#SciFri: Why are there so few herpetologists in the UK?
As a herpetologist working in the UK, it has always struck me just how few of us there are. This stretches through the realms of professionals such as ecologists or academics to students with a focus on amphibian or reptile…
#SteveReviews: Alien Worlds
Anyone who is a fan of Dougal Dixon’s After Man must have been as excited a child on Christmas morning when Netflix dropped the trailer for Alien Worlds. I know I was! To my mind, it is the first speculative…
#StevesLibrary: Extraordinary Insects
If there is one thing that I have come to appreciate even more this year, it is insects. I’ve always have a soft spot for them, as they are pretty much everywhere and come in an array of colours and…
#SciFri: The wonders of dissecting owl pellets
Did you know that many birds such as owls produce pellets? Pellets are formed of all of the indigestible material they’ve consumed such as bones, teeth, feathers and fur. This is then compacted in the gizzard and regurgitated as a…
#StevesLibrary: Blowfish’s Oceanopedia
If there is one thing I like about a book when I pick it up, it is that I can’t put it down unless I pass out or something comes up that necessitates the need for me to put the…
#SteveReviews: Brave Blue World
One resource that we often take for granted is water, it’s so important that we use it as a sign of potential extra-terrestrial life. Why you may ask? Well as far as we’re aware, water is essential for life and…
#StevesLibrary: The Secret Life of Bones
It is very rare that you come across a book that looks at a single subject yet finds a number of ways to dissect it from every angle possible. However, that is exactly what The Secrets of Bones by Brian…
#SteveReviews: Birders
When it comes to conservation it is clear that nature doesn’t care about our geographic borders, after all they are only lines on a map. Most borders do not have a physical barrier to prevent the movement of animals or…
#SciFri: Fossil Hunting at Beltinge/Reculver in North Kent
Following on from my popular post on fossil hunting at Walton-on-the-Naze, I’ve recently been fossil hunting on the North Kent coast, not far from Herne Bay. I’ve wanted to go for a couple of years now, ever since I stared…
#SteveReviews: Radioactive
There is no doubt that this year has certainly been unlike any other in living memory for most of us. One of the biggest impacts of the global pandemic is on the entertainment industry, and the delay of the release…