It’s arrived!
A crisp copy of our new magazine, Nature’s Home, landed on my desk on Friday.
I know our editorial team has been flat out for weeks preparing for the launch of Nature’s Home and I think it looks really good.
The new magazine will be full of wildlife (and lots of birds) and will tell the stories of the great people who are working so hard to give nature a home. Graham Hirons‘ contribution to the vision and design of wetland nature reserves is a special feature in this issue – and rightly so.
It's full of ideas of places to go and wonderful winter wildlife to see – places like our Snettisham reserve which will be stuffed full of thousands of wading birds escaping the Arctic chill further north. I shall be taking the family there for a late birthday treat in a couple of weeks time.
Nature’s Home will examine some of the challenges nature faces and in issue 1 we head to the hills to look at the future of our uplands – I will comment further on this in the next few days on this blog.
Developing our magazine and introducing a fresh approach was an easy decision – changing it’s name from Birds was harder – though the selection of a flock of turnstone on the front cover is a clear sign that birds will remain at the heart of the magazine. I’ve even been given my own column - page 31 by the way. Now that really was a brave decision.
I’d love to know your views – once you’ve had a chance to spend time between the covers of Nature’s Home.
And if you have no idea what I’m talking about – it will probably be because you haven’t joined the RSPB. You can fix that by joining here.
Happy reading.
Great magazine - but what an awful, twee, cheesy name! It's back to the 70s with this one! It is meaningless twaddle which won't make people want to read it. What a shame
Nothing to be sorry about Martin,realise from past experience we all get mag at different times.This is not a complaint but of course content in most of mag cannot change much from present % of birds and ads content being same % more or less.
Sorry about that Sooty - they get mailed out in phases and our mailing house takes a little time processing. I get mine at home usually within a fortnight of its publication. I think you'll enjoy Simon Barnes' piece this time...
Bob - we should 'talk' after you've read it!
And thanks, Nightjar, I'm hopefull that you'll find enough challenge in the content to keep you happy! If not, let me know.
Name changes are always a bit scary, so good luck !
I am, however, very glad you now have a column. A key strength for me of Birds has always been that it campaigns hard, in contrast to the similar magazines of many comparable organisations which are all soft focus, out to sell (literally when you look at the advertising !) a soft focus, rosy glow version of our environment. I'm going to be good an not name names - but please do keep Nature's Home hard hitting - and that isn't just the obvious conservation news, but also columns like Nicola Chester's which talk about the real, deep values of nature to people - exactly the sort of thing our London-centric, money obsessed politicians are getting so wrong as they drift further and further away into their own little world.
Martin, Like Sooty I can't really yet comment on the new magazine because, although a member, mine hasn't arrived either.
Unlike Sooty I do feel that the content will be welcome and new, I can't see all the publicity going into this without an editorial team that will produce the goods.
You do know what I am going to say next. I still cannot understand the name change and am unlikely to get used to it. When I go to the library and am searching the shelves, books initially leap into my hand from the title cover not from the content.
I will read it because it will come through the door. When I have finished with it and it sits in my doctor's surgery it will sit there anonymously with country life, natural world etc and will not stand out as a birds magazine for the RSPB. It still sounds like a good publicity magazine title for someone like Nick Watts to sell his bird food through.
The Cotswold Water park sightings website
My Flicker page