If you're looking for an animal experience as a gift for an animal lover, or you want to treat yourself, take a look at gift experience company Into the Blue
They've got a number of animal experiences, with animals such as ferrets, tamarin monkeys, alpacas, meerkats, pigs, sheep, snakes and crocodiles, bees, horses and donkeys.
They have a number of experiences for horse lovers, including a couple near York (Skipwith) - you can have a Traditional Farm & Horse Experience or a Two Wheeler Horse Cart Driving Experience, for instance. They've also got Romantic Horse and Carriage Rides for Two there, or maybe you'd prefer a Horse Drawn Carriage Rides with Afternoon Tea?
There's great news from Into the Blue! They have a 15% off code* for you with the code ITB15FORMEon experiences up to £250.00! (Some are excluded from this offer.) They have some wonderful animal experiences!
How about a Carnivore Encounter in Shropshire? £75.00 Get up and close with 3 formidable carnivores Meet a Red Fox family and feed them, stroke and handle the Snakes, and meet the servals and stroke them too!
There's Sheep Trekking in Somerset from £25.00 Meet and greet the friendly sheep and give them snacks Lead a sheep on a stroll across fields and through woodland
National Marine Week runs from 26th July to 10th August 2025. (It’s longer than a week, because of the differing tidal conditions around the UK.) There’s a LOT happening and you can find out all about what’s on by checking the Wildlife Trust’s website.
The theme for 2025…
In 2025, the Wildlife Trusts will be showcasing the 'Secrets of our Seabeds'. There are so many beautiful worlds under the water and this is a good chance to see something of them – and discover who or what lives in and under the sea! Seabeds store a huge amount of carbon – and this is a chance to spread the word about them!
What’s on?
Events are appearing already on the Wildlife Trusts’ website There are beach cleans, night time safaris, dolphin watches, marine wildlife surveys, dolphin watches, nurdle hunts, rockpool rambles and more! Don’t worry if you can’t get to the sea – there’s lots of coverage on social media too!
Find your local Wildlife Trust
There are 46 Trusts around the UK from Alderney in the Channel Islands to Scotland, Cornwall to Norfolk, and North West Wales to Kent. You don’t have to live in an area to be a member of a particular Wildlife Trust, by the way, nor do you need to live by the sea to support National Marine Week. Find your local Wildlife Trust here and see what they are up to. The main Wildlife Trust website also has ways you can help.
Please get political and tell people and politicians that nature matters!
We all need to shout loudly for nature! Nature has no voice, so it’s up to all of us to speak up. The Wildlife Trusts have information about what they think the Government's priorities should be and Polar Bears International (who have been researching sea ice and polar bears for decades) have help here on how to talk to family, friends and others about climate change, and how you can get political.
12 ways to get involved in National Marine Week
(You don't need to wait until then!)
In 2025, the Wildlife Trusts will be showcasing the 'Secrets of our Seabeds'. There are so many beautiful worlds under the water so this is a wonderful opportunity to find out all about them.
Even if you don’t live on the coast, you can connect to the sea by finding out more about the effect pollution is having on them and the wildlife there. Reduce your plastic use and pick up litter too, so that less plastic and litter heads downstream to the sea - left on the ground, it could get picked up by a passing bird and dropped later into a river and then out to sea.
Now, here's an action you can take to help sealife straight away! Unfortunately, Bottom trawling is still allowed in many Marine Protected Areas and the Wildlife Trusts want it to stop, as it wrecks havoc on seabeds. They are calling for it to be banned in seabed Marine Protected Areas. And that's where you and I come in. Please take action and give this ban your support - there's a petition you can sign just here.
1. Understand what the problems are
Today, the Wildlife Trusts say that some of the problems our marine life face include a lack of planning, because fishing, oil rigs and wind farms harm seabed habitats and consequently the wildlife there. As on land, it’s vital to make space for wildlife. Clear rules for industries are important so that everyone knows where they stand.
Of course, there’s terrible pollution from things such as sewage, farming chemicals, plastic litter. Fishing nets have been abandoned – we’ve all seen pictures of sea life and other animals caught in netting, or with plastic caught around their necks, or their heads in bottles, as they frantically try to escape.
It’s important to protect areas which have a big potential to capture carbon and store carbon, and also to make sure there are no destructive and damaging activities in areas which are already protected.
One of the big problems is the disconnect people have with nature now. It’s important for humans to understand the impact their actions have on the planet and why change is a must.
2. Be a political animal…
Bottom trawling is still taking place in many Marine Protected Areas and the Wildlife Trusts want it to stop, as it wrecks havoc on seabeds. So they are calling for it to be banned in seabed Marine Protected Areas. And that's where you and I come in. Please take action and give this ban your support - there's a petition you can sign just here. I’ve signed – please join me and sign too! Let’s give this campaign some support!
Record your shoreline sightings and help marine and wildlife charities build up a picture of our shorelines and seas.
Find out about the Wildlife Trust’s Shoresearch, a national survey of the intertidal shore where sea meets land. This is a great way to explore the coast and discover all about the wildlife there – and contribute to the understanding of this key habitat.
The Shark Trust has a number of projects, such as the Basking Shark project, the Great Eggcase Hunt project, the Great Shark Snapshot (19th to 27th July 2025, anywhere in the world!) and the Angling Project.
The Marine Conservation Society has a number of projects, too such as Seasearch for divers, the Big Seaweed Search, and the Big Microplastic Survey.
The Sea Watch Foundation has a whale and dolphin watch for citizen scientists from 26th July to 3rd August.
You can download this and print it off, or why not take a photo on your phone to use when you're out and about?
4. Do a beach clean
The Marine Conservation Society has the Great British Beach Clean from 19th to 28th September 2025. Why not get your employer involved in a Team Beach Clean as an away day? There are lots of beach cleans year round - it's a great way to meet up with other people who want to make a positive difference and who are doing something to make an impact.
5. In October: Get nurdle hunting!
Take part in the Great Global Nurdle Hunt in October. Nurdles are small plastic pellets which are melted down to make nearly all plastic products and the problem is that thousands of tonnes of them spill straight into the environment worldwide. Visit the website to find out and how you can go hunting for nurdles!
6 Support seagrass projects
In May 2025, seagrass made its appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show, thanks to Seawilding (who are based in Scotland). Seagrass play a vital role in keeping oceans healthy and giving thousands of marine species a home, such as the seahorse, the manatee and the sea turtle. Project Seagrass, based in Wales, have a mission: A world in which seagrass meadows are thriving, abundant and well managed for people and planet. And there are a number of projects around the UK to help seagrass. The Marine Conservation Society has more information about seagrass itself and why it matters.
Go to the sea if it's close to you, or a river or canal; observe and connect to the natural world there and use your senses to really take in the natural world. If you are unable to leave home, take in videos from You Tube to explore the natural world with, from kayaking in Alderney, to meeting the dolphins of Wales. Rockpool species, sharks, turtles, seals – just drink in the marine videos.
Here's a question for you! How do you say "I love you" in puffin? Find out here!
The Wildlife Trusts’ website enable you to put the name of a species into a search box and you can learn all about it! This is a great opportunity to find out all about habitats – marine habitats, seagrass, biogenic reefs, deep-water corals, mud, sand and graves, kept beds and forests and rocky reefs. Float away to them here.
9. Support campaigns to improve the health of our oceans
The Marine Conservation Society has a number of different campaigns, such as banning disposable vapes and wet wipes. And they have campaigns to stop ocean threads and stop pollution. But there are also campaigns against balloon releases – who knows where they will end up? Find out about their campaigns here.
Take a look at Surfers Against Sewage, too. Water quality, plastic pollution, ocean recovery and the ocean and climate emergency are all challenges they are tackling. And find out about their Million Mile Clean – they want 100,000 people to take a 10 mile stretch and clean it up on the coast, canals, bridle paths, towns and cities! And whether you're in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, they are asking us all to email our political representatives and demand action to clean up our waterways and hold polluters to account. Find out more here.
10. Use less plastic
The Wildlife Trusts have lots of help to enable you to use less plastic in all sorts of ways, from the bathroom, to the kitchen and being out and about, and they also have info about those sneaky plastics you may not have thought of! Find out more
Don't forget that July is Plastic Free Month - a chance for you to reduce the amount of plastic in your life, so it's a good way to do something towards both National Marine Week and Plastic Free Month at the same time.
11. Remember our Rivers!
Take a look at the I’s Save Britain’s Rivers campaign, challenging ALL parties to commit to sign up to a blueprint that will save our rivers. The article has a number of ways in which you can help our rivers.
The Canal and Rivers Trust also has ways in which you can help care for our canal and rivers network to make it easy to #VolunteerByWater
12. Support wildlife and marine charities
You could become a member of a marine charity such as a Wildlife Trust – it’s a great way to find out about the campaigns they are running, the threats marine and wildlife and our seas face and ways the Trusts are tackling those threats. You could also donate to a campaign or to a Trust.
You could also take a look at Seacology, whose mission is "to protect threatened island ecosystems all over the world. We do that by working directly with communities, helping them to preserve their cultures and improve their lives while saving precious island habitats." Visit their website here.
It’s easy to look at a website and then shut it off as you go off to do something else. Nature really needs our help now, and she needs you and me – all of us – to take actions to help the natural world. Please take an action and tell someone what you’ve done and ask them to do something as well. Ask them to join in!
I was on the internet just now and this video popped up on You Tube. Well done to the campers who found the bear cub and everyone involved in getting him to Project Wildlife, and to everyone at Project Wildlife for all their care of this gorgeous bear cub!
Every year, the Wildlife Trusts in the UK all have an event called 30 Days Wild.
The Trusts are a network of 46 charities, all independent, and they manage nature reserves, run campaigns, and have lots of activities and events to enable people like you and me to connect with wildlife.
The Trusts go from Alderney in the Channel Islands right up to Scotland, from the South and West coast of Wales to Norfolk, and Cornwall up to Northumberland. They do lots of amazing work You can find your local Wildlife Trust here.
The Wildlife Trusts want to help us all embrace nature in all her glory and really get connected with it. The idea is that for 30 days, we all do one wild thing every day. You can sign up for a free pack (you are asked if you want to make a donation of £5 towards it to help with costs, but this isn’t essential) and you’ll get lots of ideas of things you can do during the 30 days when you go wild. It’s a great way to discover more about nature and the natural world, too. For instance you could:
Plant wildflowers for bees
Listen to bird song
Watch the stars at night
Draw a wild animal such as a hedgehog
Hug a tree
They’ve got lots of ideas, and you can sign up to receive free goodies in the post and also emails each day with facts and activities to help you achieve your 30 Days Wild!
If you’re taking part with children, perhaps as a family or a group or school, choose the children’s option when you sign up. Signing up is free to do, by the way ð
You could help wildlife as part of the activities..
Doing a litter pick (so the wildlife don’t think it’s food)
You could also join in on Facebook – there’s a 30 Days Wild group – or Instagram, and there’s a chart you can download and pin up which is full of ideas of things to do which follow these four phrases.
And you could share your activities on social media to encourage others to have a go and feel the benefits of connecting with our natural world.
The national dog charity the Dogs Trust knows that dogs are a big part of their lives. They bring us love and joy – there’s nothing like being met at the door by a dog who loves you. They see us through the more difficult times in life, when they listen to what we say. You don’t have to worry about your dog repeating anything you say, and they won’t tell you you’re an idiot for thinking or saying it, either.
So the Dogs Trust’s National Dog Survey is about the bond between dogs and people and what dogs really, truly mean to us. How does your dog make your life better? What makes your dog so special?
WOOF! The nice thing is that you don’t have to have a dog to take part. You do need to be over 18 and live in the UK, though. It takes about 15 minutes to do.
All the information you’ll need about the survey is here and the information provided by those taking the survey is used for research purposes. There’s more about that side of things on the website.
Will you complete the Dogs Trust's National Dog Survey? The great thing about the Dogs Trust is that they have listened to what owners are telling them in past surveys and they have come up with ways to help owners cope with concerns and problems they are having.
As an example, about 31% of owners were thinking about cutting back on training classes due to cost of living concerns. So the Trust came up with the free Behaviour Support Line, which 16,000 owners have used because they’ve had problems with their dog’s behaviour.
And another survey told the Trust that many ‘pandemic puppies’ had missed out on essential socialisation and their owners had found it difficult to cope when the puppies had reached adulthood, the Trust were able to provide a range of free help and advice to help owners.
Fetch more information – including how surveys have helped the Trust help dogs and their owners - and do the survey here:
They create yummy, wholesome food for both cats and dogs - they believe our cherished family members deserve to eat proper food full of nourishing ingredients. They're on a mission to give pets a diet full of goodness, whilst treading lightly on the planet at the same time!
25% off everything at Lily's Kitchen!
Lily's Kitchen have got 25% off everything until 11:45pm on the 26th May 2025 in their Spring Sale! The discount is applied at check-out to make life easier :-) (You'll find the T&Cs here.)
For dogs , they've got dry dog food, wet dog food, dental chews, treats, selection boxes and more. They've got diets for dogs with sensitive tummies, and sensitive skin, and special diets that are grain free, hypoallergenic, organic and vegetarian. You can order for puppies, adults and seniors. They've got recepies in beef, chicken, salmon, goose, herring, lamb, pheasant and pork so you've got lots of choice!
How about Lily's Ktichen Mini Woofbrush Dental Chew (multipack)? These are for adult dogs (6 months+) and they are £5.75 per pack or £37.40 for a box of 7 normally. Make the most of the Spring Sale offer! Lily's Kitchen say they are the ultimate plaque hack!
You can buy these Bedtime Biscuits on their own for £3.50 or a box of 8 of them They have a bit of chamomile in them, known for its soothing properties!
Oy! What about us?!!
And for our feline members of the family, there's wet food, dry food, treats (of course!), selection boxes and you can choose from special diets such as grain free and organic and hypoallergenic. You can also choose for kittens (under 1), adults (1 to 6) and seniors (7 plus). Recipies include beef, chicken, salmon, cod, trout, prawn, turkey, pork, lamb and duck. Miaow!!
It’s an easy way for you to get regular top ups of your pet’s food! And it means you spend less time shopping online – you set up your subscription and Lily’s Kitchen take care of the rest. (You can update, pause or cancel easily, too.) The Subscription Service gives you 5% off – and free delivery – on all future series. Lily’s Kitchen will make sure you get any promotion live on the site when you order. There’s more information on that with the FAQs on Lily’s Kitchen website.
Who loves pandas? The 16th March is World Panda Day and a great opportunity to raise awareness of the work being done to help these beautiful animals!
There are lots of activities going on, including a fundraiser with WWF-Canada and the CN Tower at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 16.
The panda is an example of what can be done to help endangered species. The CN Tower will be illuminated in black and white, the idea being to highlight the plight of species at risk. But it's also to tell people they can be part of the solution. Everyone can make a difference.
You could also visit Pandas International who are actually based in Colorado in the US. Their mission is "to ensure the preservation and propagation of the endangered Giant Panda". The non-profit organisation provides a number of things, including...
For in the 1940s, the government in China started conservation efforts to protect pandas. Their idea was to put safe areas aside - here the animals would be protected in what was their natural habitat.
But then in the 1960s, things moved on - provinces were called on to set aside land for the proteciton of China's wildlife. The province of Sichuan quickly came up with a plan to create reserves. These would protect the pandas and other animals in the area.
And now there are about 40 panda reserves in south west China! These include nature reserves which give pandas a safe place to live. There are also research centres where the behaviour of pandas is studied in a scientific way.
A logging ban was implemented in 1998 to slow the destruction of habitat and logging - and poaching - still cause problems in some areas.
And today, there are about 2,400 pandas including the 650 in captivity.
Unfortunately, poor Boki wasn't very well last year and he was the first bear in the UK to have an MRI scan (at Fitzpatrick Referrals). On Wednesday 9th October 2024, he had brain surgery with Romain Pizzi, a world leader in his field. We wish Boki and the team well, and thank the team and everyone for their care of Boki. He came through the surgery well, and after a good sleep over the winter, he's woken up and is ready for 2025!
Boki's fame has crossed the Atlantic to the US! The Daily Guardian made this lovely video about him and it's on You Tube!
The Wildwood Trust is looking to help two other bears, Malenky & Nanuq. The two cubs desperately need a new home. Their mother was rescued from Ukraine, where she had been on the front line, trapped by troops who were advancing, and bombing. The conflict moved east, and rescue teams were able to get in and take the mother bear to Poland and then Belgium. There, she gave birth to two cubs - and these two loveable bears now need a new home.
The Trust wants to raise sufficient funds - £75,000 - to move the cubs to Wildwood Devon, where they can live with bears Mish and Lucy. Please find out more and donate here.
Notes from the earlier blog:
The Wildwood Trust is based in Kent (and Devon, but Boki is in Kent). The Kent site is home to over 200 native animals, past and present, with bears, wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers among those living in the 40 acres there.
Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain’s most threatened wildlife, and it's taken part in many conservation initiatives, such as saving the water vole and using wild horses to help restore nature reserves. It's brought the Euroepan beaver back to Kent and brought the hazel dormouse & red squirrel back to areas where they have been made extinct.
And one of those living at the Wildwood Trust in Kent is Boki! He came to the Wildwood Trust as a baby bear whose family sadly rejected him. He was hand-reared by the team at Port Lympne and now Boki has come home to Wildwood Kent. He's joined two other bears, Fluff and Scruff,
Please note Wildwood Kent's "Things you need to know before you book" before you book.
If you're at home thinking there's nothing on the TV or anything else, and you want to immserse yourself in something bear-related for nearly an hour, you could take a look at this video on You Tube...