Romania

While an increasingly large number of people are switching to electric cars, there is a growing concern that this change is not happening fast enough. Currently the EU sells 10 times more electric cars than just 6 years ago, which is impressive, so what is the concern. For many people, they believe that their next …

Continue reading "Europe is heading towards it net zero goal but electric car costs might be a stumbling block"

There is heavy pressure to end wolf protection in the EU because farmers are suggesting that they have recovered to too great a degree.

The Christian Social Democrats believe that there is no place for wolves in Germany, and members of the party have called for their intentional extinction. Taking around 10% of the vote they are a small but relatively influential party – and given the way that elections work in Germany, coalitions are common. Unfortunately, coalitions will …

Continue reading "Does the wolf belong in Germany? Not according to the CSU"

Currently, we are still a small operation, so when I am away articles cease. This will change we move forwards. I have been in Spain. I drove our new electric car down and spent a few days in the Cantabrian mountains. Why the Cantabrian mountains? I visited them with my family some time ago, but …

Continue reading "Hello – I am back. Wildlife trip watching Cantabrian bears"

I am always interested when one of the biggest newspapers in the country, echo a sentiment that I have been talking about in this blog. Do not worry, I have no thoughts of grandeur – there news has not been prompted by this blog. However, it is highly encouraging when someone else is saying the …

Continue reading "Should the lynx return to the wild in the UK?"

Whipsnade zoo had three bears. A tree trunk blew over, allowing two of them to climb into the neighbouring enclosure that contained boar.

The UK has been predator free (at least large predators that can threaten humans and have to regularly kill to survive) for roughly 300 years. Wolves disappeared around 300 years ago, bears are thought to have gone extinct around 1,000 years ago and lynx are thought that have gone extinct about 1,300 years ago.

In most cases I would say that the answer to this is relatively simple. If we were the cause of an animal going locally extinct we should bring it back. Obviously if there is none of that species left this is impossible. In a number of species at the moment, we might not have reached …

Continue reading "Do we have a moral responsibility has humans to return wild animals that we have pushed to extinction back into former habitats"

The bear in Europe is known to be an endangered animal. In much of Western Europe the bears only survive in mountains which people use less. While in Eastern Europe in countries like Romania they exist across much of the landscape, in Western Europe they only inhabit small pockets.

The Eurasian Steppe is a vast grassland that stretches in the West from Romania and Ukraine all the way through much of Russia to the Far East of the Eurasian continent. In the past this huge grassland supported vast populations of ungulates (hoofed animals). The damage to the ecosystem has been most severe in the …

Continue reading "Collapse of the far Eastern Steppe ecosystem and what is being done to help its recovery"

The Lynx is thought to number around 10,000 individuals across Europe. There are more smaller populations that have been created following reintroduction programmes so I will not break these down in the same way. There are two species of lynx within Europe (these are significantly different animals and would likely be incapable of breeding together, …

Continue reading "Predator recovery across Europe – Part 3 – Lynx"

Grey squirrels- invaders These animals cause significant damage to woodland throughout the UK. They were first introduced to Henbury park in Cheshire, but have quickly spread. Being less reliant on trees than red squirrels they have done very well though it is thought that red squirrels were not doing well anyway. A great deal of …

Continue reading "UK extinct species and imported species – Part 2"