Ecology - Tales from the field: Recent Episodes

Tim Body

'Ecology - Tales from the Field' is a podcast conversation about wildlife conservation. Join Tim Body and Fleur Wilson, ecologists with a passion for British wildlife, with their guests to hear interesting people tell real life stories from the world of ecology and conservation in the UK covering topics from biodiversity to botany, mammals to invertebrates.

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**Tim talks with Caroline Hickman (Psychotherapist and member of the Climate Psychology Alliance).

It has never been more important to be engaged in the conversation about the climate crisis. In part 2 of this 3 part mini series we look at the psychology of climate change.

We discuss eco anxiety, how it doesn't have to be a bad thing, in fact it's healthy and can become a motivating force for action.

Thanks:**

Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork

'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Images used for Instagram and Face Book posts - Sonia Shomalzadeh

Related Links:Twitter
@CarolineHickma

Climate Psychology Alliance:

https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/

Climate Crisis Conversations (Climate Psychology Alliance podcast)

https://castbox.fm/channel/Climate-Crisis-Conversations-id2174834?utm_source=website&utm_medium=dlink&utm_campaign=web_share&utm_content=Climate%20Crisis%20Conversations-CastBox_FM

Sally Weintrobe – ‘Psychological Roots of the Climate Crisis’

https://www.sallyweintrobe.com/

@sallyweintrobe

Sylvia Earle

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/expeditions/experts/sylvia-earle/

Sonia Shomalzadeh

https://www.soniashomalzadeh.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUrOCJfynVk

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**Tim talks with Elouise Mayall of the UK Youth Climate Coalition

It has never been more important to be engaged in the conversation about the climate crisis. In part 3 of this 3 part mini series  we look at climate change activism. 

We discuss how to find the right fit for you to release your inner climate activist, how to avoid the perils of apathy and cycicism, why we need to see outselves as political beings rather than consumers, and why it doesn't matter if your parents are vegan.

Thanks:**

Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork

'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related Links:Twitter
@ElouiseMayall

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**Tim talks with Dr Kathryn  Adamson (Senior lecturer in physical geography at Manchester Metropolitan University).

It has never been more important to be engaged in the conversation about the climate crisis. In part 1 of this 3 part mini series  we look at the science of climate change. 

We cover everything from what it is, the scale of the problem, how it works,  how did we get here, glaciers, ocean currents, mass extinction, analytical DeLoreans, and the importance of mucking about in your garden with beer bottles.

Thanks:**

Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork

'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related Links:Twitter
@DrMeltwater

Willi Dansgaard - Frozen Annals
https://icedrill.org/library/frozen-annals-greenland-ice-sheet-research

Tessa Dunlop - The Century Girls
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-century-girls/tessa-dunlop/9781471161346

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Tim talks with Dr Hannah Mossman (Senior lecturer in ecology at Manchester Metropolitan University), and also to Alys Laver  (Senior Conservation Warden for the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust)

In this interview we talk about all things salt marsh, from managed realignment projects to Charles Dickens. We discuss Hannah's research on the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust's site at Steart Marshes and there's a bonus interview spliced in with Alys Laver, the WWT warden for the site. If you didn't already think salt marshes were up there with the most facinating and important habitats, you soon will!

Thanks:

Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork

'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related Links:Twitter
@H_Mossman  @WWTSteart

Professor Jenny Gill

https://people.uea.ac.uk/j_gill

Helen Scales - Spirals in Time

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/29/spirals-in-time-helen-scales-review

Steart Marshes

https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/steart-marshes/#

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Tim talks with Tom Squires – Manchester Met PhD student studying mynah birds in Indonesia...

In this interview we talk about his PhD and the Asian Songbird Crisis. We also talk about what its like doing a PhD generally, doing any kind of ecology further education really. We also discuss the merits of being a generalist, and about that most mysterious of attributes: being a birder.

Thanks:

Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork

'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:

IUCN – Species Survival Commission

https://www.iucn.org/commissions/species-survival-commission/about

Asian Songbird Trade Specialist Group

https://www.iucn.org/commissions/ssc-groups/birds/asian-songbird-trade

The Tourist Gaze

https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/resources/sociology-online-papers/papers/urry-globalising-the-tourist-gaze.pdf

British Bird Sounds on CD – British Library

https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Bird-Sounds-CD-Definitive/dp/0712305122

The Behavioural Ecology and Evolution Podcast

http://thebeepcast.blogspot.com/

Beth Roberts

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Beth_Roberts3

Asian Songbird Crisis

https://www.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/10987/

Birdsong competition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6de8S9VMLAo

Beaver eating lettuce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54NHiDzvsM

Alfred Russel Wallace (and the ‘Wallace Line’)

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-was-alfred-russel-wallace.html

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Tim talks with South Lancashire Bat Group's Clare Sefton & Steve Parker...

The conversation covers what got them into bat conservation and how bats can completely change your life. How that first encounter with a bat can have you hooked, literally in minutes.

The main topic though is the bat care network. Did you know that there is a network of volunteer bat workers across the country who care for injured bats? It's a fascinating world full of dedicated conservationists finding themselves in some often down right weird situations.

Ever found a meal worm at the bottom of a packet of cornflakes? Ever blown on a bat's nipple? All that and more in the final episode of Ecology - Tales from the Field series 1! 

Thanks:Stacey Body & Fleur Wilson – Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:South Lancashire Bat Group (SLBG):
http://www.slbg.org.uk/

Bat Conservation Trust (BCT):
https://www.bats.org.uk/

Bat Chat podcast
https://www.bats.org.uk/resources/batchat-the-bat-conservation-trust-podcast

Bat anatomy
https://images.app.goo.gl/be1mrMvCcEJbxUHe9

David Bellamy
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/12/david-bellamy-obituary

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Tim talks with Andy Harmer & Roy Leigh of Cheshire Mustelidae...

The conversation covers their careers in ecology as well as their extensive extracurricular ecological exploits including Andy and Rachel Hacking’s now legendary Cheshire Active Naturalists (CAN) group. But the main thing I wanted to talk to them about was their current project, Cheshire Mustelidae: Coordinating the recording of mustelids in Cheshire, and sharing sightings, photos etc.

They say trying to see a stoat or weasel is like going out to find a rainbow, virtually impossible. So this project means cunning, stealth and ingenuity. To find the stoat you must become the stoat! So how do they do it?

Thanks:
Stacey Body - Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:Cheshire Mustelidae Facebook group:
https://www.Facebook.com/groups/184398295514886

Paul Hudson’s sand lizard breeding enclosure
https://www.arc-trust.org/news/pauls-new-lizard-lounge

John Poland’s vegetative key
https://bsbi.org/vegkey

Pine Martens in Cheshire? Some interesting discussion in this old Cheshire Mammal Group newsletter:
http://www.record-lrc.co.uk/Downloads/cheshire%20mammal%20group%20newsletter%200%20-%20Spring%202005[14032009].pdf

Mostela and jiggler info on The Small Mustelid Foundation site:
https://stichtingkleinemarters.nl/small-mustelid-foundation/

rECOrd Local Records Centre
http://www.record-lrc.co.uk/

Weasel on a woodpecker
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31711446

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Tim talks with Cheshire Wildlife Trust's Evidence & Planning Manager, Rachel Giles...The conversation covers Rachel's career, her interest in and work to conserve Cheshire's Local Wildlife Sites and the sometimes daunting, but very important subject of Net Gain. As we face an unprecedented global crisis for biodiversity, how can the government mandated net gain for biodiversity from development be successfully and measurably achieved? And what can we learn from some of the old giants of ecology as we go about making sense of it?

Thanks:
Stacey Body - Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:Local Wildlife Sites
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/local-wildlife-sites

SSSi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest

Green Revolution
https://www.thoughtco.com/green-revolution-overview-1434948

Avoidance, mitigation, compensation
https://www.bats.org.uk/our-work/buildings-planning-and-development/avoidance-mitigation-compensation

Rank grassland definitiion: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100404256

Interesting EN doc about neutral grassland:
file://ce-userdata/cehomedrive$/AG255Y/Downloads/in13.9%20(1).pdf

Brownfield sites

Home builders perspective:
https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/what-is-a-brownfield-site/

Conservation perspective:
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/habitats/towns-and-gardens/brownfield

Telegraph article citing the CPRE study promoting "brownfield first": https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/03/25/england-has-enough-brownfield-land-one-million-new-homes-says/

Biodiversity 2020 targets: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biodiversity-2020-a-strategy-for-england-s-wildlife-and-ecosystem-services

The Northern Forest
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/we-plant-trees/the-northern-forest/

Habitat Banking
https://www.environmentbank.com/habitat-banking/

Green Infrastructure
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/sustainability-transitions/urban-environment/urban-green-infrastructure/what-is-green-infrastructure

E. O. Wilson’s Half Earth Project
https://www.half-earthproject.org/

James Lovelock
http://www.jameslovelock.org/

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Tim talks with Manchester Herbarium's Rachel Webster...

The conversation covers the collection and the people who contributed to it as well as Rachel's role, her predecessors and other interesting characters from the herbarium, museum and science in general’s history.

Thanks:
Stacey Body - Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:Manchester Museum Herbarium:
Website: https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/collection/plants/
Twitter: @Aristolochia
WordPress: https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/

Flowering plants:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant

James Cosmo Melvil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cosmo_Melvill_(naturalist)

Charles Bailey:
https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/collectors-2/

Leopold Hartley Grindon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Hartley_Grindon
- The Shakspere Flora. A guide to all the principal passages in which mention is made of trees, plants, flowers, and vegetable productions; with comments Unknown Binding – 1883 by Leopold Hartley Grindon

Richard Buxton:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Buxton_(botanist)
https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/tag/richard-buxton/

Flora of Manchester:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=o00EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP21&lpg=PP21&dq=richard+buxton+flora+manchester&source=bl&ots=Hi7T1W0Ehz&sig=ACfU3U1rO8dvMSNGndIqTb1Qvzm1dPLHdw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiU2734rO_nAhXLShUIHYzpAn4Q6AEwCXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=richard%20buxton%20flora%20manchester&f=false

Manchester Botanical Gardens:
https://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/gone/botanicgardens.html

Rachel's phd thesis:
https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/67/22/6373/2411398

Biscuit Beetle:
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/identification/blog/2014/12/17/fact-sheet-the-biscuit-beetle--stegobium-paniceum.html

From Here to Ecology - Herbarium blogs:
https://fromheretoecology.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/manchester-herbarium/
https://fromheretoecology.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/finding-richard-buxton/

Grace Wigglesworth
https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-mysterious-miss-wigglesworth/

Dead Horse Arum:
http://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2015/3/26/unlikely-allies

Lydia Becker:
https://mmwonderwomen.wordpress.com/2018/03/09/lydia-becker/

Kathleen Drew-Baker:
https://www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk/science-engineering/2019/03/04/mother-of-the-sea-how-kathleen-drew-baker-saved-sushi/

Monument in Uto, Japan:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Mary_Drew-Baker#/media/File:Monument_Kathleen_Mary_Drew-Baker.jpg

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Tim and Fleur talk with Wirral & Cheshire Badger Group's Helen Bradshaw and Jane Cullen...

The conversation covers the history and work of the group, their roles in it, the group’s ongoing badger TB vaccination programme and just badgers and badger conservation generally.

Thanks:
Fleur Wilson, Stacey Body - Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:The Badger Group
http://wcbg.org.uk/

Jane Ratcliffe
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/jan/04/guardianobituaries.patrickbarkham

Patrick Barkham
@patrick_barkham
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Badgerlands-Twilight-Britains-Enigmatic-Animal/dp/1847085059/ref=pd_sim_14_2/259-9522622-3105701?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1847085059&pd_rd_r=a8ee4cab-bdb8-4b8d-a2cf-4f6b81d10788&pd_rd_w=w51ds&pd_rd_wg=yAqtG&pf_rd_p=bbc136fb-d98b-4822-a5fd-b92d15766975&pf_rd_r=Y944Z9X348BFZAG6S2EY&psc=1&refRID=Y944Z9X348BFZAG6S2EY

rECOrd
http://www.record-lrc.co.uk/

The cull/TB

  • FAQs about the cull: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-and-wild-places/saving-species/badgers/faqs
  • What is BTV?: https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/is-eating-meat-infected-with-bovine-tb-harmful/
  • Vaccination shortage: http://wcbg.org.uk/badger-vaccine-shortage-2016/
  • Gov strategy for tackling bTV: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-strategy-for-achieving-officially-bovine-tuberculosis-free-status-for-england

Brian Martin - Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve:
https://woolstoneyes.com/

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Tim and Fleur talk with Lancashire Wildlife Trust Volunteer Reserve Manager, Noell Leather...

Noell took on the management of Summerseat Nature Reserve over 40 years ago. The conversation covers what the Wildlife Trust was like back then and the joys and challenges of having your own nature reserve to manage.

Thanks:
Fleur Wilson, Stacey Body - Production
Kelly Lomas & Gif Lemon - Artwork
'Still Pickin', Kevin Macleod - Theme tune

Related links:
Summerseat Nature Reserve
https://www.lancswt.org.uk/nature-reserves/summerseat-nature-reserve

New Zealand pigmyweed
https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/plant-fungi-species/new-zealand-pigmyweed-australian-swamp-stonecrop

Willow Tits
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/willow-tit/
https://www.gmwildlife.org.uk/resources/downloads/willow_tit_survey_volunteer_handbook_2019_02_05.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/groups/167649310275619/
Mark Champion
@MarkHChampionChris Packham's Manifesto for Wildlife
https://www.chrispackham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Peoples-Manifesto-Download.pdf

Crash in invert numbers
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2019/february/the-world-s-insect-populations-are-plummeting-everywhere-we-look.html

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'Ecology - Tales from the Field' is a podcast conversation about wildlife conservation. 

Join Tim Body and Fleur Wilson, ecologists with a passion for British wildlife, with their guests to hear interesting people tell real life stories from the world of ecology and conservation in the UK covering topics from biodiversity to botany, mammals to invertebrates.