Miaow miaow!!!  

We see lots of programmes about dogs, as we all know - The Dog House, the fabulous Pete Wicks:  For Dogs' Sake (love it), Dogs Behaving Very Badly, For the Love of Dogs, Hudson and Rex (that's a Canadian detective series featuring an absolutely stunning German Shepherd, brilliant) - and there is at last a programme for cat lovers and cats!! 

Well done David Baddiel, who is celebrating cats in a three-part series starting on Friday 16th January at 8pm on Channel 4.  

During David Baddiel: Cat Man, he introduces us to some of the nation's best-loved cats, including the famous Number 10 cat, Larry, who just turned 19, Happy Birthday to Larry!  Larry came from Battersea when David Cameron was Prime Minister and since then, this gorgeous feline has seen quite a few Prime Ministers come and go, including Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, David Cameron of course, Liz Truss, and now Keir Starmer.  Larry has seen them come and go, that's for sure. 

He meets Ricky Gervais, Jonathan Ross and Lou Sanders, all of whom are cat lovers.  And he shows how truly remarkable cats really are.   There are adventurous cats, a cat who paddleboards, people who walk their cats, a cat who helps patients in NHS hospitals.   (You may have heard of an incredible cat who could tell when people in a care home were a couple of hours away from death.  This cat was so accurate in going to lie with those about to pass away, that the home was able to call relatives and call them in to tell them the end was near.)

There's a look at how cats became domesticated, and a look at the world of pedigree cats.  It's exciting, and I can't wait to see what else the programme includes.   

It's high time cats had their own series, so thank you to David Baddiel for suggesting it and to Channel 4 for rising to the occasion and  everyone for doing it.

Miaow for now!   Visit the programme's website here.

By the way,  The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy's Supreme Cat Show 2026 is in April (26-27) in Liverpool.  Find out more from the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy.   And there's a list of their other cat shows and meetings here..

Find out about the amazing Holly's Merry Moggies who featured on the programme here.  They say, Disabled, difficult, different – from the wobbly to the wonky, we’re rooting for the undermogs! Visit their website here. 

 
Viovet have this GOURMET Perle Mixed Selection Mega Packs Wet Cat Food
Find out all about it here.

March is on the way fast, and with it, a HUGE event in the calendar for dogs!  Over 24,000 dogs are expected over the four days!  

The world's biggest dog show, Crufts, kicks off at the NEC, Birmingham, on the 5^h March starting the four day festival of all things WOOF!   It’s an absolutely amazing event, and if you can’t get there, make sure you tune in to both Channel 4 and More4 - there's lots to see.   Here's how to watch Crufts.   

The Crufts website says that the group schedule is planned as:

· Thursday 5 March: Working & Pastoral Groups

· Friday 6 March: Terrier & Hound Groups

· Saturday 7 March: Utility & Toy Groups

· Sunday 8 March: Gundog Group and Best in Show Final

Hero Dog of the Year is back - this one always brings lumps to my throat, as the dogs are just so amazing.   Heck, ALL the dogs are amazing!  Who will win and be Hero Dog of the Year and who will win Best in Show??   Dogs and their owners will be coming from all corners of the country and of the world to compete in the latter! 

All dogs great and small will be at the show  and it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet lots of dog lovers and dogs and see plenty of action.   Discover Dogs is a great way to discover more about over 200 different dog breeds, and if you're thinking of getting a particular breed, this is a great chance to find out more about them.  There's also agility, flyball, showing, musical dances, displays, junior handling,  and more!  Over 5,000 people are volunteering at Crufts this year! 

And there are plenty of ways to get involved - for instance, the Royal Kennel Club is inviting every dog owner in Britain to take part in the biggest ever Dog Census (that's in the UK).  It will collect data on health, behaviour, lifestyle and wellbeing (that's the dog's, not yours) and it should help guide scientific research, support new initiatives and inform the devleopment of services through the RKC.   Find out all about it and take part here. 

Hall 8 is being added this year as the brand-new home of the Young Kennel Club (YKC) and also Dog Grooming Championships, too, sponsored by Artero.   There's also the introducion of a two-day weekday ticket (for Thursday and Friday) so you can have even more time to enjoy the show! 

Visit Crufts' website here to buy tickets  - it also has all the info you need about show, and have a look at the Health and Happiness section as well. 

Visit Crufts' You Tube Channel here

Visit The Kennel Club's website here.   It's got lots of information about dogs and dog ownership, including everything you need to know about getting your first dog.  

Please don't forget to keep a good eye out for all the dog charities that are at Crufts.   Visit their stands, say hello, and see what you can do to help them and spread the word about the work they are doing.  Things are really, really tough for animal charities at the moment and every bit of help we can all give them will make a difference.  

Please Note:  No dogs, other than those that have been invited by The Kennel Club and Assistance Dogs, are permitted into the show.  

If you want to volunteer at the Show, find out all about volunteering here.

Wag your tail and head off to the Crufts website to find out all about it! 

Not bought a calendar for 2026 yet?  If you're looking, you could head off to the Calendar Club who have a HUGE range of calendars (covering all sorts of interests and loves).  They also do them in different sizes and types, e.g. wall calendars, desk calendars, slim calendars and so on.  

They have all sorts of animals, and if you want a dog calendar for 2026, they've got TONS of calendars of different breeds, and also calendars which focus on puppies or kittens or baby animals.   

This is the Puppies Mini Calendar 2026

FETCH information on the dog calendars for 2026 here!  

If you prefer wildlife, horses, birds, gardens, well, there are lots of those as well,
such as this beautiful Puffins Calendar

 Dig your way to take a look at the many Calendar Club's calendars for 2026!
They've also got planners and diaries, too!

Of course, as well as buying one "already made" sort of thing, you could produce your own and feature pictures of your dog(s) on it!  Printerpix  may be just the thing, with options such as their Customised Photo Wall Calendar - here's an example featuring the gorgeous Bruno below...

This is an example of the Customised Photo Wall Calendar. 

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!

If you're looking for bird food and everythning for your garden birds and wildlife on a budget, take a look at Garden Wildlife Direct

With everything from fat balls, seed mixes, sunflower hearts, peanuts, bird baths, bird houses, wildlife houses, wildlife feed, half coconuts, feeding stations, next boxes, chicken food, hedgehog houses, you should find lots to choose from to help our feathered friends through the winter or even the next few weeks.

Garden Wildlife Direct have great offers very often, so it's worth keeping an eye on their site to see what they've got.  Make your money go further and help wildlife at the same time.  Find out all about today's offers here.

Amongst other things, they've got these great High Energy Autumn and Winter Seed Mix, pictured below, just the thing to help your garden birds through the colder brrrrrr months of autumn and winter, as they have protein-rich and oil-rich ingredients.   You can buy them in different sizes of bag, too.

This is the High Energy Autumn and Winter Mix
from £7.99.

 
How about this Sunflower Heart Value Seed Mix?
It's a combination of sunflower heart kernels and black sunflower seeds,
so it gives a very nutritious seed variety to have.

These Wild Bird Fat Balls (No Net) have a new, improved recipe - better for your garden birds!
It gives them  more nutrition and energy, and they are palm oil free!

These are Premium Sunflower Heart Suet Balls -
a delicious, tasty, high energy treat for your garden birds!

 Flap your wings and fly off to Garden Wildlife Direct here.

Well, it’s that time of year again for everyone who wants to get involved in a nature project – today (18th July) sees the launch of the 2025 Big Butterfly Count!  (It finishes on 10th August 2025.)

It’s the biggest survey of butterflies in the world.

For butterflies matter.   They are pollinators and components of the food chain, but their numbers have really dropped since the 1970s.  This decline is an early warning for other losses of wildlife because butterflies react really quickly to changes in their environment.  If their numbers drop, we are in trouble. 

So please help Butterfly Conservation help butterflies and nature and us, and take part in the Big Butterfly Count 2025! 

Help change the fortunes of butterflies!

The results of the Big Butterfly Count 2024 led the charity Butterfly Conservation to declare a butterfly emergency.  The charity need your help more than ever before, so please take part in this UK wide survey and help assess the health of our environment - just by counting butterflies.

Taking part is a really easy and helpful thing to do.   And it only takes 15 minutes of your time!

 How to take part in the Big Butterfly Count 2025

1. Download the butterfly ID chart or free app for iOS and Android to identify and record the butterflies you see!
2. Choose a place to watch butterflies and moths for 15 minutes between 18th July and 10th August. 
3. Record how many & what species you see - you can add your counts here on the website or the app
   
   

Flutter off to the Big Butterfly Count’s website here.

The website tells you all you need to know! 

And you can do more than that!  You can do something for butterflies and moths in your garden, on your balcony or patio - and Butterfly Conservation want to create 100,000 wild spaces by 2026 to help improve things for butterflies and moths.   It doesn't take a lot to do:  you can create your own wild space and add it to Butterfly Conservation's map!  Please go to the website here and create your own wild space!  

Gift experience company Virgin Experience Days have a great range of animal experiences around the country!  

There are lots of different animals, from big cats (ROAR) to dogs (WOOF), capybaras to meerkats, pigs, goats, donkeys, horses... 

There's a Millets Wildside Capybara Encounter for Two in Oxfordshire

 

What about a Sheepdog Training Day in West Yorkshire?

 

There's a Piggy Walk & Play Experience for One 
with Sweet Treats and Tea for Two at Huckleberry Woods, Kent


There's a Big Cat Encounter in Kent!
See the Big Cat Experiences here.

Canter off to Virgin Experience Days here.

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!

Thanks to CBS 8 San Diego for the news item!

Visit San Diego's Project Wildlife website here.

Go 30 Days Wild this June!

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 😊

You could help wildlife as part of the activities..

• Doing a litter pick (so the wildlife don’t think it’s food)
• Signing the Wildlife Trust’s Fix the Planning Bill petition – they need us all to give them their support and you can find out about it and sign here   
• Finding your local Wildlife Trust and perusing their website to see what’s going on and how you can help. Why not become a member?  
• Find out about events taking place near you 
• Find out about the campaigns the Wildlife Trusts are running and give them your support

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.

Making social media connections...

#30DaysWild  @30DaysWild (Facebook and X), or The Wildlife Trusts (@thewildlifetrusts) • Instagram photos and videos

Visit the Wildlife Trusts here.

Sign up for 30 Days Wild here.


PS If you miss the start date, no matter - just count 30 days from the day you do start!

There was a baby bear experience available in Kent at the Wildwood Trust but Boki has grown up now, so this is no longer available.  However - you can still have a bear experience at the Wildwood Trust's Kent site - find out more about it here!

Boki has made a good recovery after brain surgery

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!

  

Urgent Appeal to help two bears! 

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.

Visit the Wildwood Trust here.

Images © Wildwood Trust

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...

Watch Inside the World of Bears
with BBC Earth

You could also take a look at these bear videos from

Free the Bears (rescued bears)

Animals Asia (also rescued bears)