Category Archives: Latest GOB Articles

Bring Back Real National Service This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine February 2019 I can still remember worrying, as an eleven-year-old about the prospect of being conscripted. In peacetime it seemed to me a dangerous anachronism as young amateur … Continue reading →

Diversity This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine January 2019 I have lately been revising all the US State pages of my fatbirder.com website. This means checking out every link there including all those Audubon societies, some states having a … Continue reading →

American Access This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine December 2018 Despite being exhausted the day after the last British Bird Fair, I still had to wake at sparrow-fart because I’d promised to take a visiting American friend birding. After … Continue reading →

Have I got it wrong? This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine November 2018 I last ate meat in 1983. My loosely defined form of vegetarianism was mostly a political decision… if less people ate meat more of the world’s … Continue reading →

Now Then This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine October 2018 Watching the Great-crested Grebes dancing across the mirror smooth lake surface was a seminal moment; it didn’t turn me into a birder, but it rather cemented the likelihood of … Continue reading →

Butterflies Flutter By This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine Autumn 2018 As I write this it is high summer and the birds are getting harder to find and all the fledglings defy my jizz radar. In a few weeks … Continue reading →

The Real Countryside This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine September 2018 They dye the water at Augusta Golf Course to make sure the ponds are just the right shade of blue for the TV cameras. They paint the grass … Continue reading →

Too little, too late This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine August 2018 I make no apology for returning to the plastic war as it is simply the most pressing conservation concern everywhere on the planet. A UK-wide bottle and … Continue reading →

Quid Avium Venari This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine July 2018 Why do you go birding? I don’t mean the question you pose yourself when you are freezing your binoculars off at silly o’clock on your day off, while … Continue reading →

Indian Givers This article first appeared in Birdwatching Magazine June 2018 When you first visit India you either fall in love with, or reel at its shocking contrasts. Madmen driving everything from the latest Lotus to a cart propelled by … Continue reading →