Amanda Tuke

& another #urbanbird for @dunnjons.bsky.social's #BirdoftheDay on the theme of #BranchBirds. 1 of the 5 glorious Goshawks I saw in the centre of Berlin last Feb, which feature in #WildPavements out 5 Mar.

How exciting! Published tomorrow. It'll be great! #naturewatching #lowcarbon @heatherdevey.bsky.social @rebeccaonthewing.bsky.social

@dunnjons.bsky.social, such a great idea, & I think I have the right Jon Dunn this time. Apologies🫣 & thanks for the other Jon Dunn for nicely pointing out my error,

One of the prettiest early-flowering pavement grasses in SE London is Fern Grass (Catapodium rigidum). This one's fl head is 3D so a candidate for subspecies majus rather than ssp. rigidum? #wildflowers #urbanbotany #pavementplants #Londonplants #grasses. #WildPavements is published 5 Mar 2026

The Norwich pigeon wars: how birds are dividing a UK city To the local people feeding the growing flock every day, they are ‘perfect’ creatures with beautiful plumage. To others, they are creating a Hitchcockian nightmare – defecating, stealing and spreading...

This brilliantly illustrates the contradictions in our relationships with urban wild animals. There's increasing evidence that feeding wild birds has a net negative impact on biodiversity &, here, exacerbates human/bird conflict. #WildPavements out 5 Mar 2026. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

For @jondunn.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #CollectingFood, I'll offer an #urbanbird. This Ring-necked Parakeet still hasn't learnt that crab apples are sour, sour, sour. Every year they come & eat them in our garden & spit them out, leaving a sludge of apple puree on the paving beneath.

My pal Geoff & I visit some urban Bee Orchids in local housing estate lawn. We count 17 leaf rosettes nestled in the turf & will be back to see how many have flowered come late spring/early summer #wildflowers #urbanbotany #pavementplants #Londonplants - #WildPavements is published 5 Mar 2026

The Urban Nature Network The Urban Nature Network is hosted by The Natural History Museum's Urban Nature Project. It brings together community groups, individuals, researchers, conservation organisations and many others acros...

I'm delighted to be leading a #WildPavements webinar at 7pm on 26 Feb for the Natural History Museum @nhm-london.bsky.social's fab Urban Nature Network. Join the free network here the-urban-nature-network.mn.co/share/OZILcH... & then sign up for the webinar for free too. 💚

Pavement plants are getting going in SE London. Here's Henbit Deadnettle, doing its thing on a verge. It can self-fertilise so the tiny pink flowers don't always open properly #wildflowers #botany @bsbibotany.bsky.social #WildPavements is published 5 Mar 2026

A lovely thank-you lunch with my pal and nature-writing mentor, the inspirational @stephenmossauthor.bsky.social Moss. I'm not sure Wild Pavements would have made it this far without his advice and support. 💚

Please read @katebradbury.bsky.social's thorough and thoughtful take on this perennial debate👇. The key message here, as it should be in all conservation debates, is... Show us the evidence!

In 'Wild Pavements - Exploring Britain's Cities with an Urban Naturalist' (out 5 Mar 2026), I argue that we need a legion of urban naturalists & activists out there holding Central Government, local authorities & ThamesWater to account to make sure there continue to be improvements.

Thames health check celebrates rebirth of famous river | The Zoological Society of London Conservationists usher in New Year celebrating wins for iconic river, and outline next steps for further recovery as they publish landmark report

It's so good to have some positive news this morning in ZSL's latest State of the Thames report, but there's no room for complacency about the health of our urban rivers. #Thames #waterpollution #conservation #UrbanNature
www.zsl.org/news-and-eve...

Country diary: Everything is frozen, but still the finches come | Amanda Thomson Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms: Thanks to a local collaborative effort, linnets, bramblings, green and goldfinches are coming to this field in joyful flocks

A lovely diary piece from one of my favourite nature writers and namesake. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
#naturewriting #birds #Amandas

It might have been great tv but, for once, it would have been great to see a more balanced take on our stunning and fascinating urban gulls.

Honeybees!!!??? Really? Why feature farmed insects, when there are such stunning wild bees in London, and there some evidence that an increase in urban honey bee keeping actually depresses wild bee populations peerj.com/articles/146...? And...

Seriously, though, there was much to love in this, an albeit brief glimpse into what our capital has to offer if you know where to look and in wonderful company (Hey, why not a whole series exploring nature in Britain's cities?) - but...

Wild London review – honestly, telly does not get any better than this Mischievous and glorious, David Attenborough brings his lifelong sense of wonder to the city’s wildlife, from foxes to peregrine falcons, in this exquisite and endlessly moving special

I'm so so grateful to David & @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social for making this trailer for my book Wild Pavements - Exploring Britain's Cities with an Urban Naturalist, which is available to pre-order & out 5 Mar. 😀💚 www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Please read @markavery.bsky.social in BirdGuides on access. Like Mark, increasing access to sensitive sites concerns me, particularly in urban areas. I wrote about this in Bird Watching Magazine back in Sep 24 the-urban-naturalist.com/2024/09/11/3... & explore further in Wild Pavements, out 5 March.

The ‘garden frequenters challenge part 3’ – calls of thrushes ***Feedback on this challenge gratefully received as a comment on this post.*** Part 3 of the ‘garden frequenters challenge’ covers the calls of the common thrushes. Like the tits in pa…

The 3rd one of the 3 'garden frequenters' challenge in *Chirrups & Trills* is about thrushes. Feedback gratefully received. the-urban-naturalist.com/2025/12/31/t...

The ‘garden frequenters challenge part 2’ – calls of Blue, Great and Coal Tits ***Feedback on this challenge gratefully received as a comment on this post.*** Part 2 of the ‘garden frequenters challenge’ covers the calls of the common ‘true’ tits. Thes…

2nd challenge in *Chirrups & Trills* (the programme I've devised to help me & others get better at identifying bird calls) is no. 2 of 3 about 'garden frequenters'. Do have a go & let me know what works/doesn't work for you. the-urban-naturalist.com/2025/12/31/t...

The ‘garden frequenters challenge part 1’ – calls of Robin, Wren, Dunnock, and a couple of warblers ***Feedback on this challenge gratefully received as a comment on this post.*** I’m going to start with the assumption that you can already recognise the songs of common garden birds. With th…

1st challenge in *Chirrups & Trills* (the programme I've devised to help me & others get better at identifying bird calls) is 1 of 3 about 'garden frequenters'. Do have a go & let me know what works/doesn't work for you. 🙏 the-urban-naturalist.com/2025/12/29/t...

I'm honoured, Dan. Happy new year to you.

The Urban Naturalist Amanda Tuke - nature writer and urban nature champion

Seeking testers for Chirrups & Trills, a programme I'm devising for building identification confidence with commoner bird calls. If you're up for trying one of the call challenges, I'll be sharing them on my blog over the next few days the-urban-naturalist.com. Many thanks in anticipation. 💚🙏

Thank you thank you. I'm honoured, and hope you enjoy it come March. 💚

Glee as I got my best xmas present ever - a soft-back advance reader copy from Team Wild Pavements at Flint Books. Can't wait to see it in hardback come March. #urbannature #naturewriting #1stBookDiary

Us urban botanists aren't often put off by inclement weather. An annual tradition is a 1st Dec hunt for wild plants in flower in Deptford, SE London. Here I am in the rain on Mon checking the seed shape of Beaked Hawk's-beard, more usually in flower in London in May. #urbanbotany #urbannature

More Shrubsole wisdom, we'd do well to heed.

Seems only right for a massive shout out today for Rach Appleby (www.instagram.com/rachapplebya...) - who was chosen to illustrate my book cover. Do have a peek at Rach's fab portfolio... I particularly like her #birdart #nature #natureart #wildlifeart #urbannature #naturewriting

Our crab-apple scrumpers... which don't actually like crab-apples very much. One year will they remember how sour they are? #parakeets #parrots #urbanbirds #birdbehaviour