This post is part of the Crossley ID Guide Britain & Ireland Blog Tour — yesterday the tour was over at Mark Avery’s blog here — tomorrow it moves on to BirdWords… the official site of Dominic Couzens… who’s one of the book’s authors. You’ll find the full tour schedule here. NB. I’ll be….

I’m delighted to be taking part in the upcoming “Blog Tour” to celebrate the launch of the brand new bird field guide the Crossley ID Guide Britain & Ireland. I’ll be reviewing a copy of the guide in the Book Review section of the site in due course… but the….

For many people, a desire to identify the birds they see visiting their garden, or when they’re out and about, is the first step to an enduring fascination with nature and wildlife. It was birds that infected me with the nature bug way back when, and I still remember my….

Ireland’s landscape is unique. Moulded by incredible geological forces, carved out by millions of tonnes of ice and, comparatively recently, shaped by the equally inexorable influence of man, our landscape is the foundation on which all of our wildlife and biodiversity sits. “Secrets of the Irish Landscape” is an RTÉ….

One of the biggest problems faced by bird watchers visiting Ireland — or indeed resident birders travelling to other parts of the country — is finding the best places to look for birds and other wildlife. Sure, you can pick a likely looking piece of habitat and spend time exploring….

Ireland’s orchids are a fascinating group of plants, and are among our most  beautiful and evocative wildflowers. There’s always a thrill when you spot the flower spike of an orchid thrusting skyward through the grass or pushing through the surface of a bog. Then comes the tricky part. You know….

If you’re a birder in Britain or Ireland then chances are you already know about the upcoming publication of “Bird Atlas 2007-2011”. The culmination of one of the most ambitious citizen science projects ever undertaken, Bird Atlas brings together data on bird populations collected by tens of thousands  of dedicated….

When “Birds Through Irish Eyes” by Anthony McGeehan with Julian Wyllie arrived at IWHQ the first thing that struck me was its size. It is a monster of a tome. The next thing I noticed was it’s shape… an unusual, almost square aspect ratio makes for a very attractive layout….

Mark Avery has been fighting for birds for most of his adult life. As Conservation Director with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Europe’s largest conservation NGO, Mark has been at the forefront of some of the most iconic conservation issues to emerge over recent decades. Naturally….

Butterflies have always intrigued me. The splash of animated colour they add to garden and hedgerow, their fascinating life cycles and the spectacular metamorphosis into their adult form has always been captivating. As a young child I remember being awestruck as I watched a peacock butterfly emerge from a chrysalis….

Birds are perhaps the most accessible and obvious of all our Irish wildlife. They’re relatively large, active, sometimes brightly coloured and, because they can fly to escape danger, they tend to be less elusive than many other wild creatures. Once you’re tuned in to bird activity seeing birds in your….

Whenever I visit a new part of Ireland I’m charged with anticipation. What wildlife surprises will my destination have in store, and where are the best places to look for them. While I’m a firm believer in the concept that, if you look, you can and will find wildlife anywhere,….