I first met Nigel Brown on a Nature Writing residential week at Ty Newydd. He and poet Katrina Porteous were our tutors – and it was the most extraordinary week of my life. Nigel is the most wonderful walking-encyclopedia and gentle enthusiastic communicator. He can seemingly answer any question you throw at him, when you […]
Writing on Frogs
Fantastic Frogs It’s late February and all over the Marches anurans awake from weeks of torpor. Better known as frogs their body clocks have marked the days past the winter solstice. Slotted into the earth their bodies are at one with nature, their cold moist skin sensitive to every perturbation of temperature and humidity, logging […]
Podcast on Frogs
Welcome! Here is a podcast on the Common Frog, with Nigel Brown : Nigel Brown tells us what frogs eat, what eats them, their ability to thrive in both air and water, and much more – we hope you enjoy it [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/227664659″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] and click here to find more podcasts, writing, […]
On meeting John Handley
I know exactly where I first met John Handley… but I had to reach for “the view from out here” pamphlet to find out when… John led a wildflower walk, organised by Shropshire Wildlife Trust, through Bridgnorth cemetery – spring of 2009. It is a wonderful cemetery, dating from 1850, a sandstone area that has […]
Writing on Grey Squirrels
by John Handley, November 2015 We’ve just been scolded by an indignant squirrel. It’s October and the days are noticeably shorter and my daily amble with Sidbury, a loping Labrador cross Collie, is broken by his confusion as the rabbit he thought he was chasing dashes up the trunk of an oak tree, along a […]
Podcast on Grey Squirrels
Welcome! Here is a podcast on Grey Squirrels: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/231662448″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] John Handley tells us some facts about the grey squirrel for the Maligned Species project. Here – to inspire you to observe, read about, and write poems about grey squirrels and other maligned species of the UK. Do you know […]
Radio Shropshire interviews 2 of the Maligned Species team
Click here – and go to 2 hours 15 mins to hear Jim Hawkins from Radio Shropshire in conversation with poet Nadia Kingsley and ecologist John Handley about Maligned Species project (lasts 10 to 15 mins) This will be available to listen to on the BBC player throughout November 2015
On meeting Matthew Oates
Despite a drizzly overcast day, I am beaming, when Matthew Oates arrives for this podcast recording in Cheltenham, immediately after he has been at an event at Cheltenham Literature Festival 2015, based on his book “In Pursuit of Butterflies”. Matthew has been extraordinarily kind to me over the past 5 years, after he heard that […]
Writing on Stinging Nettles
Tall Nettles Matthew Oates, autumn 2015 – on Stinging Nettles, with a poem from Edward Thomas Be Nice to Nettles Week came and went, having stung no one into action. A highly successful ruderal dicotyledonous plant forming monospecific stands by rhizome spread… The stinging nettle is, after all, the most abundant broad-leaved plant in the […]
Podcast on Stinging Nettles
Welcome! Here is a podcast on Stinging Nettles: Matthew Oates tells us in what way Stinging Nettles and Man are similar, as well as many fascinating facts about how their stings actually work, and what benefits from their presence – we hope you enjoy it [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229563662″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] and click here to […]
