tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75842418761327646892026-03-01T12:02:39.851-08:00The Green Bard writes about nature, wildlife, conservation, herbs, foraging, gardening and moreThe Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.comBlogger162125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-21811386310609561152023-09-26T09:14:00.000-07:002023-09-26T09:14:16.671-07:00

Ribeira do Marchante is a vanishing riverThere is a river in Quinta do Conde in Portugal known as the Ribeira do Marchante or the Ribeira de Coina. It was once a navigable river that had a lot of water and even supported rice fields back in the 1800s. Today it can be difficult to see, and difficult to find any stretches of water that are not choked with Giant Reeds (Arundo donax) and other

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The Magic of Butterflies and Moths is my new bookThe Magic of Butterflies and Moths is my latest book published by Moon Books. It will be available on 24 February 2023, but it can be preordered now. As the title suggests I take a look at what can be considered as magical about these amazing insects. Everyone is familiar with the incredible transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-6569536515136471992022-09-20T08:32:00.001-07:002022-09-20T08:32:05.086-07:00

Songs for World Peace benefit the environment and animals tooTomorrow is International Peace Day and I am one of many artists worldwide taking part in the Wake Up, Rise Up, LIVE4Peace concert. I knew I wanted to be involved in this as soon as I heard about it, and I always think that peace is not just what humans need because it means a healthy environment in which animals benefit too. Consider

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The mysterious life of the Death’s-head Hawk-mothDeath’s-head Hawk-moth. Photo: Steve AndrewsThe Death’s-head Hawk-moth (Acherontia atropos) is a very remarkable insect in many ways. Once seen it will never be forgotten with its skull-like marking on the back of its thorax, dark but beautifully patterned wings, its massive size, and stout furry banded body. But this hawkmoth must lead a very

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 Is Lisbon the ideal city for an Ocean Aid concert? Steve Andrews interviewed at a Rock in Rio Lisboa concertThis summer, Lisbon was the city chosen to hold the UN Ocean Conference, a week-long event attended by thousands. Celebrities, including Aquaman star Jason Momoa, and oceanographer, explorer and author Dr Sylvia Earle, were among the many special guest speakers. There was

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-1179393997578716162022-07-31T04:50:00.000-07:002022-07-31T04:50:38.181-07:00

Besides the Covid pandemic are we also the victims of a plastic pandemic? It is worrying enough testing positive for Covid-19 and the pandemic has caused so much suffering and deaths around the world, but what if there is another form of pandemic that people do not know about? I am not talking about one that we can be vaccinated against. What if there is a plastic pandemic, not caused by a virus

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 Aquaman star Jason Momoa at UN Ocean Conference in PortugalBy an amazing coincidence, it almost seemed like a full page story in The Portugal News last year, had predicted that Aquaman Star, Jason Momoa, would attend the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon. On 26 June, 2002, the actor had joined Secretary-General António Guterres, the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and many youth

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-59468992665146633522022-04-29T07:12:00.000-07:002022-04-29T07:12:35.801-07:00

 Special report from Quinta do Conde for SAVE THE FROGS Day! With my friend, fellow singer-songwriter Ana Lisa Meier, for this year's SAVE THE FROGS Day, we decided to create a report about frogs and wetlands in the Quinta do Conde area of Portugal where we are. Ana is very lucky because she has a colony of Iberian Water Frogs in her garden. They live in, and around, the two garden

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-67117424265991836852022-03-18T09:49:00.000-07:002022-03-18T09:49:36.593-07:00

Butterflies flying in March in PortugalThere are many butterfly species currently flying in the area of Portugal I live in. They are enjoying the warm spring sunshine. I saw several Green Hairstreaks (Callophrys rubi), two Clouded Yellows (Colias crocea) , two Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), lots of Speckled Woods (Pararge aegeria aegeria) and several Large Whites (Pieris brassicae) on a short

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Red Admirals need NettlesRed Admiral Photo: Steve AndrewsThe Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a very pretty butterfly you are probably familiar with. You can’t miss it with its striking red, black and white wings, and in the UK, it is one of the last butterflies to be seen in late autumn. We all love to see butterflies but many people don’t realise how important the plants the caterpillars need

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-22534403483748276012022-02-28T10:10:00.000-08:002022-02-28T10:10:54.996-08:00

 My next release is "Mother Nature Rap."Photo by Bianca FerreiraI have a new release coming out on 21 March, as a song and a music video, and it’s a big change of genre for me, because it is entitled “Mother Nature Rap.” I thought that I would take action as a singer-songwriter by becoming a rapper, rapping about threats to the environment. I think I may well be one of the oldest rappers

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“Time For Ocean Aid” was released on 2 February, World Wetlands Day. My song features synth and piano by Crum, who has played in Shockhead, Hawkwind, and The Moonloonies, but now fronts STARRATS. His keyboard wizardry gives my acoustic protest song a space-rock and psychedelic flavour. Psyche-folk is a new genre for my music. Daz, also from STARRATS, has created the music video for “Time For

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“Ocean Aid” has been an idea, an aim, a developing international project, and now a song. I have talked about “Ocean Aid'' in books, in magazines, a newspaper, on websites, on podcasts and on the radio. “Ocean Aid” has been featured in articles or interviews with me, in Italy, Portugal, Wales, England, Ireland, Spain, Australia, and the USA. Like, I said it is an international project. Italian

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0Portugal39.399871999999988 -8.22445411.089638163821142 -43.380704 67.710105836178826 26.931796tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-34600699225729514202022-01-25T13:11:00.048-08:002023-11-24T01:46:18.434-08:00

With my neighbour Ana My new book Saving Mother Ocean is part of the Earth Spirit series from Moon Books and was published on 26 November 2012. It opens with a quote from Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, and he says: “If the ocean dies, we die.” I chose this quotation when writing my book because it sums up what a serious situation this is. Most people are aware of the plastic

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 Butterflies still flying in DecemberRed Admiral (Photo: Steve Andrews)Here where I live in Portugal there are still butterflies flying in December. One of the most commonly seen is the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).  The males establish territories they patrol on scrubland, while mated females seek out patches of Annual Nettles (Urtica urens) that grow well at this time of year, due

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I am leading the way with songs about plastic pollution with my song Where Does All The Plastic Go? But I also came up with an idea for Ocean Aid Concerts to raise awareness about threats to the oceans and to raise funds for charities that are working on saving the seas and the marine life in them.  Time was ticking by and although many people said what a great idea this is, nothing actual

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-2706321050457550842020-09-08T09:34:00.005-07:002023-10-16T14:38:50.444-07:00

Kingfisher There have been three kings in my life, and all have a strong connection to the natural world. The Kingfisher, of course, is a well known and colourful bird that fishes like its name suggests. Kingfisher is also the title of a song of mine I wrote many years ago after seeing one of these birds whilst walking by the Glamorgan canal that runs from Whitchurch to Tongwynlais. My song

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-4400746097376489162020-06-27T12:14:00.000-07:002020-06-27T13:02:00.192-07:00

The plight of the Navajo Nation in the Covid-19 pandemic Did you know that the Navajo Nation is the hardest hit community in the U.S. when it comes to the pandemic? The news is full of reports about what is being done about the Covid-19 virus in countries around the world but nowhere near enough coverage has been given to how the indigenous people have been coping with the danger from the

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Ocean Aid Concert 2020 An Ocean Aid Concert is an idea I have had for several years and been trying to get off the ground. It would be a follow-on from Band Aid and Live Aid but this time would be focused on raising awareness about the threats to the oceans of the world, such as, plastic pollution, overfishing and acidification, all of which are taking a very heavy toll on marine life. Of

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0Portugal39.399871999999988 -8.22445411.089638163821142 -43.380704 67.710105836178826 26.931796tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-63394115649873121532020-04-18T03:04:00.001-07:002020-04-18T03:32:12.016-07:00

The European Rabbit is in Danger! European Rabbit (Photo: Steve Andrews) There’s a strip of woodland and scrub five minutes from where I live, and nearly every day I connect with nature by walking through it. Although it has busy roads separating it from larger sections of the Portuguese countryside, and is near to houses, this parcel of land has a wonderful selection of wildflowers and

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Natterjacks like temporary pools and puddles Natterjack Toad (Photo by Bernard DUPONT) The Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita) is one of the rarest amphibians in the UK and only found in several scattered colonies in coastal areas in England, Scotland and one in Wales where it has been reintroduced. It is the only native species of toad in Ireland where it lives in a few locations. In many

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-69087167312810281052020-02-19T07:39:00.000-08:002020-02-19T07:39:44.086-08:00

Searching for Birthwort with the Spanish Festoon Butterfly Spanish Festoon (Photo: Steve Andrews) The Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) is a very pretty butterfly in the Papilionidae or Swallowtail butterfly family. It has strikingly patterned wings of yellow, red and dark brown with zig-zag markings on its hindwings. It is found in Spain, Portugal, North Africa and southern France. I have

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-92162749882208222092020-02-16T03:25:00.005-08:002023-11-11T02:22:41.016-08:00

The Angel of Death Angel of Death (Azrael) by Evelyn De Morgan (Public Domain) It was in the not too distant future when the nightmare scenario devastated the western world, and led to the final collapse of life as we know it. A 100% lethal mutated virus had been spawned in the labs of insane scientists. There was no known cure for the Angel of Death, which spread by contact, as well as via

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-40707208904968282182020-02-15T04:42:00.000-08:002023-11-24T01:52:37.432-08:00

My protest song about plastic pollution entitled Where Does All The Plastic Go? has had some great media coverage, but it needs a lot more. The song has been featured in a national newspaper in Portugal and in a recent book from Italy. It would be wonderful if the British mainstream media would report on it too. The Portugal News Last September, The Portugal News included an article

The Green Bardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06221923991327591141noreply@blogger.com0Portugal39.399871999999988 -8.22445411.089638163821142 -43.380704 67.710105836178826 26.931796tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7584241876132764689.post-27326208947984916932019-11-11T04:58:00.000-08:002019-11-11T05:25:22.035-08:00

With the ongoing Climate Crisis and serious threat of extinction for so many species I have been writing and performing protests songs and songs that draw attention to the environment and to dangers to the wildlife of the world. I have four songs like this on my recent album Songs of the Now and Then, which is released in CD format and as a digital release on bandcamp, and was produced by

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