On the Origin of a Species: The Common or Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipara)

A short discussion on the common, or viviparous, lizard – true to its name it is quite common but I love them and got some good photos so had to write about them. They are viviparous, so they give birth to live young, which is unusual. They also have different colour morphs which seem to bestow different traits in terms of reproduction.

The Wasp Tragedy: How Can We Help?

A short article about the value of wasps, how you can discourage their supposed ‘nuisance’ behaviours and how you can help encourage them, other invertebrates and pollinators, and the species that interact with them, in your daily life.

Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals – 3 – The European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Or your native ‘nuisance’ gull species. Where I come from it is mostly the herring gull (Larus argentatus), possibly also the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). In the US they have the American herring gull (Larus smithsonianus). In Australia, the silver gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae). There are lots of gull species and almost every inhabited area has

Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals – 5- The Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) and the European Mole (Talpa europaea)

A lengthy article talking about the similarities in treatment between the European mole (Tapa europaea) and the Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae). They are both a species vital to earth and soil health that benefit and enrich their environments that are considered a pest and a nuisance and are often killed for little or no reason. We explore the animals themselves, their lives and habitats, how our opinions of them were formed and similarities to our behaviours with other species too, like prairie dogs and badgers. We also focus on the ability of humans to form opinions, ideas or myths about animals and also how they can change over time. In the case of these species, changing for the negative, but it also means the reverse is true.

Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals – 7- The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)

A defence of the fox in a PR war that the anti-fox lobby is definitely losing. The UK’s largest predator, a beautiful canid, the red fox, Vulpes vulpes, is a shining example of adaptive success. They are wonderful animals, a true blessing to see in our countryside and our urban environments, a great control of over-abundant rabbits and a consumer of our waste food saving us untold amounts of money on waste disposal. The fox still has a reputation, mainly due to a lobby determined to see it held up as a villain to justify their own bloodsport. Fox hunting is an abhorrent and unjustifiable practice that should be totally banned.

Top Ten Hated (But Misunderstood) Animals: 10 – Bats (Order Chiroptera)

Bats! The order Chiroptera. Our mammalian cousins of-the-night, often considered a scary animal, associated with death, dark, withcraft and misfortune but are they really spooky? I argue no. They are a remarkably diverse order of species and even the spookiest of the bunch, the vampire bat, is a suprisingly conscientious and sharing species. So bats, some people may hate them but I think they’re just misunderstood.