Archive for the 'Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing' Category

INNS Mapper: A new app for citizen scientists

One of the nearly-unavoidable hazards of traditional print production seems to be the way that important details can go out of date almost as soon as the book is published (and this situation has only deteriorated as we’ve started including more and more references to fundamentally ephemeral digital media!) In the case of my own […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Writing Aug 12 2023

My Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing: Ebook now available

Way back in 2013 when I started discussing my Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing with Merlin Unwin Books, we decided very quickly that we wanted it to make it as easy as possible to carry and use – which is why we released the first edition in a handy little ring-bound format, just like Peter […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Writing Aug 12 2018

Invasive non-native species in the pages of Trout & Salmon

Especially if you’re an angler, invasive non-native species can really spoil your day. From giant hogweed on the banks (with phyto-phototoxic sap which inflicts third-degree burns that’ll keep coming back for years) to signal crayfish and killer shrimp in the water (which destroy the food web from the bottom up by chewing through all the […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Trout & Salmon, Writing Apr 19 2017

My Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing: £5.00 special offer from Merlin Unwin Books

Hard to believe a year has passed since my Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing was published, yet this is already the second summer when it’s been helping ordinary members of the public to start fighting back against invasive non-native species (INNS) in their local areas. Now balsam (and floating pennywort, rhododendron, mink, grey squirrel etc…) […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Writing Jun 04 2015

Urban river restoration: Interview for SCALE Magazine

It’s not every day you get interviewed on your home water for an international fishing ezine. So when Germany’s SCALE Magazine offered to send writer-translator Tankred Rinder (also editor of Forelle und Aesche) and photographer Veit Dresmann to south London as part of their round-the-UK road trip in September… … I jumped at the chance […]

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Chalkstreams, Fly-fishing, London, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, River restoration, Trout, Trout in Dirty Places, Urban rivers, Wandle Dec 01 2014

Summer writing roundup

Where has this summer gone? Between publication of my Balsam Bashing book, a few freelance copywriting gigs up in London, helping to recruit new staff for the Wandle and South East Rivers Trust and watching over the Wandle’s biggest river restoration projects yet, experimenting with a radical new approach to ultralight fly-fishing, and exploring new […]

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Environmental policy, Fallon's Angler, Fly-fishing, Freelance copywriting, London, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, River restoration, Trout, Ultralight fly-fishing, Wandle, Writing Sep 30 2014

Balsam Bashing: The reviews are out!

A couple of months have passed since my Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing was published in May this year, and it’s been great to see it gradually gaining traction across the environmental sector. Here’s what the reviewers have been saying so far: Neil Patterson in Fly Fishing & Fly Tying magazine:  Stuffed with essential facts […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Writing Aug 24 2014

Balsam Bashing at the Game Fair

According to the great John Gierach, publishers may well have invented book signings to keep writers humble… and that’s certainly how it felt for the first five spookily-quiet minutes of Coch-y-Bonddu’s  ‘meet the author’ session during this year’s CLA Game Fair at Blenheim. Maybe we’re putting them off, suggested Peter Hayes, all sitting here looking like […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Shows, Tackle, Ultralight fly-fishing Jul 22 2014

Balsam Bashing: Book signings at Farlows and Sportfish

To celebrate the launch of my new Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing this week, I’ve been highly honoured to set out my stall at two separate Sportfish events… … first an all-day signing session at Farlows on publication day (complete with wine and snacks generously laid on by Brian Fratel and Sam) … … and […]

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Invasive non-native species, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Shows, Writing May 11 2014

Now in the wild: My new Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing

Invasive non-native species of all kinds, be very afraid. Today’s the day when my new Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing officially gets let out to start kicking your ass in the wild. Me? I’ll mostly be spending the day at Farlows in central London, hoping to sign a few copies and chat about invasive species with anyone […]

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Flyfishing.co.uk, Invasive non-native species, London, Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, Writing May 08 2014