Bringing back the Beaver: Wading to magic through bureaucracy
Pete Cooper Wildlife
by petecooperwildlife
3y ago
As anyone who’s ever met or seen a talk by my boss Derek Gow will know, he is much a force of nature as his subject animal, the industrious beaver. I always enjoy waiting to see what the reaction is when I mention who I work for to those who have clearly witnessed or had dealings with him. It’s either jubilant enthusiasm for his rousing persona and cavalier can-do attitude that is bizarrely rare in a lot of wildlife conservation, or a sharp intake of breath and a wry smile to the point you can almost hear the traumatic flashback like a veteran in a Vietnam war film. But in a world where our na ..read more
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Nature Diary: Pilning Wetlands, February
Pete Cooper Wildlife
by petecooperwildlife
4y ago
Comparing what has gone in the world since my last blog post at the end of 2019 feels like looking back at 1985. Which is odd considering I wasn’t born until 9 years later. Regardless, I had originally written this as another nature diary to tie in with the current season a couple of months, hit a block as sometimes happens with these things, and it got buried under a pile of ‘to-dos’ that only took a bloody global pandemic to blow the dust off. Anyhow, I hope this writing gives you some solace in this trying time, which has necessitated the additional conclusion to this piece I never wou ..read more
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Saving Humanity through Fluffy Animals: A Philosophy for Nature into the 2020s and Beyond
Pete Cooper Wildlife
by petecooperwildlife
4y ago
“People just think I’m trying to save fluffy animals. What I’m really trying to do is save humanity from extinction.” So said the great Gerald Durrell, which has no doubt been rolled out in justification by many of his fans in the conservation world since, myself included, breaking backs to pull unique species from the brink. The work of these people may pay dividends for plants, animals or habitats at various scales. But if it was all undone, or never happened in the first place, would the world fall asunder? Would cities grind to a halt for the news of the golden lion tamarin’s extinction ..read more
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Reap, mow, dewild the meadow: Getting out of our culture of over-cutting
Pete Cooper Wildlife
by petecooperwildlife
4y ago
Wrapped up in duffle coats and bobble hats, the volunteers were still more than willing to venture out into the biting cold of mid-January. Having admired my captive harvest mice, pirouetting through the heather stalks of their enclosure with all the grace of Cirque du Soliel acrobats, we took to the frostbitten wetland meadow of the Escot estate in Devon, in search of the abandoned summer nests of their wild cousins. In the chaotic tussock-jungle of cocks-foot grass, reeds and bramble, we delighted in finding over a dozen of the exquisite cricket-ball sized structures that still held firm ..read more
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