Mary Colwell

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

Mary Colwell is an environmentalist and freelance producer and author. She previously worked for the BBC Natural History Unit.

Early life

Colwell's mother was Roman Catholic from Northern Ireland, and her father was an Anglican from Stoke-on-Trent.[1] She grew up near Stoke-on-Trent, and was raised as a Catholic.[2] She initially studied physics, but later earth sciences at the University of Bristol.[2]

Career

Producer

In 2009 Colwell was awarded a Sony Radio Award and a World Gold Medal at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for her production "The Budgerigar and the Prisoner", telling the story of a prisoner Les whose life was transformed by caring for a budgerigar.[3][4]

Writer

In 2014, Colwell published a book on Scottish-American naturalist John Muir, called John Muir: The Scotsman Who Saved America’s Wild Places.[1] In an interview for A Rocha's Root & Branch magazine, Colwell called Muir her "absolute conservation hero".[2]

In 2016, Colwell did a 500 miles (800 km) walk from Lough Erne, near Enniskillen to Boston, Lincolnshire, to raise awareness of the endangerment of the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) in the British Isles.[1][5] In 2018, she released a book titled Curlew Moon,[6] as an account of her self-titled "Curlew Walk" and the plight of the bird;[7][8] it made Irish Independent's best non-fiction list of 2018.[9]

Activism

Colwell is a noted spokesperson for environmentalism in the United Kingdom and has written articles on the subject the main newspapers.[10][11] She was listed at number 27 in BBC Wildlife Magazine's Top 50 Most Influential Conservationists in the UK,[2][12] and has received various awards for her work on promoting environmentalism.[12][13]

Colwell was one of three recipients of the 2019 Marsh Award from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust for her activism around the Curlew including engaging political support from Downing Street (who called the Curlew, "the panda of UK conservation"), and promoting April 21 as World Curlew Day.[14]

Colwell has campaigned with politician Caroline Lucas to have Natural History included as a GCSE exam on the national curriculum,[15] and in May 2020, she told The Daily Telegraph it would be taught in schools by 2022.[16] In October 2020, a final proposal was submitted to the Department for Education.[17]

Personal

Colwell is married to BBC producer Julian Hector, and they have two sons (Hector has three daughters from a previous marriage).[1]

Colwell's faith is an important part of her life, and she describes herself as a Christian.[2][18]

Works

Articles, interviews, and podcasts

  • Colwell, Mary (13 July 2016). "Mary Colwell - Earth in Vision". OpenLearn. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  • —————— (10 October 2018). "A forestry boom is turning Ireland into an ecological dead zone". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  • —————— (22 August 2019). Charlie (ed.). "Podcast: Mary Colwell — Curlews, GCSEs, and John Muir". The WAR ON WILDLIFE Project. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  • ——————; MacMath, Terence Handley (27 May 2016). "Interview: Mary Colwell, producer, writer, and conservationist". Church Times. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  • —————— (21 March 2016). SARX (ed.). "The Secrets Whispered in Every Living Being". SARX. Retrieved 23 January 2021.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d Handley MacMath, Terrence (27 May 2016). "Interview: Mary Colwell, producer, writer, and conservationist". Church Times. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Interview with Mary Colwell". A Rocha. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Gold for local Catholic church". BBC. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Gold for Bristol-based podcast". BBC. 11 July 2009. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Where have all our curlews gone? (And the corncrakes!)". Meath Chronicle. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. ^ Colwell, Mary (19 April 2018). Curlew Moon. William Collins. ISBN 978-0008241056. OCLC 1035290266.
  7. ^ Crampton, Caroline (3 May 2018). "Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell review – a pilgrimage for the wading bird". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  8. ^ Cocker, Mark (2 June 2018). "Curlew Moon by Mary Coldwell: Wading to extinction". The Spectator. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  9. ^ "From history to politics, nature to science, cookery to music - the best non-fiction of 2018". Irish Independent. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  10. ^ Colwell, Mary (28 May 2018). "The bloody truth about conservation: we need to talk about killing". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  11. ^ Colwell, Mary (10 October 2018). "A forestry boom is turning Ireland into an ecological dead zone". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Gamekeepers Meet Prince Charles At Highgrove House". The Yorkshire Times. 23 February 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  13. ^ "CURLEW CONSERVATIONIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS BELLAMY AWARD". National Gamekeepers' Organisation. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  14. ^ "Wetland conservation heroes - the Marsh Awards 2019". Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  15. ^ Editorial (15 June 2020). "The Guardian view on natural history: children need to know". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2021. The idea for a new GCSE in the subject came from the author Mary Colwell
  16. ^ Horton, Helena (29 May 2020). "Natural History GCSE set to be taught in schools in 2022, BBC broadcaster reveals". The Daily Telegraph.
  17. ^ "GCSE Natural History". OCR. October 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Mary Colwell - Working With the Workers". Lauriston Jesuit Centre. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://mdwiki.org/wiki/Mary_Colwell"