As of February 2016, after 416 posts, and over six and a half years of blogging, I'm taking a break. I've explained why here. There's plenty of past posts to read, though - hope you enjoy them !
Looking for a brilliant present for a young naturalist ? Buy my book ! Available from Amazon UK, Amazon US and worldwide but buy from a local bookshop if you can.
This weekend is a special weekend because I'm in The Times Weekend supplement today ! Today I'm going to write about what it was like to be photographed (together with a video of it !) and tomorrow morning I'm going to write about another post my advice to other kids that want to start blogging.
It all began when I got an email from the journalist Anna Moore who said she wanted to write a piece about child bloggers. She phoned about a week later and did an interview and asked me questions about when did I start and why did I start. Then the next week a photographer came to take the photographs. Here's a timelapse video of the whole photoshoot from start to finish:
Here's how the article looks. Ophelia Horton is on the cover and this is the inside bit:
The article is online too but you have to pay to see it. It was interesting for me to read about the other bloggers. Here are the other ones:
Martha Payne is probably the most famous child blogger there and she deserves to be because she has done amazing things. She is 9 and hasn't been blogging long but she blogs on Never Seconds about her school dinners and she managed to raise over £110,000 for the Mary's Meals charity, which is pretty amazing. Here it is.
libdemchild is Maeleo Manning's blog who is 12 and she writes about the Liberal Democrats who are the third biggest political party in the UK. Here it is.
Who's That Girl ? is Ophelia Horton's blog and she is 12. She blogs about fashion and photographs her own fashion shoots. Here it is.
The Zagueiro is Stefan Kelly's blog and it's about South American football. He is 15 and from Ireland. Here is his blog.
This isn't the first time I have been in the newspapers or TV, though. You can read about the other times on my "About" page.
The article was very good, but there were some mistakes. Website "hits" aren't the same as "visitors" (I get 5,000-8,000 visitors a month, but my hits are way more), and the mystery tin of bones was sent after I was in the newspaper for finding the WWII bomb, not really because of my blog. I think I look a bit boring in the picture and I'm not boring in real life, though. It's still a nice article to read.
I'm going to post tomorrow about my tips on blogging if you're a kid. If you like my blog and would like to be reminded when I post, you can be a fan of the website on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, or get an email when I post new articles (see the icons at the top of the page) !
I'm Jake McGowan-Lowe and I am a bone collector, naturalist, blogger and author as seen on BBC's The One Show, Autumnwatch, Winterwatch, CBBC Wild, Newsround and BBC Breakfast.
I've appeared on the BBC alongside such experts as Sir David Attenborough, Chris Packham, Nick Baker and Ben Garrod. BBC Wildlife Magazine says I'm one of the 50 most influential conservationists in the UK, and The Courier ranked me as the 24th most influential person in 2015.
I am fourteen years old, and I live in a beautiful part of Scotland. I love walking, exploring, watching wildlife and collecting bones. I've been collecting bones since I was six, and I blogged here every week between July 2009 (when I was seven) until February 2016, when I took a break.
You can read more about why I began blogging here, and my advice to other kids wanting to blog here.
In total, I wrote 416 blog posts and there have been 2261 comments !
Like this blog ? Buy the book ! This blog and my collection led to a book deal for a brilliant childrens' book published by Hachette Children's. It's now been published in the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands (called Het Grote Bottenboek van Jake) and South Korea.
It was even shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society 2015 Young Person's Book Prize !
I'm currently on a break from blogging, but to get a notification if/when I start up again, sign up to get my new posts by email (usually just one a week)
or get notification of new posts via Facebook, Twitter or RSS.
There have been stories about me in The Times, the Daily Telegraph Magazine, the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday,The Sun, Scotland on Sunday, the Sunday Mail, the Dundee Courier, the Perthshire Advertiser, the Stirling Observer, onBBC Radio Scotland, on the STV news, and I've even been on CBBC Wild, CBBC Newsround, The One Show, BBC Autumnwatchand Winterwatch !
jake, thank you for everything you put into this website. its 2025 and this is about the clearest how-to-clean-bones instruction guide i've ever seen! you are a gift. thank you for existing.
This is really helpful! I never realized how much you can tell from the shape and structure of the skull. The difference in the eye sockets between deer and sheep is really interesting!