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Butterflies, bees and buddleia – brilliant!
It’s amazing how much life a buddleia bush can attract – butterflies, bees, moths, hoverflies and an assortment of other flying insects feasting on the purple offerings. Buddleia is so simple to grow. Plant it. Leave it. Watch it spring to life and live up to its name (the butterfly bush). Cut it hard back…
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Challenges facing the planet
This was one of my (Simon) favourite talks from the Maxwell Knight Symposium and we’re very grateful to Paul Pearce-Kelly for allowing us to share his slides on the FFON website. The Frightened Face of Nature Paul Pearce-Kelly, ZSL Abstract If Maxwell Knight were writing his prescient Frightened Face of Nature today he would no…
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News: Letter to the Veterinary Record
Subsequently published, in a shortened form, in Vet Record – vets urged to promote sensible, safe, feeding of garden birds, using properly tested diets, by John E Cooper 1, Margaret E Cooper 2 and Simon King 3 Feeding bird food to wild birds has never been more popular, but its merits have often been challenged by…
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Hoverflies: the sheep in wolf’s clothing
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Offshore wind farms – coming to a beach near you
Apologies for the unshaven me; however, I thought I’d record a vlog from my favourite beach (Sandilands) in Lincolnshire. What prompted me? An offshore wind farm and the moon landing anniversary. As humans, we face a massive challenge – we need to somehow contain global warming to prevent the kind of future coming to fruition…
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My day job: standing up for nature and supporting British exports
My priority is reconnecting people with nature – we’re all occupied with life’s slings and arrows and need an occasional reminder to stop and enjoy what the natural world has to offer. I’m proud to say I work for Haith’s – the most conscientious bird food company in Britain and we’re an award winning exporter.…
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Do the moon landings pose a moral conundrum?
We (John and Margaret Cooper) enjoyed reading Simon King’s post: “Maxwell Knight mentions the space race in his unpublished manuscript The Frightened Face of Nature and here’s a poignant quote from the same document: Knight’s point was that man should explore; however, why can’t we do these things without destroying”. We should like to add…
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Fledgling Chaffinch calls for parents
Continuing my wildlife adventures with my iPhone, I caught this charming Chaffinch calling for its parents yesterday. My gut feeling was that a parent would soon show up, which is exactly what happened; however, I’m frustrated to report that I didn’t manage to film the parent (a male Chaffinch) appearing on the very same garden…
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Wildlife adventures with an iPhone
I filmed this at the weekend by attaching my iPhone to a sunflower heart bird feeder using an elastic band. Why didn’t I think of this before? Within a few moments, our friendly neighbourhood Goldfinch was on the feeder and busy extracting some of Haith’s bird foods finest. Isn’t it super to get this close…
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Photos of the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace yesterday
I asked my wife to pinch me yesterday as we walked through the gates at Buckingham Palace on our way by foot to The Royal Garden Party. We’d panicked for weeks about the weather (we needn’t have). As we stepped onto the camomile infused lawn – it was certainly infused with tea after several thousand…
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World Pheasant Association cover the Maxwell Knight Symposium in WPA News
The World Pheasant Association’s WPA News, Spring 2019, includes a lengthy report on the Maxwell Knight Symposium (MKS) and looks super. We’d like to thank www.pheasant.org.uk for including the three photos (credit Margaret E Cooper) and allowing FFON to share a snippet of their spring newsletter here. Administrators at the WPA have also been kind enough…
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Is the climate finally right for a change?
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The Lord Chamberlain is commanded by Her Majesty to invite me to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. (It turns out I’ll be walking in Maxwell Knight’s footsteps…).
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Maxwell Knight Symposium coverage in the IAT Bulletin
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Maxwell Knight Symposium – commemorating the original “Nature Detective” and Second World War MI5 agent by Victoria J. Burton (12253)
Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society Maxwell Knight (1900-1968) was an all-round naturalist and friend of AES founder Leonard Tesch. Maxwell Knight’s writings and his radio and television broadcasts influenced tens of thousands of people, especially youngsters. The Maxwell Knight Commemorative Symposium was held on Saturday 24 November 2018 at Birkbeck College in London, and marked the fiftieth anniversary of…
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Happy New Year!
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At the DIT Christmas International Trade Reception at Lancaster House
I thoroughly enjoyed attending the DIT Christmas International Trade Reception at Lancaster House (London) on 5th December at the invitation of the Secretary of State for International Trade, the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox; it’s been wonderful to represent Haith’s as a Board of Trade award winner and spend 2018 as a Northern Powerhouse Champion.…
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Maxwell Knight, John Bingham and John le Carré by award-winning crime writer, Martin Edwards
Before he earned fame and fortune writing under the name John Le Carre, David Cornwell earned pocket money from part-time artistic work – such as illustrating Maxwell Knight’s Talking Birds. Cornwell, like Knight’s friend and trusted subordinate John Bingham, was then working for the secret services. The three men had something else in common: they…
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Living Planet Report 2018: a warning sign for our planet
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Maxwell Knight Symposium 2018 video invitation from Prof. John E. Cooper.
MAXWELL KNIGHT SYMPOSIUM 2018 THE BRITISH HERPETOLOGICAL SOCIETY (BHS) COMMEMORATIVE SYMPOSIUM London, Saturday 24th November 2018. Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square (“School of Arts’ annex”), London WC1H 0PD Organised by the British Herpetological Society (BHS), with support from the British Chelonia Group (BCG), the Amateur Entomologists Society (AES), the Institute of Animal Technology (IAT), The Frightened…
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Commemorative Symposium – Maxwell Knight, nature detective and MI5
This year, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Maxwell Knight, OBE, FLS. A symposium in November will provide an opportunity for veterinary surgeons and others, especially those interested in conservation, captive-breeding of endangered species and public education, to learn more about “the spy who loved nature”. To listeners of his BBC radio…
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Kenya presentation: “Gorillas in the midst of war” – Saturday, 18 August 2018
FFON contributors John and Margaret Cooper share their two years’ experience working with mountain gorillas in Central Africa, discuss the history of the discovery, and the role played by Dr Louis Leakey and others, in learning more about the biology of these usually gentle and elusive great apes. Bookings: info@kenyamuseumsociety.org
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“The mysterious Mr Knight: spymaster to be celebrated.” – Cage & Aviary Birds magazine July 18.
Thanks, Cage & Aviary Birds for the article “The Mysterious Mr Knight: spymaster to be celebrated” in this week’s publication. Registration for the Maxwell Knight Symposium is via The British Herpetological Society website Organised by the British Herpetological Society (BHS), with support from the British Chelonia Group (BCG), the Amateur Entomologists Society (AES), the Institute…
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Registration is now open for the 2018 Maxwell Knight Symposium
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LATEST NEWS: Venue/date confirmed for Maxwell Knight Symposium
