BBC Wildlife Magazine

time for change...

There’s no time like the present. From a wildlife point of view, that old adage has never been more pertinent. With issues relating to conservation and how we manage our relationships with animals increasingly hitting the front pages (we catch up with Chris Packham on that particular subject on page 56), I couldn’t have joined BBC Wildlife Magazine at a more exciting time. Climate change, pollution and animal rights are firmly on the global agenda, but every action starts with each of us doing our bit. And so it’s a huge pleasure for me to announce that BBC Wildlife Magazine is now a plastic-free zone. Subscribers will have noticed that this issue came wrapped in paper, and we’ve also undertaken to have no more plastic on our newsstand copies. I couldn’t be…

the people behind our stories

DR HELEN SCALES Marine biologist and writer Helen is a life-long seahorse fan. “To encounter a single seahorse is a magical experience,” she says. “But to find a whole pond full of them is truly astonishing.” See p18 JIM CRUMLEY Nature writer Jim believes in the return of wolves to Scotland. “In a northern hemisphere country like Scotland, if the wolf is in place, everything in nature makes sense,” he says. See p26 PANUT HADISISWOYO Conservationist Panut never loses hopes despite on-going destruction of rainforest in Indonesia. “My responsibility now is to make more change-makers back in Sumatra” he says. See p51 MARK COCKER Author and naturalist Mark has written extensively about birds with what he calls a “cultural profile”. He says, “Few species are more culturally significant than the bird family known as the megapodes.” See…

wild month

1 | FOXGLOVES Tubular bells Big and bold, with stately spires up to 2m high, the foxglove is that rare thing – a spectacular native flower, equally likely to be found in gardens and the wild. Unlike many other plants popular in horticulture, this beauty flourishes naturally across the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland – it’s in bloom from June until well into September. It loves heaths and woodlands, rapidly colonising clearings where trees have fallen, as well as waste ground – the sorts of places that Richard Mabey called the ‘unofficial countryside’. It’s also one of the few wildflowers able to thrive amid dense jungles of bracken, its flower spikes rising above the canopy of bracken fronds. As with any flower, the foxglove’s appearance reveals its pollination strategy. The magenta…

paradise plains

THIS YEAR, SAFARI expert Asilia will relaunch one of its most beloved camps, Namiri Plains. Tucked away in the remote eastern region of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, the camp is a prime wildlife-watching spot. The new Namiri Plains features upgraded accommodation while still retaining its warm, welcoming atmosphere and excellent guiding. The refurbished rooms are surrounded by peaceful grasslands that seem to stretch on forever, and you can make the most of those views from the full-length sliding doors, which look out onto a seasonal riverbed frequented by the local fauna. There’s also a tranquil deck area to enjoy the sunset from. The camp’s striking décor is inspired by the region’s landscapes, with white-grey calcrete rock walls (which help regulate the temperature of the suites). There’s also a state-of-the-art spa and a…

mike dilger’s wildlife watching

Recognisable by its soft, pastoral landscape and a cropped turf crammed with flowers and attendant insects, there can be no mistaking the habitat of chalk downland in summertime. As its name suggests, chalk downland has a close affinity with its geology, as the base-rich bedrock is solely responsible for the formation of the well-drained, shallow and infertile soils so characteristic of this habitat. Despite chalk downland having an ancient feel, it is actually a semi-natural habitat with its genesis dating back to the Mesolithic period (between roughly 10,000 and 4,000BCE). As Britain was still heavily wooded during this era, the first forests to be cleared by prehistoric humans may well have been those rooted in thin, calcareous soils, with naturally sparse woodland cover. Once converted to grassland, this habitat’s status quo…

species to look out for

Pyramidal orchid The dense, conical spike of cerise flowers makes this widespread orchid surely one of the easiest of all the ‘downland suite’ to both find and identify. Flowering from early June to August, it adds a splash of colour right through summer in locations with limey soil. Common fragrant orchid A combination of a narrow, elongated spike of pinkish-purple flowers and a distinctive smell should help identify this attractive flowering plant. Fragrant orchids can sometimes crop up in large numbers and the sickly sweet to rancid fragrance emitted by a colony can, at times, be overpowering. Bee orchid Looking decidedly bee-like, while also giving off an exotic feel, there can be no misidentifying the charismatic bee orchid. Essentially a species of open grassland, this orchid is not just confined to chalk downland, but can…