Charlie Moores joins birdingblogs.com

That’s right, the incredibly brilliant Charlie Moores is to join our humble ranks.

Charlie started “Charlie’s Bird Blog” in 2004 and quickly made a name for himself in the bird world. Actually, come to think of it, 2004 was centuries ago in blogging history. Almost pre-historic. That would have put Charlie right up there with the pioneers of bird blogging. At this time, he worked for British Airways and so was spending much of his time jet-setting around the globe and fitting in as much birding as possible in these far-flung places. Out of these adventures grew a mouth-watering array of stunning photos and beautiful text describing all the wonderful places in the world we would love to visit (had we ever heard of them) – bring on the new bucket list of places to go birding before I die (aka places Charlie has written about that I would also like to see).

After a few years flying solo, Charlie joined 10,000 Birds as a co-owner, and the three of them (Mike, Corey and Charlie) turned that blog in to the incredible success it is today. It was at 10,000 Birds that we started to see something of a shift in how Charlie was writing and the topics he chose; over the years, his passion for conservation and using the internet/blogging as a medium to catalyse awareness and conservation action has become second to none.

Clay Taylor, Charlie Moores and Stephan Gröhn birding in Extremadura, Spain. Photo (c) Peter Grobben

Despite having read his various blogs now for many many years, I only got to meet Charlie in-the-flesh last year at the British Birdwatching Fair. Charlie was working with Digital Spring doing Birdfair.tv and I had wanted to chat with the guys at Digital Springs because they were the masterminds behind The Amazing Journey of the Sociable Lapwing Website. To cut a long story short, Charlie and I hit it off from the very beginning: I was enthused by his genuine caring for the environment and his strong desire to help our conservation wherever he could.

Talking Naturally - Charlie's birding and conservation podcasts

In 2010, Charlie started a new venture called Talking Naturally – a podcast series about birds, birding and conservation, with fascinating guests and often very funny chatter. Charlie has been able to use his extensive network of people in birding/conservation circles from around the world to put together some wonderful episodes. Some of my favorites so far have been the interview with Richard Crossley (The Crossley ID Guide) and the regular “Conference Calls” (a witty look at the British birding scene) When I see that a new podcast has been uploaded, I will typically put it on in the evening as I am potting about the house, cleaning or cooking dinner. Great light entertainment.

Charlie Moores joins birdingblogs.com this coming Friday (1 April 2011 – no jokes, that was just a coincidence, I promise. But it bodes well for a laughter-filled start) and will have a regular weekly article every Friday. We are looking forward to learning from Charlie’s huge experience and I am sure he will add a really interesting dimension to the blog as a whole.

Welcome, Charlie!

((title image above of Charlie Moores (c) Marc Duquet, Chief Editor Ornithos Magazine))