Jump to content

Mary Colwell

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Colwell
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
Employers
  • Freelance
  • (was BBC Natural History Unit)
SpouseJulian Hector
Websitewww.curlewaction.com
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)

Mary Colwellis an English environmentalist author and producer. She previously worked for theBBC Natural History Unit.She is founder and director of the charity Curlew Action[1]and Chair of the Curlew Recovery Partnership England,[2]aDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairsinitiated roundtable dedicated to reversing the decline of the Eurasian Curlew.

Early life[edit]

Colwell's mother wasRoman Catholicfrom Northern Ireland, and her father was anAnglicanfrom Stoke-on-Trent.[3]She grew up nearStoke-on-Trent,and was raised as a Catholic.[4]She studied sciences at both theUniversity of Manchesterand theUniversity of Bristol,graduating from Bristol in 1986.

Career[edit]

Producer[edit]

Colwell has produced numerous documentaries, one-off features and series forBBC Radio 4includingThe Natural History Programme,Shared Planet with Monty Don,[5]Natural Histories,[6]Living World[7]as well as presented programmes of her own such asThe Nature of Creativity[8]onRadio 3andA Life With….[9]On Radio 4.

She has produced nature documentaries forWildlife on One,Natural World,British Isles – A Natural History,Planet Earth: The Future,Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlifeand the BBC 4 series,Walk on the Wild Side.

In 2007 she won theGarden Writers' GuildAward for best radio documentary for her series “Gardens of Faith[10]”,five 15 minute programmes on how a world faith demonstrates its belief in their garden design.

In 2009 Colwell was awarded aSonyRadio Academy Gold Award for Best Podcast, the first award of its kind, for her production "The Budgerigar and the Prisoner", telling the story of a prisoner Les whose life was transformed by caring for abudgerigar.[11][12]It also won a New York Radio Festival Gold medal.[13]

Writer[edit]

In 2014,Lion Husdsonpublished Colwell’s book on the Scottish-American naturalistJohn Muir,calledJohn Muir: The Scotsman Who Saved America’s Wild Places.[3]It is the only British biography of John Muir.

In 2016, Colwell undertook a 500 miles (800 km) walk fromLough Erne,nearEnniskillentoBoston, Lincolnshire,to find out why theEurasian Curlew(Numenius arquata) is declining so rapidly across Britain and Ireland.[3][14]In 2018Curlew Moon,[15]was published by William Collins as an account of her self-titled "Curlew Walk" and the plight of the bird.[16][17]it madeIrish Independent'sbest non-fiction list of 2018.[18]

In 2021 her third bookBeak, Tooth and Claw[19]was also published by William Collins. Her fourth book, The Gathering Place,[20]was published by Bloomsbury in 2023 and was shortlisted on the Stanford’s best travel book of 2024. It details Colwell’s 500-mile pilgrimage along theCamino de Santiagoin between lockdowns in the autumn of 2020.

Activism[edit]

In October 2017 she was awarded theDilys Breese Medalby theBTOfor outstanding science communication, in 2018, the David Bellamy Award from the National Gamekeepers' Organisation[21]for her conservation work on curlews and in 2019, the WWT Marsh Award for Outstanding Contribution to Wetland Conservation.[22]In 2022 she was awarded theRSPB Medalfor her outstanding contribution to conservation.[23]

In March 2021 she was appointed chair of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs initiated Curlew Recovery Partnership England,[2]a roundtable of organisations charged with restoring Curlews, their habitats and associated wildlife across England. In 2020 she set up the charity, Curlew Action[1]and established World Curlew Day.[24]She led the successful campaign to establish a GCSE in Natural History,[25]announced by the government in April 2022.[26]

Colwell is a spokesperson for environmentalism in the United Kingdom and writes articles on the subject in journals, magazines and newspapers.[27][28]She was listed inBBC Wildlife Magazine'sTop 50 Most Influential Conservationistsin the UK,[4][29]and as one of the most influential conservationists by the ENDS report in 2023.[30]

Colwell has campaigned with politicianCaroline Lucasand educationist Tim Oates[31]to establish a GCSE inNatural History.

Personal[edit]

Colwell is married to BBC producerJulian Hector,and they have two sons (Hector has three daughters from a previous marriage).[3]

Colwell's faith is an important part of her life, and she describes herself as a Christian.[4][32]

Works[edit]

Articles, interviews, and podcasts[edit]

  • Colwell, Mary (13 July 2016)."Mary Colwell - Earth in Vision".OpenLearn.Retrieved23 January2021.
  • —————— (10 October 2018)."A forestry boom is turning Ireland into an ecological dead zone".TheGuardian.com.Retrieved23 January2021.
  • —————— (22 August 2019). Charlie (ed.)."Podcast: Mary Colwell — Curlews, GCSEs, and John Muir".The WAR ON WILDLIFE Project.Retrieved23 January2021.
  • ——————; MacMath, Terence Handley (27 May 2016)."Interview: Mary Colwell, producer, writer, and conservationist".Church Times.Retrieved22 January2021.
  • —————— (21 March 2016). SARX (ed.)."The Secrets Whispered in Every Living Being".SARX.Retrieved23 January2021.

Bibliography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abBradley, Ellen."Curlew Action – Action Now for Curlews Tomorrow".Curlew Action.Retrieved17 June2024.
  2. ^ab"About Us | Curlew Recovery Partnership".Curlewrecovery.Retrieved17 June2024.
  3. ^abcdHandley MacMath, Terrence (27 May 2016)."Interview: Mary Colwell, producer, writer, and conservationist".Church Times.Retrieved24 January2021.
  4. ^abc"Interview with Mary Colwell".A Rocha.4 November 2015.Retrieved24 January2021.
  5. ^"BBC Radio 4 - Shared Planet".BBC.Retrieved23 June2024.
  6. ^"BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories".BBC.Retrieved23 June2024.
  7. ^"BBC Radio 4 - Living World".BBC.Retrieved23 June2024.
  8. ^"BBC Radio 3 - Sunday Feature, The Nature of Creativity".BBC.Retrieved23 June2024.
  9. ^"BBC Radio 4 - A Life With..."BBC.Retrieved23 June2024.
  10. ^"BBC Radio 4 - Gardens of Faith - Episode guide".BBC.Retrieved17 June2024.
  11. ^"Gold for local Catholic Church".BBC.13 May 2009.Retrieved23 January2021.
  12. ^"Gold for Bristol-based podcast".BBC.11 July 2009.Retrieved23 January2021.
  13. ^"Gold for Bristol-based podcast".11 July 2009.Retrieved17 June2024.
  14. ^"Where have all our curlews gone? (And the corncrakes!)".Meath Chronicle.6 May 2016.Retrieved24 January2021.
  15. ^Colwell, Mary (19 April 2018).Curlew Moon.William Collins.ISBN978-0008241056.OCLC1035290266.
  16. ^Crampton, Caroline (3 May 2018)."Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell review – a pilgrimage for the wading bird".The Guardian.Retrieved24 January2021.
  17. ^Cocker, Mark (2 June 2018)."Curlew Moon by Mary Coldwell: Wading to extinction".The Spectator.Retrieved24 January2021.
  18. ^"From history to politics, nature to science, cookery to music - the best non-fiction of 2018".Irish Independent.15 December 2018.Retrieved24 January2021.
  19. ^"Beak, Tooth and Claw: Living with Predators in Britain".William Collins.Retrieved17 June2024.
  20. ^Colwell, Mary (2024).The Gathering Place.Bloomsbury.ISBN9781399400541.
  21. ^"Curlew conservationist wins prestigious Bellamy Award".www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk.Retrieved17 June2024.
  22. ^"Marsh Charitable Trust – Marsh Award for Outstanding Contribution to Wetland Conservation".www.marshcharitabletrust.org.Retrieved17 June2024.
  23. ^"Curlew conservationist wins prestigious award".BirdGuides.24 October 2022.Retrieved17 June2024.
  24. ^Bradley, Ellen (10 December 2021)."World Curlew Day".Curlew Action.Retrieved17 June2024.
  25. ^Examinations), OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA."GCSE Natural History Hub".teach.ocr.org.uk.Retrieved17 June2024.
  26. ^"The new Natural History GCSE and how we're leading the way in climate and sustainability education – your questions answered – The Education Hub".educationhub.blog.gov.uk.25 April 2022.Retrieved17 June2024.
  27. ^Colwell, Mary (28 May 2018)."The bloody truth about conservation: we need to talk about killing".The Guardian.Retrieved24 January2021.
  28. ^Colwell, Mary (10 October 2018)."A forestry boom is turning Ireland into an ecological dead zone".The Guardian.Retrieved24 January2021.
  29. ^"Gamekeepers Meet Prince Charles At Highgrove House".The Yorkshire Times.23 February 2020.Retrieved24 January2021.
  30. ^"Power List 2023: the UK's 100 most influential environmental professionals".www.endsreport.com.Retrieved17 June2024.
  31. ^"The path to a Natural History GCSE".www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk.Retrieved17 June2024.
  32. ^"Mary Colwell - Working With the Workers".Lauriston Jesuit Centre.Archived fromthe originalon 19 May 2015.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Colwell&oldid=1233399994"