Mary Colwell | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol |
| Employer |
|
| Spouse(s) | Julian Hector |
| Website | www |
Mary Colwell is an environmentalist and freelance producer and author. She previously worked for the BBC Natural History Unit.
Mary Colwell | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol |
| Employer |
|
| Spouse(s) | Julian Hector |
| Website | www |
Mary Colwell is an environmentalist and freelance producer and author. She previously worked for the BBC Natural History Unit.
Colwell's mother was Roman Catholic from Northern Ireland, and her father was an Anglican from Stoke-on-Trent. [1] She grew up near Stoke-on-Trent, and was raised as a Catholic. [2] She initially studied physics, but later earth sciences at the University of Bristol. [2]
In 2009 Colwell was awarded a Sony Radio Award and a World Gold Medal at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for her production "The Budgerigar and the Prisoner", telling the story of a prisoner Les whose life was transformed by caring for a budgerigar. [3] [4]
In 2014, Colwell published a book on Scottish-American naturalist John Muir, called John Muir: The Scotsman Who Saved America’s Wild Places. [1] In an interview for A Rocha's Root & Branch magazine, Colwell called Muir her "absolute conservation hero". [2]
In 2016, Colwell did a 500 miles (800 km) walk from Lough Erne, near Enniskillen to Boston, Lincolnshire, to raise awareness of the endangerment of the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) in the British Isles. [1] [5] In 2018, she released a book titled Curlew Moon, [6] as an account of her self-titled "Curlew Walk" and the plight of the bird; [7] [8] it made Irish Independent's best non-fiction list of 2018. [9]
Colwell is a noted spokesperson for environmentalism in the United Kingdom and has written articles on the subject the main newspapers. [10] [11] She was listed at number 27 in BBC Wildlife Magazine's Top 50 Most Influential Conservationists in the UK, [2] [12] and has received various awards for her work on promoting environmentalism. [12] [13]
Colwell was one of three recipients of the 2019 Marsh Award from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust for her activism around the Curlew including engaging political support from Downing Street (who called the Curlew, "the panda of UK conservation"), and promoting April 21 as World Curlew Day. [14]
Colwell has campaigned with politician Caroline Lucas to have Natural History included as a GCSE exam on the national curriculum, [15] and in May 2020, she told The Daily Telegraph it would be taught in schools by 2022. [16] In October 2020, a final proposal was submitted to the Department for Education. [17]
Colwell is married to BBC producer Julian Hector, and they have two sons (Hector has three daughters from a previous marriage). [1]
Colwell's faith is an important part of her life, and she describes herself as a Christian. [2] [18]
Sir Peter Markham Scott, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in observing and shooting wildfowl at a young age and later took to their breeding.
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is an international wildfowl and wetland conservation charity in the United Kingdom. Its patron is Prince Charles, and its president is Kate Humble.
WWT Martin Mere is a wetland nature reserve and wildfowl collection managed by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Tarlscough, Burscough, Lancashire, England, on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, 6 miles (10 km) from Ormskirk and 10 miles (16 km) from Southport (Merseyside). It is one of ten reserves managed by the charity, and it is designated an SSSI, an SPA and a Ramsar Site.
WWT Slimbridge is a wetland wildlife reserve near Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, England. It is midway between Bristol and Gloucester on the eastern side of the estuary of the River Severn. The reserve, set up by the artist and naturalist Sir Peter Scott, opened in November 1946. Scott subsequently founded the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, which has since opened eight reserves around the country. Slimbridge comprises some 800 hectares of pasture, reed bed, lagoon and salt marsh. Many water birds live there all year round, and others are migrants on their ways to and from their summer breeding grounds. Other birds overwinter, including large numbers of white-fronted geese and increasing numbers of Bewick's swans.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971.
Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress and theatre and opera director. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO series True Blood (2011), and Carolyn Martens in the BBC series Killing Eve (2018–22).
The curlews are a group of nine species of birds in the genus Numenius, characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been influenced by the Old French corliu, "messenger", from courir , "to run". It was first recorded in 1377 in Langland's Piers Plowman "Fissch to lyue in þe flode..Þe corlue by kynde of þe eyre". In Europe "curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian curlew.
Miranda Krestovnikoff is a British radio and television presenter specialising in natural history and archaeological programmes. She is an accomplished musician, and also a qualified scuba diver which has led to co-presenting opportunities in programmes with an underwater context.
Saba Iassa Douglas-Hamilton is a Kenyan wildlife conservationist and television presenter. She has worked for a variety of conservation charities, and has appeared in wildlife documentaries produced by the BBC and other broadcasters. She is currently the manager of Elephant Watch Camp in Kenya’s Samburu National Reserve and Special Projects Director for the charity Save the Elephants.
Imtiaz Dharker is a Pakistan-born British poet, artist, and video film maker. She won the Queen's Gold Medal for her English poetry and was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University from January 2020.
The Indianapolis Prize is a biennial prize awarded by the Indianapolis Zoo to individuals for "extraordinary contributions to conservation efforts" affecting one or more animal species.
Our Lady and St Patrick's College, Knock, known locally as Knock or OLSPCK, is a Catholic diocesan grammar school in Knock in the east of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The school, with an expanding enrolment, announced in late 2019 it anticipated future enrolment of 1,330.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, whose mission is to promote and protect sporting shooting and the well-being of the countryside throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. It has a membership of over 150,000. Its magazine Shooting and Conservation had an average circulation of around 135,000 in 2017.
Felicity Philippa, Lady Scott was a British wildlife conservationist.
Kristine McDivitt Tompkins is the president and co-founder of Tompkins Conservation, an American conservationist, a UN Patron of Protected Areas and former CEO of Patagonia, Inc. For nearly thirty years, she has committed her career to protecting and restoring Chile and Argentina’s wild beauty and biodiversity by creating national parks, restoring wildlife, inspiring activism, and fostering economic vitality as a result of conservation. Having protected over 14 million acres of parklands in Chile and Argentina through Tompkins Conservation and its partners, Kristine and Douglas Tompkins, her late husband who died in 2015, are considered some of the most successful national park-oriented philanthropists in history.
Julian Hector is a British television and radio producer and executive who is Head of the BBC Natural History Unit. During his career, he has been producer of David Attenborough's Life Stories on BBC Radio 4, producer of the Tigers about the House television series, writer and producer of the Lakes and Rivers episode in the BBC’s Wild Africa series, producer of World on the Move, and instrumental in establishing the BBC's Tweet of the Day. He was described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘one of the most inventive producers in radio’ and during his award of an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bristol was credited with bringing ‘live natural history programming to Radio 4’.
Trees A Crowd is a natural history podcast presented by actor David Oakes.
Sacha Dench is an Australian biologist, conservationist and adventurer. In 2016, she set a Guinness World Record as the first woman to cross the English Channel by paramotor. She is the recipient of the Britannia Trophy and winner of the Green Swan Award.
In the United Kingdom, raptor persecution is a crime against wildlife. The offence includes poisoning, shooting, trapping, and nest destruction or disturbance of birds of prey.
The idea for a new GCSE in the subject came from the author Mary Colwell
