From the intricacies of bird song to the pulsations of the amoeba and the long calls of the humpback whale, nature writer Richard Mabey joins Richard Holloway in this, the 2013 Longplayer conversation to explore a whole host of issues straddling the lines and connections between nature, philosophy, morality, science, literature and music. If you have a spare hour and haven’t seen this superb reflective conversation it is certainly worth setting some time aside to watch.
thinkingcountry.com 
Thanks Ben for the link.
Two powerful intellects at work here. But why did Maybe make that petty swipe at Chris Packham?
‘… knows a lot of stuff Chris, but doesn’t know his limits.’ This was in reference to the TV presenter’s statement on Spring Watch:
‘The better the song the fitter the bird.’ Maybe then continued to give a garbled and erroneous critique of this assertion about bird song.
Packham may not appear to be an intellectual like Maybe, but as a champion for wildlife he is up there with the best. Both men are uniquely admirable in their own ways and serve that cause for nature so well.
What would really help across the board is less of the sniffyness amongst naturalists and nature writers.
Quite a few have a thing against Chris P. Take a look at Robin Page’s article from last September – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/goodlife/11872993/Prada-wearing-Chris-Packham-knows-nothing-of-the-countryside.html