When 17th century apothecary and naturalist James Petiver published a picture of what, for 200 years, would be Britain's most enigmatic butterfly, Albin's Hampstead Eye, he reported: "Where it was caught by this curious person". His implication was that Eleazar Albin was not just strange, not just odd, but was fuelled by curiosity.
Ongoing projects:
These are some of the books and other projects going on at the moment......
Shieldbugs
Shieldbugs are lovely — why else would we give them such a heroic heraldic name?
Ants – the ultimate social insects. British Wildlife Collection
Crawling into a bookshop near you. All myths about pants and pantries are dispelled. It contains one limerick.
A way with worms
My fave rhyme is limerick brevity,
Five lines and a twist in th'extremity.
The words quite a mash-up,
Dr Seuss/ Ogden Nash-up —
Gravitas with a smidgeon of levity.
WASP
Dylan Thomas wondered deeply about the worth of wasps. Although we are not told which authors wrote them, among the 'useful' presents he recieved were 'books that told me everything about the wasp, except why. This is the why.
Beetles — in the Collins New Naturalist series
I like beetles, I like them very much indeed, so I wrote a book about them.
Call of nature: the secret life of dung
A key selling point is the fact that the spine of the book is adorned with an elephant's bottom. Publication: February 2017.
House guests, house pests
A natural history of animals in the home. Click here for details of how to get the now scarce hardback.
The paperbacks were released into the wild in February 2016
How to be a curious entomologist
A series of introductory 'how to' workshops/ seminars. Click here for follow-up information.
Mosquito
Published August 2012. How an irritating but trivial gnat became imbued with dark menace well beyond its diminutive size.
Gardeners’ World
Garden Wildlife blog, mostly creepy crawlies, but also the occasional bluetit, fox or bat. Don't mention cats though.
Here's a brief selection of things past, although they do sometimes come back to haunt......
The Little Book of Nits
Published May 2012. This'll get you scratching your head. Everything you wanted to know about head lice.
Extreme insects
Biggest, fattest, fastest, shiniest, loudest, but also ugliest, slimiest, most dangerous, hairiest legs and rarest.
....and it's gone paperback
Nano nature
Scanning electron microscopy of shark skin, bat tongue, butterfly wing, fern frond.
Beekeeper’s Bible
I wrote on the biology, evolution, ecology and physiology of honeybees; others contributed chapters on beekeeping history, practical hive husbandry and honey recipes.
Endangered? Who cares?
Article for the Sierra Club. The astounding close-up images are by John Hallmén.
Tecticolous invertebrates
Birkbeck College Lecture
What a waste — what is the biodiversity value of urban brownfields?
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