Category: Wildlife
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230: Lessons from Nature with Simon Mustoe
Why do we feel so hopeless about the future of the natural world? Is nature really collapsing everywhere we look or have we simply been told a one-sided story? And what if our lack of control over ecosystems turns out to be our greatest strength? In this episode I welcome back expert ecologist and author Simon Mustoe to talk about his new book, ‘How to Survive the Next 100 Years: Lessons from Nature’. It picks up where his previous book…
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228: Red Deer and Habitat Connectivity with Frank Zabel
Why are red deer populations in Germany growing in number and antler size yet sitting in deep genetic trouble? What is the difference between census population size and effective population size, and why does it matter? And how can a satirical award for the worst-built wildlife crossing draw attention to the issue of habitat fragmentation? In this episode, I sit down with Frank Zabel, a wildlife biologist, campaigner, and co-host of the award-winning JAGDcast podcast. Frank also runs the nonprofit…
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225: How Many Wolves Is Enough with Joachim Mergeay
How many wolves is enough? Is that even the right question to ask? And will the recent lowering of wolf protection status in the EU actually reduce the conflict between wolves and people? These are some of the questions we tackle in this episode. After the previous wolf episode generated a lot of feedback, including detailed emails from scientists, one of those scientists is our guest today. Joachim Mergeay is a senior researcher at the Research Institute for Nature and…
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223: Waters of Life with Tom Bowser
What happens when a farming family decides to become the first private landowner in Britain to legally relocate beavers onto their farm? How do you navigate the bureaucracy, the opposition from farming neighbours and the politics of wildlife management? And can beavers actually help a farm deal with the effects of climate change? To find answers to those questions I sat down with Tom Bowser, author of “Waters of Life: Fighting for Scotland’s Beavers”, a book that tells the story…
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222: Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels with James Kennedy
How did little over ten grey squirrels, brought to an Aberdeen zoo in 1971 to keep a tame squirrel called Jack company, turn into a population of over ten thousand? What does it take to eradicate an invasive species from a city? And could this project become the first urban grey squirrel eradication anywhere in the world? To discuss all of this I’m joined by James Kennedy, the Eradication Operations Lead for Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels (SSRS), a partnership project…
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221: Snapshot Europe – Wildlife in Irish Woodlands with Adam F. Smith
What does it take to track wildlife across 250 square kilometres of Irish woodland? How do you position cameras to capture elusive species like otters and pine martens without introducing bias into your data? What happens when floodwaters threaten your carefully placed equipment? Join us as we follow a camera trap survey through the Clara Vale in central County Wicklow, where systematic monitoring reveals the lives of Ireland’s mammals. Throughout the episode, we’ve included footage from the field showing the…
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220: Conservation Photographer Tony Bynum on Photography, Hunting and Responsibility
This episode features one of the most important conversations about hunting and impacts on nature that I can remember in 10 years of making the podcast. It’s not surprising though as our guest today is a long-time supporter and friend of the podcast, Tony Bynum. Tony is an accomplished wildlife photographer who spent 15 years travelling the world photographing people hunting. He is a geographer by training with a master’s degree in science and has managed scientific projects across the…
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212: Snow Leopard Trail with Jonny Hanson
Can communities in Ireland and Britain learn to share landscapes with apex predators again after centuries of their absence? What does coexistence actually look like when people, livestock, and large carnivores occupy the same territory? How might wisdom from Himalayan communities inform debates about lynx reintroduction closer to home? Our conversation takes us from the remote mountains of Nepal to potential lynx habitats in Scotland and Ireland. Jonny Hanson travelled to the Annapurna Conservation Area to document how local communities…
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211: When Reintroductions Cause De-wilding with Alex Lees
Can species reintroductions harm biodiversity rather than help it? Why might bringing back wolves or lynx create more problems than solutions? Are we using reintroductions as a distraction from the real drivers of our nature crisis? In conversation with Alex Lees, Reader at Manchester Metropolitan University, we explore these questions and cut through popular assumptions about rewilding. Alex argues that many reintroduction projects might cause ‘de-wilding’ rather than rewilding, particularly when we rush to move species around instead of letting…
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210: The Culling Conundrum with Ryan Davy
Why are elephants dying slow deaths from starvation in African parks? Can contraceptives really solve wildlife overpopulation in fenced reserves? What happens when international animal rights organisations influence conservation decisions from thousands of miles away? These are the uncomfortable questions at the heart of one of conservation’s most contentious debates. Ryan Davy spent 30 years working in African conservation, starting as a 16-year-old volunteer in KwaZulu-Natal’s remote game reserves. From those early days confronting poachers and negotiating with local communities,…