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Insect week is here!

This year the organisers are fully aware of our restrictions and are asking all of us to think about the ‘little things that run the world’ and do things and add online using the hashtags #EntoAtHome #NIW2020. Ideas for activities include take a photograph and enter the NIW competition here , or download the garden entomology booklet with ID images and facts about all the mini beasts! You can check out the many, many activities suggestions for primary, secondary, adults, everyone including poetry...

Greta Thunberg still has hope

Thunberg has hope for climate, despite leaders’ inaction, according to the Star Tribune Preparing for her appearance before the U.N. General Assembly last fall, Greta Thunberg found herself constantly interrupted by world leaders, including U.N. chief Antonio Guterres and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had formed a queue to speak to her and take selfies. “Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, waits in line but doesn’t quite make it before it’s time for the event to start,” Thunberg...

Wonderful ‘WildAndLIVE’ conversations

In these strange ‘coronavirus times’ , it’s great to come across fantastic resources. So here’s is a great wildlife person with an amazing online show…. “Welcome to #WildAndLIVE with me your host Patrick Aryee ‘WildAndLIVE’ is a new series of online conversations & live lessons that looks into the biology of the coolest creatures on our planet, and introduces you to some of the awesome people that get to work with them. Patrick has been interviewing lots of people who...

World albatross day

The albatross is a truly awesome sight to be behold… but its also a creature in trouble ! Albatrosses are large seabirds in the family Diomedeidae. They are related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. They are absent from the North Atlantic, although fossil remains show they once occurred there and occasional vagrants are found. Albatrosses are among the largest of flying birds, and species of the genus Diomedea (great albatrosses) have the longest wingspans of any extant birds, reaching up to 3.7 m (12 ft). The albatrosses are usually...

Forest sounds mapped

Help to create the first ever forest ‘soundmap’ of the world. Timber Festival — a three day festival celebrating people’s connection to trees and woodlands through music, art, and ideas — has launched Sounds of the Forest, an ambitious project that aims to connect people with trees and one another by gathering sounds of woodlands and forests from across the world. Normally, people would be gathering at Timber Festival in the National Forest, but this year of course, due to coronavirus, the festival...

Crocodiles

World Crocodile Day: Experts call for patience regarding human-croc conflict At Australia Zoo they are all about caring for and conservation and raising awareness, for the saltwater crocodiles. Founder Steve Irwin, who used to live in a house , now his family run the Zoo, would be very proud. Down To Earth (DTE) spoke to crocodilian experts in four human-crocodile conflict hotspots in India: Vadodara in Gujarat, Kota in Rajasthan, Bhitarkanika in Odisha and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Vadodara, the third-largest...

Desertification day

2020 Desertification and Drought Day will focus on links between consumption and land. Desertification and Drought , will in 2020 focus on changing public attitudes to the leading driver of desertification and land degradation: humanity’s relentless production and consumption. As populations become larger, wealthier and more urban, there is far greater demand for land to provide food, animal feed and fibre for clothing. Meanwhile, the health and productivity of existing arable land is declining, worsened by climate change. To have...

Colossal squid!

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa has an activity booklet all about the awesome colossal squid – Te ngu tigua. The Squid was found in the Ross Sea near Antarctica. The specimen at Te Papa is the only one on display in the world. What’s the difference between a squid and an octopus ? Squid – streamlined body ; 2 tentacles ; 2 fins Octopus – round, bulb-like body ; no tentacles ; no fins Video from Te Papa...

Insects populations are crashing!

Insects and lights – now there’s a combination that we have you ducking for cover or scratching as they invade your garden. However, National Geographic reports, insects numbers are crashing – and life on earth would not be the same…. “It’s said that we live in the Anthropocene—an epoch defined by human impacts on the planet. Still, by many measures, it’s bugs that dominate the world. At any given moment, it’s been estimated, there are 10 quintillion insects flying, crawling, hovering,...

Beloved gorilla killed

Rafiki, the well-known and beloved male gorilla, has been killed due to an increase in illegal activities during the lockdown, according to National Geographic Poachers have killed a well-known mountain gorilla, delivering a setback to decades-long conservation efforts to pull the subspecies back from the precipice of extinction. After the gorilla went missing and its mutilated body was found, rangers tracked a suspect to a nearby village, where he was allegedly found with bushmeat as well as snares, a spear, and bells to...

Marine pollution and Coronavirus

More masks than jellyfish : coronavirus waste ends up in ocean, reports The Guardian ‘Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution – adding to a glut of plastic waste that already threatens marine life – after finding disposable masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged latex gloves scattered across seabeds. ‘ As a carer in a nursing home, I fully appreciate the essential need for what are called PPE – personal protective equipment. Masks...

More lockdown ideas

Whilst we slowly ‘come out of lockdown’ , we are still in transition mode. So, here’s a selection of websites / ideas…. Marie Claire is not my usual ‘refer to’ but this is a great list! Verve Magazine has a nice list including family board games and building a fort! Kidadl is a blog for families Plantlife Is all about enjoying and understanding our plants Kids of the wild is definitely worth a check – with blogs like ‘unusual gardening...

Museums and galleries online

In these strange times, many museums and galleries, have added to their online resources including virtual tours. Here are a selection United states of america Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History , United States of America – ‘The world’s most popular natural history museum is dedicated to understanding the natural world and our place in it. Delve into the fascitmnating story of our planet, from its fiery beginnings through billions of years of transformation, and explore life on Earth through...

Ancient city discovered

Archaeologists discover ‘amazing’ details of Roman city, reports The Guardian Archaeologists have mapped a complete Roman city for the first time using ground-penetrating radar, revealing highly detailed images that they say could revolutionise our understanding of how such sites worked.  As well as a bath house, theatre, shops and several temples, the team from the universities of Cambridge and Ghent have discovered a large public monument of a kind never seen before, which may relate to the religious practices of...

Whale mother & calf

Brisbane underwater photographer Jasmine Carey has won the grand prize in the Hamdan International Photography award with her image of a humpback whale and its two-week old calf off the coast of Tonga. (Source : The Guardian ) Brisbane underwater photographer Jasmine Carey describes here how she captured the shot…. “I grabbed my 5D Mark IV camera, which is encased in waterproof housing and slipped off a small tour boat into the waters of the Vavaʻu Islands in Tonga. Small...