Gift experience company Red Letter Days have a new product on their listing which may be of interest to those of you who can get to the West Midlands with your pet.
This could be a fun thing to do with your pet - go for a photo session. The photographer will use high-tech equipment, say Red Letter Days, to snap some gorgeous photos of your cherished family pet . The result of this pet photoshoot will be six frameable prints that can be proudly displayed throughout the home.
All for £15!
Red Letter Days say this experience is suitable for cats, dogs and rabbits. Have a solo pet photo or a shot with the whole family.
Vouchers are valid for 10 months. Please note that a £20 refundable deposit will be requested at the point of booking.
This is the sixth such event, and it’s organized by pet company HOWND. Businesses all over the UK will be welcoming dogs through their front doors (a good many do already as a daily occurrence).
The event is raising money for animal welfare charities All Dogs Matter and Animals Asia.
All Dogs Matter rescue and re-home over 400 dogs every year in London and the surrounding area. They also help dogs in need find homes from overseas.
Animals Asia is an international charity devoted to ending the barbaric practice of bear bile farming, as well as improving the welfare of dogs and cats in China and Vietnam.
Please also bear in mind that not every dog is right to take into the workplace so consider your dog’s needs and temperament before walking him or her in through the front door. Also not every workplace is right for dogs, either.
And even if your boss doesn’t wag his or her tail in excitement at the thought of the idea, and your pooches end up staying put at home, you could still do a fund-raiser for the event – a cake sale, for instance.
If you want to get active, get out into the garden and put lots of colour into it, those fabulous people at Suttons Seeds have a very special offer on at the moment - their Summer Cottage Garden Favourites has 50% off!!
The offer is 36 x 9cm Potted Plants for £45 (usually £90) - so it works out at £1.25 per plant and as these are perennials they will return to the garden the following year too, so adding more value and making your money go even further!
The Government has just created 41 Marine Conservation Zones, stretching from Northumberland in the North East to Norfolk, to the Isles of Scilly and beyond. These will help marine life recover and thrive in protected areas.
A group which was important in gathering the information to help decide which areas should be protected was that of volunteer divers.
They are members of an organization called Seasearch.
Seasearch is a project for volunteer scuba divers who are interested to find out and discover more about what they see under water. They also want to help protect the marine environment around the coastlines of Britain and Ireland.
The Sumatran Orangutan Society emailed today to say that they have partnered with a Different Travel and the result is the opportunity to spend 13 days in Sumatra, assisting OIC's restoration and permaculture teams at Bukit Mas and Cinta Raja.
There's also the chance to trek in Gunung Leuser National Park in search of Sumatran orangutans living wild in the forest.
The trip will take place from 15th – 27th March 2020, with a group of between 10 – 20 people. You will be accompanied throughout the trip by local guides (English-speaking), driver, and a Different Travel UK tour manager.
I’m putting a more sombre touch to this website today to give some time and thought to all the animals and peoplel who have been killed or injured by war.
If you’re in London, one thing you could visit is the Animals in War Memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane, (map here) on the edge of Hyde Park. It’s on the edge of Hyde Park .
The Animals in War Memorial was created to remember and pay tribute to all the animals who’ve served with our Forces in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century. They served, suffered and died alongside British, Commonwealth and Allied forces and deserve to be remembered.
Horses, mules, donkeys, dogs, pigeons, cats, elephants, oxen, bullocks, canaries and even glow worms served in the wars.
They had no choice.
The Animals in War memorial is a beautiful tribute to them, but if only the wars had never happened, so much suffering and death could have been avoided for millions of animals and people.
There are lots of programmes on the TV to watch this week (from Sunday 2 June 2019), so here’s a few ideas of things you can see (and I hope I've got all of them right on the right channel & time etc...)
Sunday 2 June
5:00 BBC2 Natural World: My Congo. Wildlife cameraman Vianet Djenguet goes back to his Congo to explore the wildlife. From coasts to rainforests, he meets baby chimpanzees, forest elephants and lowland gorillas.
6.00 BBC2 Big Animal Surgery. At a sanctuary in Sierra Leone, a tumour is removed from a chimpanzee – who nearly wakes up whilst in surgery. (This was shown on the previous Thursday and so it’s a repeat.) Liz Bonnin is the presenter.
8:00 BBC2 Equator from the Air. Gordon Buchanan is looking at the fight to preserve the Amazon Rainforest. He joins an aerial police patrol hunting for illegal loggers and sees a tribe mapping their territory. He says years ago, when he was first in South America, you could lose yourself in the wilderness for weeks. Not so now. This programme should be on BBC1, where it will get more attention, I suspect.
Monday 3 June
8:00 BBC2 Springwatch is back for another week. Gillian Burke reports on the health of the UK’s urban wildlife and there’s a catch up on the latest news from the nest cameras.
Tuesday 4 June
7:00 Channel 5: The Dog Rescuers – this one looks at the rewards of owning dogs as they get older, including a 15 year old Shar pei. It’s good to see some attention for the older dogs; they have so much to give.
8:00 BBC2 Springwatch from the beautiful Cairngorms National Park.
8:30 ITV Her Majesty’s Cavalry. This series goes behind the scenes at the Household Cavalry’s Knightsbridge barracks to the stables of the horses.
8:00 BBC2 Springwatch. There’s news about conservation success stories in Birmingham city centre.
Thursday 6 June
8:00 BBC2 Springwatch. Back to Birmingham again where Gillian Burke meets a paddle boarder hoping to encourage people to understand more about the challenges British wildlife face.
9:00 BBC2 Big Animal Surgery. This time, Liz Bonnin watches as an infected tusk is removed from an Asian elephant. The infection is threatening the elephant’s life. Conditions at the zoo in Georgia are “problematic”.
9:00 Channel 4 – My Gay Dog and Other Animals. This programme looks at same-sex behavior in animals – it’s been reported in 1,500 animal species.
Friday 7 June
8:00 Channel 4 – Puppy School – based at Chatsworth in Derbyshire. The programme has lots of good tips on training your puppy from experts.
This June is a very busy month for the Wildlife Trusts – and there’s plenty to get involved with, wherever you live!
Wildlife Trusts are all over the UK, and they’re busy standing up and protecting wildlife and wild places in your area. They connect people to nature, restore diverse wild places and look after nature reserves; and they inspire people to take action for wildlife. Find your local Wildlife Trust here.
The more we can all appreciate nature and the beauty of it, and its importance in our lives, the more likely we are to want to look after it and protect it.
The Wildlife Trusts are challenging us all to do something WILD every day! That will be 30 fun, exciting Random Acts of Wildness.
There’s a free pack of goodies to help you plan your month, and your Wildlife Trust have lots of ideas to help. You’ll get emails too from your Wildlife Trust, and a chance to get involved on social media.
The first thing to do is to sign up and get your FREE 30 Days Wild Pack. It’s got a wallchart, a poster, an interactive booklet and some stickers to help you GO WILD!
You need to select who is taking part:
Me and my Family
My class/school
My workplace
My care home
Over 70,400 people have signed up so far to GO 30 DAYS WILD!
And on 26th June, you can get involved in #TheTimeisNow
Join in on June 26th for The Time Is Now, a mass lobby for climate, nature and people.
Call on MPS to end the UK’s contribution to climate change and pass ambitious laws that create a healthier environment for nature and people.The Time is Now mass lobby is being organised by The Climate Coalition and Greener UK, two coalitions of organisations that represent millions of people across the UK.
Why now? The organisers say, “this summer the government will decide whether to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by committing to an ambitious net zero emissions target. They will also have the chance to end nature’s decline by committing to a strong Environment Bill. Now is the time to push for bold action.” Find out more here
This June is a very busy month for the Wildlife Trusts – and there’s plenty to get involved with, wherever you live!
Wildlife Trusts are all over the UK, and they’re busy standing up and protecting wildlife and wild places in your area. They connect people to nature, restore diverse wild places and look after nature reserves; and they inspire people to take action for wildlife.
The more we can all appreciate nature and the beauty of it, and its importance in our lives, the more likely we are to want to look after it and protect it.
It’s 30 Days Wild all month.
The Wildlife Trusts are challenging us all to do something WILD every day! That will be 30 fun, exciting Random Acts of Wildness.
There’s a free pack of goodies to help you plan your month, and your Wildlife Trust have lots of ideas to help. You’ll get emails too from your Wildlife Trust, and a chance to get involved on social media.
The first thing to do is to sign up and get your FREE 30 Days Wild Pack. It’s got a wallchart, a poster, an interactive booklet and some stickers to help you GO WILD!
You need to select who is taking part:
Me and my Family
My class/school
My workplace
My care home
Over 70,400 people have signed up so far to GO 30 DAYS WILD!
And on 26th June, you can get involved in #TheTimeisNow
Join in on June 26th for The Time Is Now, a mass lobby for climate, nature and people. Call on MPS to end the UK’s contribution to climate change and pass ambitious laws that create a healthier environment for nature and people.The Time is Now mass lobby is being organised by The Climate Coalition and Greener UK, two coalitions of organisations that represent millions of people across the UK. Why now? The organisers say, “this summer the government will decide whether to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by committing to an ambitious net zero emissions target. They will also have the chance to end nature’s decline by committing to a strong Environment Bill. Now is the time to push for bold action.” Find out more here
Have you been watching Channel 4’s programme, Puppy School?
It’s not easy getting a new puppy. And Puppy School helps new owners navigate the joys and frustrations of taking on a pup.
It been taking place on a Friday evening and I think it makes excellent viewing. And apart from thoroughly enjoying the puppy bits, I’ve loved the setting – Chatsworth House. If you love dogs and you’re a dog owner, Sit! and take note of the following…
There are two fab things you may not know about Chatsworth House.
Chatsworth has a dog exhibition this year!
This is on now, until 6 October 2019. The exhibition celebrates our best friend. Woof, woof! You can explore the exhibition with a house & garden, or house, garden & farmyard ticket. And in the spirit of the exhibition, Chatsworth is doing more to encourage dogs and well-behaved owners.
Dogs are very welcome at Chatsworth!
You can take your dog to visit (but please note, dogs aren’t allowed in the house with the exception of service dogs, and you certainly can’t leave dogs in the car. There’s plenty of woof things to do when you get there – which dog wants to see round a house when you could be going Walkies!? After all, if you’ve got some very ancient items sitting around on display, the last thing you want is a very waggy tail sending them flying.
There’s plenty of helpful information about visiting with your dog here – note the farmyard and playground are out of bounds too. There are doggy drinking stations, and even a hashtag, #Chatswoof. There’s a dog walk map and #Chatswoof dog, Henry, who gets up to a lot of mischief on the Chatsworth estate and you can catch up with him on Instagram at #Chatswoof.
Chatsworth is in the heart of the Peak District in Derbyshire – it featured in Pride & Prejudice as Pemberley (not the one where Colin Firth comes out of the lake in his white shirt). And you’ll find Chatsworth here with a map and directions.
Springwatch is back on the BBC from the Cairngorms in Scotland. The show has some amazing footage and lots of interesting information about wildlife and their website is incredible - you'll find plenty to look at and discover about wildlife. There's a great many ideas on ways you can help wildlife in your garden, too!
For instance you can SAY NO TO THE MOW and let your lawn grow a bit untidy, especially around the edges. Be a lazy gardener and that way you'll be able to give wildlife a hand.
(I'd say too get rid of decking, hot tubs, artificial lawns, concrete as well.)
I have a rule in my garden: I only plant things wildlife will like and want. So if it's wildlife friendly, it goes in. If it isn't, I don't bother buying it.
In Episode 2, Kate Bradbury turns her garden into a wildlife haven and you can see the results here.
We need to give space back to nature and create a welcoming habitat for it to survive and thrive in. Turn your garden over to soil, ponds, hedges not wooden fences, pollinator friendly flowers, trees and bushes and shrubs. Let the grass grow and let the kids discover what thrives in it.
Join Springwatch's Citizen Science project and help them build up data about wildlife in gardens, however big or small your garden is - it doesn't matter. What does matter is that we all take part.
One lady the presenters met is dedicated to helping snails. She came up with a wonderful saying:
Saving the planet is not that hard, You just have to start in your own back yard.
