Inspiring young readers
I’VE BEEN A READER OF BBC WILDLIFE FOR many years and continue to enjoy the wide variety of articles presented. I also find that I’m still continually finding out new information and ideas about the natural world.
I normally pass the magazines on to an old friend, but I have now started sharing BBC Wildlife with my young grandson. He’s beginning to identify many different species and we decided to make a collage of some of his favourite wildlife pictures. I’m hoping that most of them will still be around when he reaches adulthood, but in the meantime, it’s wonderful for him to admire the pictures and for me to discuss the different animals with him. It’s never too early to begin an appreciation of the natural world and all the wonderful creatures we share our planet with! Thank you BBC Wildlife!
Gillian Burke’s portraits
I was interested to read your feature in the March edition of BBC Wildlife about the problems faced by female photographers.
However, in the same issue, alongside Gillian Burke’s opinion article, there is a photo of her sitting on a rock with her bare feet crossed, looking wistfully into the sky. To me, this picture is more at home in a fashion magazine than a magazine purporting to promote equality among the sexes in environmentalism.
I don’t know whether it was Gillian’s choice, but I wonder if Nick Baker or Mike Dilger would be asked to pose in this way?
If BBC Wildlife wants to encourage more women within wildlife and conservation careers, perhaps you should practise what you preach.
GILLLIAN BURKE REPLIES:
The key word is indeed choice. I hope that regular readers of my column get the sense that my contributions are always of my choosing, not least because they are a little left-field. I like to share the quiet and reflective ways in which I connect with nature. In this case, barefoot and looking up at the sky is a reminder that “we are all just small actors in a big universe”.
A note on falconry laws
In an otherwise excellent article about a forthcoming book by Rodney Stotts (Go Wild, March 2022), it suggests that anyone who deems themselves a falconer is permitted to trap juvenile raptors. Nowhere in the article does it advise that this is not even in Europe, but according to a distant foreign jurisdiction, ie that of the USA, and is certainly not the law in the UK. I doubt that many readers have even heard of the Anacostia River, let alone realise that it is many thousands of miles from the UK!
May I suggest that anything that may lead to such a dangerous misinterpretation is clarified within the article?
MEGAN SHERSBY, EDITORIAL AND DIGITAL CO-ORDINATOR AT BBC WILDLIFE REPLIES:
You’re completely correct to bring this up and I should have made the geography and laws more clear in the review and in the interview. I have since amended our online version of this article.
Shooting and badgers
I read with interest the article written by Mark Carwardine (January 2022) and agree that our government’s bovine tuberculosis policy is flawed.
The policy, which allows the slaughter of thousands of badgers, is cruel. Its continuation will surely lead to local extinctions of badgers.
What is rarely mentioned in articles that seek to expose this flawed policy is the position and connection of the shooting industry in this mass slaughter. There is an inextricable link between those people who enjoy shooting birds for fun and the slaughter of badgers. The so-called ‘guardians of the countryside’ are hell-bent on destroying anything, and this includes badgers, which will predate on the birds they wish to kill.
In short, the shooting industry doesn’t recognise sentience in any animal. At a time of climate and biodiversity crisis, this industry is reaping catastrophic damage on our wildlife.
The impact of lynx
James Fair’s article Royal Report Card (March 2022) raises a number of points, of which I would like to comment on one.
The possibility of introducing lynx is now regularly, and often rather vaguely, raised in the ‘rewilding’ context. I think, however, that environmental commentators need to address the question of the number of lynx that would be needed to have any effective control of the almost one million deer that inhabit Scotland.
One proponent of this introduction told me he thought that at least 3,000 lynx would be required. It seems to me that this number would have a wide-ranging and considerable impact, including on groundnesting birds, amongst which I would be particularly concerned for the struggling capercaillie population. Any increase in predation would be very serious.
JAMES FAIR REPLIES:
I’m not convinced that the capercaillie’s plight is an argument against bringing back lynx. The capercaillie is in long-term decline and could go extinct here – with or without lynx – in the next 30 years. Lynx could actually suppress fox numbers – identified as one factor behind the species’ demise – but, whatever happened, restoring an ecosystem by reintroducing a predator that all our native birds co-evolved with would surely have more pros than cons.
Nuclear is not the solution
I normally support Mark Carwardine’s outspoken comments, but to suggest, as he does in his March 2022 column, that “an increase in nuclear power generation” would be a “game-changer” is to ignore two important factors.
The first is the massive and negative disruption, over many years, to local communities. Perhaps Mark should look up the website of the local campaigners against Sizewell C to understand the enormity not just of site vehicles passing almost continuously through small villages, but also the ensuing reduction in the biodiversity of many habitats, including the adjacent RSPB Minsmere reserve.
The second factor is the expensive decommissioning at the end of the power station’s working life. Plus, the safe and long-term storage of hazardous spent radioactive waste.
CORRECTIONS
March 2022 Q&A, ‘Are there any venomous lizards?’ We omitted the Komodo dragon as one of the world’s venomous lizards.
Answers to Spot The Difference
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