Episode 41: Michael J. Warren

With the imminent release of Beyonder, Stornoway’s highly anticipated fifth album, Kit is joined by band founding member and multi-instrumentalist Oli Steadman. Oli is also a campaigner for many nature conservation trusts including HIWWT, RSPB, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Woodland Trust and British Trust for Ornithology, and hosts the band’s Conservation Conversations podcast. Source

For this very special episode Kit and Will are joined by writer, naturalist and medievalist, Michael J Warren live from Global Birdfair to celebrate JA Baker and his seminal nature writing book, The Peregrine. 2026 would have been Baker’s centenary year, so when Michael suggested a Baker and Peregrine themed episode, we decided to dive right in! Michael is the author of two books… Source

Joining Kit is very special guest, Carolyn Robertson, Nature Manager at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, helping to look after some of our most cherished habitats and species. She is also the Project Manager for the Capercaillie Emergency Plan including the annual Lek It Be campaign. Her previous roles include working for the WWT at the London Wetlands Centre, a national role based at… Source

Michael J. Warren is a writer, naturalist, medievalist and teacher of English with a passion for the places and birds of Britain. Michael is the author of two books, most recently The Cuckoo’s Lea; The Forgotten History of Birds and Place—a journey into the long past to discover the fascinating stories behind our ancient place-names. He was previously chair of the charity New Networks for Nature… Source

In this episode of Golden Grenades, Kit is joined by his good friend Will Rose, for a live podcast recorded on the Whinchat podcasting stage at Global Birdfair 2025. Kit and Will’s very special guest for this episode is Indy Kiemel Greene. Indy is a conservationist, wildlife guide, RSPB volunteer and ambassador, Butterfly Conservation ambassador and a man who was 50% of a team walking from Lands’… Source

Choosing the five bird species to save from the ecological end of days for this episode is Dawn Balmer. Dawn has worked at the British Trust for Ornithology since 1992, and her roles include fieldwork, organising ringing projects, BirdTrack Organiser, Coordinator for Bird Atlas 2007-11 and now Head of Surveys, overseeing long-term schemes and projects. She has been a keen birdwatcher from a very… Source

Joining Kit for a chat about birds today is 11 year old Henry Day, aka Naturetastic Henry. He is absolutely crazy about wildlife and conservation and loves nothing more than exploring the natural world around his home in East Anglia and beyond, and sharing his adventures on his blog, socials and YouTube channel. He is a junior wildlife ambassador for the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire… Source

This is where my obsession with the fastest bird on the planet all started! For a while, we were shown a weekly BBC educational programme at school called Look and Read which included a serialised drama section. And the storyline that made a 9-year-old me sit bolt upright on the hall parquet floor and stare wide-eyed at the big telly on wheels was called Sky Hunter. Sky Hunter was brilliant… Source

For the second year running Kit and Will are out on location for a very special episode. We were invited by Gareth Jones of Gloucestershire Raptor Monitoring Group to join him for a weekend of ringing one of the best birds in the UK. But which bird?? Contains severed limbs, bad whistling, bonus churring and… the “king of the forest”! Will’s What Bird Is That? animated bird guide can be found… Source

In this episode, Kit is joined by Emily Joáchim, a freelance conservationist and writer. Emily has been obsessed with wildlife, particularly raptors and owls since childhood and, after completing her zoology degree, worked for various conservation organisations before spending 4 years studying the breeding ecology of the Little Owl for her PHD. She has worked with long-term nest box monitoring… Source