Never fails to amuse me when a human accuses another species of causing 'destruction'.

That's a really interesting point actually, one that I'd not considered. I suppose 'let's all eat wild deer instead of traditionally farmed meat' seems far too simple a solution!

Yep, you're absolutely right!

I looked at who wrote the piece and didn't really need to read anymore.

I'll give that a miss, thanks.

As long as they're having 'fun' that's all that matters I suppose.

Interesting read. I have the misfortune of living close to a gamebird shoot. Can't stand it

A tale of two species Why is the reintroduction of a native keystone species not permitted in England, but millions of non-native birds can be released with impunity?

ecohustler.com/nature/a-tal...?

Stunning. Wish I'd known about it when I visited Port Renfrew in 2024! What steps, if any, are being taken to protect it?

The enchanting Mossome Grove continues to live up to its name! 🌲🌿 Located near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory, this lowland old-growth forest is home to ancient Sitka spruce and bigleaf maples draped in lush green moss and ferns and an array of wildlife — yet remains largely unprotected today.

Yep, that's a good point. As with any emotive issue, the situation is far more nuanced than it first appears. I've always been uncomfortable with monetisation of nature/wildlife & this is what seems to be at the core of most issues of this type. I find it sad that it ultimately comes down to money

I think most people fundamentally have a problem with someone deciding to pay money to end the life of an old tusker rather than nature taking its course. There's something unsavoury about a human with a gun paying to take the life of an animal for their own gratification.

I heard a representative of the Countryside Alliance and a hunt leader trying to defend trail hunting on the radio last week. Same old tired cliches trotted out, I knew exactly what they were going to say before they started talking. They must think we are all fools

Just another 'bad egg' I bet. Seems to be quite a lot of bag eggs in that community.

Enjoyed that a lot Steve 👍

Good to see you too - always find your posts & opinions interesting! Language & choice of words is very important when discussing emotive subjects. You can't separate the language used with the topic being discussed.

I regularly meet people who are 'vegetarian', but go on to qualify that with 'but I do eat fish'. I find this disconnect odd, but I guess that it must be because people feel less connected to marine life than land animals. I personally don't see how the life of a fish is any different to a chicken

Why would you like the mainstream news to trumpet the killing of the biggest red deer? Why would it be something to celebrate? 'Celebrate' is an odd choice of word too, raises questions about mindset.

Certain sections of society haven't moved on since the 19th century. Always the same sort of people.

Ah, totally makes sense - thanks very much for the information!

Apart from that, it'll be really interesting. Probably 😄

How does tree masting affect predation levels?

Also illustrates (to me, anyway) how pathetic our attempts at nature conservation are in Britain - 'nature' marginalised into a frankly pathetic strip on the edge of an intensively farmed field.

That's really interesting. Humans have always underestimated the intelligence of other species (mainly due to arrogance!), so 'revelations' like this never really surprise me.

Horrible to see that

Just ten species make up almost half the weight of all wild mammals on Earth A small number of species dominate the distribution of wild mammal biomass.

ourworldindata.org/wild-mammal-...

As hundreds of millions of birds head south, the invisible danger is glass It's the peak of the fall migration season. This is when bird deaths from window collisions tend to spike, even though simple solutions can prevent this.

"It boggles the mind that these guys can fly over the Gulf of Mexico [...] It's just amazing. But then we take them out, with some glass." 🐦 🪶

...but there are solutions! (No, not hawk decals - "The only thing that does is keep the bird from hitting the hawk decal.")

www.npr.org/2025/10/17/n...

Humans are evolved for nature, not cities, say anthropologists A new paper by evolutionary anthropologists Colin Shaw (University of Zurich) and Daniel Longman (Loughborough University) argues that modern life has outpaced human evolution. The study suggests that...

This paper finds the same thing I did in my book research. Today's stressors–traffic, work demands, social media, light pollution & noise etc–trigger biological responses for acute stressors but without any recovery. "Our body reacts as though these stressors were lions.” phys.org/news/2025-11...

Absolute madness. The British countryside and our view of nature is so completely warped. How can anyone think that release of large, non-native birds on this scale is anything other than insanity?

Shame the road cuts right through it.