“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
Hong Kong Birding intro
Lying in the tropics, on migration routes for birds breeding from Japan west to Russia and north China, and boasting a range of habitats including the world-renowned Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve, Hong Kong is an…
Black-faced Spoonbill
Strange Case of the Black-faced Spoonbill Birders thought these East Asian birds were abundant, until they found out they were almost extinct I climb a short, rough track to the top of an earth embankment,…
conservation
TCM and Conservation
Traditional Chinese Medicine and conservation Bone of Tiger, Bile of Bear In the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is a museum devoted to "Chinese Materia Medica". Were I…
Captive breeding Philippine Eagles
Keeper of the Kings One man's perseverance offers hope to a critically endangered bird of prey On a warm, sunny morning on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines,…
science
Covid virulence, vaccines and variants
[Written January 2021] In January last year, as reports were emerging of the new coronavirus being detected outside mainland China – including in Hong Kong, I wrote a column that quietly…
Life in the Age of Covid /We’re in the Covid Era for the Long Haul
[Written July 2020] Though it’s only around six months since the Covid-19 pandemic came to light and began surging worldwide, it already seems a long time since schools were open as a…
travel
Danxia Shan – Far More than a Magnificent Rock Penis
Though China’s bullet train network is yet to reach Hong Kong, lines start just across the border, in Shenzhen, and shorten travel times to places that are otherwise just a…
Dapeng – History, Culture and Beachgoing in Shenzhen … Yes, Really!
With its new-city-on-the-block brashness, and gleaming skyscrapers along Hong Kong’s northern fringe, Shenzhen might seem an unlikely place for a weekend away to admire old Chinese architecture, and head to…