Thursday 31 January 2008

BGB posts

As promised, here are a few posts from bloggers who took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch last weekend:

shirls gardenwatch
Sheffield Wildlife

bogbumper

Words & Pictures

Devon Life

Please let us know if you have come across any others.

Saturday 26 January 2008

Big Garden Birdwatch


I'm sure you don't need reminding that the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend.

If you are planning to write a blog post about your BGB experience, please leave a comment.

I will publish a list of links to members' BGB posts next week.

Nature Blog Network

Nature Blog Network

I've just come across the Nature Blog Network, which seems to have similar aims to UK Natural History Bloggers but on an international scale.

Wednesday 23 January 2008

Conservation Blogs

An early post described some of the RSPB's Blogs. Since then, two more 'conservation blogs' have come to light:

Shropshire Wildlife Trust

British Association of Nature Conservationists

Tony Whitbread, Chief Executive of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, also has his own blog.

As ever, please leave a comment if you know of any others.

Tuesday 22 January 2008

Use of Video

I am researching a post about UK-based natural history bloggers who use video on their blogs.

Has anyone come across any good examples?

Saturday 19 January 2008

Wildlife Photoblogs

Many budding wildlife photographers now use photoblogs to display their work.

Here's a small selection of UK-based wildlife photoblogs:

fenphotography

Wildlife Photographic Journals

A Dorset Diary

The Green Fingered Photographer

Digiscope Diary

Professional wildlife photographer Andy Rouse also has a blog.

Please leave a comment if you know of any other photoblogs that are worth a visit.

Friday 18 January 2008

Yorkshire Post birdwatching columns

It's not quite a blog in the true sense of the word, but the Yorkshire Post has a weekly birdwatching column available on its website, with features on birding, and details of recently-seen rarities in the county.

If anyone else knows of a similar resource produced by their local press, then please let us know.

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Guest Authors

A warm welcome to our first two guest authors: Pete and Katie.

If you would like to join them, please leave a comment or contact me via uknhb (at) btinternet (dot) com.

Tuesday 15 January 2008

Putting you on the map

Katie (of bogbumper and Notes on nature) has kindly put together a Google Map showing the location of all the UK's natural history bloggers:


View Larger Map

If you're not on the map or if your placemark is in the wrong place, please let us know!

Monday 14 January 2008

Bigby Blogs

Although the idea originated in Canada, The Big Green Big Year 'carbon neutral birding' challenge is spreading slowly but surely around the globe. At the time of writing, 182 birders have signed up for the challenge, including 5 in the UK.

You can follow the exploits of some the Bigby birders through their blogs:

Sparroworking

Feathers of Hope

Bird by Bird

The Houston Birder

Words and Pictures

Saturday 12 January 2008

BirdForum

BirdForum is a great resource for discussing anything to with birds and birdwatching, with thousands of users from around the world. The identification Q&A is particularly useful if you get a picture of a bird you can't identify, with users usually clamouring to ID it for you!

The site also has a Wiki that all users can edit, which looks set to become one of the greatest databases of bird species and bird-related topics anywhere on the Internet.

The forum has a section of birdwatching blogs by its users. Some of the best, and most regularly updated, from UK birders include:

Tales of a Botanical Birder

Ruth Daniel

Stephen Dunstan

Colin's Birding Diary

Birding by the Criminally Stupid

Friday 11 January 2008

Wild About Britain

Run entirely by volunteers, Wild About Britain is a registered charity which aims to:
change the face of British wildlife, by raising awareness and promoting our natural heritage, the environment and the great outdoors.

The charity's website is home to an on-line community with over 15,000 members, who interact through a series of Wildlife and Environment Forums. A few of the members also write blogs:

Pete's Walks

Deer Stalker

GuyF

Lincs Yellowbelly

Thursday 10 January 2008

Bugs Britannica - an update

The Bugs Britannica blog is continuing to attract interesting contributions from the public.

Here's an example, submitted by Ian Wallace:
Museum insect collections are full of human interest vignettes as well as the actual collections. Among those at World Museum Liverpool are a giant wood wasp, which sports an impressive egg-laying spike that a member of the public handed in during the 2nd World War thinking it was a secret weapon dropped by a German plane. Also along the war-time theme is a Scarce Swallowtail Buterfly with a few holes in the wings that the collector, Colonel J.A. Graham notes on the label “Jeancourt June 1917 blown up by a 3″ shell and picked up half dead”.

Wednesday 9 January 2008

Guest Authors Wanted

Please get in touch if you would like to sign up as a guest author on this blog.

As a guest author you can either write posts for publication on this blog or insert links to posts on your own blog (see this example).

All you need to become a guest author is an account with Google/Blogger. If you're interested, please contact me via uknhb (at) btinternet.com.

Tuesday 8 January 2008

RSPB Blogs

The RSPB has a team of bloggers who write on a wide range of topics:

Notes on nature

Investigations

Aren't birds brilliant!

Bird Flu

News

Fundraising

Other RSPB bloggers write about activities/developments on the society's nature reserves:

Minsmere

Hope Farm

Saltholme

Newport Wetlands

There are also several "nestwatch" blogs, which will presumably start up again once the nesting season gets under way:

Loch Garten Osprey Diary

Glaslyn Osprey Diary

Mull Eagles

A full list of the RSPB's blogs can be found here.

Sunday 6 January 2008

The Flowering of Flickr

When I first stumbled across the photo sharing site Flickr, I thought it had great potential as a natural history resource. I'm pleased to report that, three years on, its potential is now being realised.