Uncategorized – Page 29 – See Animals Wild

May 20, 2020May 18, 2020

Signs of spring: the first cuckoo you hear

Last weekend on a walk with my family we heard a cuckoo calling. Being birds that migrate between the UK and Africa each year I always find it uplifting to start hearing them.

I’m never entirely sure why humans are so keen on them, giving their habit of abandoning their eggs in other birds’ nests and leaving these are the birds to raise their young (their young will usually kill all of their adoptive parents’ genetic young).

We have only moved to our current house a year ago, so I was particularly delighted later in the day to hear a Cuckoo close to our house. I have no idea if this will become a common sound in the evenings, but it is still nice to hear.

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020

Michael Moore planet of the humans- how many misleading statements can you make in one documentary?

Michael Moore has in the past made a large number of very highly respected documentaries, indeed he has won awards for some of these. As such, as latest the Planet of the humans was highly anticipated by many people.

This is not meant to be a full review of the documentary, as there have been many far more qualified people who have already done this. I am really going to highlight the problems and suggest that you look at them yourself and be fully informed when you are engaged on these by climate change deniers.

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020

Website Update

For those who visit regularly you will have noticed that we have finally started to add places to go and see wild animals. The purpose of the website is to simplify wild travel as much as I can manage.

As such these reserves are hopefully the first of many, but we are starting with some of the best. Singita- the organisation that runs all these lodges, is a group who is working to protect vast areas of Africa for future generations, and to that end they manage around 10 wilderness areas, each bordering a national park. These are extraordinarily luxurious and have prices to match, however they compare favourably to other lodges in the area. Given their incredible conservation success, these are good places to visit as you can be sure profits are being used to protect what you see.

Do click any of the links on the main page, or the menu item ‘see animals now’ to browse through all we have on offer. We hope to add to these over the next few years.

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020

India’s carbon emissions are falling for the first time since 1982

India’s carbon emissions are lower than they have been at any time since 1982 two largely as a result of less oil and coal being burnt for transport and power generation.

May 9, 2020May 13, 2020

Bear sighting in a national park in north Spain where they haven’t been seen for 150 years

Invenadeiro national park in north Spain has had a confirmed sighting of a bear, for the first time since the 19th century. It should be noted that this area is relatively wild with good populations of wolves, deer and boar.

More importantly this pair was not transient, it actually overwintered within the National Park.

May 8, 2020May 13, 2020

Building electric cars has a high carbon footprint: recycling can change this

Electric cars save carbon dioxide emissions over their lifetime. There are a significant number of fossil fuel producers and combustion engine car produces who will fudge their numbers and suggest the battery cars are actually worse for the environment than fossil fuel cars.

As you can imagine this is false. Electric cars are zero emission in themselves, so how dirty they are is entirely dependent on how dirty the electricity creation is. Detractors will use the dirtiest electricity in the world and round their estimates upwards, usually still coming out with electric cars slightly cleaner than combustion engines.

May 4, 2020May 13, 2020

Bushmeat and pet trade in the Congo basin has been known as a problem – now a horrific bonobo trade is coming to light

The bushmeat trade is not a nice industry. As a means of feeding your family in the past it worked – there were far fewer people and therefore the pressure on the wild ecosystem was small.

It is not the case anymore.

April 23, 2020May 13, 2020

Why does the political leadership of USA ignore climate change despite 59% of Americans agreeing with it?

In America the number of people who agree that climate change is caused by humans and we must do something about it has risen from 42% in only 6 years.

Unfortunately this question is very easy to answer. While 85% of Democrats would consider this one of the greatest threats, only 27% of Republicans feel the same way.

April 19, 2020May 13, 2020

Reintroduced beavers, once extinct in the UK, could damage the ecosystem?

British fisherman and a number of other people have argued that reintroducing beavers or allowing the beavers that are here to thrive would severely damage the river and its ecosystem.

This is a peculiar argument and must be categorically and thoroughly rejected. Beavers are a native part of the British ecosystem.

While some people might argue a dam looks untidy, they have positive impacts on the health of the river

April 17, 2020May 13, 2020

An analysis of coal power plants finds almost half are losing money

It would appear that with increasing numbers of of coal powered power plants, the argument we must use them until they need retiring does not appear to hold anymore.

A Friends of the Earth study looking at 6,696 power plants around the world and a further 1,046 that are currently being built 46% will be unprofitable in 2020 up from 41% in 2019.