Geoffrey Kibby, senior editor of Field Mycology, and author of two recent best-selling photographic keys to fungi – British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britain - talks about how childhood discovery in a woodland wonderland led to a life spent mushrooming…

What first attracted you to the curious world of fungi, and what are your mycological credentials?

I have been mushrooming for over 45 years; as a boy of 13 I was convalescing from some surgery and was staying in a cottage very close to the Queen’s estates at Sandringham in Norfolk. Opposite the cottage was a large area of fenced-in woodland with “Private, property of HM the Queen” on a gate. Like any self-respecting schoolboy I completely ignored the sign and climbed over the fence and into what I can only describe as a wonderland. A damp, mossy conifer wood, dripping with lichens and ferns and with fungi everywhere. I still remember the first fungus I was ever consciously aware of, a beautiful, small and intensely violet toadstool (Laccaria amethystea) and I thought I had never seen anything so amazing, so magical. I soon purchased my first book, the Observer’s Book of Mushrooms, and quickly realised that I needed a bigger book! I have been collecting and writing about them ever since.

For most of that 45 years I have been a member of the British Mycological Society and for the last 12 years have been the Senior Editor of the journal Field Mycology which deals with all aspects of mycology (the study of fungi). For about six years I lived in the USA and was at one time the President of the New Jersey Mycological Association. I have published numerous books on fungi including general field guides as well as more specialist monographs.

Your recent publications on British Boletes and The Genus Agaricus in Britian have become instant bestsellers. Who are they aimed at and what can the reader expect from them?

My specialist books are aimed at the enthusiastic amateur all the way up to the specialist – usually people who realise that the popular field guides are not sufficient to tackle some of the larger or more difficult groups of fungi. I have tried to make them more user-friendly than the traditional identification keys, often using a synoptic system whereby the reader only has to decide on 6 or 7 principal characters before attempting to key out the particular species. My keys include lots of illustrations to aid the reader in making these decisions. In some cases a microscope is required but the techniques needed are not that difficult and of course a microscope opens up a whole new world of wonderment in all areas of natural history, not just in mycology!

Generally, what part do fungi play in the world’s ecosystems?

Without fungi to digest and break down the decaying organic matter in our woods and fields the world would soon be swamped in enormous depths of fallen twigs, leaves and other debris. Most trees are dependent on fungi and form specialised symbiotic relationships with them, they cannot grow well without them and vice versa. Other fungi of course are parasitic and attack other organisms (including ourselves…) and many others have strange life cycles which we scarcely understand at all and this all adds to our fascination with them.

We’re in fungi season now – to what extent are there annual changes in the fungi ‘populations’ throughought the UK, and is there any way in which fungi acts as an indicator of wider environmental changes?

In recent years there have been enormous ‘invasions’ of new fungi and as the climate has changed we have seen corresponding changes in the way fungi behave and fruit. Our penchant for covering the world in woodchip mulch has paved the way for numerous exotic species to come into the country. Some species have spread to every British county, using this newly invented habitat, within 5 years of their first discovery, an amazing colonisation by any standard.

Increased annual temperatures are affecting the way in which fungi fruit; species which formerly fruited only in the autumn are now often fruiting twice a year in both spring and autumn. Others which were specialists in fruiting only in the spring, such as the common and deliciously edible morel have been appearing as late as November or even January!

Do you have a favourite mushroom?

Almost an impossible question to answer, but I certainly have favourite groups. The boletes have been a favourite since my childhood as they are for many other mycologists. Their large size and often bright, exotic colours are very appealing and they are relatively easy to identify also, hence my recent book on the subject. I also have a long time passion for the genus Russula, a sometimes very difficult group with around 170 species in Britain, often of very bright colours once again and very common everywhere. I am putting the finishing touches to my ‘magnum opus’ on that group as I write this.

Can you describe a particularly interesting species, or feature of a species of a mushroom found in the UK?

Many fungi form associations with other fungi, some of which we are still in the process of discovering. Many boletes for example, particularly in the genus Suillus form associations with a group of fungi called Gomphidius. Each species of bolete seems to latch onto a particular species of Gomphidius, very specific, and we don’t really know what is going on, although the best guess is that one partner is sort of hitching a ride on the other, tapping into its associate’s ability to obtain nutrient from the particular conifer with which it grows, without having to do the work itself.

There is some great photography in the keys – I guess a mushroom is a perfect still subject for the nature photographer – is photography a hobby of yours that has grown from your work?

I have been photographing for as long as I can remember and using fungi as subjects was a natural extension of this. I now teach digital photography and the use of Photoshop to enhance and edit photographs as part of adult education courses at local colleges. Fungi are ideal subjects since they don’t run away or even sway in the breeze as wild flowers do, and of course their strange shapes and colours are wonderful subjects to try and capture.

I went mushroom hunting recently and always ended up way off a positive identification. Given the dangers of mistaken-identity, what advice would you give the amateur fungi hunter? 

Start small: learn to recognise the basic groups where possible, that is half the battle. Go on as many guided mushroom walks as possible and learn from experts in the field – there is no substitute for that. Field guides can only take you so far and cannot show you all the many variations that fungi are capable of. My favourite saying is that “mushrooms don’t read the books!” Meaning that they don’t always conform in size and appearance to the illustrations in the book, they vary enormously as they age. Get as many books as you can afford, each will offer some extra information and pictures that another might lack. Finally, never, ever eat a fungus you are not confident of. All mushrooms can be eaten once but sometimes not twice……the history of mushrooming is filled with people who have eaten and become very sick or even died from making an error in identification.

On which cautionary note…

Geoffrey Kibby’s keys are available now from NHBS:

British Boletes: With Keys to Species

The Genus Agaricus in Britain

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Horsey Estate, in Norfolk, has, since 1979, been home to a colony of resident, and eventually breeding, Common Cranes. John Buxton has been resident on the estate a little longer, and was perhaps the perfect host to his surprise new neighbours…

John Buxton

What a fascinating story – how did you feel when you first heard that there were cranes resident in Norfolk, on the Horsey Estate? What do you think attracted them to the site?

In October ’79 I was delighted when Frank Starling, the grazing tenant, had reported he had just seen “the 2 biggest bloody herons” on the marshes on which he grazed his cattle. The attraction to the cranes was a combination of a quiet, undisturbed area of wetland and a plentiful supply of food in the form of unharvested potatoes. Both sites were within the Horsey Estate area.

How did the writing of the book come about? What brought you two together and why now?

For the first few years I tried to keep the presence and nesting activity as quiet as possible but I felt the story would have to come out eventually. I was worried that inaccuracies would begin to creep in because various interested people were longing to report facts as they saw them. I wrote down careful notes about the cranes’ activities and as I learnt more about them and their habits I realised that at some stage in the future, I should recall the true story as it happened. Chris Durdin was given a sabbatical period while still employed by the RSPB in 2009 to gather and write down the facts as told by me from my notes and diaries I had kept about the cranes over the last 20 years. The work became delayed for various reasons but finally, in 2011, it simply had to be completed.

The first part of the book follows the cranes and their efforts (sometimes exhausting!) to breed year by year from 1979 to 2010. How was 2011 for them?

2011 was a fairly unsuccessful breeding summer for the cranes at Horsey, one pair definitely hatched young by my observations of their activity from a fixed hide at 200 metres. I could not see the young in fast growing reed but could observe the parents by their tall necks showing above those reeds. I was aware also that the young only survived a few days and I witnessed a male marsh harrier, which had nested only 50 yards away from the cranes’ nest, carrying a small gold creature as prey, which he took to feed his young. Another pair of cranes in a different site within the Horsey Estate also failed to raise any young.

What was it like revisiting the history of the years from 1979 – particularly going back through all the notebooks?

It was quite revealing to catch up with my notes, which acted usefully as a reminder of the facts over 30 years. Thanks to Chris Durdin’s patience, we finally achieved the publishing of the book.

Grus grus, the Common or Eurasian Crane, at Horsey

The Norfolk cranes are grus grus, or Common Crane, and the book is full of observations on crane behaviour. The word ‘tenacity’ is used in the book to describe these birds and their endless attempts at sucessful breeding. How would you sum up the typical crane personality?

Like all individuals of a species, cranes vary in personality, I have observed particular traits in quite a few individuals, which I had got to know fairly intimately from fixed hides. The females are undoubtedly the best parents, with remarkable tenacity and sense of duty at the incubation and subsequent caring for chicks. The males are usually less reliable in their duties. Incubation is normally shared but I have seen many examples of the male going walkabout when he should be sitting on the eggs. This can be fatal if we have late frosts in May. One particular pair have only hatched young once in 4 years of nesting attempts.

What has been the cranes’ legacy in terms of their effect on your life experience, personally and professionally?

The cranes establishing themselves in Broadland, after a break of 400 years, is a major event in UK bird conservation. It has kept me extremely busy, looking after them for 30 years and although my son, Robin, since 2000 is now the lessee of the Horsey Estate from the National Trust, I am acting as his reserve warden. A job which he would never have had time to undertake as a busy, self-employed land agent. My present age is 83 and I am extremely lucky to be able to both physically cope with wardening the Horsey reserve and still enthusiastically enjoy photographing wildlife in high definition video and digital imaging with a still camera.
As far as I am personally concerned, with a wonderful wife and family around as backup, I am as fully occupied as I have ever been, doing things I enjoy with great enthusiasm.

I am hugely relieved that the book has been published at last and deeply grateful to Chris in particular, and among others, Nick Upton, for his invaluable contribution and chapter about cranes in Europe.

Chris Durdin

Chris Durdin worked for the RSPB for 30 years and was in the Norwich office while the cranes were establishing themselves…

Chris, how did you become involved with the cranes?

Not long after I arrived at the RSPB’s Norwich office, I was told in confidence about the nesting cranes and asked to help in several ways, including some shifts watching a nest in the spring of 1982. Regular contact with John continued, but it wasn’t hands-on as he and Bridget looked after the RSPB contract wardens who helped at Horsey for several years.

You were in charge for a time of deflecting public and media interest in the cranes at the RSPB office – what was it like trying to keep the cranes secret?

It helped that there was a rumour in the birdwatching world that the cranes had escaped from captivity, so on that basis they didn’t really count as wild birds. We didn’t discourage that perception, which lessened the pressure and risk of disturbance to nesting birds in spring and summer. They were fairly easy to see in autumn and winter from the coast road, so it was easy enough to encourage birdwatchers to look then. Of course there were well-informed birdwatchers and media, especially after juvenile cranes that were clearly recently fledged started to appear. Those in the know seemed to accept the need for care with this privileged information, though naturally some keener media were referred to John, who batted queries into the long grass.

How does the Norfolk Cranes’ story fit in the context of current conservation issues and efforts in the UK today, and how could organisations and government best serve the potential future of cranes in the UK? 

We can start by remembering that they disappeared from the UK as breeding birds some 400 years ago due to a combination of hunting and wetland loss. So no hunting and lots of big wetlands are obvious messages – all the British birds are on large, protected wetlands, mostly nature reserves. That this includes a re-created wetland at RSPB Lakenheath Fen is particularly encouraging. Cranes are big, talismanic birds, and we hope they are an easy-to-grasp way of showing the value of wetland protection and creation to the public and to Government. Cranes have a preference for large, undisturbed wetlands, so they are also a reminder of the value of large-scale habitat protection and restoration.

Crane in flight

So, can we expect our skies to be full of cranes in the near future? 

No, but they should be a more familiar part of the scene in small numbers in a few areas. It’s taken more than 30 years to go from their natural re-colonisation at Horsey to about a dozen pairs in Eastern England, so we all need great patience. An exception to that is if you’re lucky enough to live where the process is being speeded up in SW England, where cranes are being reintroduced in Somerset. While we hope the spread will accelerate, probably boosted by more immigrants from the expanding – in both numbers and range – European population, cranes will probably never be common, given their preference for large wetlands.

If you’d like to see skies full of cranes, the answer is to go where they form flocks in several parts of Europe. One of the best places to go is Extremadura in Spain where up to 100,000 cranes over-winter. I will be there with Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays in February 2012!

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John Altringham, author of Bats: From Evolution to Conservation, discusses the appeal of bats, what they are, and how we should think about their conservation needs.

How did you first become interested in studying bats?

I was taken to a Natterer’s bat roost, almost 30 years ago now, and saw my first bat close up. I was a research scientist in biomechanics – trying to understand evolution’s engineering problems and solutions. This tiny bundle of energy in my hand was an engineering marvel I’d never really thought about, so I went away and read about bats. However, I didn’t read just about flight and echolocation, the subjects that came immediately to mind. As a zoologist and conservationist, I read more and more widely and became increasingly fascinated. Bats became an important ‘extra-curricular’ activity, but it was many years before they displaced biomechanics in my work. However, the seeds were most definitely sown during that very first encounter.

We all know what bats are, but – what exactly is a bat?

A bat is the only flying mammal and one of nature’s few echolocators. With these ‘skills’ it has evolved and radiated into the most diverse, the most widespread and the second most speciose group of mammals on the planet. A bat is a small mammal with the lifestyle of its much bigger cousins. It lives a long time, but only produces one baby a year. It lives within often complex social units, exhibiting complex behaviours, and makes use of the landscape on a grandiose scale through the seasons. It shows a bewildering range of ways that an animal can makes its way in the world. It is an important cog in many ecosystems, as predator, pollinator, seed disperser. Its contributions to the human economies of the world are only now being determined and appreciated. Likewise its value as an indicator of the planet’s health. It is a source of endless fascination, study and appreciation.

Why do you think there is such popular interest at this time in bat detection and conservation, and what can we learn from studying their ecology?

I really think that bats sell themselves. The formation of the bat conservation movement, some knowledgeable and enthusiastic activists and some cracking documentary footage are the catalysts in the bat conservation movement – the bats themselves do the rest, if we just show the world something of them.

Bats are also surprisingly accessible. It is relatively easy, even in suburban areas, to see and hear bats, sometimes at fairly close quarters – you can’t say that about many wild mammals. They often live in close proximity to humans, you don’t have to be particularly stealthy, and they just get on with life while you watch – they have a lot to offer the casual naturalist. However, there are plenty of challenges for the more dedicated naturalist.

The need for conservation is pretty self-evident. Bats need large home ranges in connected landscapes, they rely on threatened habitats for both roosting and feeding and they are slow to recover from population setbacks. However, there are modest things we can do to help them, from practical conservation to education, which encourages widespread involvement – and success fuels further effort. Conservation needs passion and commitment – bats appear to have the charisma to generate them.

Conservation gets a big chapter in the book – it is the focus of a large and growing proportion of ecological research. There has been a lot of bridge building between research ecologists and conservation practitioners in recent years, but we still have some way to go. I’ve tried to highlight some of the issues in this chapter – evidence-based conservation is the future!

What can we learn from bats? Where do I start?! Science is all about understanding how the natural world works. Everything we learn, from the ecology of individual species to the general processes that govern the way ecosystems function, comes from the study of appropriate ‘models’. The sheer diversity of bats means that they offer useful models to study all sorts of things – just look at the topics I cover in the book.

How do you see the future for bats?

I have no idea what the future holds, for bats or the rest of biodiversity. I do think bats are among the more vulnerable animals, so looking after bats is a good way to protect other animals and plants that share their habitats. We have a growing knowledge about what we are doing wrong to our environment and what we need to do to begin to put things right. However, there is a lack of will among politicians and the ‘captains’ of commerce and industry to provide the conditions and the resources to do it. Lots of talking the talk, little walking the walk. Conservation will always be a compromise – but the balance point is far from the right place. Too many people still think of conservation in terms of what we sacrifice to achieve it, not what we gain from it. We need more objective science in conservation, alongside the passion and hard work. They provide the evidence that forces people to act and they help us to decide how to use most effectively the limited resources we have at our disposal.

NHBS stock an extensive range of bat conservation equipment, supplying a range of customers from ecological consultants needing bulk stock for a construction project, to amateur naturalists keen to investigate their local bat population and do their bit for conservation.

Browse our range of bat detection equipment

Browse our range of bat boxes

NHBS Customer Services will happily discuss your needs and advise you on the best purchase for your project.

Phone: +44(0) 1803 865913

Email: customer.services@nhbs.co.uk

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Come and meet Nick Baker at the NHBS Stand: Marquee 2, Stands 15, 33 and 34

NHBS Ambassador Nick Baker will be visiting the NHBS Stand on Saturday 20th August between 12pm and 1pm, and on Sunday 21st August between 10am and 11am.

Come and talk to Nick about the wonderful world of bugs, the secret life of a TV wildlife presenter, and just how good those chair hides really are! Nick will also be signing copies of his books, including the new Nick Baker’s Bug Book: Discover the World of the Mini-Beast! which will be available at the stand.

We look forward to seeing many of you at Rutland Water over the course of next weekend!

Find out who else will be signing their books with NHBS at Birdfair 2011 here.

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Birdfair 2011: Friday 19th – Sunday 21st August

2010 was a good year!

NHBS are off to Rutland Water again this month for Birdfair 2011.

We look forward to seeing you all there again – as usual you will encounter a great range of books covering ornithology from all angles: field guides, monographs, avian science, photography; plus a wide selection of books concerning British and World wildlife: entomology, wildlife travel, natural history writing and much more.

You’ll also be able to browse a huge range of wildlife conservation equipment and field kit – and we are hoping you can come and chat with NHBS Ambassador, Nick Baker at the stand about all things wild, and see how he got on with the Stealth Gear One Man Chair Hide – probably on the Saturday (time to be confirmed…*CONFIRMED, see times here*)!

Come and see us in Marquee: 2, at Stands 15, 33, 34 and meet the authors that will be visiting the NHBS stand to sign copies of their books.

Birdfair 2011: NHBS Author Signings Schedule

Saturday 20th August

11.30am Nils van Duivendijk:  Advanced Bird ID Handbook

2pm Mike Unwin: The Atlas of Birds

3pm David Lindo: The Urban Birder

Sunday 21st August

11am Richard Crossley: The Crossley ID Guide

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ANIMA MUNDI – Adventures in Wildlife Photography is a FREE quarterly wildlife and nature travel and photography online magazine.

ANIMA MUNDI – Adventures in Wildlife Photography is available as a FREE fully interactive 100+ page, widescreen pdf and is published over the internet four times a year in January, April, July and October.

ANIMA MUNDI – Adventures in Wildlife Photography is published in cooperation with X-RAY MAGAZINE, the largest and best-ranked dive periodical of its kind in the world.

Each issue of ANIMA MUNDI features extensive, 50-page long, fully illustrated articles about prime wildlife photography locations worldwide, with field-tested, user-friendly information about trip destinations, local facilities, guides and specialized tour operators.

You will also find in-depth features about all sorts of fascinating wildlife – both terrestrial and marine – plus interactive videos and links, wildlife photographers personal galleries, book reviews, field equipment and techniques tips and a lot more.

Anima Mundi is on Facebook

NHBS have worked with Andrea and Antonella Ferrari, the creators of Anima Mundi, for the last few years as distribution agents for their publishing company, Nautilus Publishing. These three great books have been long-term best-sellers, and are available now from NHBS:

A Diver’s Guide to Reef Life
A Diver’s Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife
A Diver’s Guide to the Art of Underwater Photography

Here Andrea talks about the Anima Mundi project, and his passion for wildlife photography:

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What first led you to become interested in the study of plant science?

At school and, later, as an undergraduate student, I encountered mentors who encouraged an interest in, at first, natural history, then, general plant biology, and, finally, the more specialized field of plant physiology and biochemistry. This interest continued to grow during my years as a graduate student, becoming, in time, an academic career in plant biology.

Plants demonstrate considerable variety of form and colour, and thrive in all corners of the globe – is there a realm of plant science that particularly interests you?

My own fascination is with how plants work at the most fundamental level. In my research career, I focused on plant metabolism using such tools as biochemical mutants and molecular biological techniques to investigate how plants manufacture the molecules they require for their everyday needs, such as those involved in DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, vitamin production – including folic acid – and some of those used by plants to defend themselves against attack by fungal diseases.

Reaching for the Sun is accessible to the non-specialist as well as the student – what was your aim for the book? What can a potential reader expect?

My aim in writing the first edition was to provide knowledge of how plants work to the informed layperson who has some background knowledge of plant biology. The green organisms are the bedrock of the biosphere in that they are the primary producers of the foods nearly all other living things must have. Their ability to capture energy from the sun and use it to form complex organic molecules from simple inorganic compounds like carbon dioxide and water is a miracle of nature. Yet there are many books with a focus on the wonders of animals and animal life but not nearly as many on plants and their lifestyles; I decided I could help to rectify this imbalance.

The seventeen chapters in the first edition covered many aspects of the inner workings of plants. I approached the subject from an historical point of view thinking that showing how our knowledge of how plants work had evolved over time would carry the less well informed reader towards increasing understanding of these unique and critically important organisms.

Parts 1-4 in the second edition cover the same major topics as the first but also includes new information consistent with recent advances in knowledge. To make this edition accessible, still, to the non-specialist, some more advanced information is kept separate in Boxes. If non-specialists wish to skip this source of information, they can do so without losing the thread of discussion in the main text. More knowledgeable students can use the Boxes as a source of additional information.

Part 5 deals with the great global geological and biogeological cycles of five of the most important elements needed by plants: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. The first chapter in this section charts how these natural cycles operated in the four and a half billion years or so of the Earth’s existence before humans began having a significant global impact. The second chapter highlights some of the effects human activities are having on these cycles and, then, on plants, since the advent of the Industrial Revolution about 300 years ago.

How are the plant sciences set to deal with the consequences of such environmental changes?

Advances made in recent years in plant biology are huge and at all levels of plant life from the ecological to the molecular. At the level I am particularly interested in, unprecedented advances in knowledge are occurring at breathtaking speed.  Our understanding of how plants work at the most basic physiological and biochemical levels improves and expands daily, it seems.

I added Part 5 to the book because of my belief that students entering the plant sciences today need to understand how their planet has evolved during its eons of existence, how the activities of a rapidly growing human population are accelerating the pace of this evolution, especially its great elemental cycles, and what effects these imposed changes are having on plants at the most fundamental level. Any plant biology student in the 21^st century needs to develop an understanding of and sensitivity to the impact of human activities on plants at all levels, including the physiological and biochemical. My aim was to provide a few clear examples of how human impacts on our land, water, and atmospheric resources are affecting how plants work. After all, the changes seen at the ecological level are often a reflection of the impact human-forced changes to the environment are having on the everyday activities going on in the cells of the plant.

John King is Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan

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Could you describe, for those who may not be aware, the Census of Marine Life?

The Census of Marine Life has been a 10 year program involving 2700 scientists from more than 80 countries around the world, focused on understanding the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the global oceans.  The Census studied oceans past, oceans present, and oceans future, and found the ocean is richer, more connected, and changing more than we had realized.

How have you been involved in the project?

About 4 years ago, the Census leaders realized that a concerted effort was needed to bring together the many different elements of the project to produce a single coherent view of life in the ocean. They therefore asked me to Chair a group that would bring together Census results for a wide range of audiences, including the general public. One of the outputs of that effort is the book “Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life: Making Ocean Life Count”, which I wrote over the last year. It brings together over 1100 published scientific papers into a single story of the Census of Marine Life.

What does marine science hope to take forward from the knowledge gained from the project?

Knowledge of life in the oceans can help us sustain that life by making us better stewards and managers. In the past, our exploitation of life in the oceans has often proved unsustainable and with indirect and negative consequences to many species other than those targeted by our activities. We know that we have caused many changes, and that we must do better if we are to sustain a rich, healthy ocean environment that many believe is essential to productive fisheries and indeed for life on Earth. Globally, scientists now realize the rich diversity of life in the oceans is important and that by conserving species we can also improve the probability that we can sustain healthy oceans. Knowing where they move and congregate can help us identify areas that should be prioritized for protection. Ignorance has not been bliss for ocean life in the past, and we must do better.

Tell us about the book – what can a reader expect?

The book explains how the Census came about, what it discovered about life in the ocean, and why the information is important.  The book includes many colour pictures illustrating the new species and diverse environments we studied, from the shoreline to the abyss. It explains how scientific data is collected, and what it tells us. In short, it tells the story of the Census from start to finish.

Buy your copy of Discoveries of the Census of Marine Life

Visit the official Census of Marine Life website

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Bjørn Lomborg shot to fame with The Skeptical Environmentalist in 2001, a book which generated a great deal of interest from scientists and the media alike. The debate which followed focused on Lomborg’s general assertion that much of what environmentalists claimed was not nearly as bad as they reported. From pollution to public health, and the extinction of biodiversity to climate change, Lomborg offered analysis to show a better than feared picture. Several books since (e.g. The Lomborg Deception) have taken Lomborg to task over his methods and choice of data, and much has been made, particularly by the climate deniers, of his dismissive coverage of global warming.

Well… following on from The Skeptical Environmentalist, and his later book Cool It, he’s back to answer his critics with a new edited book on our response to climate change. Smart Solutions to Climate Change takes catastrophic climate change as a starting point. “I am saying what I have always said” says Lomborg, “that the climate is a real and important, man-made problem, but that we are handling it badly”. A panel of authors (economists – including three Nobel laureates) examine a range of policy and technology responses to climate change and suggest we change emphasis – shifting away from a Kyoto/Copenhagen focus on reducing emissions, and instead invest $100 billion in new technology funded by a carbon tax.

This is an in-depth and fairly technical read, but thought provoking and accessible. No matter what your views on Lomborg, he is now addressing what many see as a looming reality – that we are not making anywhere near enough progress in responding to climate change, and that even building on what’s already been started will not fix the problem.

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What inspired you to enter the world of wildlife film, and what was the first film you ever made?

What inspired me was a desire to use film to advance the cause of conservation. I was frantically seeking fresh and innovative ways to promote environmental protection. The first film I ever made was on the California Condor with Robert Redford.

Shooting in the Wild is a scrupulously diplomatic survey of the history and ethics of wildlife film making – what is the hardest ethical puzzle you have had to confront in your experience making films?

You forgot to say that the book is full of fascinating stories! The hardest ethical puzzle I confronted was the desire to get close to wild animals while knowing it was wrong to harass them in that way.

As a conservationist, what do you believe a good wildlife film should do? What are the limits?

A good wildlife film should inspire the viewer to love nature more deeply and to encourage action of some kind to promote conservation.  And it should do this without harassing animals or deceiving the audience with staging or manipulation. There are no limits.

The tale of someone like Howard Hall and his “extraordinary patience” resulting in fascinating footage and industry recognition for his first film is  inspiring – perhaps the overly enthusiastic “claws and jaws” approach hides a more intriguing diversity of behaviour in the animal kingdom?

I’m not a cinematographer like Howard, but the behavior of wild animals goes far beyond copulation and predation, and is often intriguing and unpredictable. The “claws and jaws” approach does wildlife a disservice and is highly disrespectful of the natural world.

You recount some classic stories of misadventure – Timothy Treadwell and Steve Irwin come to mind – have you personally found yourself in any close animal encounters you were glad to have got out of? What is your most memorable animal encounter?

Swimming with humpback whales in Hawaii and walking near Kodiak bears in Alaska come to mind, but remember, we always work closely with biologists and so are never in any danger unless we do something stupid or careless. I’ve never felt threatened.

And what about memorable human encounters? You have worked with a huge variety of people and you mention some of these in the book …

“Shooting in the Wild” contains many memorable stories about film stars and other celebrities. I encourage readers to get hold of my book and enjoy them!

You talk about how social media is bringing wildlife filmmaking directly to people and engaging them in action on the ground. How does this new phenomenon play into the ethical concerns that are raised in the book?

One way is that everybody is a filmmaker now because everyone has a camera on their cell phone. Millions of people with cameras are edging closer and closer to wild animals to try to capture a career-enhancing shot. This upsurge in people stalking animals in order to get pictures is not good news for wild animals, who for the most part just want to be left alone.

What drives you to make this effort, at this time, to bring your industry to account? Are you optimistic that your conscientious approach will become standard?

What drives me is the deteriorating state of television. Recently I saw Bear Grylls on Animal Planet gratuitously and cruelly kill a large lizard by swinging it against a tree by its tail, and then plunging a knife into its neck.

Are you currently working on any interesting projects?

We’re producing three giant screen IMAX films on climate change, humpback whales, and the oceans. I’m also working with Rob Whitehair and Bruce Weide on a film about wolves.

How can people find out more about the questions raised in the book?

By writing to me and requesting the companion Study Guide. My e-mail address is palmer@american.edu.  Another way is by asking to be put on my mailing list so you receive periodic e-mails about our various projects.  Again, people should feel free to e-mail me about that. Also, every Tuesday night in Washington DC at American University where I teach we have events related to wildlife and environmental films which are free and open to the public.

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