Stuff To Look Into (if you fancy it)
I did a rather gross amount of research for this book. Mainly because I barely knew anything about each species when I started writing and also because I wanted to get the best out of the brilliant experts who kindly gave me their time. I felt ridiculously lucky to be able to spend so many months learning. I honestly don’t think I’ve enjoyed anything more.
But I deliberately haven’t included a list of references here because I don’t think that’s why you have bought this book. Instead of proving my Googling skills to you, I’d rather you hang on to the stories and feel it’s been worth the read.
Please – be rough with this book, stuff it in your bag, bend back the pages, share it with friends and take it on some trips of your own. These species and their habitats need all the love they can get.
However, if you do have any questions about my sources of information, please ask – I have it all ready to ping over in a link to you and would be happy to chat about it.
Come play on social media (so trendy!): @sophiepavs
What’s next?
I don’t blame you at all if you’re feeling that I have somewhat bombarded you with information – some of which is on the heavy side. At times during writing, I’ve felt disorientated and very ‘but what do you expect me to DO about it?!’ I hear you. So, below are a selection of signposts to utterly brilliant material that may feed those thoughts and point you in a helpful direction:
Prepare to be inspired by the work of:
A Focus on Nature: afocusonnature.org
Back from the Brink: naturebftb.co.uk
Bat Conservation Trust: bats.org.uk
Beaver Trust: beavertrust.org
Bumblebee Conservation Trust: bumblebeeconservation.org
Butterfly Conservation: butterfly-conservation.org
Cairngorms Connect: cairngormsconnect.org.uk
Hawk Conservancy Trust: hawk-conservancy.org
Heal Rewilding: healrewilding.org.uk
Knepp Rewilding Project: knepp.co.uk
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: noaa.gov
Mammal Society: mammal.org.uk
Project Seagrass: projectseagrass.org
Rewilding Britain: rewildingbritain.org.uk
Salmon & Trout Conservation: salmon-trout.org
Scotland The Big Picture: healrewilding.org.uk
Sea Trust Wales: seatrust.org.uk
The British Trust for Ornithology: bto.org
The National Trust: nationaltrust.org.uk
The RSPB: rspb.org.uk
The Woodland Trust: woodlandtrust.org.uk
The Wildlife Trusts: wildlifetrusts.org
Wild Trout Trust: wildtrout.org
World Wildlife Fund: worldwildlife.org
You will learn a lot here:
Kate MacRae/Wildlife Kate: wildlifekate.co.uk/my-blog
Kate on Conservation: kateonconservation.com/2019/12/31/top-10-wildlife-bloggers-2020/
Low-carbon Birding (great for individual action ideas): lowcarbonbirding.net
North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory: northronbirdobs.blogspot.com
Raptor Persecution UK (Dr Ruth Tingay’s blog): raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/about
A gentle nudge to read:
Back to Nature by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin (Two Roads, 2020)
Bringing Back the Beaver by Derek Gow (Chelsea Green, 2020)
Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty (Milkweed Editions, 2020)
Feral by George Monbiot (Allen Lane, 2013)
Forecast: A Diary of the Lost Seasons by Joe Shute (Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2021)
H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald (Jonathan Cape, 2014)
How to Be a Bad Birdwatcher by Simon Barnes (Short Books, 2004)
Humankind by Rutger Bregman (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Rebirding by Benedict MacDonald (Pelagic, 2020)
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (Harville Secker, 2014)
Save Our Species by Dominic Couzens (HarperCollins, 2021)
Selfie by Will Storr (Picador, 2017)
Silent Earth by Dave Goulson (Jonathan Cape, 2021)
The Overstory by Richard Powers (William Heinemann, 2018)
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (Michael Joseph, 2018)
Wilding by Isabella Tree (Picador, 2019)
Excellent ear food (podcasts):
Costing the Earth
Desert Island Discs (if you want to be reminded of humanity’s brilliance!)
For What it’s Earth
Into the Wild
Outrage and Optimism
Radio 4’s NatureBang
The Lodge Cast (shameful plug!)
If you’re more of a *free app* person:
Bee Count
Birdtrack
British Trees
Google Maps (you can securely share your live location with friends/family for safe, happy travels)
iNaturalist (if like me, you have no idea what you’re looking at but would like to)
iRecord (see above)
Mammal Mapper
Nature Finder
SeagrassSpotter