Wildlife Matters The Podcast Nigel Palmer

The Bloody Ivory Trade
We have had a very wet winter here in the UK, but now the signs of spring are all around. With its many shades of green and the bluebells currently carpeting our woodlands, the birds are nesting, and the dawn chorus is loud and genuinely a beautiful cacophony.
I’ve been leading nightingale walks in our local woodlands and following a buzzard family nesting nearby. In a future podcast, we will bring you the whole story.
Today, 24th April is #helpanimalsday. Our friends at One Voice for Animals have hosted this day since its launch in 2022.
The aim is to encourage everyone to do something to help animals. That could be volunteering at a wildlife or companion animal rescue centre, helping a local group survey reptiles and amphibians, donating to your local hedgehog rescue or something else that allows animals.
Please have a look at the One Voice for Animals website www.helpanimals.co.uk 
What will you do for animals today?
And now it is time for this week's Nature News.—————————————————————————————-
Nature News
This week’s Nature News features the funeral for nature that took place in Bath on Saturday, 20 April.

Hundreds of protesters, including broadcasters Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, marched in a “funeral procession” for the natural world destroyed by climate change.

Some protesters dressed in red and hundreds more wearing black walked through the streets of Bath, Somerset.

The “Mourners” in the performance art piece walked to a drum beat and carried a willow funeral bier of a Mother Earth figure created by artist Anna Gillespie. Environmentalist Chris Packham wore a black tie with an Extinction Rebellion logo as he spoke to the crowd.

The protest aimed to sound “code red for nature” and highlight “the UK’s position as one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world” ahead of Earth Day last Monday.

Red Rebel Brigade members, resplendent in their red outfits and white face paint, were part of an international troupe whose members protested through performance art pieces.

Organisers said Saturday’s procession of 400 Red Rebels was the largest gathering to date and that the number was consistently increasing. Groups came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and across the UK for the procession, which Extinction Rebellion also organised.

Anna Gillespie said: “Unlike conventional protests, the procession will be free of banners or placards. Instead, we are relying on the intense imagery of the vast assembly of Red Rebels and the impact of the figure of Mother Nature on a funeral bier carried by mourners to get the message across

“Everyone participating has a powerful desire to express their desperate feelings of loss and fear as the natural world struggles to survive in the face of our human onslaught.”

Organisers said 43% of UK bird species were in decline, 97% of wildflower meadows had disappeared since the Second World War, and the world was entering its “sixth mass extinction event.”

Bystanders were handed an “Order of Service” containing information on climate change. Other Funerals for Nature were held simultaneously in Boston, Sydney, Gothenburg, and Lisbon.

One of the organisers, Rob Delius, said: “The intention is to send a powerful SOS message for nature by creating a visual spectacle that will shock and inspire onlookers in equal measures. 

The UK has sleepwalked into this nature crisis, and the fact that we are now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world isn’t being talked about enough.

“We want the processions to create a talking point and move the public to demand that the Government,...

Hello and welcome to this week’s Wildlife Matters Podcast. I’m your host, Nigel Palmer.
It’s Springtime here in the UK, and nature is bursting back into life. There are so many shades of green - and every shade is so fresh and vibrant. The birds are in full song, and the buds have burst into blossom.
And we are at the start of Series Four. It has been just over two years since we launched the podcast, and it has been such a fun and exciting journey. 
We have come a long way, and with this new series four, we will evolve again. Nothing in nature is ever completely still, so we feel the drive to keep improving. 
So, for series four, we will have a Wildlife Matters main feature or A Wildlife Matters Investigates, and we will bring you lots more interviews with people working with wildlife or in nature conservation.
Wildlife Matters has been concerned about the state of our rivers for several years now and has recently collaborated with the Rivers Trust, Surfers Against Sewage and the Friends of the River Wye; I felt it was about time we did a Wildlife Matters Investigates into UK River Pollution and Ask Are our Rivers dying?
I have also had a lot of questions about myself, the Wildlife Matters organisation and the projects and Campaigns we are working on. We have decided to do our first Q&A episode, but I wanted to give you a chance to ask your question, so if you would like to ask a question, please email us at hello@wildlife-matters.org that’s hello@wildlife-matters.org before 26th April, and we will try to answer as many as we can on a Q&A episode on Wednesday 8 May.
The state of our rivers is shocking, and we have begun two projects that will use citizen science volunteers to regularly monitor the water quality of their local rivers at multiple points.
This week’s Mindful Moments is from June last year when I worked on a project in Nottinghamshire. As usual, I was wild camping in my camper van, and I like to get up and out early to nature. I took a walk along the Chesterfield Canal, and the birdsong was incredible that morning, so I recorded it to share with you.
Isn’t it wonderful to spend a minute or so in nature? I can remember that day so well. The canal runs alongside a road and eventually under a bridge. The day was warm and bright, and summer meadows smelled in the air. Retford is a beautiful town with a lot of history, and the people were very friendly. I was surveying the idle Valley Nature Reserve, which Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust runs. Do visit if you get the chance.
How many of these did you identify? Great Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion crow, Robin and Goldfinch
Remember to send me your questions for our May Q&A, and thank you for joining me today. We appreciate every one of you.
Wildlife Matters will return in two weeks on Wednesday, 24th April, but until then, Keep on the wild side. I’ve been your host, Nigel Palmer, and this is Wildlife Matters -signing off.

This week's Wildlife Matters Podcast concludes Season Three with a feature on international wildlife.
Wildlife Matters Investigates returns to expose the Trophy Hunting trade, Trophy Hunting - in An Illusion of Conservation, and we call out all their claims that Trophy Hunting is good for the local economy and tourism and even that it is good for animal species to be killed to save others. Yeah right 
Wildlife Matters believes that every life matters and that all creatures on this planet are sentient. That is why we occasionally travel to explore international wildlife issues.
Of course, we will bring you the latest Nature News hot off the press and find time to relax and enjoy some precious time in nature in this week's Mindful Moments.
And that will bring the curtain down on Series Three. Wildlife Matters will be back on 10th April 2024 with Series Four. We look forward to bringing you more interviews with people working for the benefit of wildlife and nature and more exclusive undercover reports into the cruelty and persecution of wildlife in Wildlife Matters, Investigates and more species-specific episodes. Then, join me on some of my adventures as we explore the wild side of the UK!
I am so excited to share Season Four with you, so make sure you subscribe and follow Wildlife Matters on your Pod provider of choice. Visit our website, www.wildlife-matters,org, and/ keep up to date with the daily adventures of Wildlife Matters on Facebook and Instagram. Threads and X
So, for now, this is Wildlife Matters signing off, and see you on April 10th!

Hello, and welcome to the Wildlife Matters podcast.
On today’s action-packed show, we are talking to Deborah from the Hedgepigs. A dedicated hedgehog rescue based in the East Midlands, we will find out how a hedgehog rescue works behind the scenes, how to attract and support hedgehogs in your garden, and why they are doing better in urban areas than in the countryside. 
All this and more are coming up right after we hear from our partners at One Voice for Animals, who made this episode happen.
It was a real treat catching up with Deborah and hearing about the incredible work she and her dedicated team of volunteers are doing to help hedgehogs. Please look at their website and support them in any way you can. You will find their website link in the show notes.
Hedgepigs www.hedgepigs.org
If you enjoyed today's show, please subscribe and follow us on your podcast platform and social media. You will find Wildlife Matters Organisation on all the major SM platforms, and don't forget to visit our website, www.wildlife-matters.org
Find out more about our partners at One Voice for Animals here: www.helpanimals.co.uk
But for now, Thank you for your time and for choosing to listen to us today. My name is Nigel Palmer, and this is Wildlife Matters signing off.

On today’s action-packed Wildlife Matters Podcast, we are talking to Maiya from the Nottingham Amphibian and Reptile group, finding out about our native amphibians and reptiles and why toad patrols are so important.
And, of course, today is St Valentine’s Day, so Wildlife Matters looks into the bizarre world of courting and mating in wildlife around the world and discover what your partner may be saying with their Valentine's gifts.
Wildlife Matters thought that sharing some of the bizarre ways that wildlife attracts partners and the frankly, kinky ways some wildlife gets it on were worth a closer look at. So, let’s look, not in a Voyeuristic way, at some of the weird ways wildlife gets it on.
Wildlife Matters will return in two weeks when we speak to Deborah from Hedgepigs and learn much more about hedgehogs.
So, if you have enjoyed today's show, please subscribe and follow us on your podcast platform and social media. You will find Wildlife Matters Organisation on all the major SM platforms.
Links
Nottinghamshire Amphibian and Reptile Group https://groups.arguk.org/nottsarg
Notts ARG Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/434602044011108/
One Voice for Animals  www.helpanimals.co.uk 
and please visit our website: www.wildlife-matters.org
you will find the Wildlife Matters Podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google Podcasts and very soon on YouTube
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Today, on the Wildlife Matters Podcast, join me for a walk through a wild meadow on the edge of woodland as we look at some of the plants that thrive in a meadow environment, some of the traditional uses in herbal medicine, and the folklore surrounding them.
Then, we spend a night with Pine Martens in Southern Scotland. Pine Marten populations are beginning to recover, and their range is increasing after years of persecution and habitat loss.
Wildlife Matters will return in two weeks with an exciting episode featuring Maiya from the Notts ARG. Maiya will share her love for amphibians, toads, and toad patrols. 
Since it's Valentine's Day, we will also discuss love in the animal world, including some of the unconventional ways animals mate. 
If you enjoyed today's show, please subscribe and follow us on your preferred podcast platform and social media. You can find Wildlife Matters Organisation on all major social media platforms.