An interview with prolific nature writer Stephen Moss on his book ‘Skylarks with Rosie: A Somerset Spring’ published by Saraband. Reproduced with permission from the Quarterly Newsletter (Issue No. 261, May 2025) of the London Natural History Society. Stephen Moss is one of Britain’s leading nature writers, broadcasters and wildlife television producers, specialising in birds and British wildlife. He is the author of many books, including ‘biographies’ of the Robin, Wren and Swallow, and teaches […]
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BOC Blog
Marianne Taylor, The Gull Next Door
An interview with prolific nature writer Marianne Taylor on her book ‘Gull Next Door’ published by Wild Nature Press. Reproduced with permission from the Quarterly Newsletter (Issue No. 261, February 2021) of the London Natural History Society. Marianne Taylor has since 2007 worked as a freelance writer, photographer and illustrator, focusing on wildlife and nature and, particularly, British birds. She is a prolific author and her books include RSPB Pocket guide to British Birds, RSPB […]
Read moreFounders of the British Ornithologists’ Club: 15. John Young (1838–1901)
John Young is perhaps not as well-known as some of the other BOC founding fathers and very little information on his life seems to have been published. Nevertheless, during his lifetime he undertook several ornithological expeditions that were both impressive in their extensive geographical scope and in the important discoveries made. John Young was born in 1838, the fourth of five children born to Rev. Edward Newton Young and Ann Young of Quainton, Buckinghamshire. He […]
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Founders of the British Ornithologists’ Club: 14. Thomas James Monk (1831*–1899)
While Thomas James Monk was among those attending the founding meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club in 1892, very little appears to have been written about his life and ornithological activities. He was born in 1831* in Lewes, Sussex, to the corn merchant and brewer Edward Monk (1799–1888), being the second of four children – Emily, Thomas, Midhurst and Edward Jr. In the late 1850s, Edward Monk Sr had acquired the Bear Brewery, sited at […]
Read moreFounders of the British Ornithologists’ Club: 13. Henry Thornton Wharton (1846-1895)
A physician and ornithologist with a passion for language, nomenclature and orthography, Henry Thornton Wharton was a stickler for detail and the classification of birds. Wharton was born in Mitcham, Surrey, in 1846. His father was a vicar, and his mother was a member of the historically prestigious House of Courtenay. Wharton was the fourth of seven children; his elder brother, Edward Ross, was a notable classical scholar and genealogist, and a Fellow of Jesus […]
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Founders of the British Ornithologists’ Club: 12. Francis George Penrose (1857–1932)
Francis George Penrose, a physician by profession with an overriding passion for natural history and photography, was an early adopter of ornithological photography and the formal study of bird migration. Francis George Penrose was born into the respected Penrose family in St. Pancras, Middlesex in 1857. His father, Francis Cranmer Penrose, was a renowned architect, archaeologist and astronomer who was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1894 and was Surveyor of the […]
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