Wild About Hong Kong - hiking, wildlife, weather, conservation and more
Email to director of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, after multiple correspondence with other FEHD officials failed to achieve progress on issue of over zealous use of pesticides versus mosquitoes killing considerable other wildlife: I’m a birdwatcher living on…
Dear AFCD, I am writing to submit my views on the updating of the city’s BSAP (Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan) for 2025-2035. Lantau: need positive projects for lowlands, especially pui o wetlands [way beyond simply struggling to stop small…
Can but try, I figured, after seeing government is open to comments for the forthcoming policy address by Chief Executive John Lee:
Given the Hong Kong government espouses a policy of “conservation in the south” of Lantau[1], and at the beginning of April 2025 a body called the Sustainable Lantau Office invited expressions of interest for “South Lantau Eco-recreation Corridor”[2], you might…
The Sustainable Lantau Office (SLO) was established by Hong Kong’s Civil Engineering and Development Department; given its origins perhaps hardly surprising that it has failed to achieve much regarding sustainability, but perhaps must keep hoping. In May 2025, the (SLO)…
While slopes in Hong Kong may receive intensive management – especially given the history of severe landslides during rainstorms – there has in recent decades been something of a shift from purely concreting them, to cultivating and allowing more greenery.…
In March 2025, WWF Hong Kong published a report, The State of Hong Kong Biodiversity 2025, and an accompanying Hong Kong Terrestrial Biodiversity Hotspot Map; you can download them via Hong Kong Biodiversity. This entailed considerable work; as a press…
Suppose you were ageing and with various ailments, yet still attractive to many; and you were in the care of someone who is doing nothing to help, but says they could make your body much better. Just one thing, though…
After I posted in a birding whatsapp group about issues with the Long Valley Nature Park, I was surprised at a response, sent to the whole group of over 200 members so hardly private. Well, perhaps complaints about conservation issues…
In another post, I’ve put email correspondence regarding my belief Long Valley Nature Park is far worse for bird diversity than it could or should be: Long Valley Nature Park initially poor for biodiversity yet improvements underway. Here, partly to…
In the movie The Blues Brothers, an enthusiastic live music bar owner is asked about the kinds of music played there. “Oh we got both kinds of music,” he replies. “Country … and western.” And after my recent first visit…
Conservation not a slogan South Lantau Biodiversity and Ecosystems Beach Water Quality as Indicator of Development Table 1. Beach water quality of bathing beaches in proposed South Lantau Eco-recreation Corridor in 2023: Bathing Beach Annual Grading Annual Ranking Weekly Grading…
If you’re among the privileged few with access to the inner sanctum of Deep Bay in northwest Hong Kong – a viewing hide at the seaward edge of the mangroves, you can experience one of the finest bird spectacles in…
If you’re unfamiliar with the Deep Bay wetland shared by Hong Kong and Shenzhen, you might wonder about the significance of the expanse of fish ponds in the area of north Hong Kong that will be the site of a…
I’ve lately noticed mention of nature-based solutions, abbreviated to NbS, regarding conservation ideas for Hong Kong. It seems all very well as an idea, but can it widely catch on – or is it fancypants jargon, which won’t appeal to…
One of the best arguments for protecting the San Tin fish ponds area – rather than destroying a large area to build the San Tin Technopole – should be mitigating flooding risk, including in downtown Shenzhen, which is also on…
The period for commenting on the EIA for Agreement No. CE 20/2021 (CE) First Phase Development of the New Territories North – San Tin / Lok Ma Chau Development Node – Investigation – to give it the official name – ends tomorrow,…
Though Shalotung is less than 4km from the hustle and bustle of Tai Po Market – around the same distance as Central to Causeway, should a kite care to fly direct – it seems a remote place, hidden away in…
I’ve just emailed views re government’s recently announced plan to create San Tin Technopole, including by destroying a substantial area of San Tin fishponds: I’m emailing to object to plans to destroy an area of San Tin fishponds to make…
Yes, this is may seem impossible, ridiculous; but continuing with current state of affairs doesn’t look good for long term future of Deep Bay wetlands. The government is currently planning to establish “a system of wetland conservation parks for the…
I live on Cheung Chau, a small island in southwest Hong Kong – and became very used to it hosting many nesting pairs of Barn Swallows, which start arriving around mid-February, and stay till late summer. Been this way since…
Visit Sai Wan on a hot sunny Sunday, and it can seem like the type of tropical “paradise” that many seek, yet few find. In this bay on the eastern Sai Kung Peninsula, tens of people unwind on beaches and…
Last decade, the future looked bright for the Deep Bay wetland, in northwest Hong Kong. [I wrote this for the South China Morning Post in late 2004; it seems the mudflat level has about stabilised since, but still with issues including…
Around the mid-2020s, the WWF Hong Kong managed Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve underwent an infrastructure upgrade, with a HK$347 million grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club – Hooray! [tiny update, now the upgrade is complete, 11 Feb 2025]…
With the apartment blocks of Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai to the southwest, Fairview Park estate to the south, and the urban sprawl of Shenzhen fringing the north coast, Deep Bay may seem an unlikely location for one of…
There is a Mai Po upgrade project underway [spring 2023], funded by a HK$347.86 million grant from the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. This seems a substantial sum, especially as it is for infrastructure only, and chiefly a new visitor…
A “battle of the ponds” is underway in Hong Kong’s northwest corner. It focuses on Deep Bay, a wetlands area that borders on China, near Shenzhen. Developers who want to build here are tussling with conservationists who want to see…
“If you look at satellite photos of the Pearl River delta, Deep Bay really shows up. There is nothing else like it.” David Melville Published in Asia Magazine (South China Morning Post), November 1990 An estuary shared by North-West Hong…
Though Mai Po Marshes is at the heart of Hong Kong’s internationally important Deep Bay wetland, there are other important sites in the area – including the fishponds at Fung Lok Wai. These have been in the news at times…
While there's no apocalypse now in Hong Kong's insect world, threats and changes are cause for concern - including for us humans
It seems country parks are under threat, through village housing in enclaves, and the government may see land as ripe for development.
Four of the best Sai Kung rural gems to explore, where you might support small local businesses and hope developers stay away.
BSAP seems barely a blip in the history of HK conservation, an acronym for a document that meant little at the time, and next to nothing now.
Mai Po Marshes has become one of the world’s greatest wetland reserves – and a place I’ve come to know well over the years. Indeed, Mai Po was a key factor that enticed me to come and live in Hong…
There's a tremendous opportunity to showcase Hong Kong biodiversity in West Kowloon cultural park.
A government plan to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity could offer the last best hope for Hong Kong's wildlife.
I was recently among a small group of people from Living Cheung Chau and the Association for a Beautiful Hong Kong who visited an urban park in north Cheung Chau together with a team from the Leisure and Cultural Services…
Fear of nature has become too common nowadays, and to some city people the natural world is an alien, even scary place.
With unglamorous Lung Mei on shore of Tolo Harbour such a centre of attention, it is worth considering just what “nature conservation” means.
Nature is not simply about protecting plants and animals – it’s also good for the soul, and vital for our society’s long-term well-being.
Grassroots support for conservation is building, and surely now ahead of the government, and especially developers who too often seem out of touch with our changing society
Why is it microbiologists seem so ignorant of evolution and so forth? Too many seem to treat viruses as chemicals, not lifeforms subject to evolution. Ah, isn’t ignorance bliss, especially when you’re an “expert”. Today’s (6 Jan 2009) South China…
