‘models’. The sheer diversity of bats means that they offer useful models to study all sorts of things – just look at the topics I cover in the book.

How do you see the future for bats?

I have no idea what the future holds, for bats or the rest of biodiversity. I do think bats are among the more vulnerable animals, so looking after bats is a good way to protect other animals and plants that share their habitats. We have a growing knowledge about what we are doing wrong to our environment and what we need to do to begin to put things right. However, there is a lack of will among politicians and the ‘captains’ of commerce and industry to provide the conditions and the resources to do it. Lots of talking the talk, little walking the walk. Conservation will always be a compromise – but the balance point is far from the right place. Too many people still think of conservation in terms of what we sacrifice to achieve it, not what we gain from it. We need more objective science in conservation, alongside the passion and hard work. They provide the evidence that forces people to act and they help us to decide how to use most effectively the limited resources we have at our disposal.

NHBS stock an extensive range of bat conservation equipment, supplying a range of customers from ecological consultants needing bulk stock for a construction project, to amateur naturalists keen to investigate their local bat population and do their bit for conservation.

Browse our range of bat detection equipment

Browse our range of bat boxes

NHBS Customer Services will happily discuss your needs and advise you on the best purchase for your project.

Phone: +44(0) 1803 865913

Email: customer.services@nhbs.co.uk