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Having been an A Rocha supporter since the earliest days in Portugal, Barbara began to work full-time from her home in SW Scotland as A Rocha International Editor in 1997. Her writing career has included a spate of books, co-written with her husband Richard, on the great pioneering naturalists: Biographies for Birdwatchers (1988), Audubon to Xantus (1992), The Bird Collectors (1998) and John Kirk Townsend (2007), and has meandered through book reviews, scientific papers, magazine articles and short notes in wildlife journals. Her latest publication is Bairns and Beasts (2012), a joint collection of poetry with fellow Crichton Writer Leonie Ewing. Barbara has retired from A Rocha in 2017, and will now be spending as much time as possible away from the computer, recording local birds, butterflies, dragonflies and moths.

15th May 2016 | Barbara Mearns | 0 comments

The real Jungle Book

The Jungle Book: What a fabulous world it would be if we could feel safe with a pack of Wolves, sing with Sloth Bears, ride on a Leopard and talk to Asian Elephants. But the sad reality is that most of us face a dilemma which is the opposite of Mowgli’s. In the UK, where I live, most of us feel safest in our villages, towns or cities and react with fear or even aggression when nature threatens our security, our income, or our convenience in some way.

Categories: Reflections
Tags: fear India movies
13th May 2014 | Barbara Mearns | 8 comments

Party questions

I wrote the lines below after listening to myself, on a Friday night, wearily moan that I was just an office drudge. By Sunday, after a two-day break from the computer, a good sermon and a bit of birding, I had a different perspective.

Categories: Reflections
Tags: identity work