The Not So Strange Case of the Disappearing Trees.

Many successful conservation efforts are best dealt with locally - it's easier when things happen closer to home. Commendable though it is to try and save rhinos on the other side of the planet, practical conservation works best when it's just around the corner. I have concerns over a woodland habitat that forms a major part of Fleetwood Park, in Surrey B.C. , an exceptional wildlife environment, and like many others in urban areas, really needs locals to remain vigilant. I recently wrote about tree felling in the park, because it was impossible to miss the large number of trees…

Is Every Rotten Tree in the Forest Really Out to Get You?

The modern world has noticeably changed. We all have rights now; should a tree fall upon us somebody else will almost certainly be responsible, and if an appropriate scapegoat can't be found we can at least expect to sue our local authority. There is very little left in the developed world for which we are responsible - becoming fat, having too many children, getting run over when jogging across a busy intersection whilst listening to a stereo system plugged into our ears; even spilling hot coffee over ourselves in a public place clearly has nothing to do with us. Read the…

Of Toadstools and Other Things.

When I was a small child, I would go to the fair with my grandmother and I hated it, the noise, the grubbiness, the smell of sweat and the stickiness of candy floss all upset me; my grandmother on the other hand was in her element, she would display clear delight as her penny rushed down a wooden channel, then slowed and wobbled hesitantly as it ran towards her frequently missed winning number. Better still, she could place a ping pong ball in the open beak of a huge yellow fibreglass duckling that waggled from side to side until the…

The Plight of the Eagle – Urban Development.

After I wrote my first blog my daughter told me that I would need to write new ones quite regularly, because, as Punch said to Judy, ‘That’s the way to do it ...’ This was quite a shock, although it has nothing to do with Punch sounding loud and shrill, and everything to do with ‘quite regularly’ sounding like a job. The blog started over concerns about an environmental issue and rather stupidly I hadn’t thought much beyond that. There are a couple of other concerns as well, and my friend Colin put his finger on one of them straight…

Don’t know what’s going on? Take a picture – it might be useful.

Many years ago I went out into the desert and there I met a man who had a vision. I'll have to stop doing that... building up my story before I've started. More prosaically, I was setting up to film a sequence on elf owls for a movie about, well, what else but owls... and the man I met in the desert was Bill Peachey, one of those experts the B.B.C. seek out when their freelancers aren't sure what they are doing - pretending to know is useless and in any case, you can't know everything. Elf owls nest in…