Have you made a new years resolution? We have, donate more to charity. Why donate more? Our charities are feeling the pinch, the current world recession is taking its toll on donations and without money the work has to stop.
The current recession has us all in its grip. But while we all worry about our economic future consider this could be the first recession to cause the extinction of a species. How is this possible? Just think about how many of our most critical conservation projects are funded by charitable donations or tourist dollars. As funding dries up, projects will no longer be able to provide protection for these endangered species.
Many wildlife projects rely on tourist dollars for their funding. Uncertainty over our income means that holidays are one luxury that we find we can do without or save money by taking it closer to home. As we begin to feel poverty stricken give a thought for people for who living in poverty, is the norm. When you don’t holiday, your tourist dollar stays at home as well and what maybe the only source of income for some people dries up.
The economic downturn has far reaching effects for us and the rest of the world. It also has the potential to force someone to resort to poaching to support their family. Commodities such as Rhino horn, Tiger body parts or shark fins fetch prices on the open market that will feed and cloth a family. This can force people to turn to poaching just to provide food.
If you are a subsistence farmer, increasing the amount you produce will provide more for your family. As the land is cleared for more space for cash crops habitat is lost to wildlife. Palm oil and Soya production is already pushing some species to the very edge of existence.
Should we care if a species goes extinct? After all extinction is the norm. It is as old as life itself. Our problem is that in the past selection for extinction has been the province of Mother Nature. Mother Nature’s selection process has taken a long time to perfect. We, with little previous experience are now taking over the roll. With our supposedly vast knowledge, the one thing we don’t know is how much we know. Knowledge can be a dangerous think when you don’t know if you have all the facts. What if in the future we find out that a species we have pushed over the edge and into extinction was the only thing that could have save us from the same fate?
We are all affected by the recession, but maybe now is the time to think about a charitable donation. Even a small amount can make a difference when made by enough people. With so many good causes out there it would be impossible to list them all. So our advice is to decide on what you want help. Do a bit of research, choose your charity and make a donation. It may not be the holiday you hoped for but it could mean that that in the future you have somewhere to go on holiday.
2008 has been an up and down year for our wildlife. Our abnormal weather patterns have for the second year running had an adverse effect on the countryside and the wildlife within it. For us it has been a year of similar highs and lows. Months were would expect to be out and about photographing we were in the office waiting for the weather to break. When the weather was with us we were at times hard pressed to find wildlife to photograph as insect numbers crashed during the year. Wildflowers flowered weeks ahead of schedule meaning that we almost missed the flowering.
Reports in the press from the National Trust have been warning about the effects a third bad summer will have on wild Britain’s flora and fauna. Let's hope that we get a great summer and that we can once more enjoy a typical British summer.
So here is a brief summary of 2008.
January
The mild winter weather meant that Snowdrops and crocuses were out very early. We were photographing them by the end of the month. The early flowering seems to have an effect on the quality and quantity of the flowers.
February
The sunniest since 1929 meant that the month was on of the warmest on record. This caused many species to become confused. Bumblebees were seen flying. Hibernating animals fat reserves were stretched as the unusually warm weather caused them to wake more often than normal. Trees started to flower, this is earlier than usual.
March
A return to more normal weather patterns, high winds and rain. The worst of the weather fell around Easter, which was on one of the earliest possible dates this year. The carpets of the yellow Celandine flowers normally in the woods at this time of year were no where to be seen.
April
We had heavy snow falls near the middle of the month. In fact we were out in the snow photographing apple blossom. The frosts and heavy snow hit the bee population very hard at a critical part of the year.
May
The aftermath of April left the ground very water logged. Rain unable to soak away made lakes of all the fields. Bluebell flowers were very poor this year. The normal swathes of blue being very muted. Orchids provided the highlight of the month as they thrived and displayed better than in previous years. But the heavy rains meant that the normal crop of insects was decimated. Many bird nests failed, as eggs and parents became water logged and chilled. The low insect count also made feeding chicks very difficult.
June
Bad weather affected another crop of insects flying. Trying to see or photograph butterflies, dragonflies and other flying insects became a hunt to find any insect in the air. In the woods, the deer population seems to have disappeared. We saw the normal number of deer out and about in March but by June the woods and fields seemed to lack normal numbers.
July
Unseasonable gales caused a lot of tree damage. Our offshore seabird breeding colonies reported record breeding lows.
August
Here in the south of the country you were lucky if you saw the sun this month. Our records show that it was one of our worst August's the lack of light made photography very difficult. A late hatching of butterflies provided a much welcome chance to get some great pictures. Whilst the normal bane of the Great British picnic, the wasp was mainly absent as they failed to build nests.
September
It was strange to see cereal crops still standing in September. A few lucky farmers managed a harvest many did not. We watched fields turn a pale grey as the fungi took hold of the crop. Did anybody see crane fly?
October
One of the few highlights of the year fungi. We have been able to add several new species to our stock lists, as well on improving our picture selection on a number of other species.
Mean while London saw a snow fall that settled, the first time since 1934. This sealed the fate of a great many bees.
Another highlight was the autumn colour the right conditions produced wonderful colours to brighten our days.
November
After all the cold and wet weather of the summer, November proved to be warm and dry. So much so that a lot of wild flowers decided that this was spring and started to flower. Our winter visiting wildfowl were late arriving many reserves reporting low numbers or no birds at all.
December
The cold start to the month with average temperatures of 1.7C instead of the more normal 4.7C has seen the coldest start to a winter for 30 years. This we fear will spell disaster for hibernating wildlife. The lack of food during the summer means that many species will have been under weight when they entered hibernation. We must wait for 2009 to see how they faired the winter.
That's our review of 2008 some of it good some of it not so good. We close by wishing you a prosperous 2009.
