Rewilding the world

Photo: Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas Images

George Monbiot in this Monday's Guardian: 

"Nature swiftly responds when we stop trying to control it. This is our big chance to reverse man's terrible destructive impact. Until modern humans arrived, every continent except Antarctica possessed a megafauna. In the Americas, alongside mastodons, mammoths, four-tusked and spiral-tusked elephants, there was a beaver the size of a black bear: eight feet from nose to tail. There were giant bison weighing two tonnes, which carried horns seven feet across."  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/27/my-manifesto-rewilding-world

Bluebell Woods @ Fairy Glen

Photo: Marge Ishmael

Walked through this ancient wood in West Lancashire today and saw lots of bluebells and wild garlic:

http://www.westlancs.gov.uk/leisure__tourism/countryside_parks/fairy_glen,_appley_bridge.aspx

Wild Britain on a wing and a prayer

A sobering article in today's Times newspaper about the 50-year decline in British wildlife species.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/environment/wildlife/article3771219.ece

More than half the species in Britain have declined over the past 50 years, according to a comprehensive report on the state of the country's wildlife. The State of Nature report, compiled by 25 conservation bodies, charts the gradual desolation of many recognisable habitats, from meadows to heathland.   http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1935199/the_state_of_nature_new_report_shows_most_uk_species_in_decline.html

Robin redbreast photo at Cedar Farm

I'm pleased with this photo I took yesterday in Mawdesley, Lancashire:

Photo by Marge Ishmael

Ronnie the escaped raccoon

Great story on the BBC website about a raccoon on the run in Scotland: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-22567364

...Mr Scott said: "We didn't think we were going to get him, but we went through every morning checking the traps. "We caught quite a few cats, and some birds - all of which we let go - and then, underneath a tarpaulin where we had put a trap, there he was, right as rain." He added: "He's happy, healthy, and back in his run with loads of females and having a good time." Police had issued a warning urging people not to try to corner the raccoon as he may bite. Mr Hammond said: "He was having to fend for himself and he certainly likes cat food. "I am glad there has been a happy ending as I don't think it's a good idea to have an animal that isn't indigenous to the country roaming about.""

Help to save Hyde Park's wild spaces