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Feathers and Fun
I thought I would appeal to all the birders out there, who might be at a loose end and looking for some fun on Saturday. The Cornell Lab and ebird are doing a Global Birding Day this Saturday 8th May. The aim is to collect as much data as possible on what birds are seen…
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LIFE, BUT NOT WHERE WE KNOW IT? Part 1: Life on Mars
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS. Are we alone ? We no longer believe that Planet Earth holds the only possibility of life, just as we know that our whole Solar System is extremely small in the vastness of space. We already recognise Mars, possibly Venus, and at least three moons of the giant planets Jupiter…
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AES Honorary Life Membership for John Cooper.
Last week co-founder of the FFON website, John Cooper received the letter below from the Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES) bestowing upon him Honorary Life Membership of the AES. I received a note from John’s wife, Margaret Cooper saying ‘This is a delightful honour, not only because John has been a member of the AES since…
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“Our first ever slow worm in the garden…”
Dear Simon, John and Margaret We have written a very quick note below from our encounter a few days ago and also attached a couple of pictures if you would like any of them for FFON. We were lucky enough to find our first ever slow worm in the garden yesterday which was absolutely wonderful.…
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Where Have All Our Butterflies Gone?
By Dr. David Glynne Fox This article is based on almost seventy years of personal observations in the wild, primarily in and around my home county of Nottinghamshire, although these results sadly also apply to much of the UK. Many theories have been put forward as to why many species of British butterflies and moths…
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Save Burlington House: Letter from supporters published in The Sunday Telegraph on 21st March 2021, #LinneanAtBH
How You Can Help Write letters, raise awareness, talk to people – visit https://www.linnean.org/the-society/savebh/how-you-can-help to find out more (before it’s too late).
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THE NAR VALLEY IN NORFOLK – A FOOT SAFARI DURING THE COVID LOCKDOWN Part 2.
Written by John and Margaret Cooper: Pentney to King’s Lynn walk 13 – 15 July 2020. A report on our walk – and the natural history that we saw – for the FFON Armchair Naturalist website: https://thefrightenedfaceofnature.com/ In Part 1 of this saga of our Nar Valley adventure, published in FFON on 1st September…
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Threat to the Linnean Society of London @Helen_Whately @LinneanSociety #SupportGSL #LinneanatBH and #SocAntiquaries
To: Helen Whately MP, Minister for Social Care. Dear Helen, I am writing to tell you about the Linnean Society of London, of which I am a Fellow, and how the work of the Society is threatened by a huge rise in rent paid to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. A 3000%…
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Pressure mounts on Government as Burlington House learned societies join forces to fight for science, heritage and the arts #SupportGSL #LinneanatBH and #SocAntiquaries
The future of three learned societies at London’s famous Burlington House is now under threat as rents increase by over 3,000% and continue to escalate Geological Society and Linnean Society join the public campaign initiated by the neighbouring Society of Antiquaries Relocation represents a major threat to the Societies and the important work they do…
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@jamesowild @timloughton Please Help @LinneanSociety Save Burlington House. Here’s what nature needs:
James Wild MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA Dear Mr Wild Save Burlington House Campaign May I draw your attention to an article in The Guardian dated 28 February 2021 (Under threat: the birthplace of Darwin’s historic theory | Science | The Guardian) that highlights the dilemma of five renowned scientific Societies based at…
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Linnean Society: Save Burlington House Appeal @LinneanSociety
Lia Nici MP Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby Martin Vickers MP Member of Parliament for the Cleethorpes Constituency Dear Lia and Martin I am writing to you as my local Member of Parliament to ask for your support to safeguard the future of The Linnean Society of London. Whilst I appreciate this is an issue…
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The Water Spider: An Enigma Beneath the Surface
By Dr. David Glynne Fox The Water Spider (Argyroneta aquatica) is, as far as is known, the only truly aquatic spider in the world, living almost entirely submerged in ponds throughout Britain and Europe. Although widespread, the species is very local, but often abundant where found. However, none of the ponds that I knew of…
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Redwings in the garden this morning
What a treat to see around thirty Redwing in the garden this morning all foraging for insects under leaves. Lucky me. Watch out for the winter thrushes in your garden. Simon
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LIFE IN THE TIME OF THE VIRUS by Dr Valerie Jeffries.
Here we are, the world-dominating Hominin, miserably in thrall to the tiniest and simplest form of life, a virus. It’s not even alive in some opinions, depending on your definition of Life. We learn the things that Life must be capable of, all of it contributing to that overarching requirement, reproduction. A virus can do…
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Happy New Year to friends and followers of the FFON
2020 was our biggest year for the FFON website – readership grew by more than 200% and came courtesy of 90 plus countries. We couldn’t have created so much wonderful content without the help of our intrepid correspondents, who put coronavirus fears aside to write about the natural world. Thank you! Happy New Year from…
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Butterfly feeding experiment by Rowan Allen who is eight-years-old.
The following article, “Butterfly feeding experiment”, is by Rowan Allen, who is eight-years-old. Readers of FFON will remember Rowan’s previous contributions to the website – a poem about an ocelot and a piece looking at the differences between poisonous and venomous animals. Rowan has always been fascinated by invertebrates that she sees but this year, in part due…
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Move Over Robin Hood? With a Tribute to Pamela
By Graham Wellstead. I expect many of my generation will echo in some way, but my life growing up in the 1940s and 50s was not run-of-the-mill. I lived with parents and younger brother in the lodge cottage at the entrance to a large Church of England Convent. The cottage was set against the edge…
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Podcast Episode 8: Make Nature Your Playground and “Consider the Colours”.
Welcome to autumn: Simon, John and Margaret join forces this autumn/winter with the wonderful team at Haith’s wild bird food (https://www.haiths.com/) to launch their new project – “Make Nature Your Playground”. Gemma Saunders (Customer Care Manager) introduces herself and explains more about the project and how Haith’s aim to encourage parents and grandparents to get…
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We’re in ‘Peregrine’ – The magazine of the Hawk and Owl Trust
No. 113 Autumn/Winter 2020. Visit https://hawkandowltrust.org to find out more about The Hawk and Owl Trust.
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The Nar Valley in Norfolk – A foot safari during the Covid lockdown.
John and Margaret Cooper’s Pentney to King’s Lynn ‘safari’ 13 – 15 July 2020. A report on our walk – and the natural history that we saw – for the FFON Armchair Naturalist website: https://thefrightenedfaceofnature.com/ Part 1. Last month we decided, as a break from our fifteen-week Covid-19 “lockdown”, to explore the River Nar on…
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Gilbert White: 300 year anniversary of his birth.
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS. Rev Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a pioneer naturalist, who collected over 40 years’ observations of the flora and fauna in the English countryside around Selborne in Hampshire. His book “The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne” was published by his brother Benjamin in…
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My Woodland Odyssey.
By Graham Wellstead. It would not be to difficult to calculate how much of my life has been enriched in terms of years, an educated guess would be 3 to 4 years over the past 30. Walking, hawking, and ferreting in the first 10, followed by working and teaching in the middle, and back to…
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The Smell of Green
By Susan Underkoffler – our Pennsylvania, USA correspondent. I met someone during my first experience away from home at university. His name was Marco and he was from Iceland. Stocky and a bit physically imposing, his outward appearance belied his true inner nature – sensitivity and a deep thoughtfulness – as if he possessed a…
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THE FISHES’ TALE. Part II : RESURGENCE
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS If you missed Part I, it’s here. Franz Witte back in Leiden could hardly believe what he was hearing on the crackly phone line from Tanzania: was his research student Ole really claiming there were dozens of Haplochromine (Haps) fish in his net ? Ole Seehausen, (who’s now a Professor…
What will you do now that you know?
The Frightened Face of Nature is a space for slowing down.
Maxwell Knight (1900–1968) is known in some circles for his work in intelligence (MI5), but that’s not really why his name appears here.
Long before ‘the environmental crisis’ became a headline, Knight noticed something many around him overlooked: nature was on the back foot.
It was his love of animals and the natural world, not his professional career, that made him pay attention.
Knight’s life, anchored in curiosity, observation, and attention to detail offers a way to think about how we see the world, and how easily we can stop seeing it at all.
The Frightened Face of Nature takes its name from an unpublished manuscript he wrote, which was found inside a secret cabinet.
Here, we explore stories and questions that don’t fit neatly into clickbait headlines — not because they aren’t urgent, but because they are complex and demand more than fleeting attention.
Knight’s perspective reminds us: Awareness isn’t passive. It’s an active choice.
So what will you do now that you know?
— Simon King FLS
