Steve's Herpetological Blog

An insight into the life of Steve, his research and the many books he reads

Nature

#SciFri: RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

I was lucky enough, while in Norfolk recently, to visit RSPB Strumpshaw Fen with my friend Liam, who you may know as A Shot of Wildlife on YouTube, and his colleague Natalia. It is the first time I have been…

#SciFri: The power of citizen science

Imagine you’re running a project to map the distribution of a species or observe a phenological event such as the spawning of frogs. How is one person (or a small team of people) going to be able to collect data…

#SciFri: Why you should create a garden pond

Since 1950, we’ve lost a vast number of ponds from the British landscape. Not only has development been increasing since this time to house our ever growing population, farmland ponds have also disappeared. The farm landscape used to be dotted…

#SteveReviews: Anaconda – Silent Killer

Few species of snake conjure up nightmarish images like the anaconda, known for it’s large size and potential human-eating behaviour. However these preconceived notions are not founded in any truth, which will hopefully be highlighted in a review I’ve authored…

#SteveReviews: A Life On Our Planet

Despite moving back to Canterbury to find issues with our internet, I’ve been able to watch the new David Attenborough film titled A Life On Our Planet. It’s now available to watch on Netflix after only being available to watch…

#SteveReviews: Extinction – The Facts

This is something that I haven’t rushed to review simply because given the title of this David Attenborough special, I assumed it would be like preaching to the choir. After sitting down to watch Extinction: The Facts it is clear…

#SteveReviews: Tiny Creatures

When I opened up Netflix the other evening to see what was available now that I’ve been spending a lot of time streaming from Amazon Prime Video, I was amazed to see a new documentary series titled Tiny Creatures. The…

#StevesLibrary: Dr Tatiana’s Sex Advice to all Creation

Back when completing my Masters Degree, there was an optional afternoon in how to construct arguments for popular science writing. This was held by Olivia Judson (who I hadn’t heard of until that time) but I wish I had. She…

#StevesLibrary: The Aye-aye and I

The late Gerald Durrell is somewhat of a personal hero of mine, not least because he helped to reshape the course of conservation in the 20th Century along with other figures such as Sir Peter Scott. Unfortunately like most things…

#SteveReviews: Bugs – Nature’s Little Superheroes

Following on from reading A Buzz in the Meadow, I decided to see if I could find a documentary on Amazon Prime Video regarding insects. You’ll be glad to know that I found one that caught my eye, not least…