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…

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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…

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If You Can’t Take a Photograph – Will a Painting Do?

Well... Maybe. A photograph can be targeted to help save the Planet, or more precisely, benefit present bio-diversity, but what about a painting? Perhaps a painting can provide a more imaginative approach and demonstrate truth more effectively than photography. Our minds relate to stories and a photograph sometimes tells a good one, but paintings can be honed more precisely - nothing need be left to chance - creating an image that really sticks in the mind. When a few years ago I started photographing eagles on a local nest where generations of birds have reared their young for as long…

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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…

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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…

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