BBC Wildlife Magazine

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Birdwatching | some resources

In the UK, it’s Big Garden Birdwatch… so here is a collection of great websites   The event, which was held over the weekend of 25-27 January, revealed that House Sparrow retained its number one spot in 2020 – 64% of partaking gardens recorded the species, a slight rise of 2% on 2019. Although registering a slight decrease on 2019, Common Starling was again in second place. Bird guides Discover Wildlife- the website behind BBC Wildlife magazine   RSPB –...

2020 review : people, Nature, coronavirus

The earth from space – above – might give the impression of ‘life as usual’ … this year of 2020 has been anything but! The truth, I would argue, is hidden in plain sight. We know of the completely tragic human consequences; let’s remind ourselves of what happened in Nature – arguably some ‘good news’ ? Here’s my review of some key news items… The Guardian reported how diseases spread more rapidly , when Nature is damaged : The human...

Breathtaking natural images

Now in its fifty-sixth year, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY) competition and exhibition showcases the beautiful wildlife of the Earth by talented photographers across the world. This year’s competition attracted almost 49,000 entries from professionals and amateurs across 86 countries. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London (NHM). The competition was originally founded in 1965 by BBC Wildlife Magazine, then called Animals. The NHM joined forces in 1984 to create the competition as...

New invertebrate photo competition

Buglovers are invited to submit their images to a new photography competition – the Luminar Bug Photography Awards 2020, in association with Buglife The Grand Prize winner of the competition will be awarded £2,500 cash and the title of ‘Bug Photographer of the Year 2020’, as well as other prizes. There is also a title available for ‘Young Bug Photographer of the Year’. aquatic bugs arachnids beetles flies, bees, wasps and dragonflies butterflies and moths snails and slugs all the other...

Shark finning

Following my post about shark groups, and world oceans day yesterday, here is what happens to many sharks…… What is shark finning? Wasteful and horrible practice, and totally unnecessary! It is the gruesome practice of cutting off a live shark’s fins and throwing the rest of the animal back into the sea, where it dies a slow and painful death. The fins are used in China and Hong Kong, and by Chinese communities elsewhere in the world, as the key...

Should we kill ‘pests’ ?

Should I swat a fly? How do you deal with ‘pests’ if you love wildlife? This question, posed by BBC Wildlife online, was similar to my own experience of a cane toad‘s visit to my own garden Helen Pilcher explains: A few months ago I did a terrible thing. I was tending to my patio plants, barefoot, when I disturbed an ants’ nest under a pot. The feisty invertebrates were furious. They flung themselves at my toes, sinking their mandibles...

Feral Pigeons good or bad?

We have referenced the need for heroes in a previous post – BBC Wildlife Magazine now asks the question are feral pigeons good or bad? Is it really that black or white an issues? Some of us think the feral pigeon is a pest, but Steve Harris is smitten by this tough, adaptable and really rather useful bird. It was the satirist Tom Lehrer who started the rot in 1959 with his song Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, which explained that...

David Attenborough – a vital message

Sir David Attenborough has just celebrated his birthday – 94 years – and is still going strong! Here from BBC Wildlife magazine are ‘Ten Things you probably did NOT know about Sir David‘ Sir David, who previously focused on making natural history programmes but would not be drawn on the politics, is now openly stating ‘ this IS the last chance for action’ ….. Do you agree with Sir David?...