Sophie Pavelle: 10 Remarkable British Species (and the Fable of Janet who fondly found their faeces)

Jun 6 2023


Recorded in November of 2022 in Covent Garden, this is an interview with the Award-winning Writer and Wildlife Trusts' Ambassador, Sophie Pavelle


David Oakes

David Oakes

Host

Sophie Pavelle

Guest

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About this episode:

Sophie Pavelle spearheads the new breed of science communicators. She is a nature writer, the communications co-ordinator for the Beaver Trust and an ambassador for the Wildlife Trusts. Recorded in front of a live audience in November 2022, this interview chronicles the journey she undertook to write her award-winning book, “Forget Me Not”. Hear about her encounters with “salt and vinegar chipsticks”, “bald men in hot tubs” and “that guy in the office who trails a 10 metre wake of paco rabane” (aka, Marsh Fritillary Butterflies, Seals and Bottle-nosed Dolphins – did we mention she’s from the new breed?) Hear about her low carbon journey across the British Isles to encounter ten of Britain’s nearly forgotten endangered species, and how when putting pen to paper she set out to blame human beings for climate change… but in a happy way! She meets the Bat Conservation Trust, visits the Rewildling project at Knepp, and heads to the north of England in search of Britain’s smallest bird of prey – and her take home from this? Sadly few encounters with her chosen ten species, but fortunately lots of stories about poo…!


David's thoughts:

It could be said that I’m a snob. (It has been…) I delight at not too subtly showing off the array of scientific words I have at my disposal, and I similarly shun the use of emojis. So it’s not without some discomfort that I have to say that I truly loved Sophie’s #book. I believe Sophie to be one of the very best eggs around in this increasingly-saturated popular-science universe of ours, and I hope her book reaches out into multiple parallel universes to boot. Her book is as refreshing as it is knowledgeful, and I stand in awe at how upbeat Sophie manages to remain when she is as well informed about biodiversity loss as I know her to be.

So, all I really want to add is to remind you all to head out and to buy her 📖…

Click Here.

 

LINKS:

Sophie Pavelle – https://www.sophiepavelle.com

Big Wild Quiz 2023 – https://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/events/2023-06-11-wildlife-trusts-big-wild-pub-quiz

Bat Conservation Trust – https://www.bats.org.uk/

Knepp – https://knepp.co.uk/

Ruth Tingay and Wild Justice – https://wildjustice.org.uk/

North Ronaldsay (Wiki) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ronaldsay

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