M & J Bloomfield - Blog

January Weather Blues

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Fri, 3 Feb 2012 09:35:51 +0000

Unfortunately, due to a problem with our hosting company we were unable to bring a December weather blog.

Into 2012 and January is over, can’t believe where the time goes. January weather has been mixed for all parts of the country. The north of the country has experienced some very cold and snowy weather, while in the south we have had it mild and dull with some very windy days. However, the end of the month had a sting in its tail with some very cold nights and days.

I don’t think winter has had its final say yet. Nature is a great leveller and puts things in balance; February could see some old fashioned weather of snow and ice.

Website gremlins again have delayed posting this blog.

January blogs

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:49:41 +0000

Regular visitors will have noticed the lack of new blogs this month. For this we can only apologise. During the first half of January we had problems with the website. The company we use to host the site Fasthosts had a problem with one of the servers used by the site. This simple problem, took over ten days to find and fix? While this was happening we and lots of other users were unable to see the site or make updates.

The second half of the month has been a struggle. The problems with the website meant we were not able to send out links to light boxes for our clients. If you were affected we apologise once again and assure you that we are trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

So the second half of the month has been spent trying to catch up. With only so much time, one thing that got put on the back of the stove was our blog. But now everything is back to normal, fingers crossed we will be back blogging as normal.

So here is a quick round up for January.

Adobe released a sneak peak of what we can expect from the forthcoming Photoshop CS6

Lightroom 4 Beta is available for download from Adobe Labs.

Don’t forget that if you took part in last weekend’s RSPB Garden birds watch to get your results recorded either online or by post.

Perhaps the most important news is that we now have a Facebook account http://www.facebook.com/MarkandJackyBloomfield we are both new to Facebook and only just getting started, so any help, comments you give will be very welcome. Thanks to Hazel for helping us with getting the pages set up.

Until next time.

The Big Garden Bird Watch 2012

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Sun, 1 Jan 2012 14:46:29 +0000

The RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch takes place on 28 and 29 January. How can I help you might ask. It’s simple. You need just a pen, some paper and an hour to spend watching birds in your garden or local park over the weekend of 28 & 29 January. Record the highest number of each bird species you see on the ground, not flying. Then go to the RSPB birdwatch website, and record your sightings. You will also find other useful information on this website.

Please do take part in the survey. You will be helping to give an idea of what birds are appearing in a given area of the country. This information helps look at population numbers and highlights any problem areas, so please give an hour of your time. It is fun too.

The BBC and the Polar bear cub scandal

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:30:58 +0000

The media is still full of revelations, about theBritish Broadcasting Corporation BBC using zoo bread Polar bears to get pictures of cubs, in its latest series Frozen Planet. It makes me wonder about what has become important. More time, effort and space has been devoted to this story in the past few weeks than the issues, surrounding the future survival of the bears has received in months.

For those that have not seen Frozen Planet, some background. In one of the seven one hour long episodes the BBC used a 30 second clip of two new born Polar bear cubs in a den. When we saw the footage, it was obvious it was impossible to film in the wild, without endangering the bears, so they had to be captive animals. Sure enough, the BBC produced a clip on their website featuring Kathryn Jeffs one of the producers, in which she explained how the images were obtained, using an animal park. A female Polar bear used a specially constructed den to give birth in. However, when the media discovered this, it sparked a frenzy of reporting about the integrity of the BBC and the methods used to film the series. How viewers were duped into believing that it was all real.

When I read the story, it didn’t surprise me that the images were of captive animals. If you have ever tried to take wildlife pictures, you come to realise that something’s are impossible. The alternatives are either not to record the behaviour or use captive subjects filmed on a stage or set. Regular nature program watchers can also spot where archive footage is used or where clips are reversed so the animal walks out or into shot in the right direction for the next sequence. This is especially easy to spot on things like big cats and ear and muzzle markings are a dead giveaway.

I suppose the big question is, do we condone the use of captive animals. As wildlife photographers, it is something that we try to avoid at all costs. The number of pictures of captive subjects in our database is probably less than 20. Captions attached to these images clearly state that the subject was captive. Where possible, we try to make sure that the end user marks the images as of captive subjects. We are not alone in this practice. Ethical wildlife photographers the world over have a similar policy of identifying images obtained using captive subjects.

TV and film is different. Normally the audience is not told if a subject is captive or not. Sometimes it is obvious, sometimes not so. I know there is a lot of difference between film and still images, just ask Jacky how many times I have complained about a sequence on prime time television showing a rare animal half hidden behind a branch. A quick bit of panning and you have a usable shot. We poor photographers would be cursing our luck about not having a sellable image. Don’t get me started on the money spent getting these images. Just give me a tenth of their budget.

I do think the BBC should have made it clearer at the time of broadcast that these were captive bears. I don’t agree with the hysterical outrage by the media that the BBC set out to deliberately miss lead the public. In trying to tell a story, they did the safest thing and used captive bears. Any other solution would have endangered the lives of the animals they set out to film. But, please can they make it plain to audiences when these techniques were used.

What I fear the most from this type of footage is the example it sets. People see images like this, think that getting close to a subject is all right and by getting too close, disturb their subject. This can lead to endangering the animal either directly or by lessening it chances of survival.

Until next time

Wind turbines and wildlife

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Fri, 9 Dec 2011 13:48:05 +0000

In a recent report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, it states that the United Kingdom needs a huge expansion in its wind generation capacity. This is if Britain is to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets. To help cut the emissions Chris Huhne, the energy secretary wants to convert all vehicles and homes to run on electricity by 2050. If this policy goes ahead, Britain will need to generate double the currently predicted amount of electricity needed by 2050.

This extra generating capacity would come from low carbon sources such as nuclear and wind power. What this means is a huge increase in the numbers of wind turbines. Currently we have around 3,000 onshore turbines and 500 offshore. These provide about 1-2pc of the nation’s power requirements. To achieve the level of power generation required for the government’s plans, current estimates are, we would require building another 6,000 to 10,000 onshore and 25,000 offshore turbines.

In the future, it appears that as soon as you leave urban areas you will in effect be stepping into a wind farm. A wind turbine will dominate every open space. Whatever is left, covered by electricity pylons, needed to carry the electricity from the countryside into the urban areas.

Electric vehicles will produce a quieter environment in towns and cities according to Mr. Huhne. The countryside however, it seems is to be dominated by the noise of turning turbines and maintenance crews repairing the infrastructure.

We all realise that we need to cut carbon emissions, but at what cost to our nature and countryside? And that is the problem. Like many solutions of the past, coal, town and natural gas, wind power generation has not been fully researched. Debate still rages over the amount of wildlife that is killed by the turbines and the environmental damage being done to our upland areas.

If we don’t understand the impact these technologies will have by the time we have built 30,000 – 40,000 our environment could be decimated with no hope of retrieval. The scientific communities are still debating if wind power is the way forward. Some people supporting wind power others more sceptical that it will never be a good method of generating power. Choices are being made as grants to other forms of power generation are being cut.

As for us, we are also against the pollution of our natural environment with large wind turbines. Space is a very limited in Britain. We already share every square mile with 650 other people. Soon, if wind generation goes ahead we will be sharing that square mile of wilderness with 4 wind turbines as well.

Until we have a better picture of the impacts, large numbers of wind turbines have on the terrestrial and aquatic environments. Continuing to build 800 new turbines a year would seem to be an error of judgement.

Until next time.

Our mild autumnal weather

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Thu, 1 Dec 2011 09:59:38 +0000

November has proved another mild month, making it the warmest autumn for a long while. If you think back to this time last year, it was snowing and many parts of the UK were suffering badly.

A year on and things have been turned on their head. Good for us perhaps as we don’t need the heating turned up. But for the trees and animals it is confusion all around. Reports abound of Blue tits nesting, migrants, who should be in warmer climes still here. Flowers and trees have started to grow and flower as though it is spring rather than mid-winter.

We experienced glorious weather on a recent trip to Scotland. The Glens looked stunning in the autumn sunshine. However, it’s a different story now. The last week of November saw gales and rain in abundance. The West Country has received plenty of rain too.

The weather conditions we have been having are all down to pressure. Usually at this time of year, we have low pressure coming in from the near continent and an area of high pressure sitting over the western edge of the UK; dragging cold winds from the north. However, this year the areas of pressure have been reversed causing southerly winds across the country bringing the mild weather.

What will December and winter be like?

Trees and Woodlands, they need help

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:22:21 +0000

Leading forestry and wildlife groups have joined forces to draw attention to the challenges and opportunities that our forests, woods and trees face.

These groups have collectively produce a report "The State of the UK’s Forests, Woods and Trees" to show the state of as well as future of our woodlands.

It is hoped that with the publication of the report it will urge government bodies to secure a future for many much loved and productive areas of woodland.

To read the full release please goes tohttp://www.woodlandtrust.presscentre.com

Adobe upgrade policy changes and it could affect you

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:36:56 +0000

If you are an Adobe Photoshop or Creative Suite user then changes to the upgrade policy could affect you. Adobe has announced changes to their upgrade policy just before the launch of Photoshop CS6. From this version you will have no direct upgrade path except from CS5 or CS5.5.

What does this mean? If you currently use a version of Photoshop older that CS5 and if you want to upgrade to CS6 when it launches you will have two choices. For a limited period, you will have the option to upgrade to CS5.5 and then upgrade to CS6. After this limited period you will have to repurchase a full new copy of CS6. This upgrade policy also applies to Creative Suite CS5.5.

Scott Kelby as president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has written, "An open letter to Adobe Systems" [http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903] that gives more details about the upgrade policy. NAPP has over 70000 members and represents a large Photoshop and Creative Suite user base. The letter is well worth a read.

This upgrade policy change we suspect, will affect many Photoshop and Creative Suite users, whether in the leisure or professional Photoshop user base. If you are not currently using CS5 or CS5.5 you will need to pay for two upgrades to upgrade to CS6. Come on Adobe. We understand you are trying to protect your profits, but this is going to hit lots of people with an extra financial burden, that we could all do without at this time.

Until next time.

The mystery of the leaping Salmon

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:32:16 +0000

Why do Salmon leap? It sounds a simple question doesn’t it? But it would seem that no one knows for certain. So with the total lack of any hard evidence that any of these theories are correct this is our take on why Salmon leap.

Let’s define what we are talking about. I am sure that you have all seen pictures and video of Salmon leaping at waterfalls. Find a waterfall on a Salmon spawning river during October and November; watch for long enough and you maybe just lucky enough to see a Salmon leaping. This type of leaping falls into the need to get higher up the river category of leaping, driven by the strong urge of the Salmon to spawn high in the river. This urge has driven the Salmon to swim many thousands of miles, across the sea and into the river of their birth. So leaping a waterfall is hardly rocket science.

If we take waterfall leaping as part of the reproductive process, what the heck are we talking about? We were staying near a Salmon river in Scotland a few weeks ago. At this time of year the Salmon are still running and trying to get up stream. Maybe not in the numbers of early October, but still they are there. As we walked along the river looking for Dippers and Otter spraint you could hear the Salmon leaping out of the water.

After careful observation the fish were leaping out of the water some individuals clean out. Now there were no waterfalls or rapids or other obstruction that needed to be jumped, it was just Salmon being Salmon. We were discussing why Salmon leap like this with some friends and at some point the question of why do they leap came up.

We had the theory that the fish maybe trying to feed. Our friends came up with the theory of trying to rid themselves of sea lice. Having been asked and not knowing the definitive answer we decided, more research was needed. And it appears that no one knows for sure why Salmon leap. So after much research on the internet we can definitely say it could be. Ridding themselves of sea lice, trying to catch food or just because it’s fun. However; our favourite explanation of this leaping phenomenon is, if they leap a couple of times, some idiot wildlife photographer is going to spend the whole afternoon trying to get a picture of them doing it again.

Until next time.

Oriental White Backed Vultures

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:47:00 +0100

Back in the summer, we were visiting an old friend Geoff Dalton at the Cotswold Falconry Centre www.cotswold-falconry.co.uk. It came up in conversation with Geoff he was supporting the fund raising efforts to help save the Oriental White Backed Vulture in South Asia. Latest report indicated that the species is now in grave danger of becoming extinct in the wild.

Not so long ago you would have seen thousands of Oriental White Backed Vultures all across Asia and almost on every street corner. The numbers have dropped from hundreds of thousands to a small unsustainable population all because of a single drug.

Diclofenac was identified as the cause of this massive decline in numbers. Diclofenac is an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat cattle. The drug is fatal to vultures. They ingest the drug from the carcass of a dead cow who has been treated with Diclofenac. Its use started on the Indian subcontinent in the early 1990’s but it was not until 2004 that scientists discovered the link between the declining vulture population and Diclofenac.

The drug was banned in India in 2006 for veterinary purposes. However, it continues to be sold for human use. Large quantities on sale indicate that it is still being used on cattle and this loop hole poses a threat to the vulture population. The outlook for the wild population is not good. Efforts are in place to create safe zones were captive breed birds can be released to try and re-introduce the birds. The vital role these birds play in the ecosystem in eating carcasses is not to be underestimated. They are being replace by an ever increasing feral dog population which in turn increases the likelihood of diseases such as rabies.

If you would like to help with the "Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction" you can donate on theRSPB’s website

Until next time.

Seasonal Colour

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:17:02 +0100

Now is the time of year we look forward to the changing colour in the trees, cold, but bright mornings with zap of golden sunlight to lift the day.

It is also the time to thinking about the birds and animals. The birds will need high-energy food to help them through the coming months. Animals that hibernate will start to look for places to build their sleeping nests. You can help.

How? Put out food for the birds. You don’t have to a have a bird table. Putting food on the ground, such as apples and pears will attract various birds. If you have a feeder, buy some high-energy seed mix. This will give the birds a boost. Hang fat balls either from your bird table or from a tree.

That’s it for the birds, now for our other fury friends. As the leaves start to fall from the trees, don’t clear them up. Push them into a pile in a corner of the garden. Hedgehogs will thank you. They love to curl up in a pile of leaves to hibernate. You will then get the treat of seeing them emerge from their slumber. One thing to remember at this time of year, check your bonfire before lighting it. An unsuspecting hedgehog may think it is a good place to hibernate.

Enjoy the wildlife in your garden.

Preparing for this time of years photography

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:51:05 +0100

Autumn is the time of mists and colour, one of the best times of year to be outdoors. Summer’s greens and bright colours are turning to the faded browns and yellows as autumn prepares the countryside for winter.

The weather can produce some great photographic opportunities. A misty morning turns a humble scene into a spectacular one. Radiation fog, or mist to you and me, occurs when the ground cools at night. For mist to form you need calm wind conditions with a clear sky. The one thing about mist is that it will not last long once the sun is up so you need to be up early to catch the scene.

Snow blurs outlines, changing the shape and form of familiar objects. A lack of detail causes our brains to work harder recognising objects. Because of this, we start to notice details we missed before. Make a plan, so if we get a snow you’ll be ready. As soon as the snow appears head for your planned location, it could be a local landmark or a feeding station.

We will leave you with one last thought you can take pictures no matter what the weather is. All you need is the right clothing and the will to leave the fireside.

September Weather

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Wed, 5 Oct 2011 09:41:10 +0100

Well the last week of September completely turned things on its head, at least for the southern half of the country. It was like summer weather all over again.

During the rest of the month, we had a mix of weather. We had some sunny and some dull days with a few very windy days thrown in for good measure. It was dry month too, in fact the driest September for two years.

These odd weather patterns are having an effect on the plants; they think it is spring all over again. I did read that with the type of weather we are experience the tree displays of autumn colour should be spectacular this year. So put on your walking boots, get out into the countryside, and enjoy.

Mean maximum temperature	23.8°C
Mean minimum temperature	8.5° C

** Note - only 3 weeks of recorded temperatures

Perfect Resize 7 from OnOne software

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:24:10 +0100

For many years we have been relying on a software plug-in call Genuine Fractals for upsizing our images in Photoshop. A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to upgrade from our old version to Perfect Resize 7, the renamed latest version of the program. Whenever we change or upgrade any of our software we always like to test it out. Sometimes we find things we have been doing for years are no longer possible, sometimes we find better ways of doing things. We had the idea, we should really put the results of these tests on our blog as they could be useful to other people. So here is our test on Perfect Resize 7.

Genuine Fractals has for many years been the industry standard for upsizing your image files. If you want a print at a size greater than your files native resolution you have to either increase the size or lower the dot per inch setting. We have been using Genuine Fractals for upsizing images for picture libraries and for making large fine art prints for our customers.

Adobe Photoshop resizing capabilities have improved over the years and are unrecognisable from a few versions ago. At one time no one would accept images upsized using Photoshop because of quality issues. Today, I would say it is possible to upsize using Photoshop in a lot more circumstances. However, what we are interested in is the very best quality possible. We take so much care and trouble getting our pictures you would be foolhardy not to care about the final result. After all if someone is going to live with your picture, they have the right for the best quality we can produce.

OK now for the test results. We have taken a picture on a Canon 1D MkIII and processed the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom. Then, we exported the image as a Photoshop PSD file at a native resolution 16bits and in a PhotoRGB colour space.

The file would have made a print 30 x 20cm at 300dpi without any upsizing. We then upsized the file by 400 and 800 percent using both Photoshop native resizing option and using Perfect Resize 7 plugin for Photoshop. This produced files that could be printed 120 x 80cm and 240 x 160cm respectively at 300dpi. Now I recognise that this is a pretty extreme test and the chances of needing 800% enlargement is a remote one but hopeful the extreme magnification highlights the difference between the two ways of upsizing.

We used the Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement) setting in Photoshop and the General Purpose setting in Perfect Resize 7. As you should be able to see from the comparison pictures the difference is quite noticeable. Perfect Resize produces much more detail than the Photoshop examples. You may also notice on the 400% example for Photoshop there is an artefact on the lid of the eye. We tried resizing a couple of times but this artefact always was present. It appeared that it only occurred on this one eye. We have no explanation as to what caused it.

The one thing I should mention is the time factor. The Photoshop results were almost instant on our computers. The 800% file being over 3GB in size. Perfect Resize on the other hand took 3 minutes on the 400% file processing and over 8 minutes on the 800% file, running on the same machine.

I hope that you can see from the small JPEGS that the Perfect Resize results were better, with more contrast and better detail retained, however the Photoshop results are not that far behind. Our conclusion is we are glad we bought Perfect Resize 7 for upsizing our images. It will give us the best possible results when large changes are needed. But, it has to be said for day to day small changes in size we will be using Photoshop more than we use to.

Until next time.

Our Rivers Campaign

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:03:46 +0100

Removing diesel spillage from water course

Recently the Environment Agency stated that much improvement had been made to our rivers. However, many people involved with conservation are wary of such a report. Many of our rivers are still in poor health and this report gives the impression that all is well with our rivers, ignoring the fact that many are struggling with pollution, over abstraction and other threats.

Leading river wildlife experts have responded to this report with a list of ten rives where these environmental pressures are still causing problems and not enough is being done to elevate them.

Two-thirds of rivers in England and Wales are failing European targets for water quality and too little is being done to address this. The Environment Agency has hailed the return of salmon to the river Thames, despite this a report from the University of Exeter showed that attempts reintroduce and sustain a population of salmon in the Thames has failed. This report highlights that salmon found in the Thames are probably strays from other rivers.
The Our Rivers campaign is currently running an online survey to help paint a picture of the state of rivers in England and Wales and to find the best places to spot river wildlife. The survey results will also highlight species that have disappeared along certain rivers, visit www.ourrivers.org.uk/survey.

Please do take part in the survey. You will be helping to paint a picture of the state of our rivers, some may be full of life, and others need help. From the survey, the Our Rivers campaign hopes to find out as much as they can about the state of our rivers and thereby safeguard their future.

Save our conker trees

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:19:13 +0100

If you have a smart phone and haven’t downloaded Conker Tree Science, why not? This great app is helping a team of scientists to understand the threat to our conker trees (Horse Chestnuts) by the leaf-mining moth. It is a great way for everyone who owns a smart phone to get involved with a project that is trying to prevent the loss of one of the UK’s iconic trees.

Our Horse chestnut trees are under threat by an alien leaf miner moth Cameraria ohridella. This alien species has already spread throughout Europe and is now infecting the UK. There are natural ways of controlling this pest but scientist need our help.

Enter the Conker Tree Science they are conducting a survey about the spread of the leaf mining moth and need our help. You can register you findings through their website or much more fun use you smart phone. You can download the app from the website of the various apps stores and it is free.

Take a moment from updating your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn accounts and use the phone to help save an important bit of our countryside.

Reckon that that conker has had long enough in the oven, now where’s the string.

Until next time.

Habitat habitat habitat

admin@mandjbloomfield.com — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:10:56 +0100

It would seem reading this, I am criticising a lot of institutions and people who work incredibly hard for our wildlife and I am not. It is just that I believe that we have to save habitats before we save animals. All the wildlife projects and causes we support have sustainability of habitat as a core value. They must address the issues of habitat perseveration and conservation as well as support for the species. That is what I believe will do the most good in the long term.

Zoos and other organisations dedicated to saving endangered species have had a lot of media attention over the last few months. Television and newspapers, report on projects around the world, trying to keep alive endangered species, so they can be returned to the wild. When I look at these projects, I feel despair overtake me. I don’t understand how providing a Noak’s ark for a few species is going to save the natural world.

Once upon a time, going to the zoo was a treat. Some of my best childhood memories are of visits to Whipsnade and London zoos. These and my parents teaching me about the countryside and wild things in it, is how I developed a passion for wildlife.

However, my attitude towards zoos is changing. Maybe it is because the role zoos want to play in the world of wildlife has changed. I have become disillusioned. Ask me now, if I think zoos are a good thing, and I would hesitate and perhaps give a negative answer. Their role in educating people is still a valid one. Being the savour of endangered species, I have difficulty with. They tell us that they will keep a particular endangered species going. Breeding up the numbers held in collections, thus enable us to release them back to the wild at a latter date. And that’s my problem with this mission. Because unless the zoo is prepared to spend as much if not more money and resources on preserving the habitats then by the time you have breed enough captive animals to provide a sustainable population where will we release them. You can be sure that the habitat that once supported them has disappeared. How then are we to repopulate a barren ecosystem with this one species?

As I look around me I see habitat diminishing at an alarming rate. Mainly due to the influence of the virus that inhabits our plant, us. We are destroying our planet, digging up complete eco systems to plant food, causing global warming or polluting both land and sea with our waste products. If this were not bad enough we continue to create ornaments, make quack medicines and eat the wild animals we have at a gathering rate. We are destroying the places where our wildlife lives along with the animals themselves.

The majority of the world can only feed itself using industrial processes, called farming. This industry has the ability to grow and raise 1000 times more food on a given area than a natural ecosystem could. It enables us to be well fed. But, it uses techniques that pollute our environment to accomplish this. The United Kingdom today is a manmade landscape managed and dedicated to providing food and materials for its population, so that no truly wild places remain untouched. As populations increase across the globe so agriculture will take over. If the UK model is the future for the rest of the world, there will be no room for our wildlife. Zoos will become not an ark but a window on how things use to be, unless we do something to prevent it.

Maybe it is time to take a look at what we are trying to save. If a species population is just tens of individuals, maybe it is time to let the species go extinct. Extinction after all is an everyday occurrence; it happens all the time and has been doing so for billions of years. The only difference to one of these species going extinct is that either we don’t know it ever existed or it is not cute and cuddly. As I am not convinced that we will ever be in a position to repopulate the world with the species we are causing to become extinct. But what I am sure of is we can do something to lessen our part in these extinction events.

If you are not convinced that we should do this just for wildlife, then, let me share this with you. Most pharmaceutical companies still invest heavily in research into natural sources of new drugs. They do this research because history shows, most of the novel drugs have their roots in the natural world. Almost all of the antibiotic drugs we use today come from natural sources, mould on bread, sewerage outfall pipes and so on. Without new antibiotics, as bugs build up resistance to our current ones we are destined to return to the 1930’s were a simple infection could kill. Had penicillin been around when my grandfather had his operation I would have known him, instead of his likeness in a photograph.

So what can we all do? Make sure that you voice is one of the many. Lobby governments both at home and abroad to take wildlife and mankind friendly decisions. Don’t let them rip up what little we have of the natural world for a quick cheap solution. Think about tomorrow because maybe we will be the species facing possible extinction because of a government decision.

Take your children, grandchildren, friend’s children to zoos and wild places teach them about nature and the animals that live there. Get them passionate about conservation and the world we live in. They are the future and hopefully will carry on caring for the planet, hopefully, doing a better job than we have.

Going to Benidorm, next year? Why not take a wildlife holiday. All you have to do is to make sure that your visit will benefit the indigenous population in some way. If we all did this then wildlife and nature will become an important source of income. It is a sure fire way of preserving habitats. Because if it makes more money than ripping it up and planting a cash crop, it will be preserved. Support a project that addresses the issues of habitat lost as well as the extinction.

Without being able to living in its environment, with supporting species our endangered animals are doomed to be our playthings. Better to see a Lion in Africa where it belongs, rather than a few exhibits in a zoo. If we can’t see it there then better to let nature take its course. But most important of all, do something to help.

Until next time.