Latest episodes and posts
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182: Lead Ammunition and Health with Fredrik Widemo
Should we worry about consuming venison from an animal harvested with lead ammunition? Will cutting out and discarding meat around the impact area solve the problem? And what are the best practices to keep us safe? Most of us have heard about the negative effects of lead on health. Not only on our health but also on the health of the ecosystems. In this episode, we are answering questions about the scale and severity of these effects from the perspective…
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181: Farming and Soil Biodiversity with Stuart Meikle
What is sustainable agriculture? Does regenerative farming mean focusing primarily on the soil biome? Is farming a leading cause of biodiversity loss? …and do we really have only 60 harvests left? To get the answers to those and other questions about farming and biodiversity, join me for a conversation with an agricultural management and policy specialist, an economist, a writer and an advisor, Stuart Meikle. In this episode, Stuart shares with us the history of his education in farming and…
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180: Hunters Just Are
Not long ago I posted a tweet: “Hunters are not good or bad, they just are. Therefore, they must be managed just like, and as a part of, the wildlife they hunt.” It was an attempt to condense my thoughts about our relationship with wildlife and nature. I purposefully used the word “our” because I believe that we are all hunters; it’s just that this instinct is dormant in most of us. The reactions ranged from incredulity to accusations of…
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179: Sika Deer: Pest or Precious?
Sika (cervus nippon) is a mid-sized deer that was introduced to Ireland in the 1860s to the Powerscourt Estate. Soon after that, it started spreading across Ireland. Today, the main concentrations of sika are in Kerry, Wicklow, Tyrone and Fermanagh. More recently, it has also been found in Waterford, Galway, Limerick, and Wexford. The National Biodiversity Data Centre in Ireland lists sika as an invasive species. Despite that, it’s afforded protection under the Wildlife Act. It is prized by hunters…
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178: Why Biodiversity Matters with Nigel Dudley
“Why Biodiversity Matters” is fundamentally a philosophy book. However, the author and our guest, Nigel Dudley, is not a philosopher but an accomplished conservation biologist who has accumulated an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience working on conservation projects across the world. He has worked as a consultant ecologist with international organisations like WWF International, IUCN and UNESCO. He is a co-founder of Equilibrium Research and Industry Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of…
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177: Nature, Farming and Politics with Saoirse McHugh
Politics is a topic that is often avoided by many nature and science communicators. They don’t want emotions, controversy and often abuse related to expressing their political views or even commenting on such. I was one of them, but I’m gradually coming to the conclusion that it is the wrong tactic. As one of the former guests on my podcast stated: “If you are interested in conservation, hunting and the future of rural communities, politics are about the most important…
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176: Invasive Ants Impact Lion Predation on Zebras, with Adam T. Ford
If you are a regular listener to the podcast or you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I read a fair number of scientific papers on subjects of conservation and ecology. Some of them are related to topics I’m investigating for the podcast and some others are just interesting for me. However, every once in a while I come across a research paper that is so cool, that I just can’t not bring it to your attention.…
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175: SOTKA Wetlands with Veli-Matti Pekkarinen and Heikki Helle
Finnish SOTKA is a large-scale habitat restoration project and a part of a larger Helmi Habitats Programme aimed at restoring Finland’s biodiversity. It is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment. SOTKA’s objective is large-scale habitat restoration through wetlands rehabilitation, restoration of mires and catchments, non-native (i.e. invasive) predator control and building a network of resting areas for waterfowl. It is also a great example of cooperation between hunting and non-hunting organisations for…
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174: Not A Conservationist
Many people claim they are conservationists. But are they really? Inspired by your comments and some discussions that I had in the past, I decided to talk about this subject. This episode was recorded outdoors, on the beautiful Irish coast of county Kerry. So, don’t be surprised to hear chough calling in the background or some occasional gusts of wind. If you’re interested in hearing more from me, have a suggestion for future episodes or want to leave feedback, please…
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Hunters for Conservation, Goals and Ambitions
“Hunters are conservationists” or “hunting is conservation” are phrases that we hear so often that they might sound clichéd. I have discussed whether such generalisations are true or not countless times on my podcast. Regardless of your opinion, it is undeniable that hunters and hunting organisations across the world can and do contribute to great conservation work. The results of such work are even better when hunting and non-hunting organisations join forces to achieve common goals for the environment. After…