“Hong Kong’s one-man answer to National Geographic”
South China Morning Post Magazine
Welcome to DocMartin
Packed with information, fabulous photos and videos, chiefly on wildlife, conservation, science and travel – especially in Hong Kong and across Asia.
Wildlife
Bauhinia – Hong Kong orchid tree
Bauhinia – Hong Kong emblem Bauhinia, emblem of Hong Kong, is a tree with beautiful, orchid-like flowers. For much of the year, one of the commoner trees in Hong Kong’s city parks and gardens looks rather…
Hong Kong Wild Stars
Hong Kong’s rare dolphin, spoonbill, tree frog, and a dragonfly There are some parts of the world whose names evoke images of both wildness and teeming cities. Florida, say, conjures visions of swamps with lurking alligators,…
conservation
No use captive breeding rare species if there is no habitat left for them
This past summer, a team of biologists scoured Siberian tundra in search of nests and eggs of one of the world’s most threatened species, spoon-billed sandpiper – a diminutive shorebird…
Wind farms and migratory birds
Issue of wind farms and actual or possible threats to migratory birds is of interest to me, partly as I’ve been asked about a very few wind farm projects in…
science
Science shows Covid including Omicron is Really Not the Flu
Two years into the pandemic, there’s still too much nonsense re Covid being no big deal, “just the flu”, or even a common cold. Also notions Omicron is “mild”, nothing…
“Alarmist” Covid predictions outperform Covid deniers’ soothsaying
“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD—the new coronavirus is a 3.8!!!” tweeted Harvard-affiliated public-health researcher Eric Feigl-Ding in January 2020. “How bad is that reproductive R0 value? It is thermonuclear pandemic level…
travel
Kenting – Laid-back Southernmost Taiwan; and Almost Polynesia on Lanyu
On a fine day, the Eluanbi Lighthouse is a peaceful place. A few tourists stroll into the compound with low, white-painted buildings and the lighthouse that’s a classic round tower…
Seram and Haruku, South Maluku: The Islands Where Birds Colour the World
There are resorts that might be described as “Away from it all” when, truth be told, they’re little more than just around a corner from the nearest highway or airport.…